________________
Ans. One who does sadhana on one's own, and has
passed the initial stages, becomes uncommitted in many ways. At an advanced stage, living in a natural way can become a part of sadhana. But novices in this field who want to learn something will do well to follow a regular and prescribed routine. The talk of dozing and laziness if forced to get up at the appointed hour before one has had one's full quota of sleep, has not much weight in it, because it is possible through practice to create a healthy habit, which would make an individual wake up from sleep at the right time, and fully rested. Otherwise one can go on sleeping all the day long out of sheer laziness. It has been said :
Sloth, sex, sleep, hunger and wrath are five evil dispositions which increase all the more with gratification.
Sleep is one of these. Experiments have been conducted in this regard. An individual may sleep for 8 hours without any interruption. However, while practising dhyana regularly, a person who normally sleeps for 8 hours, reaches a stage where 2-3 hours of sleep provides him the fullest possible rest. The conclusion is that if you give sleep a free reign, it tends to occupy more and more of your time, but with will-power and control, sleep can be reduced to the minimum. A preksha sadhak is not required to reduce sleep to the minimum, but at least he must arrange his life so that he can get up at about 4 O'clock. A man with irregular living-habits, may experience some difficulty to begin with, but with practice he will soon form a new-and wholesome-habit.
The 4 O clock hour is most appropriate for the sadhak, because at that time the atmosphere is full of
124
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
