(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 12 June 1999)
Once in India, I saw a serious drawing. It was a drawing of a frog and this particular frog was in somewhat of a precarious position because a snake had crawled up from behind and had half swallowed the frog! The mouth of the snake was slowly engulfing the frog and the front of the frog was still sticking out. Then a little fly flew past the nose of the frog and frog’s tongue shot out to catch the little fly…
So, who is the frog in the painting and who is the snake!? The snake represents time and the frog is the living entity who is trying to enjoy all kinds of opportunities that fly by his nose although he is already half eaten by time! Depending on age, let’s say 35-40 years old means already half eaten. At 25, just the hind legs are digested. At 75 years old, as you can imagine, the eyes are still sticking out and the rest of the body is in the snake. At 80, you don’t even see the frog anymore but the tongue is sometimes still sticking out and catching flies!
Like this, the serpent of time is doing its work, it is doing it very silently and only sometimes do we notice it! It is a fact that sooner or later every living entity will have to experience the effect of time. No one can stay in this world but by the process of bhakti-yoga, one can conquer the influence of the material energy and one can rise above and come to a higher level of consciousness!