Kali Yuga has two deficiencies viz., deficiency in time and deficiency in faith. Added to this are the many confusions we face in life.

The person who has the time to eat, drink, and sleep certainly has the time to think of the Lord!

You have time to decorate yourself, to go to doctor, to fight with others, to go to lawyer, to go to court and to movies but you say you have no time for God. You sleep for 10 to 12 hours a day and you also go on holidays. You have time for your business transactions, but then you have no time for God.

If you have faith, then automatically you will create time for God. Think of Puja as a self-discipline. Our life needs discipline. A disciplined life breeds a disciplined mind. Worship is a wonderful discipline.

When we complete our puja with total love and devotion, our eyes brim with tears of joy. Tears of happiness are sweet unlike the tears of sadness and disappointment that are salty.

In a temple, the priest decorates the idol and offers it worship. He considers the idol as his child and takes utmost care of it. We have to develop such personal relationship with God. We have to share our happiness as well as our unhappiness with Him. We then feel greatly relieved and feel as if a great burden is lifted off our shoulders.

Instill faith in your worship. Do not make it a mechanical activity. Just as you believe that your breathing will keep you alive, believe in God. How many of you seated here believe that even in deep sleep you will be automatically breathing? All of you have that faith. Else you would not have been here.

Human body is an amazing mechanical creation. It is a creation of love and affection. It is amazingly complex and its activities are mind-blogging. But, without this understanding many of us waste it and do not use it to its full potential.

Many wrongly believe that the main purpose of life is to have a cozy family, accumulate a fat bank balance and go on foreign holidays. But do you realize that all these are temporary? None of these come with you when you leave this world.

When you know that you will be travelling alone after death leaving all these behind, why should you worry excessively for them? You utter lies many a times for even unimportant reasons. You believe that a costly mobile phone, a split AC in your room and the modern lifestyle is everything in life. You may enjoy these comforts say for about 50 years. Or perhaps for another 20 to 30 years more. But then, one day you have to leave them all behind and travel.

(Q&A Surat Nov 2002)