People go—and they go, “I want to live in the moment called now.” And I’m like, “Noble thought! But you don’t even know what that is. You have no clue what is now.” Because it’s gone by the time you say “now.” It’s gone! It’s not there anymore. It’s—it’s gone!
And in fact, the reality is, the things are happening very fast—really fast: “Gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone!” And I, as a human being, I have no idea of the speed that this is going by—no idea. I’m like, “Oh, it’s okay; I’ll do it tomorrow.” Do you know how many “nows” will go by between now and tomorrow?
Somebody actually wrote me this question, “You know, people tell me you should think about tomorrow.” And she said, “People tell me to think about tomorrow, but I just want to be in the now.”
And I am like, “But what else can you do about tomorrow? Only think about it.” What else can you—but, by the way, what else can you do with tomorrow? You can imagine it; that’s all. Just think about it. Sit there and wonder what’s going to happen—if things will go your way or won’t go your way.
And you’re waiting for things to go your way. Aren’t you looking for the ultimate justice where everything will be put right? The only problem is you’re going to hit the wall before that happens. Because you have no idea how quickly that wall’s coming.
But, never underestimate the power of what’s keeping the two walls separated. Never underestimate the power of this breath.
Understand it, and you will understand what there is to understand about tomorrow, and what there is to understand about today, and what is there to understand about now—and what is there to remember about yesterday and what is there not to remember about yesterday. Because you’ve got to ride this moment called “now” to understand what now is about!
Think of it—think of it as this board, beautiful board—and they’re flying, whshew, whshew, whshew, whshew, whshew; you’ve got to catch one. And you’ve got to catch one, and you’ve got to get on it and ride it! And then you will understand. Then you will understand what now is all about.
It’s like, have you ever flown a kite? I have. And it’s a lot of fun. And logically it makes no sense whatsoever. It’s just a piece of paper or a cloth with bamboo in the case of paper or a fiberglass rod in terms of those big kites. And you have a string. And of course, you need the wind to fly it.
So you’ll get there in the field; you hold the string in your hand; the kite goes up, and you’re just looking at it. And it’s flying, and that’s a lot of fun. Does that make any sense? Because you could get somebody else to hold it and hold the string. And that guy can run out 300 feet and hold the kite, and you could just look at it. But that’s not any fun!
It flies in this wind, and you feel that power of that wind through that kite, through that string, in your hand. And to keep it up there you have to be with the game. Because when the wind starts to go down, you need to run backwards. And it goes back up, and the wind picks up, and now you can let it go, slowly, slowly, and you can get back to where you were.
It’s something about flying a kite; I don’t think anybody can explain to anyone why it’s so much fun. And it’s the same way, riding that board of the moment called now, of what it is like to get on it and go, go with that moment called now! And be there. And to ride—take that ride, and take that ride inside, not outside.
And all of a sudden, slowly everything starts to fall away; everything doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is the ride itself, the ride with the breath—to slide with this breath, like those waves in the ocean, this breath coming in, this mighty force that has been made so gentle, holding apart those two walls: “I exist. And I appreciate my existence.”
And it’s okay. I’m full! I’m not full because of some thing, but I have found the fullness of my clarity in me. I have taken that plunge and dove in—and loved, and know—I know I did not touch the bottom. And for as far as I could see, I saw clarity. There was no end.
And if that wasn’t enough, I’ve taken a dive in the ocean of kindness, and I did not touch the bottom; I didn’t even try. And I was overwhelmed by its vastness.
I am full because I have been shown the fullness of this life. This is what you should do too. I tell you this—I tell you this—because if I can do it, you can do it.
- Prem Rawat
