The making of a Sarvodaya Sannyasin

1. Note: If there is no update regarding subsequent failure of this technique, know that this technique is continuously working everyday for me. Because in case of subsequent failure of this technique, you will see an update at the top of this article mentioning the same.
2. An additional technique related to sleep management is how to remove untimely sleep. Please read this technique here.
3. This technique should not be followed in winter as it makes one sick if one goes outside under the sky. One can do it inside home or on balcony in case of mild winter.
4. My new routine:
   1. 3 am – 4:30 am: till 31 Dec, 2014 (first three year of real brahmacharya practice which can be done only if one wakes up by 4 am), put on light during yoga
   a. wake up
   b. 10-11 min:
   i. On apartment roof (not in winter as it makes one sick – in winter, do it in room itself or during mild cold, on balcony), 1 min “simulated running” -> 3 min jumping & stretching and bending exercises -> 1 min Poorna titali asana. Then, come back to room. // The park in my locality in India was occupied by menacing, big and barking dogs (they started barking directly at me) when I reached there on the first day at 3 am. So, I decided to spend this first 20 min on apartment roof and instead of actual running, do now “simulated running” by running on the same spot without moving the body forward (like one does on treadmill machine) – that is as good as doing simulated running on treadmill machine .
   ii. 5 min Nadi Shodhana Advanced
   c. 60 min Thoughtless Awareness (start with 5 round Shoonya Pranayam – described at the end of this doc)
   d. 5 min Nadi Shodhana Advanced
   e. 10 round Simha-Garjanasana
5. After trying for 1 month in November (the month of doom for my early morning routine), I failed in waking up by 4 am in winter not due to laziness, but due to two factors: (i) not possible or even enjoyable anymore due to cold to go outside after waking up unlike in summer and (ii) disturbances in sleep due to unexpected increase in cold on some days which destroys the rhythm for next few days due to cascading effect. Since time is very precious, I am not doing any further experiment and have moved to late night “1 am to 7 am” sleep routine till Feb, 2012. Will move back to “9 pm – 3 am” routine by following the technique of this post from March, 2012 onward. And in Nov 2012, after being done with civil services mains, will again fight to stay at early morning routine even during winter and hopefully, next winter early morning routine will be 100% maintained. So, just a tactical retreat due to civil services mains pressure.

Hi friends,

I wish, I had the credentials to write this post 8 years ago when I first learnt the great spiritual importance of getting up by 4 am after reading Swami Sivananada’s books. Ref: http://gopal4mission.wordpress.com/2009/04/04/greatly-inspiring-brahmacharya-quotes/#Wake_up_during_brahmamuhurtha – In fact, waking up by 4 am is indispensable for first-class brahmacharya practice which, in turn, is indispensable for Self-Realization.

Wake up during brahmamuhurtha. Waking up at 3 am or latest by 4 am (3 am – 7 am is most suited for reaching more joyous state during thoughtless awareness practice, as the entire atmosphere is free from thought vibrations and hence peaceful/sattwic, thus naturally deeper and more joyous state of thoughtless awareness – which is 100% peace/sattwa – is realized during this period.”) and doing thoughtless awareness practice for as many hours as possible. Since lust is a rajasic (passionate) quality, with more increase in sattwa, brahmacharya automatically becomes more easy and natural. Sushumna awakens automatically during this period and kundalini automatically ascends up the spine. Anyone aiming at full celibacy must develop the solid routine of waking up between 3 am – 4 am and utilizing time till 7 am in yoga, meditation (thoughtless awareness) and other creative activities like self-study, etc. This alone will solve more than 90% of difficulties one faces in the practise of full celibacy. No wonder, all our true sannyasins wake up during 3 am to 4 am. Most people find celibacy so hard because they sleep even in this golden period of 3 am to 7 am when the whole nature is supporting the awakening of sushumna, raising up of kundalani and hence, a natural, fast-paced evolution of our awareness. So, this rule is exceptionally important for all sadhaks. Swami Sivananda’s first instruction in “20 Important Spiritual Instructions” is: “Get up at 4 a.m. daily. This is Brahmamuhurta which is extremely favourable for Sadhana. Do all your morning spiritual Sadhana during this period from 4 a.m. to 6:30 or 7 a.m. Such Sadhana gives quick and maximum progress.” I wrote “wake up daily during 3 am to 4 am” because some effect of brahmamuhurtha is present even before 4 am and even after 6 am (Brahmamuhurtha has different definitions on internet, but one can consider 4 am to 6 am as the reasonably accurate brahmamuhurtha period).

Convinced with the fact that sexual energy generated every month in human body is so high that it is well-nigh impossible to transform it into spiritual energy (Ojas) and make it ascend the spine along Sushumna channel unless one wakes up by 4 am to utilize the automatic opening of Sushumna during brahmamuhurtha, I had been trying all kinds of techniques to develop “wake up by 4 am” routine. But, alas! An otherwise strong person like me failed miserably in this endeavour for 8 years in a row. I used to succeed for 3-4 days and then fail again due to feeling strong laziness mostly when alarm used to ring at 4 am or sometimes during subsequent meditation. Despite racking my brain, I could not solve this conundrum. All the techniques on internet failed in helping me fix this all important issue.

I always remembered that during 11-12 year’s age, I was able to wake up at 4 am and go along with my friends to nearby high school sports field to practise running and physical exercises. That success of past kept pinching me due to continuous failures of the present. I thought that I was able to do that because of group effect as even one person waking up by 4 am means he will wake up other persons and then together, they will go for running and physical exercises. And there was no group effect available as during college (IITK) as well as in USA, I had no one who was eager like me to wake up so early. But, one thing that is present in me is: I am absolutely devoted to the spiritual path despite all weaknesses as spirituality is my only real mother/father that gave me solace even in most inconsolable situations of life. So, I never gave up the quest of waking up by 4 am despite continuous failures over last 8 years. And at last, I solved this problem 100% cleanly. And the solution is based on the same mechanism which worked for me at the age of 11-12. Let me explain the solution below.

Since I am a fan of yoga, I always used to focus on doing yoga inside room just after waking up. And of course, I was failing with this method. 50 days ago (first week of August, 2011), when I woke up at 3 am as per the scheduled setting of alarm clock, I was feeling strong drowsiness. A thought came to me due to analysis of my drowsy situation, “Why not go outside and walk for 10-15 min?” I did exactly that – and oh God! It was an out-of-the-world experience in walking in that perfect stillness on the road with very cool breeze of that early morning hour. I felt so fresh that I cannot describe it in words. I came back and my drowsiness vanished. I thought, why not try it next day also to see whether it can work on every day. And so did I. And it worked on next day. And on next day. And on every day in last 50 days and I have every reason to believe that it is going to work in future also (because 50 days is a long enough time for a sleep experiment to expose any problem).

I modified the routine accordingly and added “Get up, wash face and go outside on road to do 5 min walking + 5 min running + 5 min exercises + then come back to home (takes 5-6 min) totalling around 20 min” everyday as part of my daily routine. And now, my mind feels so elated when the alarm rings just because of temptation to enjoy that out-of-the-world experience of coolness in that calm hour outside under sky that I jump out of bed with great joy to get onto the road as soon as possible. Thus, the reason why I was able to wake up by 4 am at the age of 11-12 was not group-effect, but the amazing experience of coolness of early morning hours under open sky.

Thus, my problem is solved and now, I am able to wake up at 3 am everyday 100% cleanly. My complete yoga routine is as follows:

1.3 am – 4:35 am: (Put on light during yoga – as darkness induces drowsiness)

a.wake up
b.20 min: On road, 5 min walk -> 5 min running -> 5 min jumping & stretching and bending exercises. Then, walk back to house (taking another 5-6 min).
c.6 min (1 min Poorna titali asana + 5 min sarvangasana)
d.5 min Nadi Shodhana Advanced
e.30 min Thoughtless Awareness (start with 5 round Shoonya Pranayam – described at the end of this doc)
f.5 min Nadi Shodhana Advanced
g.10 round Simha-Garjanasana
h.5 min Nadi Shodhan Basic (read brahmacharya quotes simultaneously)

I have a gut feeling that this technique will work for everyone. Additional suggestions for developing “wake up by 4 am” routine are as follows:

1. If you live in a region which is too cold or too rainy or for winter/rainy season, you can buy a treadmill exercise machine for running inside home itself.
2. Girls will find it potentially not-so-safe to get outside at such hours. They can use a treadmill exercise machine for running inside home and/or use rope-jumping inside home itself which is aerobically as effective as running.
3. If you cannot go on road or in a nearby field, please do running & exercises on the roof or balcony – and if that is not possible, inside room by keeping windows open to get fresh and cool air.
4. Beware of stray dogs. Look here and there to detect their presence. If one or more of them are present, do light jogging first so that they do not get startled and start barking at you. After that, move to full-speed running. If you also have a dog, you can take the dog out for running which may perhaps make stray dogs feel friendly towards you by looking at a like-minded fellow running with you – hihi.
5. If you are not habituated to wake up so early, try shifting your sleep schedule by 15 or 30 min a week till it reaches 4 am or earlier waking time. For example, I was sleeping from 12:30 am to 6:30 am during June 2011. I shifted it by 30 min every week (12 am – 6 am next week; then 11:30 pm – 5:30 am next week; and so on so forth) till it reached 3 am in 5-6 weeks. Try only gradual shifting approach; otherwise failure is almost 100% guaranteed in switching from late night to early morning routine as body-mind complex does not accept any rapid change in sleep pattern because sleep pattern is very intimately linked with various physical and psychological processes.
6. Read other techniques described here and here also for sake of completeness.

All is well that ends well. Now, my real spiritual life begins. I will improve early morning yoga practice further by making it 3 hours of thoughtless awareness practice in future, but till civil services project is over, I cannot spend more than 1.5 hours of total time on early morning yoga.

Please feel free to post your comments below. I am inactive on this blog due to civil services preparation, but your comments will surely be read some time in future by me and may surely add some value for the readers who will read this article.

Best regards,
Gopal