Samāna urve adhi sangatasaḥ sam jänate na yatante mithaste
Te davanam na minanti vratänyamardhanto vasubhiryādamānāḥ.
– Rigveda 7/76/5
They gather at one place and take decisions with one mind. They do not act against one another. Not shirking their duties, and living in majesty, they do not break the decrees of gods.
We should know the value of time and honour its sanctity. All the secrets of life are encapsulated in this. Every instant, every moment is invaluable in itself, because it brings with it unique opportunities for us. One moment missed is one opportunity gone. Whatever that opportunity could have given us, we are now completely deprived of that. Every moment is thus priceless, because it has no equal, no substitute. What it is to bestow on us can never be given to us again by any other moment. To grasp the unmatched importance of time we should always bear in mind that it was a moment that gave us life. From that instant of birth till today, we have drifted in the stream of time formed by ceaseless drops of moments.
It is another matter that in this drift we practically remained unconscious and kept losing many things, missing the unending gifts of time. If we go into its reasons, the lion’s share of responsibility may be laid upon our insentience-driven lethargy. The other reason our disorderly life-style and its concomitant bad habits. Caught in this whirl, we have become a perpetual loser of opportunities in life. In our dim and dumb stage of mind we are not even cognizant of this loss, and if, on being reminded by somebody, we do take notice, it is of no purpose because by that time it has become too late. The great poet-saint Tulsidas very aptly says: “Samaya chuki puni ka pachhitane, ka varsa jab krshi sukhane” Meaning: There is no point in repenting after the time has passed. Of what use is rain when the crop has dried?
More or less, same is the plight of our lives. Still we fail to imbibe this truth. Latent urges of the unconscious, habits and samskars have such a spell over our consciousness that we just do not have the sense to do the right thing at the right time, and opportunities keep skipping by us.
If change has to come, sit up right now, even as you are reading these lines. Come out of the stupor and wake up because the value and significance of this moment, is more than all the past and future moments. It has arrived bearing for you the golden gift of awakening. It has come to make you conscious of the sanctity of time and your own ordained duty. Do not let this moment pass in vain; do snatch benefit from it. Be firmly resolved this moment that you will swim like a champion swimmer in the inexorable flow of time. He who determines the direction of his course, makes his own paths, and with untiring endeavor break the hold of the strong current, is ultimately able to reach the shore.
There is a corpse-like state of existence too. The corpse, too, drifts with the current, but being lifeless and senseless, is not in a position to do anything. The waves toss and fling it about at will. It has neither any goal nor the ability to reach it with proper utilization of time. But then, what can it do after all? A corpse, that it is! Let us pause and mull over our situation. If we are being unable to make right use of time, is the nature of our existence any better?
Yugrishi Gurudev in his regular addresses to the parijans frequently emphasized the importance of time. He would say that the other name of samaya (time) is Kaal (the Law of Time), which is the controller of life in all respects and all aspects. He who does not respect Kaal is annihilated by Kaal; he, who follows its rules, has his glory immortalized by Kaal.
1. The first key to the observance of the rules of Kaal or Time is that we recognize the truth that our life is floating in the great stream of time. Only by purposeful use of the approaching moments and seconds and days can we actualize life’s potential.
2. The second key is that the life is our pious responsibility; we have to carry it out with full wakefulness.
3. The third important point is that on every birthday, when the exact time of our birth arrives, we should prepare and adopt a work plan for the next one year. Ensure that the plan is framed in a way that it permits fruitful utilization of every day and every moment.
4. The fourth point is that this work-plan should assign due importance, with proper time allocation, to all the dimensions of life, viz. the body and health, intellectual and spiritual pursuits, family responsibilities, office work, studies, social obligations etc.
5. Fifthly, this annual plan should have a break-up of monthly, fortnightly and daily schedules, too.
The daily schedule would form our daily routine. The nature of this daily routine should be that every day could be lived fully and in its entirety. A rebirth every morning, every night, death – try to experiment with this intrinsic feeling every day.
Time-wasting bad habits, like casino, cinema, nightclubs and the like should be driven out. Start today, this moment. Do not make excuses for these urges, and your habitual laziness in the name of recreation. For recreation, go for good and healthy pastimes. In this way, only by making meaningful use of time, we will be able to fashion a positively magnetic personality.
Book : Jeevan Sadhana – A Noble Art of Living
(Edited)