Living in the Moment

[Eric11235]

Vannakam,

On my morning walk I contemplated and came to a conclusion. Although it should be easy, living purely in the moment is nearly impossible.

I bring this up under meditation because the way I see it, the more you live in the present the easier it is to meditate. Thinking of the future or dwelling on the past make up a majority of my thoughts (personally, I don't know about the rest of you.) And I tried living purely in the moment and when I did, it was a wonderful calm and peace as well as a vaguely meditative state.

So I start this thread because I think that going with the flow is such an important aspect of meditation that is so hard to truly accomplish. It also seems very overlooked in the grand scheme of things.

if any one has thoughts on the matter, I am interested to hear opinions as always

Namaste

[Sahasranama]

Awareness is not limited to time and space, here and now are just forms of space and time.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté

I have a different view of 'now'. It is forever; it can co-mingled with the ~present~ if we wish, but it is not bound by it. That is, 'now' ( as I see it) is not bound by time. In fact, time is a measurement of the 'now' that lasts forever.

No matter if creation is here or not here , there is a 'now' that exists. When can I say it is now and ever be wrong ? Even if I do not exist or am not here to voice 'now', with creation fully gone , it still can be now.

Hence from my POV 'now' is infinite, unbounded without decay. What is beautiful about this, even a future 'now' will be an exact copy of the 'now' that exists, becaue it is without quality, boundry, etc. it is the same now that is foundational for all time. It is undecaying. This is the 'now' I wish to be associated with. It is another name for existence (satta).

praṇām

[shian]

wonderful

[saidevo]

namaste everyone.

It seems to me that 'now/present, past, future' are all at best only aggregate references, and have the same kind of absoluteness about them. This is so because the nexus between time and space is inevitable.

• If we say 'now' is 'forever'/eternal it would be a reference in time; to say that 'now' is infinite is a reference in space.

• The Sanskrit terms that deal with 'now' bring out the nexus between its space and time factors:

• adhunA--at this time;
• idAnIm--just now, at this moment;
• idA--now, at this moment;
• samprati--at this moment, at present;
• etarhi--now, at this time, at present, now-a-days;
• itas--hence, from here, from now

The connection between the space and time in the meaning of 'now' is thus evident from the use of the references 'this' and 'here' in the above descriptions. After all, any measure of time comprises one or more events that happens in some confined space, resulting in some change of state in that space.

• In one sense 'now' is relative--not absolute--and its duration varies with the time measurement. For wxample, if one second is 'now' for us, that very 'now' would be in terms of microseconds and nanoseconds at molecular and atomic levels.

• Yet 'now' as a term of reference, seems to have an absoluteness about it, because it always deal with the present--the here and now--of everything. Even then 'now' could at best be only an aggregate reference in the same way that the references 'past' and 'present' are.

• 'Now' for us humans varies in our three states of existence: while it could be a second or more in our waking state, it is very subjective in dreaming, and comprehensive in deep sleep states. The same 'now' for Devas is much more in time and space, for BrahmA the Creator it is far more, and for Brahman it is infinite and eternal.

• Yet again, 'now' as sandhi--meeting point of time in space, seems to be absolute, infinite and eternal.

• That brings us to the question: "Can we, if at all, transcend the conventional time measurements of 'now', so that we have an increased duration of it?" The answer to this question seems to lie in the expansion of our consciousness in such a way as to obliterate the time limits of past, present and future.

• What is consciousness if not knowledge? All the different activities of consciousness are only to seek knowledge and sustain the permanence of our existence and happiness.

• The Sanskrit language itself was apparently conceived as an expression of consciousness and its activities. In dealing with the world and our life, we employ different channels of getting knowledge about the permanent and the evanescent. For this reason there are several terms in Sanskrit that deal with our efforts 'to know':

vetti--he knows by 'discovering, finding out';
jAnAti--he knows by 'realizing himself as such';
bodhate--he knows as he 'wakes up, becomes aware, opens up';
chiketi--he knows by observing, perceiving, concentrating, etc.
chetati--he knows by attending to, taking notice of, aiming at, intending, understanding, comprehending, etc.
didhite--he knows by reflecting, perceiving, thinking or even by holding on to it, keeping it in one's field of attention;
dhyAyati--he knows by recollecting, contemplating, meditating upon the subject, thinking;
manyate--he knows by setting his heart and mind onto it, by recollecting, mentioning, meaning, minding, mentalising;
vivinakti--he is distinguishing, discriminating, discerning, and by that knowing, etc.

The beauty of these roots of cognition is that they can be expanded for varying shades of meaning with prefixes. For example with the root vid--knowing, understanding, the various shades of meaning obtained include:

upavid--to ascertain, learn, investigate, inquire into;
saMvid--to
know
together,
to
be
fully
conscious
of;


anuvid--to
know
thoroughly
(in
every
sequence),
to
discover
(step
by
step);


anusaMvid--to
know
together
with
or
in
consequence;

prativid--to
understand,
to
perceive,
to
become
acquainted
with,
etc.

pratisaMvid--to recognize;
pravid--to know, to understand (openly, directly); to anticipate, to invent, etc.


Similarly, with the root jnA--knowing, we have terms that include:


saMjnAna--an essential sense;
vijnAna--a comprehensive knowing;
AjnAna--a concentration, a command;
prajnAna--an apprehensive knowing by the analytical and synthetic cognition;
parijnA--to notice, to observe, to comprehend;
abhijnA--to recognize, to remember, to acknowledge;
pratijnA--to approve, to admit, to promise;
upajnA--to invent by oneself;
apajnA--to dissemble, to conceal;

For a detailed treatment of these terms of cognition and their implications, check:
'Terms of Cognition in Indian Psychology'
http://www.universityofhumanunity.or...Psychology.pdf

In conclusion I would say that our 'now' could be reliving those divine and spiritually most cherished moments of our life and try to sustain and further them. In this effort, the past and present merge into the divine 'now' and the seeds sown would ensure recurrence of such rewarding moments in future.

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~


namasté

• The Sanskrit terms that deal with 'now' bring out the nexus between its space and time factors:

• adhunA--at this time;
• idAnIm--just now, at this moment;
• idA--now, at this moment;
• samprati--at this moment, at present;
• etarhi--now, at this time, at present, now-a-days;
• itas--hence, from here, from now

One word that is dear to me that is defined as 'now' is atha अथ. This atha is a+tha. it is another word we can use for śiva (a) and śakti (tha).

Now abhinavagupta-ji ( from the school of kaśmir śaivism ) teaches this atha is also equal to anuttara अनुत्तर - unsurpassable, chief, principle. Just as siva is unsurpassable ( that is, parameśvara परमेश्वर).

This infers that 'now' = atha = anuttara = parameśvara . Hence, this 'now' is permeated with parameśvara . This (as I see it) is the beauty of 'now'.

praṇām

[Amala]

Namaste Saidevo,

Your vocabulary list is greatly appreciated. बहुश धन्यवादा: ।

[Sahasranama]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~


namasté


One word that is dear to me that is defined as 'now' is atha अथ. This atha is a+tha. it is another word we can use for śiva (a) and śakti (tha).

Now abhinavagupta-ji ( from the school of kaśmir śaivism ) teaches this atha is also equal to anuttara अनुत्तर - unsurpassable, chief, principle. Just as siva is unsurpassable ( that is, parameśvara परमेश्वर).

This infers that 'now' = atha = anuttara = parameśvara . Hence, this 'now' is permeated with parameśvara . This (as I see it) is the beauty of 'now'.

praṇām

Thanks for mentioning the source of this wisdom.

If you have more references from the shashtras or darshanas about the present moment, please mention them, because most teaching about this subject are clouded with new agism.

I have one reference by Chanakya Pundita: "We should not fret for what is past, nor should we be anxious about the future; men of discernment deal only with the present moment."

Chanakya Pundita though was influenced by Buddhist teachings and so was Abhinava Gupta to a certain extent. It would be interesting to see what some clear Hindu sources have to say about this. Perhaps something from the Mahabharata/ Upanishads?

[saidevo]

namaste everyone.

As for Sanskrit quotes about living in the present, I found this subhAShita--wisdom saying:

गते शोको न कर्तव्यो भविष्यं नैव चिंतयेत् ।
वर्तमानेन कालेन वर्तयंति विचक्षणाः ॥

gate shoko na kartavyo bhaviShyaM naiva chiMtayet |
vartamAnena kAlena vartayaMti vichakShaNAH ||

All those afflictions are past, so there is nothing that can be done about it; not also think/worry about the future.
In the present time, dwell the wise.

[All those afflictions--shoko, are past--gate, so there is nothing that can be done--na kartavyo, about it; not also--naiva (na+eva), think about/worry--chintayet, about the future--bhaviShyam.
In the present time--vartamAnena kAlena, dwell--vartayaMti, the wise--vichakShaNAH.]

[Sahasranama]

Indeed, that one is from the Chanakya Niti Darpana which was not even written by Chanakya, the author of the arthashatra.

I'd like to see whether it is mentioned in more formal Hindu literature.