We frequently feel pressured because we have too many things
to do and too little time to do them in. And our devotional engagements may
seem like a further demand on our time, thereby aggravating the pressure.
However, such negative perception overlooks the reality that time is consumed
by not just activities but also thoughts. For example, students may be
attending a class, but if their thoughts are caught in dreams of parties and
crushes, they will get little from the class. Before their exams, they will
have to spend time figuring out things they could have understood in the class.
A hard look at our life will show that we often spend a lot of time redoing the
things we did improperly the first time round because our thoughts were going
here, there and everywhere. If we could manage our thoughts better, we could
save all that time. The Bhagavad-gita (14.12) indicates that the mode of
passion, which is a prominent mode in today’s materialistic culture, triggers
insatiable cravings, which drive our thoughts wild. In contrast, the mode of
goodness promotes illumination within and without (14.11), thereby fostering
purposeful thoughts and productive actions. Bhakti-yoga offers the easiest way
to raise our consciousness from passion to goodness. By thus helping us clarify
and focus our thoughts, devotional activities contribute to our life positively
as time-savers, not negatively as time-consumers. To give a contemporary
example, the time spent in cultivating devotion is like the time spent in
learning a time-saving device – it’s an investment, not an expenditure. Of
course, devotion is not just a time-saving device – it’s a soul-saving grace.
But when the pressure of the immediate blocks our appreciation of that ultimate
benefit, we can meditate on devotion’s time-saving potency, thus inspiring
ourselves to practice bhakti-yoga diligently. –
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