Time Keeps Ticking
Time in a clock,
May come to a stop,
But only Death is capable of
Stopping a heart’s throb.
We think that time is something we can't stop; it keeps ticking. But have we stopped to understand the meaning of time? Time is just a measure, the difference between then and now. When this moment becomes the next moment, a second has passed. Some people may watch time passing by the breath, whereas others have created a more scientific method of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years. Of course, it doesn't stop there! We have also created pentads, decades and centuries.
But what is time in reality? Time is life. If the entire world were to die, then everything would come to a standstill. Time records the birth and death of generations and makes it easy to understand history.
But stop for a moment and contemplate – is time actually ticking? The earth rotates on its own axis once in 24 hours. Each hour is broken down into 60 minutes, each minute into 60 seconds. Ancient civilizations created the week, a period of 7 days so that we could go to our God at least once in 7 days. For Christians, that day is – Sunday and Hindus go to different Gods on different days. How then did the month come about? The month came about looking at the moon and its journey from a new moon to a full moon. Twelve months fitted into a year; the time taken for the earth to finish one cycle around the sun.
Most of us don't realize that this is all what time is. It is just a measure to monitor moments as they pass, moments that grow from minutes to years.
What is important in all this is that our life is passing. That is the only thing that we must take away from the ticking of time. Every time the pendulum swings, one moment of our life has lapsed. Every time we take a breath, we are closer to destination death.
Just like most people don't understand what time is and will not bother to discover what all this is, a majority of humanity is indifferent towards what life is. Their time on planet earth just passes away and they don't discover how to live life.
Can we stop time from ticking? Can we pause life? We can't! Even when we sleep, time is ticking, the earth is rotating and revolving as we are breathing or are sound asleep. But ultimately one day arrives when the breath stops. That day is our final day. The moment we are dead, our life on planet earth is over. But time keeps ticking for the rest of the world. The Drama called 'Life' goes on. We are like actors, we come on the earth stage, do our part and go. Nobody can escape death; it is certain. Just like we cannot control the moment we were born, this too is beyond our control.
But who controls all this? Who controls our time and life on earth? Who decides our death and our birth? Who has created the universe with so much precision that scientific clocks match up to Divine laws that cause the earth's rotation and revolution?
We human beings are so lost that we have no time to stop, to think, and to contemplate. We are so busy buying our Rolex watches to see the time, that we forget to realize that time and life will soon be over. Instead of discovering who we truly are and why we are here, instead of finding out our true purpose, we kill time till life is over! We are so zapped by this world of attractions and we are so lost in the wanderings of our mind, that our ego doesn't realize that we are nothing. We come with nothing and we will go with nothing. We live and die in this ignorance, without realizing the truth.
When will we stop and watch the clock tick? When will we value the 60 seconds in a minute? When will we spend a few minutes in silence? When will we take charge of the 1440 minutes we are gifted with each day and the 168 hours we are blessed with each week? When will we stop in the moment to be conscious of our breath, to watch our monkey mind jump?
The moment we are able to be still, we have conquered time and life. We have discovered the secret and started our journey of true consciousness that will lead to ultimate bliss and joy.
Don't let time pass without meaning and purpose. Time is life and life is our biggest gift. We are conscious of time, but plants and animals, most probably, just exist without understanding what all this means. Only human beings are blessed with an intellect. We can learn to make the best use of our life. Before our journey of life comes to an end, let us read the Life Manual and learn how to live life. Otherwise, it will just escape us. There is a way that we must spend our time and if we do so, we will realize that we are the Divine Soul and achieve our ultimate goal and purpose of life.
IN A NUTSHELL