Aeons ago once someone posed a question to Buddha the enlightened one. The query was as to how his followers and disciples, who lived a plain sailing manner and lead an uncomplicated life partaking only one meal a day, were always suffused with jollity and appeared radiant and tranquil.
Buddha paused and then calmly replied, “They do not repent the past, nor do they brood over the future. They merely live in the present. Thus they are radiant. By worrying over the future and brooding over the past, fools dry up like green reeds cut down in the sun.”
Those whose minds are cannonaded by thoughts of past events are bound to be fretful and woebegone and the ones who only think of the future are filled with anxiety and are trapped in the cesspool of consternation.
Now between “what was” and “what will be” there is a vast space which can be termed as “Now”. This is our authentic sanctuary where we can dwell in silence and peace.
“So forget the past, for it is gone from your domain! Forget the future, for it is beyond your reach! Control the present! Live supremely well now! This is the way of the wise,” added the Sakhya Muni.
Most people do not know how to live in the present moment and they lose it. The present becomes past and the future becomes present. Because they do not live in the present moment they live either in the past or in the future.
While they seem to be doing something now, here, they live somewhere else in their thoughts, in their imaginary problems and worries, usually in the memories of the past or in the desires and speculations about the future. And are thus, caught in this cesspool and quagmire of antipathetic and sisyphean thoughts.
Therefore such people do not live in the present, nor do they enjoy, what they do at the moment. They remain unhappy and discontented with the present moment, with the work at hand, and therefore they cannot give themselves hundred percent to what they appear to be doing. On an average the human mind is cannonaded by 60k thoughts a day and majority of them are negative in nature. We need to upend the pyramid and break false glass ceilings.
Every tomorrow is determined by every today. One should undertake rigorous sadhana and attain freedom, to attain eternal bliss.
The divine within us is more robust than anything that is without us. We need to rely on our own inner self, the divinity within us. It is paramount to tap the inner source of energy by looking inwards.
One should remain a witness to whatever occurs in life. By adopting such an attitude, we provide room to the divinity to perform necromancy in the cosmic dance of life.
We cannot escape life however we may try. As long as we live, be it in a bijou town or while dwelling in a cave, we have to face it and live it.
The reality of life is the present moment and not the memories of the past which is dead and gone, nor the dreams of the future which is not even conceived.
A person who lives in the present moment lives an unalloyed life, and he is the happiest. Thus, humans should not think about the past, it is already dead and gone. It is akin to the breath we have exhaled or the mass of water in a river which has crossed us as we sat at the banks of the river. We merely need to merely focus on the present moment and try to appreciate the eternal truth, which is beyond time and space.
During our stay here upon planet earth, humans should remember that we are only troupers. We may be called upon to play any kind of role, be it tragic or comic and we must enact it with aplomb.
Stars, planets, plants, animals, and human beings are all let loose on a beautiful cosmic stage, with each one playing an assigned part. Only very few people understand the meaning of the play because many of us do not pause to think deeply about it.
The few exalted people may remain dutifully in the world; however they are like butter on water and not like the easily-diluted milk which is not properly churned. Since humans are mortals, we should not burden ourselves with earthly limitations. The only purpose of life is to get away from the delusion of the material world. Human’s should peregrinate this world like the lions of self-control and ensure that the frogs of weakness do not kick us around.
We should always perform small and important duties with deep attention, mindfulness remembering that the almighty is guiding and stimulating every worthwhile effort we undertake to achieve a noble mission.
