Question: Can I get up early to meditate and then take a nap later on in the day?

Sri Chinmoy: In India it is said that it is a great sin to sleep during the day. There is some truth in this. First of all, during the day if you sleep even for six hours, you don't get the same kind of rest that you would get in a few hours at night, so you are wasting your time. Secondly, day is the time of awakening. When you are supposed to be awake, if at that time you are sleeping, then you are unnecessarily making friends with uncertainty. At night you are dealing with uncertainty and you know it. Sleep is necessary at this point in your spiritual journey. You cannot do without it. But during the day, when you have the opportunity, you should keep yourself alert as much as possible. Again, if necessity demands, it is better to meditate early and then go back to sleep or take a nap during the day, than to try to meditate after 8:00 in the morning. When it is unavoidable, when you are doing something most important and you have to go to bed late, if you get up early to meditate and go to sleep again during the day, it is all right. But, if you just watch television or do something silly and go to bed very late, that is very bad on your part. Either you will not be able to get up the next morning to meditate, or you will have to go back to sleep again during the day. But at that time it will be because of something totally unnecessary. It will be because of your deliberate acceptance of ignorance. At that time it will be very bad.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Sleep: death's little sister, Agni Press, 1974
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/sds