Time is the very form of God… Time wasted is life wasted

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 Kaalaroopaaya (the embodiment of time). All things in the Cosmos, moving and unmoving, are permeated by God. Hence, God is characterized as Kaalagarbha (the One who holds time in the womb). Sages have also described Him as Dheerotama (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 given by the Veda to a man who turns his dhee (intelligence) toward God. The word kaalam (time) is derived from kaa+aIam. 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.

Realize the true goal of your life

In the world, we are continually experiencing the same round of days and nights. You perform the same ablutions and indulge in the same process of filling the stomach. Thus, you go on from year to year. But what efforts are you making to lead a purposeful and an ennobling life? You are going through the same mill of experiences again and again, doing the same things again and again. If you go on in this way, what is the worth of your life? What is the goal of life? What is its primary purpose? Few care to enquire into this basic question.

Hence what we have to examine is how we can lead an ideal, bliss-filled, and a spiritually-oriented life that will serve as an example to others. People are engaged in sadhana [spiritual effort]. But when the outcome of these exercises is examined, it is found to be without meaning. All these exercises are purely designed to provide some sort of mental satisfaction and nothing more.

In my view, neither sadhana nor sadhyam (fulfillment) exists independently and apart from each other. Sadhana and sadhyam are one and the same. It is a trick of the mind to make sadhana as the means to sadhyam (the Goal). True sadhana consists in giving up the anaatma bhava (the idea that one is not the Spirit but the physical body). To turn the vision from the physical to the spiritual constitutes real sadhana.

Today, we have knowledge of many sorts in the world. All these categories of knowledge do not constitute what is regarded as jnana [knowledge] in Vedantic parlance. Atma jnana (knowledge of the spirit) alone is true knowledge. Ordinary knowledge may be knowledge of material objects, sensory knowledge, or any other kind of knowledge acquired by investigation. But none of these can be atma jnana. In the highest sense atma (the Spirit) and jnana (Knowledge) are not two different things. They are one and the same. That is why the Vedas declared: Satyam, jnanam, anantam Brahma (Brahmam is truth, wisdom, and infinite). Truth, wisdom, infinity, and Brahmam are all different names for the Paramatma (Omni-self). They are synonymous. They are not different from each other.

Jnana and bhakti lead to the same goal

What is jnana? The awareness of swaswaroopa (one’s real nature) is true knowledge. Devotion is the means to achieve oneness with this knowledge (when Self-knowledge becomes one with the Self). Jnana implies freedom from all thoughts. The jnana-marga (the path of knowledge) calls for the control of thoughts by appropriate efforts. Whether one takes to the jnana-Marga or the bhakti marga (the path of devotion), the resulting illumination is the same.

For instance, the moon reflects the light of the sun. The light from the sun is warm and effulgent. When the moon radiates the same light, it is cool and soothing. It is the same light that is present in the sun and the moon. The principle that illumines both the sun and the moon is the spirit (atma-tatwa). The sun’s light has been compared to jnana and the moon’s light to bhakti. Jnana is effulgent, while bhakti (devotion) is blissful. Thus, bhakti and jnana are the beginning and the end of the same process.

God accepts all that comes from a pure heart

In the phenomenal world, we recognize three entities—karta, karma, and kriya (the doer, the act of doing, and the goal of the action). This is characteristic of devotion. The sadhaka (spiritual aspirant) is the karta (doer). The sadhana (spiritual exercise) is the karma (what he does). Getting the vision of the Divine is the kriya (goal). The same process is described as jnana (knowledge), jneya (that which is to be known), and jnata (the knower). In the highest sense all these are one. They appear in three different forms at different stages. People are carried away by what they imagine are their spiritual experiences in their sadhana. But what they should really seek is anatma bhava (the giving up of the attachment to the non-spiritual). You should not rely on the power and pelf of the world. God accepts only what comes from a pure heart. He does not yield to any mundane offerings. There is a historical illustration for this.

How Shiva accepted Parvati as Ardha

Both in the Vishnu Purana and the Shiva Purana [scriptures about Vishnu and Shiva], Parvati is described as the most beautiful goddess. Conscious of her own exceptional charms, Parvati desired to win Shiva as her spouse. But all her efforts proved fruitless. Learning a lesson from this experience and shedding her ego, she embarked on a severe penance. Facing the rigors of heat and cold, wind and rain, she allowed her body to waste away by her penance. Her mind was solely concentrated on Shiva. Seeing that she had completely rid her ego, Shiva agreed to accept Parvati as ardhaangini (one half of Himself).

What is the inner meaning of this episode? Nature is symbolic of Parvati. It is exceptionally beautiful. Feeling proud about its charms, it seeks to attract everybody. As it succeeds in its attractions, its ego grows. Man, who is a child of nature, also develops the ego and leads a life filled with egoism. The ego gets puffed up on the basis of knowledge, physical strength, power, position, handsome looks, and such other accomplishments. Even the pride of scholarship takes one away from God.

Persons filled with such conceit can never realize God. Only those free from self-conceit can be God-realized souls. Valmiki, Nanda, Kuchela, Shabari, Vidura, and Hanuman [all devotees of the Lord] are examples of devotees who realized God, but who could boast of no great lineage, wealth, or scholarship. Their supreme quality was freedom from ego. Hanuman, for instance, was content to describe himself as a servant of Rama, despite his great prowess and knowledge. All the accomplishments and acquisitions in this world are transient and impermanent; lured by them, men get inflated and ultimately court ruin. Hence, giving up the notions of one’s own doership, man must regard God alone as the doer. He is the giver, He is the recipient, and He is also the object that is given.

Time is the very form of God. Birth and death are encompassed by time. Everyone, therefore, should regard time as Divine and utilize it for performing sacred actions. You should not waste a single moment. Time wasted is life wasted. The fruits of your actions are determined by time. All your experiences are the results of your actions, whether it is happiness or sorrow, affluence or poverty. Hence, good and bad depend on what you do. As are your actions, so are the fruits thereof. The way you utilize your time determines the outcome.

God is the origin for all Yugas

Hence, this New Year, which is a form of the Divine, should be put to right use. You have heard about the four eons called Krita Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dwapara Yuga and Kali Yuga. These are not distinct from each other. The divisions are based on experiences. Whether it is Krita Yuga or Kali Yuga, it has no separate form. According to the conduct of the people at the time, the name is given for the Yuga. Even during Krita Yuga there were people filled with attachments and aversions. There are even in Kali Yuga people wedded to truth and leading virtuous and peaceful lives. For all Yugas, God is the origin. Hence one of the names bestowed on God is Yugadi (One from whom the Yuga begins). The Yugadi festival is celebrated for this reason. Everything is a manifestation of the Divine.

Not realizing this, man becomes elated when he gets something and feels depressed when he loses something. You should develop the state of equanimity that leaves you unaffected by gain or loss.

Engage yourselves in godly actions

Atma is time and time is God. Therefore, you should not waste time. Fill your time with good actions. There is no greater sadhana than this. Sanctify the time given to you by good thoughts and good actions. For this, you need to cultivate the company of the good that will in due course lead you to liberation. Fill your mind with thoughts of God. Engage yourself in godly actions. This is true sadhana.

People claim to spend hours in meditation. But of what use is it if there is no concentration of mind? It is better if you engage yourself in your regular duties or render social service or participate in bhajans. By these means try to bring the mind under control. Also, such work will be transformed into worship. Dedicate all your thoughts and actions to God. “Sarva Karma Bhagavat Prityartham” (All actions are done to please God). Then your acts get purified.

If you want to experience God, you have to do it through your duties and actions. This is not so easy. You have been listening to Me for many years. You take down notes and listen to tape records. Has there been the slightest change in you? Such is your life. Only when some change takes place in you, that alone is the fruit of your sadhana. You go on spending your days and nights in the same routine, but are you making any efforts to sublimate your life? Endeavour to lead an ideal life. In the absence of any change for the better in your daily conduct, all your so-called sadhana (spiritual practices) will be futile.

God resides in the temple of human body

Jnana is God. Jnana is atma. Prakriti (nature) is jneyam (the thing to be known). Man is a combination of jnana (God) and jneyam (nature). The Bhagavad Gita says that the kshetra (the field, namely the body) and the kshetrajna (the knower of the field, namely the atma) together constitute the human personality. Similarly, the scriptures refer to the human body as the temple and the indwelling spirit as the God installed in that temple. Even a mere intellectual understanding of this fact will make us happy. But we shall be much happier when we put this understanding into practice in our daily lives. However, it is a pity that we content ourselves with pious resolutions in such matters, without a strong determination to put them into actual practice.

Have your hands in society and heads in forest

Without the courage of firm conviction and strong determination, no purpose is served by routine sadhanas undertaken by aspirants who oscillate from moment to moment like the pendulum of a clock. On the contrary, a person who never swerves from his determination even under trying circumstances is called a dheera (a hero) and such a person wins the Lord’s grace.

We should try to seek fulfillment in our day-to-day life by basing our mundane activities on spiritual values. As I have been telling you off and on, you must have your hands in the society and head in the forest. That is to say, whatever be the activities with which you are preoccupied in society, you must be steadfast in holding on to the spiritual ideal. This alone is the true sadhana that will bestow lasting peace on you.

Whatever may be the change in the various pratibimba (reflections) there will be no change whatsoever in the bimba (original). Remember that you are that changeless original—the atma. All your sadhanas should be directed toward establishing yourself in this firm conviction and unwavering faith, culminating in your life’s fulfillment.

Bhajan and japa are one and the same

All your sense organs should be sanctified offering all the actions performed through them as dedication to God. This is true bhajan. “Bha” means that which is bhavyam (sacred or holy). What is bhavyam? The atma tatwa (principle of atma) is divyam (Self-effulgent). The letter “ja” in the word bhajan connotes japa (chanting the Lord’s name). Thus, bhajan and japa are one and the same.

There is a japa (that means constant remembrance of God) that goes on incessantly and automatically within you in the breathing process, whatever be the work in which you are engaged. And that is So-ham. This is the real sadhana, because it goes on without any conscious effort on your part, in the same manner as the process of breathing, beating of your heart, and circulation of blood within you, which take place without any effort by you. These are all-natural processes that go on without any volition on your part. In contrast to this there are some activities that also become involuntary or automatic but because of prolonged practice.

For example, the fingers of one who is in the habit of taking snuff will unconsciously be moving toward his nose. Similarly, because of habit, some people will be engaged unconsciously in japa, with their minds wandering somewhere. This is not real japa. That alone is real japa that goes on in the super-conscious (but not unconscious) state of mind. Do not entertain any doubt about your ability to reach that stage. You can surely attain that state beyond the shadow of doubt, provided you have a strong determination. Unfortunately, you do not evince such a firm determination and tenacity of purpose in respect of spiritual matters, as you do for the sake of mundane things. Man is prepared to put forth any amount of effort to undertake a journey of millions of miles into outer space, but he hardly ever endeavors to go even an inch into his own inner Self. What is the use of all your intelligence and all your worldly acquisitions when they cannot give you atma shanti (the untrammeled peace of the atma)? God alone can confer such enduring peace on man.

Therefore, O Embodiments of Divine love! Recognize that the Samvatsara (new year) connotes God who bears several appellations relating to time. Sanctify the New Year by engaging yourselves in pure, selfless, and ennobling activities. As far as possible, avoid causing harm or pain to others. As you sow, so you reap. Whenever you feel disturbed by a sense of anger, envy, pride, jealousy, and the like, be alert and resort to the contemplation of the Lord.

Source: Divine Discourse, January 1, 1991
Poornachandra Auditorium, Prasanthi Nilayam