Spiritual Message for the Day – Take Time by the Forelock by Sri Swami Chidananda

Baba Times Digest© | 3 January 2015 12.23 EST | New York Edition

Take Time by the Forelock

Divine Life Society Publication: The Message of The New Year by Sri Swami Chidananda

Om! Om! Om!

In the West, the imaginary conception of Time as personified is this. It is an old man with a huge flowing beard. Time is ancient. No one can stand before time. This old man has in his hand a sharp long scythe by which he cuts short everything. He is the disposer. In his hand, he has an hourglass where the sand is constantly dripping from the upper chamber to the lower one. The most peculiar feature of all in this funny old man is that he is absolutely bald in his head, but for a big tuft of hair in front. The whole significance of this conception lies in the forelock given to time. If you wish to catch hold of time, do not let it pass away; you have to catch time by the forelock. Then you may arrest him and make use of him. But, once time has passed, there is nothing by which you can catch him, because he is bald in the back.

This conception brings us to the third important factor that you have to remember. Never lose opportunities. Make the best use of every opportunity that God gives to you in all His love and mercy. An opportunity once lost is lost forever. When God has given us this great opportunity of opportunities—this human birth—of achieving the greatest thing that can be achieved, viz., the imperishable treasure of everlasting, eternal, infinite bliss and peace, it should not be lost. At the same time, life is fickle. Just as a drop of water put upon a white-hot piece of iron disappears even without leaving a trace behind, even so this life is just an appearance for a fleeting moment in Eternity and it at once disappears without any trace at all. This opportunity will not come again. Knowing this is an opportunity and that it is rushing towards its end, the sages cry out from house-tops: Awake, arise, stop not till the goal is reached: do not be ever immersed in this Samsara of pain, disappointment, grief, disease and death.

Therefore, these great ones with their heart throbbing with love for human beings, wish to share that experience with us. This is an opportunity for attaining Immortality, they say; and, therefore, "Be up and doing in Yogic Sadhana. You will attain Immortality, Kaivalya Moksha." We should listen to this message of the New Year and make the best use of this rare human birth.

These thoughts do not arise in the ordinary mind which is outgoing. Only in that blessed mind, where the light of Lord’s Grace has reached and penetrated the darkness of grossness, that these thoughts arise. "Why have I taken birth here? What is the meaning of life? What is the purpose of life? And how to achieve that purpose? For I must achieve it." As the great Sankara has said:

Dinamapi rajani saayam praatah: sisiravasantau punaraayaatah:
Kaalah: kridanti gacchatyayustadapi
Na muncatyaasaavaayuh

Such is the great ignorance of the ordinary man of the world. Days and nights pass away; years pass away. Man’s life is passing away. Yet there is the clinging to life due to ignorance, due to our not knowing that this is transient. He laments, suffers yet he clings to it. Therefore this state of awakened Viveka itself is a mark of Grace. Let us not prove unworthy of this gift of Grace which the Lord has given to us in the form of Viveka. Let us harken to the message of the Lord in the form of fleeting time.

Excerpts from: Take Time by the Forelock - The Message of The New Year by Sri Swami Chidananda

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