According to many accounts, when Srila Prabhupada was living in Vrindavana, before coming to the West, he was living in very simple conditions in the Radha Damodara temple, chanting 64 rounds, sleeping little, eating just one time per day and writing extensively, as well as doing parikramas around the holy places of Vrindavana, organizing the printing of the first volumes of His Srimad Bhagavatam and giving association devotees that would come in contact with Him. Fortunately, his rooms in the temple were preserved, so anyone who goes to Vrindavana can visit.

There are two small rooms one in front of the other. On one Srila Prabhupada was working and sleeping and on the other one he was cooking and honoring Prasadam. When Srila Prabhupada went to live in Vrindavana, the managers of the temple offered these two rooms for him to live in exchange for him doing reformations in the rooms as he could. Srila Prabhupada describes that when he went to live there, the rooms were practically crumbling, but over time he improved the situation.

After Srila Prabhupada came to the West, he suffered several heart attacks and a stroke. According to a few accounts, another challenge he suffered was difficulty maintaining his sleep for more than a few hours per night.

On 16 December 1967, for example, he wrote to Jadurani: “At the present moment, I have got some difficulty in sleeping. I cannot sleep more than 3 hours at night, and 1 hour in day. So if it continues like that, and if I keep fit, I think I shall have ample time to work writing books.”

These three hours per night were later reduced to just two hours or less. In a later conversation with George Harrison (from July 26, 1976), Srila Prabhupada describes sleeping just “at most two hours” at night, plus a nap during the day:

“Prabhupāda: At night I don’t sleep. Not that because I am nowadays sick. But generally I don’t sleep. At most two hours. At most.
Hari-śauri: I think it’s a long time since you’ve taken any rest at night.
Prabhupāda: I take little rest during daytime. So on the whole, three to four hours. But actually I do not like to sleep.
George Harrison: No, it’s a waste of time.
Prabhupāda: I think it is, when I go to sleep, I think that now I’m going to waste my time. I actually think like that.”

In other passages, Srila Prabhupada confirms that he was sleeping just three to two four hours total, divided between one and a half to two hours at night, and one and a half more during the day. Occasionally Srila Prabhupada would take a longer nap, but in general, this was his routine.

This drastic reduction in sleep appears to be a combination of his physical condition and a conscious effort to reduce sleep in order to have more time to write his books. Thanks to this routine, Srila Prabhupada was able to work on his books from midnight to five or five o’clock daily, a time in which most of us are sound asleep.

If any of us were forced to sleep just two hours per night, we would find it extremely difficult to maintain our daily routine. Medically speaking, too little sleep is also not considered very good for one’s health. An ordinary person who doesn’t have enough rest will have difficulties doing anything productive in his day. He will have mood swings, may start having difficulties in dealing with others, and so on.

However, we can see it was not the case with Srila Prabhupada. Not only was he able to maintain very high productivity at night (writing new books faster than his disciples could print them!) but also dealing with people, instructing his disciples, answering letters, giving lectures, and managing an international society with hundreds of temples.

Hari Sauri Prabhu wrote about Prabhupada’s daily routine in his Transcendental Dairy:

“Hari Sauri Dasa: It is hard to say when Prabhupada’s day begins and when it ends, because he never seems to conclude his activities in the way we do. He only rests for a few hours each day, and even that is intermittent. Srila Prabhupada maintains a remarkably regulated daily routine. While here in Vrindavana his schedule is: 6:00 a.m.Wash, brush teeth, and take Ayurvedic medicine. 6:30 – 7:30 a.m. Morning walk. 7:30 – 8:30 a.m. Greet the Deities, guru-puja, then Srimad-Bhagavatam lecture from the Seventh Canto. 9:00 – 9:30 a.m. Breakfast of fruits and chira. 9:45 – 11:15 a.m. Rest on roof for an hour and then meet people (usually by appointment). 11:15 – 1:15 p.m. Massage with oil. 1:15 – 1:45 p.m. Bathe. 1:45 – 2:30 p.m. Lunch prasadam. 2:30 – 3:00 p.m. Sit in room or chant japa. 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. Rest. 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. Meet with specific people or devotees, or chant. 5:00 – 6:30 p.m. Give public darsana. 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. Meet public or senior devotees, GBC business or just chat. 9:30 p.m. Take hot milk, massage and rest. 12:00 – 1:00 a.m. Rise and translate. 5:00 a.m. Light rest or japa. Srila Prabhupada’s typical routine goes something like today.”

According to different accounts, both Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura were following similar schedules. It’s well known that Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was sleeping just two hours at night (from 20:00 to 22:00) and taking one or two short naps during the day.

In this way, our three prominent acaryas showed by their practical example the principle of nidrahara-viharakadi-vijitau, reducing eating and sleeping to just the minimum necessary to keep the body working.

On his purport to SB 5.14.20, Srila Prabhupada wrote:

“Material life means being fully absorbed in eating, sleeping, mating and defending. Out of these, sleep is taken very seriously. While asleep, one completely forgets the object of life and what to do. For spiritual realization, one should try to avoid sleep as much as possible. The Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana practically did not sleep at all. Of course, they slept some, for the body requires sleep, but they slept only about two hours, and sometimes not even that. They always engaged in spiritual cultivation. Nidrāhāra-vihārakādi-vijitau. Following in the footsteps of the Gosvāmīs, we should try to reduce sleeping, eating, mating and defending.”

Naturally, we may not be able to sleep two hours per night, like the Six Goswamis, but we can try to minimize it as far as possible. Before trying to directly reduce sleep, one easier step we can try is to just reduce idle time. One exercise I found extremely helpful is to mentalize what we need to do the next day as we go to sleep, and immediately start doing things when waking up, instead of wasting time or dozing out mindlessly in the first hours of the day.

Counterintuitive as it may seem, taking a nap during the day, as Srila Prabhupada was doing, can also help us to sleep less at night, while at the same time keeping our mind fresh for different intellectual pursuits.