Question: Should seven hours be the maximum?

Sri Chinmoy: For the disciples I always say seven hours, but again, every rule admits of exception. If somebody is used to sleeping for eleven hours, I don’t dare to tell that person to immediately start sleeping for only seven hours. That person should gradually reduce his sleep to ten hours, then to nine hours, eight hours and finally seven hours. If you have been sleeping eight or nine hours, then try to make it seven hours. But if you have been sleeping for eleven hours, then try to reduce it gradually. Again, you see that some people who do selfless service sleep five hours a night, or not even that much, because necessity knows no law. There is one disciple who comes to the printing press early in the morning and works until twelve o’clock or one o’clock at night. Then again in the morning she has to come back. There are some disciples who get five or six hours sleep a night. There are some disciples who are constantly working for me, for the Supreme in me, who never get more than six hours sleep. Some of the boys and girls who work twenty-four hours a day for me conquer sleep automatically, just as I conquer sleep, because the opportunity is afforded to them. They don’t get even six hours sleep because I give them work twenty-four hours a day. But in your case right now you should get seven hours of sleep, otherwise it will tell upon your health.

From:Sri Chinmoy,A twentieth-century seeker, Agni Press, 1977
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/tcs