14.06: Who is getting our prime time?
Television channels charge phenomenally for their prime time slots. Knowing that maximum TV audience is available during these slots, they allocate these slots carefully to the highest bidder: the programs that provide maximum returns.
For us spiritual seekers, the early morning hours are our spiritual prime time. The Bhagavad-gita (14.6) indicates that, among the three modes of material nature, the mode of goodness is most conducive for cultivating spirituality. Gita wisdom recognizes that the mode of goodness naturally prevails in the atmosphere during the early morning hours. Moreover, as we have not yet entered the thick of action of the day, we can offer the maximum attention and best reception to Krishna. That’s why, if we try to engage in devotional activities like mantra meditation and scriptural study during this time,
- These activities become easier and happier to do,
- They bear quicker and greater results in terms of increased purity and sagacity.
Consequently, devotional activities are by far the highest bidder for our prime time.
Sadly, however, we often give our prime time not to the highest bidder, but the loudest bidder: the mind. If the mind starts yelling, “Sleep,” we give in. If it starts screaming, “Read the news,” we acquiesce. It seems that the mind wants us to offer our prime time to anything other than Krishna.
Maybe we can learn from TV channels to value our prime time. Just as they won’t allocate their prime time to cheap bidders just because they bid loudly, we can say a firm no to the mind, no matter how loudly it tempts us with alternatives to Krishna: “Nothing doing. My prime time is not so cheap. It is precious and is meant for my most precious priority: Krishna.”