Too Busy

I was talking to my friend on the phone for the first time in a few weeks, and he was complaining about he never has any free time and that’s why he hadn’t called in a while. He kept going on about he’s too busy, with marching band, school, and his Eagle Project to do anything fun. That’s when I interjected with verse 28 from The Sixth Teaching. “Constantly disciplining himself, free from sin, the man of discipline easily achieves perfect joy in harmony with the infinite spirit.” My friend was so flabbergasted by what I said that at first he did not comprehend what I meant. I had to explain to him that if he disciplined himself then he would get everything done that needed to get done and still have time for fun(or in the Gita’s words, joy). At this he started to protest, claiming he was disciplined and there was too much going on. I asked him why he was talking to me then, as 20 minutes before he had been talking about how much work he still had to do. He couldn’t deny his lack of discipline any more, and he finally admitted that if he did everything that needed to be done right away he might have more free time. The Gita’s wisdom helped him realize that it was his own fault that he was so busy and miserable, and that once he started disciplining himself and not waiting until the last minute to do things he would be happier. Alas, once he had this figured out he told me he had to go do his work, so we never finished our talk. At least he benefitted from the advice from the Gita.