Time

Lecture held on 3. January 2021 at Sri Sri Radha Govinda Gaudiya Math, Traiskirchen, Austria

Śrīla Bhakti Sādhaka Muni Goswāmī Mahārāj

Śrīla BS Muni Mahārāja: what is time? What does Krishna say about time in Bhagavad Gita?

Disciple: I am the time.

Śrīla BS Muni Mahārāja: time means death also. Time affects, time is moving, time is passing. Something appears and something disappears and time passes and every moment is changing. Time is what we call past and future. Time is also illusion. We are living either in the past or in the future. Did you notice this? Either we remember or we are planning for the future. It is always these two. We have to realize the present, because when we speak Hari Katha, the mind wanders in the past and experiences „oh I have heard this already!“, „oh again the same!“ and we also think „when will be Prasad?“. Past and future going on. There is no reality, it is only a dream. It is something we are thinking. Either we live in the past or we live in the future. We have difficult times trying to stay in the present. It is very difficult. Have you ever think like this?

Now you are thinking „tomorrow is Monday, I have to work, I have to do…“ Time passes and we are doing plans. This is not reality. We are living in tomorrow and then we go back to the past. We are living in a cloud of illusion. Past and future. But we never live in the present. Very rarely we live in the present. Spiritual life moves. Life becomes eternal when we are staying in the present. We should always live in the middle, not in the future and not in the past. We are not running nor planning for the future, we live now. We should live now. In this way we are not remembering the past, because it is also illusion, we are wasting time in this way. Living in the past means we go through things and we are developing hate or some attachment towards someone and we think that in the future we will revenge them. We are always in the past or in the future. And nothing of this has actually much meaning. This is illusion. That is why the chanting of the Holy Name of Krishna is so important. Not only chanting the Holy Name. The Holy Name is a divine sound. It is a transcendental sound. We have to learn to hear the Name. We have to hear Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. We have to hear now without interference. We are chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna but we are thinking of something else. So the effect of the chanting, the power of the Holy Name, cannot manifest in this way. We have to chant and to hear. We have to hear Krishna, Rama and Hare. Govinda! Nandanandana! So we should stay in the present. It is very powerful, because then the Name will reveal itself. We will realize there is no past, there is no future, there is only present. Transcendental world means we have to live in the present. Here and now. I was reading many years ago, fifty years ago, „To be here now“. An experience of researcher and professor Richard Alpert. He told about this. So to be here and now is a very important thing. To be here and now means you can chant proper Names. Otherwise we are living in the past and we are planing for the future. We should always be here and we should be now. To be here and now.

Guest: if to think of past and future is illusion, how is it when we think about past and future when it is about Krishna Himself? For example when we think about Krishna´s pastimes in the past and…

Śrīla BS Muni Mahārāja: you are giving already the answer yourself. Everybody can follow?

Guest: I want to know how this is different from illusion?

Śrīla BS Muni Mahārāja: because Krishna’s pastimes and the pastimes of the Devotees are called Nitya Lilas. If you can focus your mind in here and now then you remember Krishna in this way. You enter the pastimes of Krishna just now, it manifests before you. Because they are Nitya. Nitya means eternal. They are always here and now, they are happening. Many advanced devotees when they are reading the pastimes of the Lord they are not reading or remembering. They are not telling the stories of what was happening in the past, they are entering these pastimes and they have emotions, they start crying, they start manifesting ecstatic symptoms. They enter these pastimes because they are going on constantly. Like the sun. The sun is always rising on this planet, just as an example. The sun will always rise. The sun will be at the top in the middle of the day. So wherever you enter the pastimes, like the appearance of Lord Caitanya, you can enter and it will happen now. This is Nitya Lila, this is transcendental understanding. But if you just go hearing pastimes like Romeo and Juliet or Hansel and Gretel, then this is in the past, this is illusion. But we can enter when we understand that these pastimes, like Bhagavatam, Caitanya Caritanmrita, Ramayana and all these pastimes the Lord performs in so many Shastras, they are eternal pastimes. They are always going on somewhere and we are able to enter all these pastimes and we can be part, they will manifest, it is reality. This always happens by chanting the Name of Krishna, Krishna Naam. If we chant properly. It is important. We have to learn to chant the Holy Name. Your body gets old and we will not be able to enjoy. But in the transcendental world we will always experience the pastimes of the Lord in a transcendental body that never gets old or never dies and is not taking birth. That is why we have to stay in the present. This is transcendental. Could you follow the difference? You have to chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Proper chanting… the name is not different from Krishna, not different from His pastimes… it will manifest. It is not different from the form of Krishna. It will appear to us with Its beautiful form. All the sounds of Krishna Naam are powerful but we have to learn how to chant the Holy Name. This is very important. For this, you need the help of Gurudev. We cannot do it on our own. He will teach us. Like Krishna, Gurudev is also a member of the transcendental world. He will be there when we are ready. He will always be on our side. He will manifest. He will always be with His disciple if he is surrendered to Guru and Gauranga. He will always be there because this is the power of the Holy Name. When my Guru Maharaj left this world, they called me on the phone. He was very merciful to me, but I did not feel that He left. I felt the opposite. I feel so close. I thought I will be feeling like crying but I was not. Because in some way I heard „you don’t have to cry“. I heard like this. It is a very deep experience. He comes closer than when He was here. I feel much more close. These transcendental relationships we have to develop. There is no bodily conception of relation, it is beyond body and mind. We must make this experience and by the mercy of Guru and Gauranga, He will be by His disciple’s side. He will manifest Himself. He will stay, He will speak to you, He will teach you so many things. This is transcendental life, real life. This is not something for our mind or for any external influence. It is eternal, transcendental. One who attains such understanding, such realization, he should not be afraid of anything in this world. Because he understands that there will be no death. This is real Krishna Consciousness or transcendental life. We are not members of this world, don’t think we will have it much comfortable in here. Don't look for happiness here, it will not be. This is called Maya, illusion. Here and now. Time is death. Time is past and future, but we have to be in the present. Here and now.