This Moment

Divine Life Society Publication: Ponder These Truths by Sri Swami Chidananda

Om Sri Sadguru Paramatmane Namah

Radiant Immortal Atman! Beloved and blessed children of the Divine! Satsanga of the spiritual family of Holy Master Swami Sivanandaji into whose presence we come during this morning hour, day after day, to directly receive his benedictions and his spiritual force to keep us upon the noble way of life we have chosen to live. May he give us the realisation that at this moment when we are thus under his glance of grace, when we are thus recipients of his guru kripa, may he also further grant us the insight and the grasp of the truth, that this moment is the only effective moment of our life.

True life is made up of “now.” True life is not made up of bygone yesterdays or uncertain tomorrows. What we have is like a lump of clay in a sculptor’s hands or a piece of gold in a goldsmith’s shop. We can create out of it what we will. At this moment, what are we doing with the time we have? Are we thinking of something else? Are we forming opinions of people who are sitting beside us or of the person speaking to us? Or, are we engaged in making our life sublime, enriching ourselves, uplifting ourselves, drawing nearer to the Divine, and awakening within, unfolding ourselves, shining with the awakened light? What are we engaged in doing in this moment?

This moment, this concept, this word, this fact, this truth is the most tremendous truth of life. Life is made up of this moment and this moment only—not of dead yesterdays nor of unborn tomorrows. But your life to each one of you is not even today. It is this moment. This moment is what we effectively have. Other aspects of time are what you imagine you have. Other aspects of time are present in your mind as ideas and concepts. They are most deceptive ideas.

If you make this moment all that it ought to be, it will bring something improved the next moment. Because you have already enriched yourself this moment, the next moment will be built upon it and therefore be one step higher and maybe one shade brighter. Each moment can be an ascending step, a manifestation of a brighter light from within you. Moment by moment illumination is attained. Moment by moment enlightenment is brought about. Moment by moment is liberation ultimately experienced. Moment by moment is the supreme Goal achieved.

You do not have to wait for any moment; you do not have to exercise patience. On the contrary, the moment does not wait. It comes before you with each breath. Therefore, great mystics have said: “O Lord with every breath may I remember You. With every breath of my life may I ever seek to draw nearer to You.” Because the moment does not wait, it does not tarry. If you take it and live it, then you have it. If you daydream, allow yourself to be diverted elsewhere, get bogged down in something else, then you lose it. It is no longer yours; it is gone forever.

Each moment is your real wealth, more precious than gold, diamonds and precious stones. Each moment is your very life. Each moment is what you are and what you can be. There is nothing that can compare to it. The tremendous importance of the moment, the incomparable value of the moment, is the most important insight and understanding that a living individual must have. “My wealth is each moment that is before me now. It is now I have to live my life, not in yesterdays or tomorrows. I have but this moment to live, to mould and to fashion, to make something out of it. This is my effective life.”

Remember, we do not have to work for it, we do not have to ask for it. It is constantly being given, constantly. It is always immediate. It comes. It does not delay, but you cannot ask it to wait. You cannot afford to allow it to pass by and then imagine you can do something about it. When it has passed, it is no longer yours. When you confront it, it is yours; you are master of the situation, you have full claim. It allows itself to be taken by you and made use of in any way you like.

Hence the adage uttisthata jagrata (arise, awake)—come, come, slumber not, be up and doing, arise, awake. For they knew this truth: that life is now. There is no other life but now. They knew that the only thing the individual soul has for his highest evolution, his supreme blessedness, is this moment.

Ponder, ponder well this great, all-important truth of your life. Go on pondering it and never stop deeply pondering this truth. For it is the most important truth. If it is grasped, life is yours; there is nothing that is withheld from you. If you do not grasp it, life is in vain. A hundred things will come and clutter up your consciousness, and your consciousness will lose the most precious of all things—the now, the moment, here. Wherever you are, at whatever time, you are at that moment in charge of the moment, in charge of your life. If you allow it to pass away, then no lamentation can bring it back, no effort can recall it.

Therefore the need of perennial wakefulness, vigilance and constant readiness for action. When we were children, the British government encouraged the Boy Scout movement. And the Boy Scouts’ motto was “Be Prepared.” If you are prepared, then you grasp the moment. If the moment comes and you are unprepared, you cannot blame the moment. It has done its duty. It has presented itself saying: “Here, here I am. I am life. I am your wealth. I am your highest salvation. I am all that you have. Come, here I am.” If you are unprepared, next moment it is lost.

You all know the story that the Master Jesus told about the wise and foolish virgins. The wise were wise because they were prepared. They anticipated the moment, they were prepared even before it came, they were in a state of readiness. They looked forward to the moment. And when the moment came they were ready and grasped it immediately. And so they became one with the Divine. The foolish were foolish precisely because they did not do what the wise ones did. They did not keep themselves in a constant state of preparedness in spite of seeing the wise ones doing all that was necessary for that great moment. The lesson was lost upon them.

Not without reason therefore uttisthata jagrata—arise, awake, attain illumination. The one who is awake, alert and ready—that being alone attains illumination. There is a very famous Hindi bhajan that says: “He who is awake, he attains, and he who is asleep, he loses.” And all of you know the old, old adage: “Time and tide wait for no man.”

Therefore, enrich yourself with what you have. Do not lose your life through daydreaming, building castles in the air, fantasy and imagination. More than anything, do not lose your life by dwelling upon the dead past. For although you imagine you have it, you do not. What you have is now, what you have is this moment. Life is this moment. This moment is your only wealth. This moment is your effective life, having which you can do anything, losing which you lose everything.

Therefore they say: “Grasp time by the forelock.” Even before it is before you, have it in your hand. For the moment is all that you have, but that is more than enough. If you take care of the moments you have your whole life. Life will take care of you. And there is no limit to what you can attain if you take care of this moment, this now. For it becomes a dynamic moment, full of power, full of potential, full of unlimited possibilities—this moment. Live now, live effectively. Make this moment your wealth, be enriched, and move towards your great divine destiny.

If you cannot grasp the concept of your divine destiny because it is too high up in the clouds, all right, leave it. Do not think about it, worry about it. Do not bother yourself about it. Take hold of this moment and make yourself an ideal human individual. Thus make yourself a wealth to your own contemporary society, to humanity of now, this moment. Enrich human life by your being. To be is to do.

This moment is God. God comes to you as this moment. He does not descend in some sort of supramundane shape and size with lights flashing and sound emanating. He comes silently as this moment. Now is God. He constantly keeps coming to you as now, as this moment. We have to help God to help us when He comes as kaloham—I am time, I am life.

And what is life and what is time if it is not now, if it is not this moment? Without any distinction of age or sex or caste or creed or race it is given to everyone, saint or sinner. That is the equal vision of the Divine. It is not withheld from anyone. It is given to everyone. God comes to everyone as this moment. This is life. This is the I AM God—here, now. That is the greatest thing. This moment is the most tremendous thing that can happen to you. It is the greatest thing that can be given to you. Be wise. Make use of this moment and bless yourself eternally.

Om Tat Sat Brahmaparnamastu

 Excerpts from:

 Ever Onward and Upward - Ponder These Truths by Sri Swami Chidananda