Baba says, “At the time of going to sleep, clear your intellect. Whether it is something good or bad, empty your intellect, hand over everything to the Father and go to sleep with the Father, never alone.“

Thoughts before sleep usually turn into dreams. And the thoughts that I have before sleep are based on the thoughts, words, feelings and actions throughout the day. Because I’m usually busy during the day with activities, my mind might lose sight of that negative thought or feeling that arose based on something that happened, or forget about that action I performed that hurt someone. But at night when the day’s activities are over and I am ready to sleep, those thoughts and feelings come racing back. I toss and turn over why I’m not feeling so good, why I’m not as peaceful or light; my mind rewinds the whole day until I find that action that caused someone sorrow or that hurtful word someone spoke to me. Then, forget falling asleep, I am wide awake, feeling angry or hurt again. Then when I finally sleep, I even dream about those people or about those events.

Clinical psychologists say that even thinking about work, or listing off things that need to get done tomorrow is a bad habit that can keep my mind racing. Turns out the brain has a tendency to ‘catastrophize’ at night too! We imagine that things are worse than they are- whether it has to do with a relationship or a work problem. At night when the lights are out, many people tend to blow things out of proportion; darkness is conducive to this, which is why panic attacks too often happen at night. To avoid these scenarios, psychologists recommend something God, has been telling His children to do for decades: “write your chart”. Psychologists call it a different name- they suggest “journaling” about what’s troubling me before sleeping so that it’s processed and out of my system.

“Check”, says Baba, “that you went to sleep having given BapDada your chart of the whole day and made your intellect free.” It mustn’t be that I came home tired and immediately went to bed. That, He explains, is carelessness. Whether good or bad, first, He says, give everything to the Father and empty your intellect. But don’t stop there…go to sleep with the Father, not alone. “When you sleep alone, you have dreams.” Sleeping alone with the load of the world on my mind, in the darkness of the night is the perfect recipe for that ‘catastrophizing’ that psychologists talk about. This, of course, does not mean that I go find myself a companion in the name of ‘following Baba’s direction’; that would be the sign of a foolish intellect. I already have the best Companion, I don’t need anyone else.

But when I don’t use the companionship and try to do life alone, go to sleep alone, then I have dreams- impure dreams, scary dreams. Then I wake up in the morning craving purity in my heart because the purity was broken in my dream. The breaking of purity doesn’t just refer to lustful dreams, but it also could be feelings of jealousy, ill-will, fear, revenge etc. that I may have felt in my dream. These kinds of dreams make me restless, they make me feel badly about the kind of person I think I’ve become. “So, don’t become careless.“, teaches Baba. “Don’t fall asleep talking about whatever has come up from here or there, because there is a lot of news about everything, and interesting news is always wasteful.”

Many say that they don’t have time to catch up with family members throughout the day, that late evening is the only time they get to exchange their news. “However“, says Baba, “don’t got to bed while talking about wasteful things.” To do that would be carelessness. Maybe I had to talk with my spouse or kids about something important but then after that, I do need to take some time to give it all to Baba. I need to unload my day, pour out my heart, all my innermost fears, doubts, feelings, whatever, all to Baba. Only then must I go to bed. Also, advises Baba, if I do need to speak to someone about something, “then you can talk about it in another room, but not in your bedroom. If it is something essential, you may go out for two seconds and share that, but do not share that while in bed.”

So the beginning, that is, amrit vela and end of the day are key. “When your beginning and end are all right, the middle will automatically be all right.”, explains Baba. Some children lose sight of time completely, even stay up till midnight or later. “You become so absorbed in talking about things that you don’t even realize what time it is.“, points out Baba. Then, when I wake up for amrit vela, I am so tired that I spend half the time in the land of sleep and the other half in yoga. “Those who go to sleep with carelessness will also be careless at amrit vela. Don’t think that no one is watching you; BapDada is watching you.“, points out Baba. That is our loving Father, He always has His child in His sight. So the thing to do, the Father teaches His children, is to go to sleep on time, after emptying my heart to Baba and with Him, not alone. Then, when I wake up well rested, I have a great start at amrit vela and that lays the foundation for the rest of the day.