Sharanagati

(from a lecture of Swami Tirtha, 11.05.2019 evening, Sofia)

It’s a great honour to be here with you. By coming here I feel like visiting my second home. Today I would like to discuss a little bit about time. Time which is a very important factor. We think that time is passing, while time laughs and says: people are passing. Who is more powerful – you or time? Usually time is stronger than humans. There is a chance to overcome the limitations of time – if we know the secret. And you know, we all like secrets. Once we organized a lecture series and the title was “Secret Teachings”. Twice as many people came as usual. Because everybody is searching for the secrets.
So, what is the secret of time? How to manage our life periods? It’s not an easy question. But if we refer to the ancient divine knowledge, revelation, then we receive a lot of profound and great important information about this.
Let’s start with some theory about time. In the Bhagavad Gita it is mentioned that time is a divine energy. In one sense we can say that it is God Himself in a very special form, a very special energy. Krishna says that “I am time, destroyer of the worlds”[1]. It’s quite a frightening aspect of time that will finish everything. Therefore we can see that time is a limitation. Usually this is how we perceive time – that we try to keep up with the passing of time and usually we are so busy that we don’t have any time for anything. They say that time is speeding up. I don’t know what is your experience, but once a devotee told to a spiritual master: “Oh, we are fully aware that you are working for our benefit 28 hours per day”. And then the master said “Now I understand why I am so tired. If I have to work 28 hours per day for you, it’s a heavy job”. So, time as a limitation is there. This is one feature of time energy, which is a divine energy. And usually this is the fearful side of time.
On the other hand, there is another mention in the Gita about time, that “I exist as eternal time, unlimited, unfathomable time”[2]. Such a different approach. Then time doesn’t grab, doesn’t take away, doesn’t rob you of your life, but provides a dimension where you can express yourself and experience your life. And I feel that for spiritual practitioners like us, we need to develop this kind of attitude to time – to accept time as a chance, not something that we shall lose.
So, for materially minded people, time exists as a limitation. But for spiritually minded people, time exists as eternal. Of course, usually we perceive life as full of suffering. And you might think: ‘This limited life is so bitter, that I don’t need eternal life. If it is the same bitter, I don’t need that.” So, beware! Don’t project your today into eternity.
But time is a divine energy. We should treat it nicely, we should use it nicely. They say, in this age generally a hundred years are provided for a human being as a lifetime. Usually we don’t live that long, but this is like a period that you can achieve – a hundred years. Nevertheless, this is not a question of how many years you can accumulate, but the quality of your life. You can live a long life without any meaning. Or maybe your life is short, but if it is very intense and very meaningful, then it is a success. So a sign of a spiritual practitioner is that he or she uses the time properly. Because unfortunately, generally we cannot change the current of time. They say you might achieve such a power that you can stop time. I think we perceive this even without any mystic powers, when we are, for example, waiting in a hospital for an operation – the time stands still, it doesn’t move. This perception of time is something very subjective. Other time when we are sitting here in the yoga studio, a full evening feels like two minutes. So, this perception of time is very important, but nevertheless we shouldn’t lose our time.
You know, once I had to give a lecture on time. And usually I try to be punctual, especially if you are the lecturer, you have to be there. But on this occasion I realized I will be late half an hour. But the audience was very polite and they were waiting patiently. So, I took the opportunity to glorify them and said: “You see, today I demonstrated you time.”
But I don’t want to rob your time, because you came for a spiritual experience. These are just a few thoughts to start with the discussion of time, with the perception of time. As I told you, there is a secret, how to overcome the limitation of time. And if we join the divine current, the divine vibration of chanting the sacred mantras and hymns, then this will provide us a different perception of time – it’s a glimpse into eternity. So, instead of talking too much about time, let’s experience a quantum leap into eternity through chanting.

(to be continued)

1.  Bhagavad Gita 11.32
2.  Bhagavad Gita 10.33