Question: How can I best utilise the physical earthbound time that I am living in?

Sri Chinmoy: There are two kinds of time. One is earthbound time and the other is eternal Time. The earthbound time is what we have created, but eternal Time cannot be created. It is within us and without us. When we live in eternal Time, we cannot separate one second from another second. When we live in earthbound time, we know that it is one o’clock and then it is one minute past one. They are two separate minutes. But in eternal Time, we cannot separate the minutes or hours. In eternal Time one o’clock, two o’clock, three and four o’clock are all together. This is the difference between eternal Time and earthbound time. We can see the present, past and future perfectly housed in eternal Time, and this eternal Time we can easily possess when we are Self-realised.

Time for us right now means earthbound time, limited time. Time and life came into existence together and were very close to one another. But unfortunately, when life started playing its role on earth, it became short-lived; and time, being a friend of life, also became short-lived. They are both short-lived, but they know that their Source is eternal Life and eternal Time.

Let us take an ordinary second. This second you can use either for meditation or for gossip. This second you can use either for prayer or to cherish impure and undivine thoughts. When you consciously use time to do something divine, you are entering into divine Time which means timeless Time. When you are consciously thinking of something divine, immediately eternal Life comes and shakes hands with you. Each moment you want to go upward through aspiration, the eternal Time also becomes your friend.

If you pray and meditate, if you play your part in the spiritual life, then even if realisation still remains a far cry, you should not be impatient or worried. At that time, you have to know that God’s Hour has not yet struck. You have played your part, or rather, God has played His Part in and through you, but the hour of realisation has not yet struck.