The Supreme Lord is present inside and outside, everywhere in the cosmos. Man today looks only at the outside world like any animal. To look inward is the mark of the true human being. Obsessed with the external and losing the internal vision, man has forfeited his power of discrimination. (SSS Vol.22)
Brahman can be realised only in. a quiet, clear and pure place. Such a place does not exist outside you. It is present in your internal self. From time immemorial, Maharishis have searched for a place of that kind all over, and in the end came to the conclusion that they should turn their vision and their thoughts inward to find such a place and by such a process they could glimpse Brahman and enjoy the Bliss thereof. While such an omnipotent, all knowing and sacred Brahman is present within one’s own self, it is un-understandable that one goes on searching for it in all places external to oneself. The aspect of Brahman is not outside yourself. You should not waste your time and life working for it externally. Time is Brahman. (SSB 1974, p. 56)
When the serpent of time is running behind you and chasing you relentlessly, you run away in great fear not knowing where to seek shelter and you try to escape from it. It is not possible for you to receive any kind of protection from anywhere; even if you run into various corners of the world, you cannot escape this serpent of time which is after you. (SSB 1974, p. 231)
Time is no servant of the body; the body is the servant of time, therefore you can never say when! (RKRV, p. 76)
‘May the short balance of the allotted time be spent in imprinting on my heart the charming lotus face of Nandanandana, the lovely Divine Child that illumined the home of Nanda’, said Parikshit. (Bhag Vahini, p. 220)
Vidura said to Dhritharastra, ‘O foolish King, Have you no shame? Do you still find joy in earthly pleasures? Of what avail is it if you wallow in the mire until you die? I thought you had enough of it and more. Time is a cobra that lies in wait to sting you to death. You dare hope that you can escape it and live forever. No one, however great, has escaped its sting. You run after happiness in this temporary world and you seek to fulfil your desires in order to get some paltry satisfaction. You are wasting precious years. Make your life worthwhile. It is not too late to begin the effort. Give up this cage called home. Dismiss from your mind the paltry pleasures of the world. Remember the joy that awaits you, the world that is welcoming you, the end of this journey, save yourself. Avoid the foolish fate of giving up this life in the agony of separation from kith and kin. Learn to die with the thought of the Lord uppermost in the mind at the moment of departure. It is far better to die in joy in the thick of the blackest forest than to die in distress in the palace of the capital city. Go, go and do tapas. Get away from this place, this prison which you call home. (Bhag Vahini, p. 32)
Joy consumes time more quickly, not so grief. When men are in joy time passes quickly, when they are in grief, it moves slowly. Grief is heavy like a mountain range; it is as the final flood. Man cannot know the value of either joy or grief unless he is aware of them. (Bhag Vahini, pp. 58-91)
The Maharishis divided time into four yugas, called Krita Yuga, Dwapara Yuga, Treta Yuga and Kali Yuga. These will keep coming back again and again. In these, the word Krita, indicates four times and the word Treta indicates three times. The Dwapara signifies two times and Kali gives us an authoritative unit of measurement. According to them 432,000 years is the basic unit and represents the number of years in a Kali Yuga. Two times this, or 864,000 years represents the Dwapara Yuga. Three times this basic number or 1,296,000 years is the measure of Treta Yuga. Four times this measure, namely, 1,728,000 years refers to the Krita Yuga. By adding all these, we get 4,320,000 years and this refers to a Mahayuga. After a Mahayuga, the Krita Yuga will start again. In this manner and by assigning such measures, they interpreted time. (SSB 1978, pp. 7-8)
The body is born for the performance of Karma. Kala (time) should be spent by man in the performance of sacred acts. Time is Divine, God is extolled as ‘Kala swarupya namaha’, therefore, we must utilise time for performing good Karma without aspiring for the fruits thereof. The renunciation, however, must be total, not merely superficial. (SSB 1979, p.113)
Suka said, ‘Maharaja! Evidently you think that all those who know their end is drawing near will, like you, utilise the time at their disposal in seeking to realise the vision of Him who is the embodiment of Time! But such yearning as yours can arise in the mind, only as a consequence of a favourable balance of merit, acquired in previous lives. It cannot arise all of a sudden. Consider the vast difference between what you are engaged in when you know that the allotted span of life is hastening to its finish, and the undertakings Kamsa was engaged in, when he knew that his end was in sight! These two attitudes are named, Deva and Asura, Divine and Demoniac. For those who are equipped with the Devi or the Divine virtues of eagerness to do good acts, and to have good thoughts, faith in God, and compassion towards all beings will emerge during the last days.
Instead, those who are immersed in selfishness or egotism, greed, vice, violence and unrighteousness, will suffer from evil urges in their last days and will destroy themselves. The former attain Kaivalya or beatitude; the latter achieve only hell, Naraka. (Bhag Vahini, p. 227)
All things happen according to the dictates of Time;
Both good and bad depend on Time;
Prosperity and poverty likewise depend on Time;
Time is the determinant of all things,
There is none who is not subject to Time
In this entire world; that’s the Truth.
(SSS Vol.24)
The sun is responsible for the phenomena of night and day, of days, months and years. These are fragments of Time. All phenomena relating to Time are associated with Prajapati (the cosmic progenitor). Time is a manifestation of Prajapati. Time moves in two directions - Uttarayana and Dakshinayana. ‘Ayana’ means journeying. When the apparent movement of the sun is north-wards, the period is termed Uttarayana. When the apparent movement is southward, it is called Dakshinayana. The period of Uttarayana is marked by brightness, peace, rejoicing, fearlessness, and purity. Dakshinayana is characterised by darkness, peacelessness, fear and disasters. Spiritual sadhakas who perform yagas and Yajnas during Dakshinayana reach the moon. The moon is inert and those who go to the moon realise only physical pleasures and material possessions. They cannot realise God. They stay on the moon according to the merit earned by them and when it is exhausted, they return to the earth, as declared in the Gita.
te tam bhuktva svarga-lokam visalam
ksine punye martya-lokam visanti
evam trayi-dharmam anuprapanna
gatagatam kama-kama labhante
(Bhagavad Gita, 9:21)
‘ksine punye martya-lokam visanti,’ when their merit is exhausted, they enter the land of mortals. This may be likened to the exit of an elected legislator from the legislature at the end of his five-year term. The man who has performed meritorious deeds spends the allotted time in the Land of the Moon and then is reborn on earth.
The one who performs spiritual actions during Uttarayana, with concentration on the Brahman and devotion to the Absolute, goes to the Land of the Sun (after death). The Land of the Sun is Prana (the Life-Principle). After reaching the Solar region, the person has no rebirth. punar janma na vidyate (Bhagavad Gita, 8:16), He does not return to the earth again. (SSS Vol.24)
Of all the precious things in the world, time is the most precious. Think over how you are spending your precious time. Your primary duty as a human being is to offer your body, your work and your time to the Lord, who is the very embodiment of time.
Health which is spoiled and lost can sometimes be recovered with the help of medicines. But time, which has gone by is lost for good; there is no way for it ever to come back and be used again. You have to make every effort to make use this precious time in a sacred manner. Time is infinite; it goes of forever. But the time, which is allotted to you, is only a microscopically small fraction of that. Many of you are wasting your lives by thinking that the phenomenal world is real; as a result, you are using all your limited time for enjoying the pleasures of the world. If’ you reflect, even for a moment on what you have achieved and how you have spent your priceless time, you will be very sorry to find that you have used it in such a wasteful way.
You are thinking only of fulfilling your desires and anticipating the comforts that you see before you, not thinking at all of what is lurking behind you, waiting to pounce on you. You are wasting your time without realizing the harm that may befall you in the future. You cannot know at what time, in what place and in what circumstances danger may present itself and come your way. Therefore, you have to sanctify the time at your disposal now and use it properly, recognizing its sacredness and preciousness.
In this chapter on devotion in the Bhagavad Gita, it is said that time is the most important element in your life. ‘Whatever you see, whatever you say, whatever you hear, whatever you think, whatever you do, do it as My work, and offer it to Me. Offer your mind and your intelligence fully to Me. That is the proper way to sanctify your time. If you conduct your life in this way, you have My assurance, you will be saved!’ (DBG, pp. 88-89)
Chaitanya declared: If a fraction of the time that is spent in worrying about wealth, provisions, wife and ‘children, friends and business is devoted to contemplation on the sacred feet of the Divine, one can face the messengers of Death without fear and cross the Ocean of Samsara. (SSS Vol.22)
God is not subject to time. He not only is not under the spell of time, but he keeps time under his control. The one who is bound by time is man. The one who transcends time is God. The one who is mortal is man. The one who is immortal is God. Only when you take shelter in divinity will you be able transcend this element of time. Actually, one of the names of God is Kalakala, which means time-time, or master of time. Time consumes man, whereas God consumes time itself. It is time, which is responsible for man’s progress or man’s decline for the promotion of his good or his fall into evil, for his earning merit or storing demerit. Therefore in the Upanishads we find this prayer: ‘O God, You are the very embodiment of time. Please, help me to sanctify my activities and spend all of my time in remembrance of Your presence, so that 1 may safely reach your Lotus Feet.’
The entire world is inexplicably bound up with time. It is not possible to fight against this element of time. Time does not wait for anyone. Man has to follow time, time does not follow him. Time can be compared to a great flow. All men and all living beings are washed away by this flow of time. If you seek to gain protection from something that is itself being washed away, it is a blind person following another blind person; in the end may both get lost. But if you were to be helped by someone who is standing securely on the bank, you would surely be saved.
The one on the bank who is not caught up in the flood of time, is God. Anyone who takes refuge in God will be able to free himself from all the troubles and problems associated with the principle of time. God has proclaimed the principle of surrender and emphasized its importance, by telling man, ‘O man, you are being washed away by the flood of time. The only one who can shelter is Myself. Take refuge in Me, and 1 will save you’. When man obeys this command and offers himself, his wealth, his property, his entire family at the Lotus Feet, and surrenders himself completely to God, then he will surely be saved. (DBG, pp. 20-21)
God is the embodiment of Time. Time is eternal. It has no end. It is boundless. As against this eternal Time, the life span of man is very limited. Because of his limited time-span, man is bound by the passage of time in terms of hours, days, months and years. All the latter are by their intrinsic nature transient. The Lord declares: ‘Akshaya Kaalah’ (I am the Eternal Time). It is indeed a pity that this eternal time should be considered as a fleeting moment. Man’s actions are governed by the change in time and circumstances. (SSS Vol.26, p.108-109)
The time is divided on the basis of the motions of Moon and the Sun. The former is called Chandramana, which is followed by some people, and the latter is called Souramana, which is followed by another section of people. (SSS Vol.26, p.141)
All things happen according to the dictates of Time; Both good and bad depend on Time; Prosperity and poverty likewise depend on Time; Time is the determinant of all things, There is none who is not subject to Time in this entire world; that’s the Truth.
Embodiments of the Divine Atma! Time is the embodiment of God. Hence Time is called Samvatsara (year). The sages have described God as Kaalarupaya (the embodiment of Time). All things in the Cosmos, moving and unmoving, are permeated by God. Hence, God is characterised as Kaalagarbha (the One who holds Time in the womb). Sages have also described Him as Dheerottama (Supreme among the valiant). The term Dheera should not be understood as meaning one who is a great intellectual or highly intelligent person. Dheera is the appellation or given by the Veda to a man who turns his Dhi (intelligence) towards God.
The word kaalam (Time) is derived From Kaa+alam. This means that God, embodiment of Time, is the One who rewards people according to their deserts. God does not submit to worldly offerings, worldly authority or worldly power. He responds only to spiritual aspirations. (SSS Vol.24, p.1-2)
Do not waste time. At present, you are wasting a lot of time in vain pursuits. In fact, time is our life. Time is everything – ‘Kaalaya Namaha, Kaala Kaalaya Namaha’ (Worship time, Worship the Lord of Time). If you spend such a valuable time, indulging in vain and unsacred things, how can you get it back? It is only to sanctify this life, God has given you your span of time. If you channelize your thoughts in the right path, your actions will be timely. The time, the action, the cause and the duty should be harmonized. Do not ever leave the sacred path; the path will help you lead a sacred life. You can definitely achieve this. (DD on 12-10-2002)