Hare Krishna!
In today’s society, time management has become an essential topic for many motivational, political, and social speakers in various conferences and meetings. Although time plays a crucial role in our lives, we often waste it despite knowing its significance. In this blog, we will discuss Vedic insights on time management.
Let us understand what the Bhagavad Gita speaks about TIME:
In the Bhagavad Gita (11.32), the Supreme Lord says:
kālo ’smi loka-kṣaya-kṛt pravṛddho
lokān samāhartum iha pravṛttaḥ
ṛte ’pi tvāṁ na bhaviṣyanti sarve
ye ’vasthitāḥ praty-anīkeṣu yodhāḥ
“Time I am, the great destroyer of the worlds, and I have come here to destroy all people. With the exception of you (the Pāṇḍavas), all the soldiers here on both sides will be slain.”
Time is the divine energy of the Lord. The Supreme Lord manages His divine energy—Time—not that we manage time. In reality, we are under the control of time’s potency. Therefore, it is untrue to say that we can “manage time.” If we invest the time given to us for the pleasure of the Supreme Lord, then that can be called real time management. Otherwise, it is simply a waste of time. The Bhagavad Gita reveals that time is non-different from Krishna. To waste the valuable jewels of time is to distance ourselves from Him.
According to the Bhagavad Gita, an ignorant person wastes time by sleeping for 10–12 hours a day, while a passionate person wastes much of life chasing temporary achievements such as name, fame, and followers. Instead, we should follow the divine instruction of the devotee Prahlada, who says:
kaumāra ācaret prājño
dharmān bhāgavatān iha
durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma
tad apy adhruvam arthadam
“One who is sufficiently intelligent should use the human form of body from the very beginning of life — in other words, from the tender age of childhood — to practice the activities of devotional service, giving up all other engagements. The human body is most rarely achieved, and although temporary like other bodies, it is meaningful because in human life one can perform devotional service. Even a slight amount of sincere devotional service can give one complete perfection.”
Prahlada further explains how we waste valuable time. Out of uncontrollable senses, one spends nearly 50 years of life in sleep. The first 20 years of childhood and the last 20 years of old age are often unproductive due to ignorance, incapability, or disease. With half of life consumed by sleep, this adds up to nearly 20 years lost at the beginning and the end.
If a person lives for 100 years, about 70 years are simply wasted in sleeping, childhood, old age, or diseased conditions. Only about 30 years remain truly productive—yet even these are often spent working tirelessly without higher purpose. In modern times, mobile addiction has become another major drain of time. Watching reels, Netflix, online gaming, serials, movies, and scrolling through Instagram are now everyday habits.
How can this be called time management when it revolves around animalistic activities such as eating, sleeping, mating, and defending? Absolutely not!
Instead, we can utilize our time in meaningful activities—such as cooking prasadam, planting fragrant flowers for the Deities, inviting others to visit the ISKCON temple, and many other devotional engagements. We should be intelligent enough to invest our time in the superior cause. Only then can we experience true happiness. Otherwise, disappointment awaits when we fail to use the precious asset of time given by Krishna.
Let us study the divine knowledge of Bhagavad Gita As It Is!
Let us invest our time perfectly!
Hare Krishna!
Courses links
Follow the Learn Gita Live Gita channel on WhatsApp