BANGALORE: Sankara has pointed out Muhurthamathrethikranthebhagavachchintanam vinaa dasyubhirmushitheneva yukthamaakrandithum dhruvam. Muhurthakala is spoken of in the Jyothisha Sastra as consisting of 48 minutes. If one such Muhurtha is lost sans the thought of the Lord, we have to feel sorry. How? What we see in our experience is given as an example in the verse. You have acquired and stored a lot of material wealth in your house. Suppose a thief enters the house and steals not everything but only a watch of yours. Imagine your grief. In spite of the fact that the other articles have remained intact and only a watch has been lost, it will be impossible for you to describe the mental agony that you undergo during that one hour or one day or one week; perhaps the agony will last till the end of your life.
What grief you experience when a single article is lost? ‘Time’ is a rare article, too.
Whatever material is lost in this world can be earned again but not time. No amount of money can bring back lost time. If one day is lost in the total life span of 100 years awarded by Ishwara, the balance will be 99 years, 11 months and 29 days only. The 30th day is no more there for us. It is impossible to earn back a lost day even though one might be materially rich or otherwise powerful of erudite. Thus, time is a commodity which is very precious.
But when time is frittered away, you are not sad about it. On the other hand, if a watch or a silver vessel is lost, you feel very disconsolate. That is why it is said:
Muhurthamathrethikranthe bhagavachchintanam vinaa dasyubhirmushitheneva yukthamaakrandithum dhruvam
Thinking of God is a way to spend our time usefully.
Adi Sankara unequivocally declare that knowledge alone is the means to liberation.
What should a person devoid of competence to attain Jnana do ? He should practice devotion. Some opine that, “Sankara always preaches Jnana only and so He is opposed to the path of Bhakthi.” Is Sankara opposed to Bhakti? No. How many are the devotional hymns written by Him! To this reply, such people pervertedly react, “What is this! He preaches Jnana as also Bhakti? Isn’t all this mere deception?”
This is not the case. Sankara has shown good ways to people in accordance with their Adhikara. This does not mean “power” here. It means competence. The foremost of all the means is the path of Jnana. If it is not within our reach, then Sankara advises us to tread the path of Bhakti and not any wrong path.
Instead of treading the path prohibited by the Sastras and thereby incurring sin, one must proceed on the path of Jnana shown in the Sastras or, if one is not qualified for the path of Jnana, proceed on the path of Karma, or on the path of Bhakti if one is not competent to tread the path of Karma. This is what Bhagavatpadal taught.