Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, Verse 69

या निशा सर्वभूतानां तस्यां जागर्ति संयमी । यस्यां जाग्रति भूतानि सा निशा पश्यतो मुनेः ॥

yā niśā sarva-bhūtānāṁ tasyāṁ jāgarti saṁyamī | yasyāṁ jāgrati bhūtāni sā niśā paśyato muneḥ ||

What is night for all beings, in that the self-controlled one is awake; where beings are awake, that is night for the seeing sage.

After describing the steady sage's detachment and sense control, Krishna reveals a stunning inversion: what ordinary people are unconscious of—spiritual reality, the Self—the saṁyamī (self-mastered one) is awake to. What ordinary people chase—material pleasures, status games, ego satisfactions—the muni (sage) sees through as ultimately hollow. Not superiority, but different consciousness: like an adult who's 'asleep' to children's games yet 'awake' to deeper concerns. The sage operates from a wavelength most people haven't tuned into yet.