Time - Use it or Lose it

(Compiled from notes on lectures of H. H. Mahavishnu Goswami)

The following is a transcription of a part of an astounding lecture given by our spiritual master H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaja in South Africa.

"There is no need of running away from the responsibilities but there is a need of waking up. Don’t run away but wake up in your own situations. And know that all situations, however good or bad, are temporary by nature. Sooner or later the situations are going to change because the medium of the situation which is our body, is ever changing.

Bhagavad gita 2.13

dehino 'smin yathaa dehe
kaumaaram yauvanam jaraa
tathaa dehaantara-praaptir
dhiras tatra na muhyati

Dehino, this soul, dehino ’smin yathaa dehe, kaumaaram yauvanam jara it has accepted this body. In this body it was a child before. We were two years old, we were four years old, we were ten years old. All those bodies are gone. Now you may be youth or middle aged or old or whatever it is and soon the body will change dehaantaram anupraapya praaktanam tyajate vapuh (S.B. 10.1.39).

In Bhagavatam it is very nicely said that, dehaantaram anupraapya we will have to change the body and according to our activities we’ll have to accept another body. This process is going on continuously and we don’t know that the time is acting on every constituent of the material manifestation. And this is how Krishna controls everybody. This chair was manufactured, this table was manufactured. This microphone was manufactured. At the moment they are maintained so we are using them. And the time will come when they will fall apart and be useless to us. That is destruction. All these material things they are under the law of the eternal time. And eternal time is the eternal weapon in the hands of Krishna. Krishna controls everything through the time, and on that field we don’t have any control. We living entities can control anything and everything but not time. You may have amassed wealth, you may be in a very beautiful country, but your body has to go old. There is nothing you can do about it. Once the living entity who understands this hand of Krsna on everything in the material manifestation, then he or she understands the need of coming to Bhagavad gita and singing the glories of Bhagavad-gita, singing the glories of God, Krishna and following a very clean cut life. Honest, thoroughly honest. As soon as we understand these things, we come to the glorification of the Lord because time is in His hands, and time is not under our control. And herein we are helpless. If you waste your time, then time cannot come back; kshana eko ’pi na labhya svarna-kotibhih (Chanakya-shloka 34) You may be ready to spend millions of dollars or rands (South African currency), but you cannot get today morning. It’s gone, it’s gone. So when you utilize the time you should be very miser about it. You should utilize the time very productively. Otherwise time is gone, never can we regain. However hard we try we cannot regain the time. It is very nicely said in English, either you use it or lose i. If you use it, it is to your advantage. If you lose it, you’re dead, gone, the time is gone. This thing, one who understands then they get attached to the Supreme Lord because under His control the time is there. And if you can please Him then maybe the time will not have that acute effect on your body or your possessions or your family. This is the meaning of the liberation, that we are liberated from the effect of time. These devotees, see within six months they shine, you know? And we may see after two years that they become younger and not older. This is how to some extent they win over the time because the controller of the time is in their possession. If you possess Krishna every second of your existence then time is under your control."


Chant,

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna

Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama

Hare Hare

and be happy.