Time is one of the 24 principles that govern this creation. Time is not elsewhere; it is here, right now in this very moment! Every moment, every single moment is important. Live every moment of life and make life a celebration.
The silent part of the Divine is known as maha kaala. Shiva is known as Mahakaal. Mahakaal means great time. We often say, “I had a great time”. Isn’t it? Great time means the moments present in the timeless moments. Lord Shiva is also known as Kaala Samhaara Murti. (It means the lord who slays time). How is it possible to slay time? It is possible by extreme bliss. When you are blissful you will not feel the passage of time. When you are not aware of the passage of time, then it is said that time has been slayed.
There is a close relationship between time and sadness. When we are very sad, we perceive time to be too long. When you are happy, you do not feel time. When there is peace in the mind, you will not sense the passage of time. When there is no peace in the mind, even the two minutes that have passed by giving you the feeling as though two hours were spent. So what is happiness or bliss? It is our very self. That self is the Shiva tattva or the principle of Shiva.
Usually when the word God is mentioned everybody looks up immediately. What is there up above? It only rains from above! There is nothing above. Everything is inside, neither above nor below. Looking inside or being inside is meditation and this brings real joy, real happiness.
When you look at someone close to you, your friend or somebody you love, what happens to you? Something happens inside you. You feel as though some new energy is passing through you. Capture that great moment. It is those great moments, which are timeless moments. Okay, you might have experienced those timeless moments by the presence of that person, that person might have brought forth those emotions in you. So what? Instead of getting immersed in that person or in the situation, just be with the spring of bliss rising up in you.
The Divine has given you all the small pleasures in the world but has kept the bliss to Him. To get the highest bliss, you have to go to Him and Him alone. Be sincere in your attempts. Do not try to outsmart the Divine. Once you get the bliss, then everything else is joyful. Without bliss, joy in anything in the world will not stay.
Give satsang and meditation your highest priority. Give prime time to the Divine and Know that God belongs to you. Either through awareness or through practice you reach the same spot. The Divinity belongs to you. When you know you are part of the divine plan, you stop demanding. Then you know everything is being done for you. You are taken care of. Usually, we do it the other way: we hurry the mind and are slow in our actions. Impatience means hurrying the mind; lethargy means slowness in action. Patience in the mind and dynamism in action is the right formula.
Make your body God’s abode and there will be peace and bliss. God is not an object of senses but the feeling of feelings, the Presence of presence, the sound of silence, the essence of the world and…a taste of bliss!
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a humanitarian leader, spiritual teacher and an ambassador of peace.
