If we resolve to wake up at a particular time and wake up at that time without an alarm, is that due to our subconscious mind?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So if we determine to do something, say I want to wake up at 3 am and even without an alarm we wake up exactly at the same time. So how does that work? Yeah.
See, sleep is a great mystery actually. We sleep every day but biology has still not been able to explain why we need to sleep. We need to rest.
That’s required for the bodily rejuvenation. But why does our consciousness need to switch off? If you see when we sleep, the only time we think about sleeping, think about not sleeping, about sleep. We think about sleep, the only time we do it is when we are unable to sleep.
Otherwise we feel sleepy, we sleep. We have to wake up, we wake up. But if you think about it, sleep is not just being tired, it’s not just lying down in a comfortable place.
But there is a moment beyond our control when the consciousness switches off. And that switch off of the consciousness is when we are able to sleep. Sometimes we may lie down especially if we have if we have travelled from India to America or America to India, there is jet lag.
And then what happens when there is jet lag? We can’t sleep at the right time and we end up sleeping at the wrong time. So basically it may be night and everybody is sleeping but we just can’t sleep. So the transition there are four states of consciousness.
What we are right now in is Jagruti. The awakened consciousness. What we are all hopefully in.
Some of us might be in Swapna also right now. So Swapna is a sleep state. Then beyond that is a deep dreamless sleep that is called Sushupti.
And then beyond that is Turiya or Samadhi where there is spiritual awareness. So normally we go from Jagruti to Swapna and Swapna to Jagruti. And this transition is something which is not in our control.
It just happens. So of course as I said we can’t necessarily sleep just by willing to sleep. And we can’t necessarily wake up just by willing to wake up.
This doesn’t mean our will doesn’t matter. Our will also matters. But our will is not the sole decider.
So when we are able to make a resolute, when we resolve to wake up at a particular time and we do wake up what happens is that it is explained that in everything that we do there are three factors involved. There is the Jeeva, there is the Ishwar and there is the Prakriti. The soul, the Supreme Lord and the material nature.
So in each action all these three factors are involved. So the Jeeva desires. The Supersoul sanctions.
And the material nature Prakriti executes. So right now when I am speaking it is just an effortless act. But it’s not effortless.
Why? It’s not effortless in the sense I don’t even know how it happens. I get a thought and I want to express my thought. I don’t know how my voice box works, how the voice chords move specifically to produce particular sounds which mean particular things.
So I desire to do something. When I desire to do that it is Krishna who sees that desire. And Krishna sanctions.
And then the body acts accordingly. And that’s how the material nature executes. So sometimes if our desire is strong to do something then when the Supersoul sanctions it, even when we are asleep the Supersoul does not sleep.
And the Supersoul actually signals it to material nature. This person wants to wake up at this time he will wake up at this time. But sometimes what happens is we have two sets of desires.
So for example even when what to speak of waking up as per our intention even with the alarm clock which you have set and the alarm clock rings and the alarm clock is get up and something inside is go to sleep. So what happens is that voice inside, go to sleep we usually hear that voice. And then we go to sleep again.
So basically what we need to do is that we can’t rely only on external aids but we can’t rely only on internal resolution. Because we will see that sometimes we decide to wake up at a particular time and we are able to wake up. But sometimes we decide and not able to wake up also.
So why is that? Because our desire, our intention is only one factor in the equation. And there are other factors which are not in our control. So now the subconscious is used in two different senses.
Going back to that question about a subconscious mind. There is basically in our mind, mind is the place where impressions are stored. And in those impressions we could say right now we are conscious of some things.
Right now you are looking at me, I am looking at you, you are hearing me, I am saying something. But beyond what we are conscious of there are lot of other things in our mind also. Which we can be conscious of which we choose to.
Say you are sitting next to someone. You have not met that person for a long time but you know that person. And if you focus on them you will remember their name, you will remember about their family, you will remember about their background and you can talk.
But that is not in the forefront of your consciousness. So if you consider computer metaphor, the conscious mind is like what is the information on the computer screen. The subconscious mind is what is the information in the computer’s hard disk.
You can recall it when you want. But beyond that there is an unconscious mind also. Unconscious mind is like information that is there in the computer, you don’t even know it is there.
So there are some impressions you are not even aware of. And it requires a lot of effort to become aware of those things. So from a psychological perspective, this is conscious mind, subconscious and unconscious.
So this conscious mind is like the tip of the iceberg and is a lot more below. However, the subconscious mind, there are books written on the power of the subconscious mind or things like that. So there basically in psychology or in self-help literature, there is a tendency to make the mind into God.
That means, if you desire something, and if you desire it strongly enough, it will happen. Now yes, our desire, our intentions do matter and it is always good to have a positive attitude. But it is not that our desire is going to make anything and everything happen.
Isn’t it? If somebody has got a terminal disease and they are about to die, I am not going to die, I am not going to die, I am not going to die. And then they will leave their body and they will go to Yamaraja and he will say, you are dead. Isn’t it? So just thinking that I am not going to die is not going to stop the biological death.
So there is a physical reality and in the power of the subconscious mind, when they say that you just take your intentions and let them percolate into your subconscious and then whatever you desire, you will achieve. That is exaggerated claim. It is an overstatement.
Certainly the intentions that are more deeply internalized, we will draw energies more than our conscious energy for fulfilling them. But it is not that they are omnipotent. We have more potency than what we think we have.
But more potency doesn’t mean infinite potency. Does that answer your question? Thank you.