Direction in which One Should Place One's Head When Sleeping
Does it matter in which direction your body is oriented when you lie down to sleep?
Directions Where One Should Place One's Head When Sleeping
Scriptures, Mahatmas and Hindu Texts
In the Mahabarath (Canto 13: Anusasana Parva, Part 2, Section 104), it has been declared that "One should never sleep with head turned towards the north or the west". The same Ithihaas says, "Men become wise by sleeping eastward and southward." Similarly, in the Vishnu Purana, the Lord has said, "It is beneficial to lie down with the head placed eastward or southward. The man who lies down with his head placed in contrary directions becomes diseased." Echoing this warning, Varshaadi Nool, a Tamil almanac reminds us: "Sleeping eastward is good; sleeping southward prolongs life; sleeping westward and northward brings ruin."
A Tamil proverb says, வராத வாழ்வு வந்தாலும், வடக்கே தலை வைக்ககூடாது; that is, "Even if one is fortunate enough a good life, one should never place one's head in the north to sleep". Another proverb, விடக்கை ஆயினும், வடக்கு ஆகாது: that is, "Even if it is a dead fish, place its head not in the north." Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh in his book, "How to Get Sound Sleep", says "Sleeping with the head towards the north ... is forbidden by hoary tradition and is universally avoided by every discerning Hindu who has any regard for his custom and convention" (pg. 52), and He recommends, "Sleep with your head towards the East... You can sleep with your head towards West or South...." (pg 36, Ibid).
In a 1925-book called South Indian Customs, the author, P.V. Jagadisa Ayyar, commenting on the tradition of not placing one's head in the north or the west when sleeping, says in the chapter on "Sleeping Postures" that the practice of facing the directions of either the east or the south has the support of the Markendeya Purana, Vishnu Purana and Ahnega Tattwa.
Ayurveda
In another book called "Ayurveda: Life, Health and Longevity", the author, a certified medical practitioner of Ayurveda, says, "If you sleep with your head pointing to the north, the Earth's ,agnetic field reduces your peripheral blood flow, and increases restlessness, irritation and confusion in your thinking... Sleeping with your head to the east promotes meditative sleep; to the south, deep, physically restful sleep; and, to the west, overactive or violent dreams." (pg. 100).
In a 1938-book, Bhudeb Mookerjee, a well-known ayruvedic doctor, says, "To sleep with one’s head kept northwards causes several diseases and loss of vitality. To sleep with one’s head kept westwards is also forbidden, in as much as it brings about insomnia and excess of vayu..." (Rasa Jala Nidhi, Vol 4, Chapter 1, Part 16: Iatrochemistry).
Location in the House Where One Should Sleep
Dr. David Frawley (aka Vamana Shastri), who is a Vedacharya, Ayurvedic teacher, Vedic astrologer, and writer, commenting on the planetary positions and effects on our well beings, advises: "...the influences of the northwest, west and southwest tend to be inimical to health as they promote airy (Vata disturbing) forces. The northwest in particular is the direction of disease and Vata dosha overall. One should particularly avoid sleeping in the northwest, which tends to promote the energy of disease and decay. By honoring the influences of the directions, we can bring positive forces into our lives and avoid the negative." (pg. 100, Soma in Yoga and Ayurveda: The Power of Rejuvenation and Immortality by David Frawley) [Note: here, he is talking about the place where one should sleep].
P.V. Jagadisa Ayyar explains that the Puranas and Hindu scriptures, though they hint that certain actions are favourable, yet others are inimical to our well-being, mind and health, "do not explain the 'why' of the principle, fearing, perhaps, that doing which will be tantamount to instructing the people in the last words of magic or superscience --- very dangerous in the hands of the wicked and the unscrupulous.
"Everyone knows that the earth is a huge body magnetised by the force generated by the sun's intense heat. It is also known to all that the earth is almost round and only one-half of it is exposed to the sun's heat at a time. Thus, one portion or other of the earth's surface must always remain hot, and hence the earth is always being surcharged with the thermal magnetism. The portion not so exposed must, of course, remain lower in temperature than the part so exposed. Perhaps, this combined with diverse other reasons has made the earth retain different kinds of magnetic force at the different poles. The persistence of magnetic needle in a compass in assuming a position pointing always the northern direction, however much its equilibrium may be disturbed, fully bears out this truth.
"The human body is a magnet, the aggregate red corpuscles that contain a large percentage of iron contributing to it in no small measure. This body has a sphere of influence surrounding and interpenetrating it, just as the earth has of the substance called ether, the medium for such play of forces. It has also the two poles, the positive and the negative, just as the earth has, in the sphere of ether, otherwise called the sphere of electrons. It is said that objects remain on the surface of the earth because of gravity; but Hindu yogis who are super-scientists, remain suspended in the air against the gravity and have given as explanation that the change of polar magnetism in the body by their willpower makes the earth repel them from its surface and hence they easily float in the space.
"The sun magnetises the human sphere of ether as well as the earthly sphere of ether. The earth being a huge sphere and the human sphere being a tiny one, the former is influencing the latter ever second, and the influence is greatest when man lies over the earth, his whole body remaining in contact with it. If the influence is to be beneficial, then, a man must lie down and sleep with his head in the south or the east. When a man lies down and sleeps the mighty magnet, the earth, at that time of night when man's vitality is at the lowest level, being deprived of the sun's help, pours into or takes away from man his vitality according to the posture he lies in placing his sphere of ether in a postilion favorable to receive or to give up vitality.
"If we suppose that man's head represents the north pole and the feet the south pole, and the magnetic and other forces por from the north pole and low towards the south, then, it styands to reason that the magnetic force flowing over the earth from the north pole, will act in unison with that force flowing from the north pole to the south pole of the sphere in man.
"It is an accepted truth that all forces travel in circles, and return eventually to the place they started from. The heart sends out good blood and received back blood saturated with all sorts of impurities. Similarly, the forces flowing from the north pole is very pure at first and hence when a portion of it pours into the the human sphere by the position it occupies, it results in the man's good health. The forces returning from the south pole is perhaps saturated with all kinds of impure magnetism. A man by lying down with his head in the south, places himself in a position favourable for the flow of impure magnetism into his body. If a man is naturally strong, the flow of force emanating from his body may counteract this flow of impure magnetism, and reduce the evil to a minimum. Or else, ill-health may be the result." (pgs, 147-149, South Indian Customs)
Sources:
1. Soma in Yoga and Ayurveda: The Power of Rejuvenation and Immortality by David Frawley
2. How to Get Sound Sleep by Swami Sivananda,
3. Ayurveda: Life, Health and Longevity by Robert E. Svoboda
4. Rasa Jala Nidhi, Vol 4, Chapter 1, Part 16: Iatrochemistry. [Note: The text includes treatments, recipes and remedies and is categorised as Rasa Shastra, which is an important branch of Ayurveda that specialises in medicinal/ herbal chemistry, alchemy and mineralogy, for the purpose of prolonging and preserving life.]
6. South Indian Customs, the author, P.V. Jagadisa Ayyar
Directions Where One Should Place One's Head When Sleeping
Scriptures, Mahatmas and Hindu Texts
In the Mahabarath (Canto 13: Anusasana Parva, Part 2, Section 104), it has been declared that "One should never sleep with head turned towards the north or the west". The same Ithihaas says, "Men become wise by sleeping eastward and southward." Similarly, in the Vishnu Purana, the Lord has said, "It is beneficial to lie down with the head placed eastward or southward. The man who lies down with his head placed in contrary directions becomes diseased." Echoing this warning, Varshaadi Nool, a Tamil almanac reminds us: "Sleeping eastward is good; sleeping southward prolongs life; sleeping westward and northward brings ruin."
A Tamil proverb says, வராத வாழ்வு வந்தாலும், வடக்கே தலை வைக்ககூடாது; that is, "Even if one is fortunate enough a good life, one should never place one's head in the north to sleep". Another proverb, விடக்கை ஆயினும், வடக்கு ஆகாது: that is, "Even if it is a dead fish, place its head not in the north." Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh in his book, "How to Get Sound Sleep", says "Sleeping with the head towards the north ... is forbidden by hoary tradition and is universally avoided by every discerning Hindu who has any regard for his custom and convention" (pg. 52), and He recommends, "Sleep with your head towards the East... You can sleep with your head towards West or South...." (pg 36, Ibid).
In a 1925-book called South Indian Customs, the author, P.V. Jagadisa Ayyar, commenting on the tradition of not placing one's head in the north or the west when sleeping, says in the chapter on "Sleeping Postures" that the practice of facing the directions of either the east or the south has the support of the Markendeya Purana, Vishnu Purana and Ahnega Tattwa.
In another book called "Ayurveda: Life, Health and Longevity", the author, a certified medical practitioner of Ayurveda, says, "If you sleep with your head pointing to the north, the Earth's ,agnetic field reduces your peripheral blood flow, and increases restlessness, irritation and confusion in your thinking... Sleeping with your head to the east promotes meditative sleep; to the south, deep, physically restful sleep; and, to the west, overactive or violent dreams." (pg. 100).
In a 1938-book, Bhudeb Mookerjee, a well-known ayruvedic doctor, says, "To sleep with one’s head kept northwards causes several diseases and loss of vitality. To sleep with one’s head kept westwards is also forbidden, in as much as it brings about insomnia and excess of vayu..." (Rasa Jala Nidhi, Vol 4, Chapter 1, Part 16: Iatrochemistry).
Location in the House Where One Should Sleep
Dr. David Frawley (aka Vamana Shastri), who is a Vedacharya, Ayurvedic teacher, Vedic astrologer, and writer, commenting on the planetary positions and effects on our well beings, advises: "...the influences of the northwest, west and southwest tend to be inimical to health as they promote airy (Vata disturbing) forces. The northwest in particular is the direction of disease and Vata dosha overall. One should particularly avoid sleeping in the northwest, which tends to promote the energy of disease and decay. By honoring the influences of the directions, we can bring positive forces into our lives and avoid the negative." (pg. 100, Soma in Yoga and Ayurveda: The Power of Rejuvenation and Immortality by David Frawley) [Note: here, he is talking about the place where one should sleep].
P.V. Jagadisa Ayyar explains that the Puranas and Hindu scriptures, though they hint that certain actions are favourable, yet others are inimical to our well-being, mind and health, "do not explain the 'why' of the principle, fearing, perhaps, that doing which will be tantamount to instructing the people in the last words of magic or superscience --- very dangerous in the hands of the wicked and the unscrupulous.
"The human body is a magnet, the aggregate red corpuscles that contain a large percentage of iron contributing to it in no small measure. This body has a sphere of influence surrounding and interpenetrating it, just as the earth has of the substance called ether, the medium for such play of forces. It has also the two poles, the positive and the negative, just as the earth has, in the sphere of ether, otherwise called the sphere of electrons. It is said that objects remain on the surface of the earth because of gravity; but Hindu yogis who are super-scientists, remain suspended in the air against the gravity and have given as explanation that the change of polar magnetism in the body by their willpower makes the earth repel them from its surface and hence they easily float in the space.
"If we suppose that man's head represents the north pole and the feet the south pole, and the magnetic and other forces por from the north pole and low towards the south, then, it styands to reason that the magnetic force flowing over the earth from the north pole, will act in unison with that force flowing from the north pole to the south pole of the sphere in man.
Sources:
1. Soma in Yoga and Ayurveda: The Power of Rejuvenation and Immortality by David Frawley
2. How to Get Sound Sleep by Swami Sivananda,
3. Ayurveda: Life, Health and Longevity by Robert E. Svoboda
4. Rasa Jala Nidhi, Vol 4, Chapter 1, Part 16: Iatrochemistry. [Note: The text includes treatments, recipes and remedies and is categorised as Rasa Shastra, which is an important branch of Ayurveda that specialises in medicinal/ herbal chemistry, alchemy and mineralogy, for the purpose of prolonging and preserving life.]
6. South Indian Customs, the author, P.V. Jagadisa Ayyar
Thank you for this blog it is very helpful, with plenty of very important references especially those from the Puranas. I will pass it on to others that are interested.
ReplyDeleteIn this modern age there is so much unrest and confusion on how to gain good health in a natural way. There is also a reason for everything we do in this world, nothing is by chance and it is through the teachings of Vedic scriptures we can live a healthy, peaceful, happy life. Hare Krsna.🙏🙏🙏