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GOOD USE OF TIME Monk Chaturlalji submitted his experience and observation in these words, "In the morning we take tea brought as alms. Then, at the proper time (Jain religion term "Vohorvun") we beg food and eat it. We go to sleep after recapitulating our sins (Jain religion term "Pratikramana").
Shrimad Rajchandra said, "Getting tea and food as alms, taking these and sleeping; is this the right faith, knowledge, and character of the religion ?" He then addressed the head monk Shri Lalluji Maharaj, that the other monks pass their time in self-study and meditation and not waste any time in ordinary things. He also asked him to see that all monks take food only once. He also expected the monks not to bring tea and snuff without reason. He insisted that they study Sanskrit and pass their time in Sadhana.
Monk Mohanlalji pleaded, "Maharaj Shri Lalluji Swami and Devkaranaji are of elderly age. How would it be possible for them to study ?" Shrimad replied, "Queen Victoria is old and yet she studies the languages of other countries. One should make use of his time in good things like study, understanding scriptures and meditation with a firm determination and discarding laziness."
Shri Dayananda Saraswati is famed as a great upholder of Aryan Civilization in the last century. His native place was Tankara near Morbi in Gujarat State, India. He traveled around the whole country and established a new Hindu sect known as Arya-Samaj.
Once he was in the city Shahjahanpur in the state of Uttar-Pradesh. He noticed that the employees of one big organization were leaving their duties half an hour earlier. On seeing this, Swamiji said to the employees, "We have forgotten the great importance of time. If a doctor were to say, that the patient would have been saved if I had been called five minutes earlier, but now, the patient cannot be saved. It is here precisely that we realize the value and importance of time."
Let us note two more examples of how great men are alert about time.
Samayano Sad-upayoga
41
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