Mega mindset 2025 : SUSUPTI, the ultimate sleep without dream

 “All manifest life seems to require a period of sleep, of calm, in which to gain added strength, renewed vigor, for the next manifestation, or awakening to activity. Thus is the march of all progress, of all manifest life – in waves, successive waves, of activity and repose. Waves succeed each other in an endless chain of progression.” - Swami Vivekananda

Sleep is a state of absoluteness when body rejuvenates and mind reclaims all the bodily senses into ‘nothingness’. The Kundalini yoga mantra ‘?? ?? ? ?? ?’ sums up the whole concept of rejuvenation and life cycle very well. Saa is ‘Infinity’ (the totality of the Cosmos), Taa is ‘Life’ (birth of form from the Infinity), Naa is ‘Death’ (or transformation) and ‘Maa’ is ‘Rebirth.’ So, ancient India defined death as a phase of ‘transformation’ and not the end. A necessary process before the rebirth. Similarly, sleep is also a phase of ‘nothingness’ (and not a waste of time, as presumed by modern world) to rejuvenate. According to Mandukya Upanishad (Verse 5, 11) su?upti is the dreamless state of deep sleep, where there are no objects of which to be conscious.

Vedanta considers life in its totality and not in segments. It examines the experiences taking place in life in all the three states of its consciousness viz., waking (jagrut), dream (svapna) and deep-sleep (susupti). We have seen that the third question in this Upanishad ended with the teacher asserting that whoever knows the relationship of prana with the mind discovers the rationale behind the continued existence. Mind and body are inter-related and this inter-relationship is due to functioning of prana. It was explained that if the body is to remain healthy with vitality, prana should be effectively and properly functioning. But the functioning of prana in the body depends upon the mind and hence the students turn their attention now to the mind. Mind is the prime-mover of all the sense organs. There cannot be any functioning of the sense organs without the mind actively directing them. In a pyramidal structure the mind is the apex, below which are the sense organs and at the base are the five great gross and subtle elements, The teacher says that in the deep sleep state the entire world of plurality cognized through the sense organs become one with the Deva, the mind, meaning thereby that the powers of perception by the sense organs get withdrawn from the respective spheres of operation and get merged as it were with the very mind which impelled them to function.

Sage Pippalada in Prasnopanishad (ancient Vedic literature) mentioned “As all the rays of the sun, when it sets, are gathered up in that disc of light, and as they, when the sun rises again and again, come forth, so is all this (all the senses) gathered up in the highest faculty, the mind. Therefore at that time that man does not hear, see, smell, taste, touch, he does not speak, he does not take, does not enjoy, does not evacuate, does not move about. He sleeps, that is what People say.” The absolute nothingness is key to sleep.

One of the three gods of Hinduism, Vishnu is famously visible in sleeping posture. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within the Trimurti, the Hindu trinity that includes Brahma and Shiva. It is believed that during the rainy season, after Vishnu sleeps for four months the annual pralaya or destruction takes place. The lord sleeps as he is tired of his work and needs a break. This pralaya is the time when the world gets a new life.

Priscilla Frank wrote (in huffpost) that sleep is often aligned with notions of eroticism as well as innocence. This can get complicated, however, when sleep is also framed as a parallel state to death. In a chapter of The Atlas of Clinical Sleep Medicine titled “Sleep in Art and Literature,” co-written by Colin M. Shapiro, Deena Sherman and Kryger, the authors journey through art history’s exhaustive relationship with sleep, exploring the various ways artists have portrayed the banal yet eternally mysterious resting state. “What is more boring than sleeping?” Kryger joked. “And yet all these artists found something compelling about it.”

According to Veda, the absolute deep sleep (beyond body) is explained as “Turiya” (a state of the deepest trance ) in which the soul is beyond the three states of awareness. The three states of consciousness are waking state, dreaming state, and dreamless deep sleep. Turiya is discussed in Verse 7 of the Mandukya Upanishad; however, the idea is found in the oldest Upanishads. For example, Chapters 8.7 through 8.12 of Chandogya Upanishad discuss the "four states of consciousness" as awake, dream-filled sleep, deep sleep, and beyond deep sleep. Similarly, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, in chapter 5.14 discusses Turiya state, as does Maitri Upanishad in sections 6.19 and 7.11. Advaita Vedanta posits three states of consciousness, namely waking (jagrat), dreaming (svapna), deep sleep (su?upti), which are empirically experienced by human beings,and correspond to the Three Bodies Doctrine. Advaita also posits the fourth state of Turiya. This is the state of liberation, where according to the Advaita school, one experiences the infinite (ananta) and non-different (advaita/abheda), that is free from the dualistic experience, the state in which ajativada, non-origination, is apprehended.

Deep sleep is an unconscious state with no content. In deep sleep, our brainwave frequencies slow right down, almost to zero, and these are known as Delta waves between the frequencies of 0.5 to 3 Hertz. There is minimal activity. At all other times, except during Samadhi, we have thoughts; but not during deep sleep. Samadhi and deep sleep are not all that different. It is only that in Samadhi we can be aware.

Why do we need to sleep? Delta wave sleep is rejuvenating and refreshing, because when we rest the body and mind other healing processes are able to purify and restore our system. Freshness comes as a result of deep sleep – we are mentally inactive, so our brainwave frequencies are almost zero, reflecting the stillness in our mental process. There are very few waves in the mind – the lake of consciousness is almost still.

Though reaching at the state of Turiya is beyond the capacity of most human, but Susupti is desirable. A generic good sleep without any mental activity (or dream) is absolutely necessary to rejuvenate.  

However, time immortal, those who sleep well are being mocked in this world. Even in Ramayana, the sleep was stigmatized and there were a lot of mockery around the ‘sleepy’ Khumbhakarna (great warrior and brother of Ravana) who was tricked to get Nidravatvam(sleep). He was a giant asura who used to sleep for six months. Sleep has been stigmatized over centuries and ‘fast living’ being promoted as the key characteristics of a successful human. The one who hardly sleeps! But, Humans have evolved to focus their attention on a threat — that’s how our ancestors survived dangers in their environment. So, less sleep has been imbibed within us and got encouraged as quality to remain alert and be protective. However this belief made our species extremely unhealthy, damaging not only our physical being but also mental wellness. In USA one out of six adults lives with mental illness and the figures are scary in Asia/ India too. Sleeplessness has become a curse to many, and 48% of Americans reported occasional insomnia. 30% of Indians suffer from insomnia. It is higher in the urban population in India.

As reported by Jelena Kecmanovic at The Washingtonpost, in late March, even before the coronavirus had reached the frightening benchmark of infecting more than 1 million people worldwide, 77 percent of American women and 61 percent of men were reporting personal stress, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. Sixty-nine percent of Americans were worried about themselves or their family members becoming infected, and a majority thought the economic impact would be worse or the same as the 2008 Great Recession. “People can experience a range of sleep problems when they’re anxious: difficulty falling asleep, middle-of-the-night awakenings with a mind racing and ruminating, and having a hard time falling back asleep,” said Jill Stoddard, a clinical psychologist and the director of the Center for Stress and Anxiety Management in San Diego. In a cruel cycle, the less sleep we get, the stronger our anxiety can become. “When I wake up at 2 or 3 a.m., my mind starts spinning into covid anxiety, then work anxiety, then covid again. It’s very frustrating,” Lawhorn said.

Hence, I hereby predict, humans will crave the journey towards the purest form of good sleep and rejuvenation without dreams or nightmares. Indeed the sleeplessness and dream are overrated and ‘nothingness’ shall prevail as the state of mind, during sleep.