What happens when I feel like I am falling asleep more and more?

Question: OSHO, I WONDER IF I AM FALLING ASLEEP MORE AND MORE...? The first seed, Samada, has happened in you. Rejoice! You are not falling asleep, you are becoming aware of your sleepiness -- you were not aware before -- and, of course, when one becomes aware, it hurts. When one becomes aware that how unconscious one is, one always has been, one feels very sad, one feels in great turmoil. One cannot believe that, "This is the way I have existed up to now!" One feels absurd, ridiculous. But you are looking at the wrong side, at the negative side. You are simply looking at the sleepiness that has surrounded you up to now. You are not looking at the small candle of light that has started growing in you, which is becoming aware of the surrounding night, of the darkness all around.

It is just like in the morning one hovers, mm? The sleep is gone but one is not yet awake. One can hear some noise coming from the outside: the milkman knocking on the door, the wife preparing the tea, the children preparing for the school. One can hear little bits floating and then one falls asleep, and then again one hears.... That hovering, that wavering state, that's where you are, that's why you became aware. It is good! You are not very fast asleep; you are not snoring! Otherwise there are people -- you are nothing compared to them -- who are so deeply asleep that they will not become aware that they are asleep. And if you insist too much they will start dreaming that they are alert and aware. But that is just a dream! You could not dream it either.

Osho, why do I always fall asleep during the discourse?

That's what happens in many car accidents. Many car accidents happen somewhere in the night nearabout between two and four, and the reason is that the driver is trying hard to keep his eyes open; by and by, he becomes capable of keeping his eyes open, and still he falls asleep. He keeps his eyes open and falls asleep with open eyes. Now this is a scientific finding. And that makes the whole problem: because he thinks he is awake he goes on driving because his eyes are open, but the sleep has taken possession of him, he is no longer aware. When you are awake, there is not much wakefulness; just a small part of you is awake. So you are not a loser, don't be worried. Whenever sannyasins come and ask me, "What should we do?" I tell them: Don't fight, otherwise you will miss me and you…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, IN ALMOST EVERY LECTURE I HAVE THE TENDENCY TO GO TO SLEEP. WHEN THAT HAPPENS, I WAKE UP WITH A SHOCK, OR RATHER IN A SHOCK, WHICH GOES THROUGH MY WHOLE BODY. IS THIS THE WHIP? Not yet! Just the shadow of the whip. But it is still something: the shadow of the whip. If you are a man of understanding, the whip will not be needed; its shadow will do. If you are not a man of understanding, then sooner or later the whip itself will be needed. Buddha has said that there is one type of man for whom just the shadow of the whip is enough. Just like very, very intelligent horses: just the shadow of the whip is enough. Then there is a second type: the sight of the whip is needed, the shadow won't do -- the mediocre mind.

Osho, I don’t see dreams in sleep, yet it feels as if I haven’t slept for many days. At the slightest disturbance the body wakes up, as if I had been awake all along. But I don’t feel tired, and the hours of sleep seem to slip away. Please tell me what this state is?

Good, auspicious; do not be afraid. Dreams will slowly disappear. When the witness is awake, dreams cannot be. If there is dreaming, there cannot be witnessing. Good. The dream has fallen away; a sense of wakefulness remains through the night. Gradually it will deepen and grow denser; swiftness and intensity will come. The witness becomes keen—like the edge of a sword. But in the beginning there will be difficulty. We believe that eight hours of sleep are necessary—this is a notion—and then what is this that is happening? The whole night seems to pass as if awake. And if you remain “as if awake” for eight hours, the night feels very long, as if it will never end. If you sleep, you forget; you do not know when the night began or ended. You sleep and it is morning. But now it feels as if all night it remained morning;…