The Hour of the Soul

There is a time when the veil between the physical world and the spiritual world is thinnest. It is the time of great power and potential. It is called the hour of the soul. At this time the mind is in its most receptive state, away from the disturbance and distractions of the day. This time of stillness and tranquillity provides a high level concentration to work on new ideas and theories. An eminent scientist Nikola Tesla is best known to wake up at 3:00 am, regularly. He maintained this practice throughout his life which was a key to his productivity and incredibility. Tesla was a man of enormous talent and vision. His scientific contributions extend beyond Physics and electrical engineering. He was also a pioneer in areas such as radio and robotics. His work has paved the way for many of the advances that we take for granted today. It is not just a scientific genius in him that made Tesla a fascinating figure but he was also known for his sleeping rituals. Tesla practised what is known as polyphasic sleep sleeping. He would sleep only two hours a night and take short naps during the day. He believed that this rhythm of sleep allowed him to make the most of his energy and creativity. Despite being a scientist his connection with the spirituality was deep.

It is said that God visits us very often but most of the time we are not at home. Unfortunately, God can get our attention only in a state of vulnerability or trauma. When we wake up in the middle of the night, it is often due to some bad dream, or we may be feeling too hot or too cold. There can also be a few sleep disorders responsible for waking us up amidst night. These include stress, insomnia, circadian rhythm disorder, and nightmare disorder.

However, we may also wake up feeling recharged and fuelled, as if a higher power was working through to give us a lot of energy. This mysterious moment has caught the attention of many. In this particular corner of time, it is said that the barrier between the divine and the earthly stretches so much that it almost disappears. It is in this magical and enigmatic hour that Nikola Tesla had suggested that God could whisper cosmic secrets to us. This is the chosen time for celestial connection when space and time interweave and are full of cosmic intrigue and hidden revelations. The connotations of the same can be found in Quranic and Biblical verses and may be no less likely there in the Vedas.

As for instance, in the chapter (73) verse (20), of the Quran it is said that indeed, your Lord knows that you stand in prayer almost two thirds of the night or half of it or a third of it. So is it mentioned in chapter (51) verse (17-18) of the Quran that the righteous servants use to sleep little at night and would seek forgiveness during the early hours. The hours before dawn are considered the best for supplication. Likewise there are several references in the Bible where individuals rise early in the morning to pray or seek God’s guidance. For example, in Psalm 5:3 (NIV), it says, “In the morning, Lord, I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.” In the Gospels, there are instances where Jesus rises early to pray. In Mark 1:35 (NIV), it says, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”

While the exact reasons of why Tesla would get up so early may not be fully documented, it is not unlikely that his daily routine might have stemmed from a combination of his personal beliefs as a Christian, work ethic, productivity beliefs, and his dedication as a scientist and inventor. In addition to productivity, waking up early streamlines the routine, enhances the biological rhythm, provides solitude and decorates the discipline.

In the aforesaid context, if we case study Kashmir, for instance, there are no good mornings and no good evenings here. Instead there are late mornings pushing for late evenings. We don’t get late but we set late. Our time clocks are quite asynchronous and our schedules lopsided. Our alarms ring when our immediate neighbours in spacetime have finished three hours of productive work. Jammu is not that distant to feel this difference not to speak of mainland India. I may have a limited opinion but I am sure it must not be limited to me only. There is a certain time in morning before which a vegetable seller is not available, a milkman cannot be found or a grocery shop is not yet open. The working classes who may not be able to leave the offices, tend to shop before the offices start. However the closed shutters shut them up and they return in despair. Online shopping may not be a remedy to everything especially emergencies. Elsewhere it is like customer is a God. At our place, let the God go to heaven and the customer to hell. We give a damn. We will not get up before filling the self scheduled sleeping quota. I wonder if we can ever say a good morning to each other when it is really a morning.

Dr. Qudsia Gani is Head, Department of Physics, GDC Pattan-Baramulla.