Treasure the treasure of time 

Suppose we get a huge inheritance, but with a peculiar stipulation: an inescapable expiry date. If we squander it, it will naturally decrease. Even if we invest it somewhere, it transfers to another account, where, too, it expires soon. If one area of investment can make that treasure ours forever, won’t we be eager to invest there?

Strangely, we aren’t too eager to invest prudently the treasure we all get at birth: the treasure of time in the form of our limited lifespans. This wealth of time is depleted with every passing day, in fact, with every passing moment. We can let our time get dissipated in trivial things. Or we can use it for various materially valuable purposes — that’s like transferring the money into another account, but even that account has an expiry date. Everything material we attain is lost at death; even if we do materially good things, the resulting good is still finite. 

Where, then, can we best invest our time? In attaining an asset that is most substantial and sustainable. That asset is our own consciousness when it becomes attached to the eternal. Such attachment happens through spiritual growth, wherein we first understand that we are eternal souls and are parts of an eternal whole, and then strive to link our soul with the whole, our all-loving Lord. That linking can be done both through directly devotional activities and through the infusion of a mood of service in all our activities.

Through such devotional investment, we get the treasure of divine love that is never lost or lessened, that becomes our eternal asset (Bhagavad-gita 02.40). Ultimately, it takes us to a life of eternal love with our Lord. 

One-sentence summary:

Every passing day steals the treasure of time from us, unless we use it to create the treasure of divine love. 

Think it over:

  • What treasure do we all inherit at birth? 
  • How do we lose our treasure daily?
  • How can we best use our time?

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02.40: In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear.

To know more about this verse, please click on the image