How to avoid sleepiness while chanting?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, how do we if anytime we feel very sleepy, how do we overcome the mode of ignorance? Well, the first thing is that we cannot fight for very long against our body. The body has its needs.
And if I sleep late and then I want to wake up early and I say I am feeling sleepy. Krishna has given us the body. We have a responsibility to serve Krishna but we also have a responsibility to provide the body its needs.
Krishna is talking about yogis who have gone to the jungle in the 6th chapter. Those who have gone out to the jungle and they are doing meditation. For them Krishna is saying, just as if you eat too much or eat too little.
You sleep too much or sleep too little. You cannot be a yogi. So, what to speak of people like us who are in this world.
So, first point is that we have to make sure that we provide the body what it needs. Now, if the body needs a particular quantity of sleep, once in a while having less sleep and then waking up is fine. But we can’t expect the body to do it on a daily basis.
So, first is that we need to plan our life in such a way that we are not chanting while half asleep. We might think, so much willpower, I’ll wake up in the morning. Chanting in the morning is important but chanting attentively is equally if not more important.
If say, now we all, we may work in different time zones. So, if you have an important Skype meeting with somebody in India, here morning 4 o’clock, you have to wake up. If it’s an important meeting, you’ll make sure that you sleep by 9 o’clock or 10 o’clock not just awake at 4 o’clock but awake and alert at 4 o’clock.
So, if it’s an important meeting, we rearrange our life in such a way that we are fresh for that meeting. Chanting is the time when we are meeting Krishna. So, it’s not just we have to wake up early, we have to make sure that we are adequately rested.
That’s the first point. We have to plan our life in such a way that we get adequate rest and then after that, what happens with respect to chanting is that for the mind, it’s like one devotee was recently asking me why does my mind wander so much when I chant? I told him, because you are not chanting. What do you mean? I said, the tongue is chanting, the mind is wandering and you are thinking what to do among the two.
And most of the time, the mantra doesn’t seem very interesting, the movie that is going on in the mind seems much more interesting. And, especially in the morning, externally, the mode of goodness and the mode of ignorance are very similar. In both, in passion, there is activity.
In goodness, there is contemplation, that means there is not much activity, there is thoughtfulness. In ignorance, there is not contemplation, there is illusion. But again, there is no activity.
So, what happens? Actually, chanting is best done in contemplative mode, in the goodness. But, externally, goodness and ignorance are similar. So, instead of goodness, we soon slide into ignorance.
And then, we can’t chant very well. So, sometimes, if you are feeling very sleepy, then just standing up or walking or basically, sometimes, you have to get out of the head into the body. In chanting, say, in chanting, we want to be aware of spiritual reality.
That is, the holy name, which is spiritual sound vibration. But, for the mind to rise to the spiritual level is quite difficult. So, better that we at least, this is the physical reality, this is the mental reality, this is the spiritual reality.
So, when we are chanting, sometimes the mind just goes off into the mental level. If you are not even physically aware of what I am doing, sometimes we chant the whole round, the beads go round and they chant around, don’t even notice. So, what will happen? We are not available or aware of spiritual reality.
We are not remembering Krishna. We are not even aware of physical reality. We are not even counting the beads properly.
So, what is happening? Just the mind has gone off from there. So, ideally, it’s good if we rise to spiritual reality by being attentive, by being contemplative. If we are in the mode of goodness, transcendence is very close.
But, if we cannot be in the mode of goodness, then at least come to physical reality. Come to physical reality means, maybe stand up and walk. Now, we cannot be completely wandering all over if we are walking.
Because, at least where am I walking, I have to see. And, that’s why even when we go for a walk, it is good not to go for a long walk with a lot of scenery. Because, I start looking here, looking there, looking there.
If it is the same place, I have to turn around after a few minutes. What happens? I have to keep an eye. So, I come back to the physical world once again.
So, basically, if we are in passion to come to goodness, we have to get out of the world and get inside, get into the head. So, if you are running around doing things, sit down and hear. Sit down and do something contemplative.
That takes us from passion to goodness. But, when ignorance is troubling us, we have to come from ignorance to passion. Then, from passion we can come to goodness.
To come from ignorance to passion means, from the mental level where the mind is in delusion, at least become aware of physical reality. Then, start walking. That creates some momentum, some energy in the body.
Look where you are walking. And then, try to focus on at least the sound vibration of the whole universe. So, if ignorance is there, it is very difficult to come to goodness, leave alone transcendence.
So, at least we come to passion. Now, walking itself is not in passion. But, by passion, I am simply connoting some physical activity and awareness of physical reality.
So, if we are very sleepy and somehow we have had adequate rest, but still we are feeling sleepy, then it’s better to walk for some time. Get some muscles moving, get some blood flowing in the body. That will create some energy.
And then, from passion, we can move towards goodness thereafter. So, when I offer bhoga