"Time and tide wait for no man." And we also know ourselves the value of time. Those of us who wish to make money, say "I have no time, Sir, I have an appointment here. I have to go to the bank. I have to file the income-tax returns." They are rushing. 'Rushing' means, in one way, trying to overcome the speed of time itself, by making more use of that time, than time would normally allow us. And, we have this experience in meditation, that either time is shortened, when we have a one hour sitting and it looks like five minutes; or we have the elongation of time, when we have meditated five minutes and it looks like one hour. So, this is an indication that if man would but make the requisite effort, time can be lengthened or shortened. It is not just a mere matter of a subjective experience, or a subjective consciousness, that we feel time is lengthened or shortened.

It is my personal experience that time can be expanded in such a way that you can put eternity into one moment of time. Otherwise it is meaningless. If time is going to be like a foot-rule, the 'twelve inches' always a 'twelve inches,' what is the fun in trying to do more in less time? For one who works, time seems to be more than time itself. Like for one who wants to love or to be loved, love itself makes the way open for further love. It is the thing in which you participate, that enables you to participate in that thing itself. In some way, we have to make use of time to overcome time. And that is what we are doing in our spiritual sadhana.

What is wisdom? Live as if you are going to die the next moment. Not next day, not next year, the next moment. This is how we should conduct our lives - that the next moment I may not be here, so let me do this moment, everything I can possibly do, to ensure my future life. So that is the sense of urgency that must pervade our existence.

So we should not play the fool with time, but utilise time in such a way that we need less and less time for ourselves so that at the end of this process you feel you don't need any time at all. I think liberation means, in this sense liberation from time.

So, the message of the Master is very clear and very conclusive: Do today what must be done today, what has to be done today; and tomorrow will take care of itself. If you want to eat 20 years hence, an apple grown in your own garden, today you must plant the tree or the seedling. The more you postpone, the more you are going to postpone the result. Can you plant the seed 20 years after and hope to eat the apple on the same day? So the seeds of the future are sown in the present. And that is a daily affair. Tomorrow's business we do today. If today's job is done well, tomorrow's job is assured of success. What we do today is a foundation which is to be laid for tomorrow's edifice.

So in Sahaj Marg we have no possibility of deferring our action and saying, "well, I should do this 3 years hence, and then reap its benefits" - because in those 3 years we may accumulate so much more grossness, that we are unable to do anything after 3 years. We may become suddenly old, we may become suddenly unable to even sit down for meditation. That is why Master has said it is wise to begin meditation when you are still physically capable, mentally capable.

If you are not willing to commit yourselves, the Master is not going to commit Himself to us; because as Babuji has said, very clearly, that one who commits himself to the sadhana, to him the Master has to commit; to his progress the Master is committed, to his welfare the Master is committed. But if we just come and register our presence, I do not think that the Master has any commitment to us, in the way that He is bound to lift us up to this highest goal of human evolution. So we can commit the Master to our progress, to our welfare, to our spiritual evolution, only by our committing ourselves to His teachings.

We are familiar with the inexplicable fact that there are often abhyasis who appear to be very devoted and carryout the prescribed spiritual discipline with enviable thoroughness. But these very persons appear to stagnate. Why? An answer would be that they have confused the means with the end. To them the sadhana has itself become the goal, and they have verily missed the wood for the trees! This points to the fact that meditation can become "mechanical" and therefore static - a danger to be carefully avoided. Under the Sahaj Marg system of meditation the abhyasis are taught to avoid this pitfall. In our meditation we are required to keep the goal constantly before us. The firm idea that we are moving towards the goal is a very necessary one. It is this that makes our sadhana a dynamic process.

This brings awakening in the disciple himself because we have seen that the mental attitude of the disciple in undergoing the prescribed sadhana is more important than the sadhana itself. In fact, according to our Master a stage is reached when sadhana falls off, and that which can fall off is only a thrashed material. So the top priority is given to the mental aspect of an abhyasi's life rather than to the physical practices to be followed.

I believe that sadhana must be something which becomes germane to my inner existence. It is eternal. It goes on with me all my time, like breathing. I am not conscious of it but I am breathing all the time. So the perfect abhyasi is one who does not know he is an abhyasi. His abhyas is going on but he does not think of it as abhyas. He has a man whom he loves very much, totally perhaps, with whom he is totally identified, who is his goal, but he does not think he is my Master, or my father, or my son. He is and I am, and the two of us are journeying together, holding our hands.

So let us be sensible in our approach to the Master, let us be serious in our approach to the practice, let us be steadfast in our adherence to the goal, and let us feel totally dedicated to achieving that goal, realising that every second of our existence is precious.

So make up your minds that the day shall not break without my meditating, the sun shall not set without my cleaning and I shall not go to bed without my prayer-meditation. The rest will take care of itself.

So essentially, this is a spiritual adventure you see. We have to do our part. He does His part. As Babuji said, "If you take one step towards Him, He shall not fail in taking one step towards you." What is the difference? My one step is twelve or fourteen inches. His step is from there to here. But to make Him take that one step, we have to take this one step.

I pray that all of you will find the need for practice of paramount importance; and assiduously apply yourself to it, so that you are not lacking. Then it becomes His responsibility. We must be able to face Divinity and say, "My Master! My God! I have done what you have asked me to do; if I have achieved or not achieved, it is your problem."

"What I am doing for you is my duty,
what you are not doing for me is your duty."