BABA'S SLEEPING PLANK:

Once Baba talked of the plank he used to lie upon. It was only 5 feet
long and about 15 inches broad and lamps were loosely placed on it.
It was suspended from the rafters of the ceiling of the mosque by
weak shreds of cloth. The wonder was how it could support him, and
another wonder was how Baba could swing himself up into it (it was
hung up 6 or 7 feet high) and jumped down from it, without upsetting
the lamps and snapping the shreds. Das Ganu and others went to see
the wonder and Baba, in anger or disgust, broke the plank into pieces.

H.S. Dixit offered to give Baba a cot then to lie upon.

Baba: No. Am I to lie on a cot, leaving Mahlsapathy on the floor? Far
better would it be that I should be on the floor and that he should
sleep higher.

Dixit: I will give two planks, one for you and one for Mahlsa.

Baba: He will not sleep on a plank. He will sleep only on the ground.
Sleeping on the plank is no joke, who will sleep keeping eyes open,
all awake like me? Only such a person can lie on the plank.

When I lie down on the ground, I ask Mahlsapathy to sit by me and
keep his palm on my chest. So you see that a plank will be of no use
to him. `I lie down making mental Namasmarana.' So, I say to
Mahlsapathy, "Feel it by placing your hand on my heart. If you catch
me napping, wake me up.' Such was and is my order to him.

(The ordinary sleep is a hindrance to the Yoga trance, it resembles
it in some respects, but the heart-beat at the Namasmarana stage of
trance differs from the heart-beat of natural sleep)

(Courtesy: HH Pujyasri B. V. Narasimha Swamiji)
Shri Vasuki Mahal Shirdi Saibaba Trust, Coimbatore, India