Nature has a holy plan, said William Wordsworth. Night follows the day; and winter follows autumn. When spring comes it will be pleasant everywhere, nature putting on a new garb; trees blooming swarms of bees and butterflies hopping from flower to flower and collecting the nectar. When once the spring goes, and winter comes, there cannot be this riot of colors and the joy of beauty, certainly not for months to come. If the bee misses this spring and fails to collect the nectar, its larder should remain empty.
So, we must make hay wile the sun shines. When the sky is overcast with clouds or when there is heavy downpour, we cannot make hay. We can make it only when there is sunshine.
We can strike only when the iron is hot. When the iron becomes cold, there is no use of striking it, however hard it may be. So, we must do things only at the right time. If once we postpone, only regrets will remain. Procrastination is the thief of the time. We feel complacent and postpone things. We keep the motto ‘Do it now’ on the table before us; but we don’t ‘do it now. A little delay does not matter, we tell ourselves and Postpone. Finally it becomes our trait and we fail miserably in life.
As students we cannot pass well in our examination, as freshers we fail to secure proper placements, as adults, we lag behind in the race and finally when we grow old and weak, there will be nothing that we will be able to do then. We might wish for another lease of life, but that is called day dreaming. Therefore what is needed is to understand the holy plan of nature, comprehend the rhythm with which time moves, and adjust our actions and activities accordingly.
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Only Mohammad should go to the mountain; the mountain will never come to him. Often we don’t realize this and as a result, if things go wrong, we blame our fate or God. But that does not serve any purpose. For, God helps those who help themselves. Birds and animals understand this principle much better than man. Bees collect honey and store it in their hives for the lean months; birds which cannot put up with the devastating cold conditions migrate to warm sunny regions long before the cold sets in.
Even creatures like frogs migrate to better water homes before the hot summer winds dry up their little water pools. Only man, perhaps, because of his superior intelligence, does give much thought to this problem, thinks that he can meet any contingency that may arise and postpones things and wants to make hay in winter. It is true he has enough technology to make hay even at dead of night or while it is pouring down outside.
But the extra maneuverability should give him extra sense of confidence to do it better and certainly not to give him in to procrastination. There are many things like disease and natural calamities that need immediate attention. When finally old age seizes and we become invalid there could be nothing but misery and regrets awaiting us. There would be none to save you then, so, pray to God from now on, said the sage Sankara.