Do you know that you have only five years to do sadhana, even if you can live up to 80 years old?

Swami Ramakrishnananda Puri, "When we compare our life span with the life span of the universe, we see that our life is very short. 

We should not be complacent thinking that we have 60 or 80 years to do sadhana and reach our goal. In fact, we don't have that much time. Even out of these 60 or 80 years, almost one-third of our life is spent sleeping. 

So out of 80 years, we are sleeping for nearly 27 years, and more than 25 years are spent in childhood play and youthful pursuits. Most people work eight hours a day for 40 years---that is, 13 more years when we can't really perform any spiritual practices. Then, at the end of our life, we become weak and unable to perform, long hours of sadhana---so, that is another 10 years gone. 

That means that even if we live for 80 years, we really only have five years when we can perform spiritual practices, and even during that time there will be so many problems and distractions. That is why is so so important that we learn to convert all of our actions into sadhana."

(pgs. 211-212, Ultimate Success)

Note: The author is a direct disciple of Mata Sri Amritanandamayi Devi