As I pen down this article, I feel energised and rejuvenated, when we say waking up 4 am is the most productive hour of the day. Being a South Indian, my day usually starts with Suprabatham of Lord Venkateshwara Kaushalya Supraja Ramapurva Sandhya Pravartate, Uthishtha Uthishtha, the meaning is we start the day with Lord Vishnu in his various avatars, son of Kaushalya Rama, waking him up mantras, which is a ritual in Southern parts of India and sipping the filter coffee, which is so blissful in life, which I had been doing all my life, though over the years instead of filter coffee I have evolved myself into fitness regime of having green tea and yoga.
WHY DO WE NEED TO WAKE UP EARLY IN MORNING HOURS?
This is Brahmamuhurtha which is extremely favourable for meditation and other spiritual exercises. And I start my early hours of day with asana—sitting on Padmaasana, Siddha, Sukha asana for japa and meditation for half an hour, facing the east or north. Taking light exercises (physical) as walking, etc. regularly. We need to do pranayama’s for minimum of an hour.
In the early hours of the day, we can repeat any mantra as pure om or om namo narayana, oM namo shivaya, and other mantras according to our taste from 21 to 108 times according to our conveniences. Most important is dietic discipline—we need to give due importance to sattvic foods, shuddha ahara. We can avoid certain sour products from our life. We need to observe moderation in diet (mitahara). We should not overload the stomach. Giving up those things which the mind likes best for a fortnight in a year. We need to eat simple food, milk, and fruits help concentration.
The glory of waking up according to Ayurveda—In Sanskrit, the daily routine is called as din acharya. Din Means day and acharya means to ‘follow or close to’. So dinacharya is an ideal daily schedule taking into account the nature’s cycle. In Ayurveda, the focus is levied on the early hours of the day as it is instrumental in setting the tone of your day. Ayurveda believes that routine is a discipline for the body and mind which strengthens immunity and purifies the body of its wastes. With the help of simple routines which are healthy in nature, one can clean body, mind, and balance doshas. We can check power of breath—checking through which nostril the breath is flowing more strongly. According to Ayurveda, the right nostril is solar pitta, and the left nostril is lunar-kapha. The right side of the brain controls creative activity while the left side controls logical verbal activity. According to research, when one breathes through the left nostril, then the right side of the brain is more pre-dominant and vice-versa.
As soon as we get up from the bed, we follow the ancient tradition of observing the lines in your palms and remember the Goddesses of wealth, knowledge, and power. Rub the fingertips with your thumbs in a circular soothing rhythm, rub both hands together and move the palms slowly over your face, covering head, shoulders, arms, and legs creating an energy shield which wards off negative influences for the whole of the day.
Early in the morning, we can recite the protection mantra which is very simple and effective morning mantra—
Kar agre vasate Lakshmi (In the front part of the hands, i.e. (the fingertips, lives Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth)
Kar Madhye cha Saraswati (In the middle of part of the hands, i.e., the palm, lives saraswati, the goddess of art and of learning)
Kar mule Vasate Govindam (In the end part of the hands, i.e., the root or wrist, lives Govindam, Lord Krishna)
Prabhate Shubha kar darshanam (It is auspicious to see the hand in the morning)
Positive step—stepping out of the bed early hours of morning, touching your leg on the ground with the side of the body where the breath is flowing dominant (checking nostrils).
We find nowadays chaos reigns supreme in most of our lives, as we get up and juggle ourselves throughout the day and end up exhausted even before their day has started. Yet, we find that a person starts the morning sets the tone for the rest of the day. Time management expert Laura Vanderkam says in her book, ‘What the Most Successful People do Before Breakfast: A short guide to making over your Mornings—and Life’, “The days I do something meaningful with my early mornings hours, I feel like I can conquer the world. The days I’m less strategic soon feel like they are slipping away.”
She clearly is of the view that successful people accomplish things in their lives, are the early risers—one of the key factors towards success. Take for instance, Apple CEO Tim Cook wakes up and sends out company emails at 4.30 in the morning and can be found in the gym at 5 am. Lot of examples we can give from our Upanishads, Puranas, Rishis, Munis, who used to do the morning hours of penance our japa, they received more vibrations inside them.
HOW TO RECLAIM YOUR PRODUCTIVE 4 AM HOUR
We need to have a picture-perfect morning, planning what we would like to do in the morning hours depends and differs from various categories (child to adult—male/female), we need to utilise the morning hours very wisely to do what is important to us—it could be exercising, meditating, praying, reading, taking classes, cooking breakfast for family, indulging in a hobby, etc. Or we could utilise it for work—project ideas, conduct research work, read Newspapers, plan organisational work or focus on career direction. So, we need to do a strategic thinking for day’s schedule in early hours of morning.
Resetting the clock- Using Mornings better way does not mean that we need to wake up at the crack of dawn, it is just that we need to wake up at a reasonable time and more importantly accomplish meaningful things that would be almost impossible to accomplish; later in the day.
Being flexible in morning hours- Staying optimistic and flexible are what will help us make our mornings and jump start the day as we want it to happen for us.
At the outset or rather to sum up, transforming the morning schedule before breakfast and not whiling the time away will make you to accomplish more, feel relaxed, rejuvenated, while others are still in bed. This also leads to a happy, effective, productive, fulfilling, and successful career and life! This refreshed meaningful morning can enrich your entire day productively by utilising the early hours of morning.
Now let me give you all the scientific background of Brahma Muhurta,
friends early morning is considered to be the best time to worship God. It is also known as Brahma Muhurta in the Hindu Mythology. It is regarded that prayers made at this time reach directly to God. Westerners regard Benjamin Franklin’s quote “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise”. As the best advice for success, there is also the expression: “The early morning has gold in its mouth.” We, as Indians, are very well aware of the merits of early awakening. Ayurveda preaches us about this virtue in its own unique way, dinacharya is a wonderful concept gifted by the Ayurveda to the entire world. Dinacharya starts with getting up from sleep in the Brahma Muhurtam.
Ayurvedic Review:
“Brahma Muhurte Uttisht, swastho rakshaarthamayushah.”
A person who is interested in preserving the health and longevity should get up early in the morning; in the Brahma Muhurtam.This is the second last Muhurta before sunrise, which is one hour thirty minutes before sunrise. Brahma means knowledge. The appropriate time for perceiving knowledge is known as Brahma Muhurtam.
Modern Review:
Scientists have discovered that certain brain structures and chemicals produce the states of sleeping and waking, understanding these control mechanisms, helps doctors pinpoint what can go wrong and plan effective treatments.
The classic phase makers for measuring the timing of a mammal’s circadian rhythm are:
Melatonin secretion by the pineal gland
Core Body Temperature
Plasma level of cortisol
WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF GETTING UP IN BRAHMA MUHURTA?
Early morning is vata dominating period. Vata dosha is helpful in promoting body movements both internal and external, thus helps in easy evacuation of bowel. Physical activities, such as exercises, and yogasanas, can be performed in early in the morning. This time is hailed as the best time to learn and realise subtler aspects of philosophy and spiritual growth. The secret underlying this aspect is that there are probably several changes in physical, chemical and biological atmosphere around this time, which probably catalyses spiritual blossoming of an individual. This is indeed a rejuvenating time as the entire universe begins to wake up at around this time. But honestly, including myself, how many of us are able to indulge in waking up at 4 am, this is not to be seen in next generation at all, which is hooked into the virtual world throughout the night for various reasons and wakes up late and then rushes amongst the maddening crowd to script their own space and Identity in their respective lives as such, which is indeed an unhealthy practice according to me. During Brahma Muhurtam, it is found out that there are hormonal changes that are conducive to the blossoming of mind. The variety of electromagnetic radiations, ozone effects of other planets, stars, and so on, on the various biological and psychological parameters reveals a lot of new insights in the interrelationship of man and the universe.
DISADVANTAGES OF GETTING UP LATE
Let me also highlight the disadvantages of getting up late. After six, kapha, domination is seen. So people who get up in kapha period/kala, they tend to be dominated by tamo guna throughout the day. Bowel movements tend to be sluggish, under the influence of kapha. Mind and body will be inactive owing to the influence of kapha dosha. The materialistic mental radiations are emitted through the physical senses of those who wake up after sunrise. The atmosphere is polluted. People will disturb each other, dragging themselves to materialistic discussions. So best time for doing meditation is early morning. Foetid smell in mouth, constipation, indigestion, laziness, many kinds of eye diseases arises just because of getting late in day.
What I would like to conclude myself, where I tried to indulge rather deviate myself from writing articles on current cacophony created by Maharashtra tussle for government formation, and other economy related topics, which is domain of interest, is that I would sum up in nutshell the advantages of Brahma Muhurtam, which if diligently followed by everyone of us, we can easily achieve or rather scale greater heights thereby creating conducive environment towards US$5 economy before 2022.According to me, Brahma Muhurtam is the best time for the best maintenance of all types of physical, mental, and spiritual activities of the body. The time ranging from 1 hour to 1.5 hours before sunrise can be considered as Brahma Muhurtam—all homams/havans, spirituals performed during this time are considered as very auspicious and also it brings in good health and prosperity.
Information as per the modern science proves the importance of Brahma Muhurtam in relation to maintaining normal physiological functions.
Concepts of Ayurveda are already proved by its own scientific reasons, but we need modern spectacles for better understanding, the reason I have given my own insights on this aspect.
Combining Brahma Muhurta with the law of macrocosms and microcosm—during the early morning hours, for example, the active prana would be organising the intelligence of our physical and mental state or pathways, as it does during pregnancy and delivery. Healthy body would allow us for smooth functioning throughout the day. We may take the advantage of the fact that the organisational and delivery principles are particularly active, available and subject to influence at this time and we can provide healthy influences. Each new morning we have another opportunity to establish healthy pathways that will either replace the negative ones or to reinforce the positive vibes into our biological system. Each new day ushers in newer possibilities which lead to achieve newer prospects of better chances of our lives.
I would like to cite another productive example of 4 am, the leader of our nation at the helm of affairs PM Narendra Modi, who works tirelessly, starts his routine in the early hours of morning has a disciplined approach for his morning schedule as he regularly performs yogaabhyaas for an hour to calm down and think fresh ahead for strategising policies for a better, transformed, productive India and giving every Indian—naya din, nayee umeed, and because of his early morning schedule, he is able to accomplish most of his set targets and objectives within the time schedule and also asks his team also to finish in the given deadline successfully. Thus, by doing this act of getting up early in the morning hours, we find India is moving towards Vikas Ki Aur, thereby championing as anti-corruption crusader, Swachch Abhiyaan leading towards a revolutionary movement which spread like wildfire throughout Bharat as Swachta hee seva, scripting nav Bharat—new India—free from vicious cycle of poverty, population, pollution, and only prosperity.
Let me cite Saint Kabir’s lines,
“O Traveller gets up, it is dawn,—it is not right that you continue sleeping. One who wakes, he/she finds, one who is asleep, he loses. Get up and open your eyes from slumber and meditate on your master.”