Within the material existence time is imperceptibly devouring everything. Young people have a very difficult task in grasping this concept because their perception of life in that particular body is quite new and they’re always looking to the future. Young people do not look to the past so much; they’re mostly looking and waiting for the opportunities of the future. First, when will I grow up and go to school? And then, when will I ride my bicycle? When will I be able to play cricket like all these other big people? So much waiting for opportunities. At school they’re waiting for vacations so that they can play, and when they grow up they’re waiting to graduate so that they could develop a career. Then they’re waiting to get married. So, for them, it just seems that life is offering everything in the future.
But by the power of time, they grow old, if they are fortunate. (Because some people never make it that long in the world.) And old people are very much inclined to think of the past: what I used to do, what I used to be, how things were in those days, the good old days! Now, they see in front of them, those expectations and mysteries no longer standing. Rather they see old age creeping in and getting worse, and then they see death approaching rapidly.
By the power of time that acts imperceptibly, the greatest of the Himalayan Mountains will become dust, the great oceans will dry up, the stars in the sky will perish, and what is our little lifetime in comparison to those objects within the creation!
-Radhanath Swami
