This Precious Opportunity

Over the last thirty years, there has been an amazing array of advances in technology. We are now able to carry a thousand times more processing power on our wrist or in our pocket than what was once available from an entire building of mainframe computers. We have instant access to an immense depository of information. We have only to ask the question and the answer presents itself on the internet.

The world is changing; it is moving at an incredible pace, but where is it taking us? It is as if we are racing on a treadmill, moving faster and faster, but are we really going anywhere? In the process, our physical bodies may be getting fitter, our material lives may be getting better, but our souls are more and more out of touch with their divine source.

With every passing second, our time in this human form is running out. As the old adage goes: ‘We can only make hay while the sun shines’. But after the sun has set, it is game over, and if we have not realized our purpose as a human being, then we have lost this precious opportunity.

The vast amount of information available to humanity may be fascinating but is of little use to our true purpose. The problem is that we have confused knowledge with information. True knowledge is something we can verify by personal experience; information is just random data. The role of the Masters is to remind us of our true purpose and impart that truth or knowledge that will lead us to our destination. They push us off that treadmill that leads nowhere and make us walk up steadily to the eye centre.

The Master explains that listening to satsangs and reading the books are all opportunities for us to re-evaluate our priorities and reassess how we are spending our time and attention. The world is very invasive and persuasive and will steadily push us off course if we make no adjustments. Our time is slowly running out, like the sands in an hourglass. If we are not careful, this opportunity of a human life will slip through our fingers.

In the following analogy about a professor and his classroom full of students, the professor presents this problem to them:

If you had $86,400 and someone stole a $20 bill from you, would you throw away the $86,380 and try to get your $20 back? Or would you just forget about it and let it go?

All the students said they would let the $20 bill go. The professor explained: You all have 86,400 seconds every single day, and this time is much more valuable than money. You can always work for more money, but once a second passes, you can never get it back. Every time someone upsets you, it probably takes 20 seconds of your time, so why do we throw away the other 86,380 seconds by worrying about it or being upset? We all tend to make this mistake. We waste our time obsessing over events that have happened or imagining things that may happen. Every time we do this, we are throwing away our time, wasting it. We easily get side-tracked from making the best use of the time that we have.

The Masters are examples of how to live. In the book Legacy of Love, we read about how Hazur Maharaj Charan Singh was the perfect example to all his disciples. He conducted all aspects of his life in a most balanced and unassuming way. The Masters show us how to mould our lives to the teachings of the saints.

Hazur Maharaj Ji gave the following advice to a disciple:

We have to do our duty as a citizen, as a husband, as a son, as a brother, as a friend. But we should not be so obsessed by these duties and people that we forget the real purpose of life, the real destination, the real path.
_{Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. III}

We have to live in this world and fulfill our duties and obligations, all the while working on building our spiritual treasure within. Time is short, and this opportunity of being in a human form is too precious to waste.