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Waste Not Precious Life

by Swami Sivananda

You do not know even a single Sloka of the Gita or the Upanishads. You do not know how to sit on Padmasana. You do not know the efficacy of Mantra-Kirtana. You do not know anything about self-analysis, mind-control, self-restraint, concentration and introspection. You have lived in vain! You have wasted this precious life. Hotels, restaurants, cine ma houses, are your abodes of Immortality or Vaikuntha Dhama. Really you are leading a miserable life. If you can talk something on dry politics, you think you are a great hero!

Time is fleeting. The night is wasted in sleep and pleasure. The day is wasted in idle talk, amassing money and maintenance of the family. Days, months and years are rolling away. Hairs have become grey. Teeth have fallen. You are attached to perishable objects through Moha. Tell me, friends, how long you will be a slave to the fleeting things of the world? How long are you going to repeat the same sensual enjoyments? How long do you wish to worship mammon and woman? When will you find time to meditate on the Lord and to do Virtuous deeds? Think and reflect.

This world of names and forms is constantly changing. Seas dry up and vast sandy deserts come in to being in their places. Elevations become depressions and depressions become elevations. Sand becomes stone and stone becomes sand. Blocks of stones become lime and lime becomes dust. Forests become model towns and cities become deserted places. Grass becomes blood, blood becomes milk, milk again becomes blood. Blood becomes flesh. A young man becomes an old man and a beautiful girl becomes an ugly woman. The fatty man becomes thin and a lean girl a fatty woman. A Zamindar becomes a beggar and a beggar becomes a Zamindar. At the back of these ever changing objects there is the changeless, eternal, Immortal Brahman or the Supreme Self. The Ultimate Principle or Atman, fearless, timeless, endless and beginning less, shines eternally behind the names and forms. He who realises this Brahman attains Immortality, Freedom and Eternal Peace!

Kings and lords will pass away. This world will pass away with all its occupants. The sun, moon and stars will pass away. All joys and sorrows will pass away. Wife, children, wealth, property will pass away. The five elements, the earth and heaven will pass away. Only Brahman, the Pure Satchidananda, will shine eternally.

The leaves of life are falling off. Youth is fa ding. The days are rolling on. Time, the destroyer, lays his icy hands on the whole world. Existence in this world is as momentary as a bubble or lightning!

O Man! Wealth, vehicles, sons, women, dominions, property, are worthless! They are all perishable. Seek the Lotus-feet of the Lord and attain Immortality, Eternal Bliss and Supreme Peace!

If you do not meditate on the Lord, you will be thrown in lower births. If you do not know Him, the cycle of births and deaths will not come to an end. If you do not think of Him, you will take countless births as germs and insects. Exert and realise Him. Then all troubles will terminate.


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