Sleep
Sleep is like closing our shop for the day
Bringing the shutters down, but as a first phase
We tidy up, check stock and account books
Seek new resources and peek at needs
Plus dream of more gains, assuaged environs
Sorted out issues and disentangled debts
Thus unwinding and closing off
To retire and enjoy sound deep sleep.
But isn't sleep a daily rehearsal for death?
For the final winding up, lock stock and barrel
Back to the elements into entropy's haven
For the delight of micro-friends gathering for a meal.
Young was smart, sought, from death,
From God of death as the old folks thought,
Confronted by how and what if any are beyond demise
The busy God clarified, 'Ponder, be patient,
Choose the permanent and not the passing,
Choose the good and be not swayed by temptations,
To be fulfilled like those who have gained wisdom and strength'.
Would sleep be sound if good is favored, not the fleeting
Not the transitory but that fixed and illumined by 'inner light'?
Yamaraja Answers The Questions Of Nachiketa -- Dominique Amendola
In the Katha Upanishad (ca. 5th century BCE) Nachiketas, the son of the sage Vājashravas ("famous for donations"), noticed that his father, though offering to donate all his possessions to the gods, actually donated only the cows that were old, barren, blind, or lame. So he reminded his father, "I too am yours, to which god will you offer me?" Vājashravasa replied, "I give you to Yama (Death)." Nachiketas waited at Yama's home for three days; Nachiketas asked for peace for his father and himself, how to perform the sacred fire sacrifice, and to know the mystery of what comes after death. Yama tried to get the boy to exchange his last request for material gains, but Nachiketas pointed out that material things are transient. So Yama instructed him on the nature of the true Self, which persists beyond death, because it is inseparable from Brahman, the vital force in the universe. Smaller than the smallest and larger than the largest, the Soul is formless and all-pervading. The Soul is like a rider, but the senses are the horses he guides through the maze of desires. The inability to realize Brahman results in being enmeshed in the cycle of rebirths, while understanding the Self leads to moksha (nirvana). In the "Mahabharata," as an adult, Nachiketas was one of the sages who attended Yudhishthira's sabha (royal assembly). His name had various meanings in Sanscrit (That which is unperceived; the quickening Spirit that lies within all things, like fire is latent in wood; the spirit that gives; the thirst for the unknown; sacred fire; the one who seeks nothing but unending spiritual energy).
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