“Time and tide wait for no man.”
– Geoffrey Chaucer
Kabir – The couplet
पाँव पालक की सुधि नाही, करे कल की साज ।
कल अचानक मारसि, ज्यों तीतर को बाज ||
transliterated:
Paav palak ki sudhi naahi, kare kal ki saaj|
Kal achaanak marasi, jyon teetar ko baaj ||
Translation:
We have no real control over the next moment, but plan for the distant future |
Death comes ant any moment (without warning), just as the eagle pounces on the small bird ||
My understanding:
I regularly succumb to the fallacy that I can direct and control time. Time is a dimension that we have only been given the privilege of using – we have no way to control over its direction, speed or the duration we are given. Yet, we somehow grow complacent, take it for granted and plan our life with little consideration for the inexorability that time really represents.
Here is a reminder of that reality, and a call to get our priorities right. The only real way to be a true master of time is to slow our life down, find the time to smell the daisies and listen to the birds, track the fish in a stream and lay down in the grass while allowing the sun to bathe us.
All our planning can give us the anticipated peace and satisfaction only if we are willing to recognize the peace and satisfaction that time presents us. IF we are always focused on the next moment, we will never be able to recognize the bounty of the current!
So slow down, enjoy this moment, and be thankful every day for the opportunities it presents as its bounty!