The very first and common mistake that many of us do is that we never make note of our time. It just passes on unknown and unnoticed. Some people term it as 'Time Pass'. It is as if we have been descended on Earth with a very specific purpose of loitering. We have not come here accidentally. We all have come here with a specific purpose. The whole existence wants to speak something through us. Let us listen silently to this inner voice within all of us. This can become our calling. Then this very time becomes divine and eternal to us. I have heard an anecdote pertaining to the life of Buddha. Gautama Buddha became enlightened in 40 odd years. The whole of his life after that has been spent by him as a Teacher, a Guru and a Life Coach. The whole purpose of his life was to help the humanity rejuvenate and rekindle their lives with energy and enlightenment. This went on for another 40 odd years after his enlightenment. Ananda was his cousin and his closest disciple. Ananda was the most revered among Gautam Buddha's disciples. Ananda said to Buddha once, "It is now more than 40 years that I have been with you on this journey. I have been observing and watching you all along that you wake up at a particular time, go on a morning walk at a particular time, take your bath at a particular time, take your food at a particular time, take your nap at a particular time, give your discourses at a particular time and finally go back to your bed in the night at a particular time. After watching and observing you for all these years I find that these things are moving and happening in your life in a very systematic and syn-chronic manner. But I find it very difficult to know and understand, whether you are following any discipline or the discipline is following you. But the more I ponder on it, it makes me believe very strongly that the discipline must be following you". Buddha said to Ananda, "What I am doing is not a habit. I am not doing anything. I am also not following any ritual or discipline. I have disappeared long back and it is all just happening. Look at the whole creation, how things are happening. The earth moves around itself, it also moves around the sun, the sun must also be moving around a bigger sun, all the seasons follow one after another. And all this is going on for ages. All this is happening in an absolutely syn-chronic and symphonic manner. Is this nature's habit? It is not. The nature is not forcing any habit. The nature does not follow any discipline. This is nature's nature. The whole creation is an order. The whole creation is a cosmos and not a chaos. But as a beginning one has to follow and go through a discipline. Disciple is a very beautiful word. It means one who is following a particular discipline. Moving on the path of a discipline, one day leads us to an order. A moment will come and one will attain to the order of the universe". We all need to create a strong desire for this order. This order is possible by learning the ancient art of Yoga. This Yoga is an ancient science of inner engineering which will ultimately lead us to inner balance. Striking that inner balance is attaining to the order. This strong desire should lead us to the eight-fold path of Ashtang Yoga. Following is the sequential path of the 8 steps to the ultimate goal of yoga. This is called Ashtang Yoga. This ancient science is the result of the whole life effort of sage Patanjali. The whole credit goes to him for creating this system of Yoga which is a pure science. The eight limbs of Ashtang Yoga are:
Yoga is whole and holistic. It is a complete science. It is a complete system to transform our whole being. The ultimate stage of 'Samadhi' means 'Samadhan'. This word is from the Sanskrit root which on translation literally means solution. Now there is no chaos. There is no conflict. There is no fight. There is no disorder. The inner balance has been attained. This is an order. This is an order of the whole existence. There is no name to this. You can call it by whatever name you wish to call. You call it Dhamma, you call it Dharma, you call it Tao, you call it Nirvana, you call it divinity, you call it Brahma or you call it God. This is that stage. All names are just indications of that stage. They are all pointers to that ultimate experience. They are all just arrows pointing towards this realization. This universal order is our destiny. Let all our 'Time Management' be done keeping this destiny in mind. This way our 'Time Management' can become our 'Life Management'. Let some time of our every day life be called 'Yoga Time'. |
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