The Power of Now: Part 1

 Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery,but today is a gift. That’s why it is called the present.

           -Master Oogway( Kung fu Panda)

    Last year I read a book The ‘Power of Now’ by Eckhart Tolle. It emphasizes on being in present moment to transcend the thought of past and future. It’s a beautiful book if you haven’t read already I highly recommend to give it a try (just suggesting).  And here I share some of my favourite lines from the book. And there’s so much in this book that’s why I decided to share it in parts to make it more short.

1.To the ego the present moment hardly exist. Only past and future are considered important. This total reversal of truth accounts for the fact that in ego mode mind is so dysfunctional. It is always considered with the past alive, because without it who are you? It constantly projects itself to future to ensure its continued survival and to seek some kind of release or fulfillment there. It says: ” one day when this, that or other happens. I am going to be okay, happy at peace.”

2. It wasn’t through mind, through thinking,that the miracle that is life on earth or your body was created and are being sustained. There is clearly an intelligence at work that is far greater than mind. How can a single human cell measuring 1/1000 of an inch across contain instruction within its own that would fill thousand books of each 600 pages each ( referring to Human Genome Project)? The more we learn about the working of body,the more we realise how vast is the intelligence at work within it and how little we know. When mind connects with that , it becomes a most wonderful tool. It then serves something greater than itself.

3.The harder the mind tries to get rid of pain, the greater the pain. The mind can never find solution nor can it afford to find you the solution because it itself is an intrinsic part of the problem. You will not be free from pain until you stop derive your sense of self from identification with mind, which is to say ego.

4. All cravings are the mind seeking salvation or fulfillment in external things and in the future as a substitute for joy of being . As long as I am my mind, I am those cravings those needs, wants, attachment and aversions and apart from them there is no ‘I’ except as a mere possibility, an unfulfilled potential, a red that has not yet sprouted. In that state , even my desire to become free or enlightened is just another craving for fulfillment or completion in the future. So don’t seek to be free of desire or “achieve” enlightenment. Become present. Be there as observer of mind. Instead of quoting the Buddha be the Buddha be the awakened one which is what Buddha means.

5.Always say yes to present moment what could be more futile , more insane, than to create inner resistance to something that already is? What could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is. Say “yes” to life and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.

6.Everything is shown up being exposed to light and whatever is exposed to light itself become light.

7.The secret of life is to die before you die and find that there is no death.

8. Now the eternal present within which your life upholds, the one factor that remains constant. Life is now . There was never a time when your life was not now,nor will there ever be. Secondly, now is the only point that can take you beyond the limited confines of mind. It is your only point of acess into the timeless and formless relam of Being.

9. Time is what keeps the light from reaching us. There is no greater obstacle to God than time.

10. Everything is honred, but nothing matters. Forms are born and die,yet you are aware of the eternal underneath the form. You know that “nothing real can be threatened”. When this is your state of Being, how can you not succeed, you have succeeded already.

To be continued….

Jay Shri Radhe Shyam