Genghis Khan, one of the most fierce conquerors of all times- gone at the age of 65.

Alexander the great- gone at the age of 67.

Atilla the Hun- gone at the age of 47.

Great empires gone- Maurya, Gupta, Chalukya, Pandiya.

Great scholars gone.

Lord Rama in the 23rd Sarga of Vairagya Prakarana of Yoga Vasishta is explaining the nature of Kala, Time.

Time doesn't discriminate between the powerful and the weak.

Between the rich and the poor.

Not that the rich live for long and the poor die early.

Time does whatever he wants, whatever he feels.

The point is, when everything is in the control of Time, Kala, everything in the world is controlled by Time, how can you trust the world?

How can you take anything for granted?

You thought that a particular Bank is safe, put money in it.

Then suddenly it closes down.

We have seen this happening.

Your best friend who has always been your pillar of support, for everything.

Suddenly gone, heart attack.

Your job, your friendly neighbourhood.

Nothing you can take for granted.

The breakfast should be good.

Yes, you enjoy it.

Next lunch, that should also be good.

After that dinner.

I want this, I want to enjoy this.

I want to have this every day.

This should be exclusively for me.

Does it ever stop?

In a lifetime, millions of desires.

Some achieved.

Some not achieved.

They don't stop.

Either you like something, dislike something, or you are not bothered; only three kinds of relationships possible in this world.

The objects of desire, they attract you like a net and trap you.

Your body is like a cage in which you are permanently trapped.

Both take away your freedom.

Only a fool will get obsessed with achieving desires.

It is like trying to grab the reflection of a mango in a mirror and relish it.

Your thinking itself that there are objects and beings around you for real, that itself is wrong.

On top of that, Time would take away from you even those uneal objects and beings.

Take away even the non-existent.

Make you frustrated.

Push you into dejection, disappointment.

There is nothing that Time doesn't destroy.

He is so powerful.

So hungry.

You can never satisfy his hunger.

He keeps on consuming.

We only experience a miniscule part of the real nature of Kala, Time; like days, nights, hours.

No, Time is a killer.

He kills everyone, everything.

That's what he does day in and day out.

Devouring, destroying.

The whole world is under his control.

He deals with it as he wants.

He is heartless, merciless, cruel.

He doesn't bother about the tenderness of a newborn before taking away its life.

He doesn't bother about the beauty of a blossomed flower before destroying it.

He just wants to devour, destroy.

He is not bothered about any rule, any system.

He has his own rules, his own system which nobody understands.

We make so many assumptions that a man's puranyu is 100 years, a well constructed building would last for 50 years.

No.

He is not bothered about what we assume, what we predict.

He does what he wants.

Always.

He has eaten so much, still his hunger doesn't go.

Like a magician, an illusionist, he is very much into the make believe called the world.

He creates so many things, makes us believe that they are there for real.

But what he enjoys is destroying.

He creates only to enjoy the destroying.

Like how we take so much care to cook food only to consume it and make it disappear.

When it comes to humans, he has another peculiarity.

The rows of teeth with which he crushes humans like leaves, those two rows of teeth are punya and papa.

With both, he is crushing us.

Punya leads a man into a good world.

But after some Time, Kala would end his stay there.

Papa would lead him to suffer in a bad world.

It's crushing at both places.

One at the end of a period.

The other throughout.

You can never stop him.

You can never break him.

You can never burn him.

He is so unreachable.

In your imagination, you can erect a building in a moment and demolish it the next moment.

This is what he also does.

He doesn't have to follow any process, any procedure.

He has devoured whole forests, oceans, planets, stars, galaxies; still his hunger is not satisfied.

A huge mountain for him is like a feather.

He destroys everyone: Devas, Manushyas, Rakshasas.

He doesn't discriminate.

Does he feel bad about what he is doing?

Never.

The only thing that he ever saves is himself.

He is the creator, he is the protector, and he is the eliminator: says Lord Rama.