“In the tender age of childhood, when everyone is bewildered, one passes ten years. Similarly, in boyhood, engaged in sporting and playing, one passes another ten years. In this way, twenty years are wasted. Similarly, in old age, when one is an invalid, unable to perform even material activities, one passes another twenty years wastefully.” (Prahlada Maharaja, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 7.6.7)

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मुग्धस्य बाल्ये कैशोरे
क्रीडतो याति विंशतिः
जरया ग्रस्त-देहस्य
यात्य् अकल्पस्य विंशतिः

mugdhasya bālye kaiśore
krīḍato yāti viṁśatiḥ
jarayā grasta-dehasya
yāty akalpasya viṁśatiḥ

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and other respected authorities of the Vaishnava tradition, the mahajanas, warn against spoiling the valuable time spent in the human form of body. This birth has accompanying benefits in the ability to reason, to deliberate, to contemplate various choices, and to then act in an intelligent manner. If the time instead gets spent on the trivial, there is no telling when the same opportunity for supreme bliss, paramananda, will appear again.

A basic comparison assists in our understanding of the importance of bhakti-yoga and the urgent need to follow it when we have full sobriety. Consider the case of an important function. It is a party. Let’s say that it is in my honor. Others are organizing this festive occasion as a way to show appreciation.

I am usually too embarrassed to welcome such interaction, but in order to respect the wishes of others, to return the favor of their dedication, I decide to go along with it. There is only one problem. I cannot decide what to wear.

It is the day of the party. People are expecting me to be at the event venue in only a few hours. I have yet to decide upon a shirt, let alone pants to go along with it. If there is anyone to blame, it is this new world in which we live. I work at home now, you see. The most time I ever spend preparing my physical appearance is wiping off the dust from my eyes in time for the early morning stand-up meeting.

That takes place over a webcam and no one really minds what shirt I wear. I go weeks and weeks without having to put pants on. I never attend anything formal anymore. This is just the way life has turned out, and I am not really complaining.

Except today I cannot settle upon the proper clothes. Just when I think I have the answer, the clothes don’t fit. These pants were back from that ancient time, when I used to commute to an office and sit at a desk for eight hours a day. I have several pants of a similar variety, all with the same issue.

I get so caught up in trying to decide what to wear that I am shocked when I later look at the clock. It is two hours beyond the time of my scheduled arrival. I have essentially missed my own party. There is nothing I can do now. Everyone probably already left the venue. How could I have gotten distracted so easily? If I showed up in t-shirts and shorts, at least that would have been better than missing the engagement entirely.

The case of deciding on clothes to wear for a few hours translates well to the different issues we struggle with during a single lifetime. Which university to attend? Where to live? What car to purchase? What to tell that family member who insulted me? Where to go for the next vacation? What movie to watch on television tonight?

Prahlada Maharaja gives the mathematical breakdown. We spend a certain number of years playing. This is childhood. We don’t know any better. You can’t expect us to sit quietly and listen to Vedanta philosophy when all we want to do is run around.

Then we spend so much time in adulthood trying to maintain a living. We are so tired at the end of the day that we just want to sleep. That is another major portion of the life experience. Sleep is inactivity, though it is still important for maintaining good health.

Where does self-realization fit into all of this? By the time we start noticing the imminent departure, the mortality of man that was fixed from the beginning, it is too late. We are too set in our ways to try something drastic, like hearing from shastra or associating with people who are similarly interested in ending the cycle of birth and death.

जातस्य हि ध्रुवो मृत्युर्
ध्रुवं जन्म मृतस्य च
तस्माद् अपरिहार्ये ऽर्थे
न त्वं शोचितुम् अर्हसि

jātasya hi dhruvo mṛtyur
dhruvaṁ janma mṛtasya ca
tasmād aparihārye ‘rthe
na tvaṁ śocitum arhasi

“For one who has taken his birth, death is certain; and for one who is dead, birth is certain. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.27)

That is why the urgency should set in immediately. We should try to find transcendence as soon as possible. It should be the responsibility of top priority in each day. Whether it is reading from a book, listening to a devotional song, contemplating the fixtures of the universe, or simply chanting the holy names: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

बिगरी जनम अनेक की सुधरै अबहीं आजु |
होहि राम को नाम जपु तुलसी तजि कुसमाजु ||

bigarī janama aneka kī sudharai abahīṃ āju |
hohi rāma ko nāma japu tulasī taji kusamāju ||

“The many past births you spoiled can be rectified right now, today, if you start chanting Shri Rama’s holy name and renounce bad association, says Tulsi.” (Dohavali, 22)

Whereas we get lost in trying to find clothes to wear, the time spent in worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead never goes to waste. We may think we are missing out, that there is something else which is better, but in truth we are only drawing closer to our ideal destiny of full realization of transcendence.

In Closing:

With family and friends to live,
Now a festive party to give.

Expected at certain time there,
But can’t decide what to wear.

With so much time to pass,
I miss the party alas.

The same with self-realization applying,
Urgency now for Divine wisdom trying.

Categories: reincarnation

Tags: childhood, god, hare krishna, life, poem, poems, poetry, prahlada, reincarnation