Friends,
I am sure many of us were deeply influenced by the book "Power of Now". I read it too and I loved it.
Living in the present moment is indeed Freedom, Liberated living.
The Vedantic style of living in the present moment is what I call "The inverted style" ... Please see ...
Live in the present moment ... in the now ... is such a simple suggestion and yet people who knows this do not stand liberated there and then --- Vedanta however tackles it in the inverted style ... it asks "What takes you away from the PRESENCE"
The essential teaching of Vedanta is "YOU ARE THE PRESENCE"
and so ... you cannot be anything else.
To understand the difference ... lets try an experiment...
suppose i sit down in a room, close my eyes and decide to not move out. What can move me out of the room?
1. First of all, without a thought i cannot move out.
2. Even if there is a thought i need not move out.
The first case is obvious. Lets take point (2) and look deeper.... if there is a thought i need not move. Even when there is a thought, i need not "Accept" the thought and yet, thoughts seem to carry me away from the Present moment ...
So vedanta asks "Who is this "I" that is getting carried away by thoughts"
This is famously called Self Inquiry and is popularized by Ramana though its present at various places in Vedanta if one is a keen observer.
Who is this "I" that is getting carried away by thoughts ... inquiring ... with the aid of a proper teacher and shastric teaching ... one sees that there is none ! There being no one to move away from present moment ... what else can one be other than the presence !!
To live in the present moment ... one need not become extraordinarily slow ... one need not pause for 10 mins between lines ! One just has to see that there is only the Presence ... there is none else !! Thus living becomes a long holiday ... here and now living itself is meditation!
Love!
Silence
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