This is going on everywhere in the world. It’s a big fad in the West, particularly United States, and of course it’s infected India, a bit. Be in the moment. I’ll ask you a simple question, be somewhere else and show me. Hello? Can you be somewhere else? …. But that’s the reason why you have a mind. You can sit here and think about Mumbai. You can think about yesterday, you can think about tomorrow, you can think about what was 10 years ago, you can think about what is 10 years later. But you still live in the moment, isn’t it? Hmm?
It’s a big fad in the West- ‘Be in the moment’
So essentially, what is being said is, do not think about yesterday, do not think about tomorrow – just be with what is here right now. See, it took millions of years of evolution to get this much cerebral capability, that we can vividly remember every experience of our life. And we have a fabulous sense of imagination, that we can project and create a tomorrow in our mind, and make efforts to manifest that.
Now the reason why somebody’s telling you – ‘be in the moment’ is – because for many people these two faculties, of memory and imagination, which set us apart from every other creature on this planet. No other creature on this planet has as vivid a sense of memory and imagination as we have. It’s taken millions of years of evolution to get us here. But now because people don’t know how to handle it, they’re saying get rid of it. Don’t remember yesterday, do not think about tomorrow, just be with what is here right now. In a way, we’re talking about how to become an Earthworm once again. I have great regard and respect for the Earthworm, it’s very eco-friendly creature. But with enormous effort, this life has evolved from there to here, isn’t it?
Is it important to learn how we can put this memory and imagination to the highest possible usage? Or is it best to erase it, so that you can simply be here with little peace, maybe peaceful? It’s very easy to do this. If we take away half your brain, you will be very peaceful, and always in the ‘now’. Yes? Is that what we are seeking is the question.
This has happened because, people have become capable of suffering something that happened 10 years ago! Yes! You can suffer something that happened 10 years ago, and you can suffer what may happen day after tomorrow, already! So, you are not suffering life, you are just suffering your memory and imagination. Because it’s gone berserk. Because you did not take charge of it.
The greatest faculty [mind] of what makes us human has become the problem
Or in other words, the greatest faculty of what makes us human has become the problem. The best thing we have here for ourselves, as human beings, is this cerebral capability. Otherwise, as a body, you are nothing much. You’re really nothing much compared to a tiger, or an elephant, or so many other creatures. Yes or no? As a physical body you are nothing much compared to many creatures, isn’t it so? But because we got ‘this’ – we can remember our experience of life. From that we can create an imagination. From that we can create or manage to plan and manifest what we want in our lives.
Now such a great faculty has become a problem for a lot of people. Because the only thing, the only and only thing that they are suffering is – life is not happening the way I think it should happen. Is there any other suffering? Is there any other suffering for a human being? It’s not happening the way I think it should happen, that’s all there is isn’t it?
Today morning sun came up on time. Hello? Now you’re looking – okay so what? You’re not understanding what I’m saying.
You know this happened a little while ago. I was in the United States and we were to fly a helicopter. It was a nice day, weather-wise. So we decided to take off the doors of the helicopter, and fly an open helicopter, because the weather was good. Every aviator knows that for every thousand kilometers, I mean thousand meters that you rise – what is the temperature drop, and what are the situations to expect. This is something that everybody knows. So based on that we took off. But after some time we hit a cold front. A cloud cover came, and it became very, very cold. So cold that you couldn’t really hold the controls properly. So we decided we’ll come down. We were coming down. And just a casual discussion -okay, tomorrow if sun doesn’t come up, what will happen? So we’re making a guess, maybe in six months this will happen, in three months that will happen, these kind of wild guesses. After I came down, I did a bit of research. And I found, if the sun disappears right now – in 18 hours time, almost everything that you know as life will be gone. Except a few microbial life which is deep down in the earth, except that, almost everything that you know as life – human, animal, plant life will be totally gone. In 18 hours time.
Your psychological reality has become larger than the existential reality
So I just now gave you a very great news but you just ignored, and just stared at me. I said sun came up on time, you thought, okay what about it? I’m telling you again, sun came up on time. I want to hear appropriate noises. See. And planets are going around the sun perfectly well today. Planet is spinning on time. Everything in the universe is going perfectly well today. Entire cosmos, not a single accident.
But one nasty little thought is crawling in your head and it’s a bad day. Yes? Just one silly thought is going on in your head and it’s a bad day. Everything is perfect in the cosmos. So what this means is your psychological reality has become larger than the existential reality. What’s happening in your head has become bigger than the cosmos. This is a loss of perspective.
Then you will make up all kinds of philosophies. Nobody has to tell you – be in the moment – because you cannot be anywhere else. Yes? You just cannot be anywhere else. Can you be? If you live, you live in this moment. If you die, you die in this moment, isn’t it so? So there is no danger that you may slip away from this moment. That I have to teach you, please be in this moment, don’t go away. There is no way to go. There is no way to go. Try. No, no mentally I’m going. Mentally you’re not going anywhere. Mentally you can create images of anything. Your mind is a drawing board on which you can write anything. You’re in Pune, you can write Mumbai in your mind. Should I take away this capability from you? Should I take away? This is the most beautiful aspect of being human, isn’t it? That we can be here but we can imagine that, that, and that, and even things that we have not seen. Yes or no?
Nobody has to tell you – be in the moment – because you cannot be anywhere else
So, we are always weaving philosophies as to how to cripple ourselves. Because a whole lot of people understand – they think spirituality is a certain kind of disability. Yes? Because if you say I’m spiritual, the first thing they’ll ask you is what are all the things you don’t do? Or cannot do? Spiritual process – if it’s a disability, we must banish it, isn’t it? If spiritual process is a disability, we must ban it in this country or no? If it’s an empowerment, then everybody must have it. If it’s a disability, we must get rid of it. But unfortunately, it’s been seen as a disability for a long time. To such an extent… all kinds of things.
You know a few months ago, I am in Chennai. There is an important event and… traffic in every city in India is becoming un-drivable. You can’t plan, in how many minutes or hours you can reach from one place to another. There’s no sense to it. It can go anyway. You may land up there in 15 minutes, or you may take two hours. So I find I’m running out of time. I’m stuck in the road. Then I’ll do some forceful driving. It’s the way to drive in this country, okay? Forcefully. And, this is in some hotel. So, I have somebody clear the security gate of the hotel. And I drive in nearly 80-100 Km per hour into the portico, stop, and I get out of the car and I run in. Because I have a reputation that in the last 35 years, I have not been late to a single event in my life. So I don’t want to break it today. So I run in. Then after the event, this journalist comes and says, I saw you coming into the hotel, how you came. In ancient times yogis used to walk. You drive your own car. And I said – you idiot, in ancient times everybody was walking. Not just the yogi. Everyone was walking. You think others were driving cars? Everybody was walking. Yogi also was walking.
We have these ideas that if you’re spiritual, you must be incapable of living in this world
So we have these ideas that if you’re spiritual, you must be incapable of living in this world. You must just talk about that la la land that you have not seen. Yes! Most idiotic and impractical things have passed off as spiritual process. Spirituality or spiritual process is the highest level of empowerment that a human being can have. Because if it is not so, you have no business with it. Nobody should have any business with it.
So, never try to ‘live in the moment’. It’s just that – your problem is this. You have been given a super super computer. Do you agree with me? This is the most sophisticated machine on the planet? I’m asking you, have you read the user’s manual? That’s all the problem is. That is all the problem is. You don’t know how to manage this. If your mind took instructions from you, if you can sit here and have the thought that you want to have, have the emotion that you want to have – is your mind a problem? No. The damn thing is doing all kinds of things, except what you want. So, this is the case with anything. If you do not know how to manage something, just about everything is a problem, isn’t it
