Meditation Talk 06 August 2016 – Afternoon

Whatever You Have To Do Tomorrow, Do It Today — And What You Have To Do Today, You Do It Now

ALL SAINTS HAVE EMPHASIZED in Their Satsangs the importance of Bhajan and Simran. Sant Ajaib Singh Ji also used to, very often, mention in His Satsangs that ‘you can leave a hundred things and sit for Satsang, and you can leave a thousand things and sit for meditation’ because these two things are your own things to do. These are your personal things. Everything else that we do, for a livelihood, for our family, our occupation and everything, all of that is work done for someone else. So, therefore, even if you have a thousand things pending, sit for Satsang. And, likewise, even if you have a hundred thousand things pending, sit for Bhajan.

King Ravana had done a lot of austerities. And he had so much power that he had lifted Kailash. Kailash was like a world. He had lifted that. And he had pleased Lord Brahma and he had drunk the ‘Nectar of Immortality’ given by Brahma. He did his austerities to please Brahma, who was his guru and, though he was known to be a Rakshasa, because of the activities that he would do. The nectar that was given to him, he had stored it in his naval, and because of that, he had become extremely egotistic, thinking that now there would be no death for him and nobody would be able to kill him.

During the ten days of war between Lanka and India, the war between Ravana and Rama lasted for the last three days, and Ravana, eventually, was vanquished and killed by Lord Rama.

So, on the tenth day, that was the third day of the fight between Ravana and Lord Rama, Lord Rama mortally wounded Ravana and he was dying. At that time, Lord Rama told his younger brother, Lakshman, “Now, we have to go back to our kingdom, Ayodhya, and we have to rule that. So, you should go and take some teaching from Ravana, because he is very good in governance. So, you should go and take some teachings from him.”

Lakshman was not very pleased with this thought. So, he told Rama, “Ravana is our enemy. So, why should we go to him and take lessons from him?”

But, Lord Rama insisted, and he told Lakshman, “No, Ravana is a very astute politician, and he is very good in his governance. And he is also a very, very learned soul. So, you should go and take some teachings from him.”

Now, Lakshman left, since Lord Rama had insisted, but he had the ego of being a kshatriya. So, when he went there in the battlefield, Ravana was in his final moments. But, instead of going and sitting near the feet and asking for something to be learned, he went and sat near the head of Ravana. While sitting near the head of Ravana, he told him, “Look, my brother has sent me here to take some lessons from you in political science. So, can you tell me something?”

But, Ravana did not heed his word. He didn't even move his eyelid. And then Lakshman returned to Rama. So, Lakshman told Rama, “I was unnecessarily insulted. I went there to take lessons. He didn't even look at me. So I came back.”

Then, Lord Rama asked him, “Where did you stand to talk to Ravana and what did you do there?”

He explained, “I went and sat next to his head and I asked him.”

Lord Rama said, “If you have to go and take his teachings, you have to make him your guru. Are you going to sit on his head and ask him to give you lessons? You should go and bow at his feet, and then pray for him to teach you something.”

So, then Lakshman went back to where Ravana was lying and he touched his feet, bowed down, and then requested to be taught something.

At that point, Ravana opened his eyes and he looked at him and he laughed and said, “Yes, I have quite a few things to teach but, unfortunately, there is very little time left.” So, he said, “When you go back to rule, what you must keep very primary in your mind is that ‘whatever you have to do tomorrow, you have to do today’. And, ‘whatever you have to do today, you should do it now’. Because we never know when the breath will stop and when we will die because I also had planned to do three things. And I'm sure I could have done those three things, but I just procrastinated those. And, now I am dying, I am unable to fulfill that.”

“So, the first thing I wanted to do was, I wanted to take all the sea waters in the water of the oceans and convert that into sweet water, so that could be put to better use. But, then, I kept procrastinating that. I could have done that. I knew how to do it but, unfortunately, now the time is gone.”

“The other thing that I wanted to do was set a staircase from earth to heaven so that any brave person who wanted to go could go in his lifetime to heaven. Again, that is something I could have done but now, unfortunately, my breath is coming to an end. The other thing was that I love gold.”

Ravana loved gold, so he had brought in a lot of gold in from heaven, and he had constructed Lanka out of gold.

So, he said, “I wanted to put a fragrance in gold. I wanted gold to smell good also. I knew I could do that, but even that is something which now I am unable to fulfill. Therefore, when you go back, whatever you have thought to do tomorrow, you should do it today. And you should make haste and, whatever you have to do today, you should do it now.”

Saints also say the same thing. Kabir Sahib has also said, “Whatever you have to do tomorrow, do it today. And what you have to do today, you do it now.” Because, when this time will come to an end, we don't know.

So, we should make haste in doing the meditation. And we have to tread fast on the Path.

So, this time is good, we should make the most of this time, sit down, close your eyes, and sit for meditation.