Before This Life Slips Away
General explanation
chuṭaiṃ bhrātā chuṭaiṃ saṃga khelane vāle।
Brothers will be left behind; your playmates will be left behind
chūṭaiṃge eka dina naihara, sajana ghara sabako jānā hai।
Everyone must one day leave their maternal home and go to their beloved's home.
jo karanā hai so kara jaldī, yahī kahanā hamārā hai।
Do what needs to be done quickly; this is my advice.
jo āe kāla paravānā, usī dina saba ko jānā hai।
Everyone must depart the very moment they receive the summons of death.
And who knows when that summons will come?
The Vedas say, na śvaḥ śva: upāsīta ko hi puruṣasya śvo veda -
O human beings! Do not postpone good deeds until tomorrow; do them immediately. Who knows whether you will live to see another day?
kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatāniha।
Prahlad instructed the demon children -
"Children! Begin devotion from a very young age. Youth brings intoxication; the pride of the body becomes strong, preventing one from moving toward God. Then one marries and endures many hardships; only then does one remember God. Therefore, all of you should begin devotion right now, without delay."
A human being does not understand the value of this human body. People only know how to pass the time with this body somehow and exhaust it. The elderly tell their children, "My time has passed." What has passed? What great feat did you accomplish? You studied, got a job, earned money, built a few houses, produced a few children, and then died. You spent your entire life crying, and after death, there is even more terrible suffering as you wander around the 8.4 million life forms.
You have met saints countless times and even met the descensions of God. Yet, you used your material intellect to reject them all. And after they departed, you sing kirtans of their glories - "Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare."
If you earn spiritual merit through devotional practice in this life, then there is nothing to fear; you will carry it forward into the next life. According to Hindu philosophy, you have had and will have an infinite number of births. So, if you earn ten annas worth of devotion in this life, it will become twelve annas in the next, then fourteen, then sixteen annas. In other words, you will automatically receive the fruits of sadhana done in the past birth and build on top of that. In devotion, there is no going backwards - there is only progress.
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