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Articles: My Thoughts | Where is the time?
- Mr. sgmdev sgmdev
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Durlabham Manusho Dehaha’ it is extremely difficult to obtain human birth. And having obtained this, it goes without saying that every moment is inexplicably invaluable. In the Yoga Vasishtham, Sage Veda Vyasa mentions, ‘The time that has passed by never returns. Priceless gems too cannot buy back the time which has passed by. And so, it’s stupidly dangerous to waste such time’.
There are very few who actually ponder over one basic question - What is the Human life given for? And among those few, only few understand the importance of Sadhana during one’s life. Then, there is a general lethargy in performing spiritual sadhana and people, who realize its importance, tend to be laid back and try to postpone it to a later stage of their lives. It takes very less time to understand that there is really very less time to perform Sadhana.
On an average, about 8 hours in a day are spent in sleeping, another 8 hours either for earning livelihood or for studies, 30 minutes per day for cleaning the body, 30 minutes for eating. Just applying simple Mathematical calculations we can understand that, if we assume that a man lives for about 100 years (which is on the higher side while the average life expectancy is about 65 – 70 years), then about 25 years are spent in sleep, 2.08 years for taking care of the body, 2.08 years for just having food, about 6.84 years for earning bread, 4.25 years for studies. In all he spends about 40.25 years just doing this and in effect, about 60years of time is left for him to even think about anything else. Out of this about 15 years are spent in childhood, which is an embodiment of total ignorance.
Later till the age of 50, life is spent in pleasures. And then after that man realizes that the worldly pleasures are just ephemeral. But, the old age shatters the body and it eventually dies. So, where’s the time to actually perform Sadhana?
When some children do pujas or bhajans with devotion, elders comment, 'Why all these pujas and devotion from now itself? You can do all that later.' To do anything after a certain age it is not possible. We must practice it from now itself. Then good thoughts will soon ensue. An army is prepared beforehand to be ready for war if required. After the war is declared we cannot then and there prepare an army. All that we do in our lifetime will support us during our last days.
Among the joys that man desires, the joy of liberation is true and eternal. By the union of Shiva and Shakthi one became many. Till that ‘many’ goes back to ‘one’ there is no peace or happiness. Only then eternal and true bliss is attained. To achieve our destiny karma and jnana are especially difficult. For this, devotion is the easiest path. It yields one the grace of God. Bhakti is the combination of all the three yogas. Therefore if devotion is gained it is equal to gaining these three. Like the chutney that is made with equal proportions of salt, chilli powder and tamarind, devotion gives taste to the tongue and bliss to the soul.
It is often said that birth as a human is an opportunity to improve oneself and to attain liberation. Of the many methods of achieving the latter, Bhakti is the simplest and the easiest. Krishna said so to Arjuna in the Dwapara Yuga and it is more so in the Kali Yuga. Paradoxical as it may sound, more people get liberated in the Kali Age than in the other Ages, because it is only in the Kali Age that the prescribed path is Bhakti- in other words, the threshold for liberation is actually lowered in the present Yuga. The major benefit of the devotional path in this Age is that it avoids the pitfalls of pride. Our era is characterised by personal pride and self-aggrandisement.
Devotion promotes humility and surrender to the Divine Will. On the path of Devotion, the Lord Himself guides us to our goal. The ego is most easily destroyed by Bhakti; by dwelling on the magnificence of the Lord and by humility and service to others as children of the Lord.
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