The entire paradox of life is summed up in the above lines. “Present” that means something which is there NOW, the current moment. It is also synonymous with “GIFT”. From this pun emerges the grandest truth of life that each and every moment of your life is a gift, a present to be cherished and the fact that we have infinite such gifts is a reason good enough for eternal celebration of life.
“Moments pass and memories build,
Wishes rise with hope
And future seems gleaming.
But between this back and forth,
My “NOW” is always missed.”
Our life is a chain of events. And each event inevitably evokes an emotion or feeling within us. These emotions are of love, joy, sadness, anger, irritation, helplessness, success or any other. But a chasm arises because of our difference in timing of event and emotions. Every moment in our life is absolutely new and has no relation to the previous one. Consequently a fresh event can commence in every new moment. But we change our emotions much slower than the moments changing in our life. Not being in the highest state of our conscious Self, we are bound to experience negative emotions of anger, hatred, jealousy, etc (though through self-control these unpleasant feelings can be completely done away with). But since we fail to change these emotions quickly, we carry forward them into hundreds and thousands of fresh moments and lose the opportunity of relishing even those moments with joy.
We carry the baggage of unpleasant past throughout our lives that cause unnecessary anguish. It is like you received a broken toy on your 4th birthday which made you sad but now on your 10th birthday when you get a spanking new bike, you still resent saying, “I wish I had received similar gift on the 4th birthday”. How you mar even the joy of your 10th birthday.
Our tortoise like speed to change emotions is not true for the distasteful feelings alone. The past also includes beautiful cherish able memories. It feels glad to reminiscence them but unknowingly while doing that, we start longing for those times to come back. And in doing so, we miss out on creating more such special memories with our present moments, present situations and present people around us. Living old memories is good only as long as it does not interfere in our creating new ones. Apart from recovering late from past emotions, we also attach sentimental value to the future. We conjure up situations that would please us or events that would subdue us. In this futuristic vision, we run the risk of the actual outcome being different from the one imagined because our future is dependent on others reaction and choice.
The present is our only propriety and permanent vehicle of bliss. The moments of celebration are right NOW, one after the other but we have somehow misconceived that the time of jubilation is later, associating it with few restricted events. We might feel a slight contradiction that shouldn’t we then not even set future goals. Because the fulfillment of future visions makes us cheerful. Lord Krishna in Bhagwad. Geeta preached the doctrine of NISHKAM KARMA meaning do your work without expectation of fruits. But for us, the expectation of rewards is in fact the motivation to work. We work on the belief that reaching the said aim would be delightful. But the moments that pass in the journey cannot be simply whiled away in drudgery in anticipation of something grander later. And the happiness linked to some specific event is ephemeral which will cease to exist once the event has occurred. The way out from this quandary is to alter the goal itself. The goal must be set to seek happiness. When the goal is this, naturally we start living every moment to the fullest because a mundane and morose feeling cannot give joy. To fulfill this goal we have to experience peace in every moment and live it to the hilt.
Infinite bliss comes with the realization of each moment as NOW. Who does not want to experience this unbridled joy. And yet we fail to accomplish this. The reason being we make our happiness dependent on others. Do not give anybody so much importance in your life, that they regulate your feelings of happiness and grief. This does not make you self-centered; it makes you self-dependent. When we are our own producer of happiness and still cannot yield it, probably we are unable to locate the land. The land will be traced and bountiful yield will follow with the one basic understanding that future is an illusion and past is a trap. The only reality is Present and we need to relinquish all thoughts that distort this truth. The thoughts spring from the mind. There is a continuous stream of views, opinions and judgments flowing in the mind. And we are so absorbed in this thinking process that we forget to differentiate between our mind and our Self. If we can separate our Self from the mind, we can consciously regulate and control the mind’s working at every moment. Initially we may not be able to stop the irrelevant thinking but if can see the mind as the thinker and ourselves as witness to it, will also emancipate us from the boundaries of time.
Through the ancient technique of Vipassana (absolute concentration) we can experience how each thought sends a different sensation in our body every moment. We focus only on the incoming thoughts one after the other with no memories and no imaginations. With every healthy and happy thought in the mind, there is peace spreading across the self.
The body, mind and soul all have distinct roles and yet they must come together to experience the highest level of consciousness. With a positive and joyous thought in the mind, the body feels light, face looks calm and lips smile. But a constant awareness of positive present moments unleashes untold celestial serenity through the soul. This true divinity will not be felt like stupor; it will be your very conscious awakening to the nectar of life. Eckhart Tolle says that if such happiness was to take to you to a trance it is not worth it. You will in all your senses live happiness. This one time experience will lead you to master over your NOW. Then Blake’s verse will feel true:
“To see a world in a Grain of sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower.
Hold Infinity in the Palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.”
