What do you value most in life? For Indian spiritual leader, it is time. Here’s why we should all spend it wisely

‘Every problem comes to teach us a lesson,’ says Didi Krishna Kumari, whose upcoming Hong Kong talks aim to help people shift from chaos to happiness

She outlines three principles to shape a healthy mind and body, and explains why most of us are looking for happiness in the wrong place

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Time is valuable, says Indian spiritual leader Didi Krishna Kumari, who outlines three principles to shape a healthy mind and body. Photo: courtesy of Sadhu Vaswani Mission

Published: 11:15am, 21 Feb 2024

What is your most precious possession? It is a question that means different things to different people. Some might say a sports car or their handbag collection. The less materialistic might answer their health or family.

For Indian spiritual leader Didi Krishna Kumari, who heads the Sadhu Vaswani Mission, a nonsectarian, non-profit and humanitarian organisation focusing on education, medical care and social welfare, the answer is time.

“With an inch of time, you can buy an inch of gold. But with an inch of gold, you cannot buy time,” says Kumari in a video call from the mission’s headquarters in Pune, a city in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

And what we do with that time, she says, goes a long way to shaping a healthy mind and body. Embracing three principles each day will help. Spending time in nature is one of them.

Kumari says that what we do with time goes a long way to shaping a healthy mind and body. Photo: courtesy of Sadhu Vaswani Mission

“Nature teaches you so much – it energises you,” says Kumari. A quiet walk in a park is all that is needed. But leave the headphones and step counter at home. To connect, she says, you must first disconnect.