A beggar was living on a city footpath for many years. As a stranger passed by, the beggar asked him, “Sir, will you spare some coins for me?” The stranger replied, “I don’t have any change with me. But what is that box on which you are sitting?” “I don’t know. It has been there for so many years.” But the stranger encouraged him to open it, and with some difficulty, they together opened it and were quite taken aback. It was full of gold!

As you have begun the new academic year, it is worth considering the above story taken from the famous book The Power of Now by the British author Eckhart Tolle. In the book, Eckhart exhorts us to be aware, awake, and fully present in the moment we live. The present moment is all we will ever have, so live in the here and now. Yet, people spend a lot of time thinking and planning their future. If you take a break and listen to your mind for 10 minutes, you will notice that your mind repeatedly speaks about the same things.

Your present moment is putting foundation to your future. Unlike animals, human beings are gifted with a higher level of consciousness which is fashioning your life. What you repeatedly think today will be unfolded in your life in the coming days. A rich man’s son thinks in the present moment that he will be rich like his father. A poor man’s son thinks that he will not be able to become like that rich man.

The greatest treasure that everyone owns is one’s consciousness of NOW, by which one can alter one’s destiny. You and your mind are not one but distinct and independent. Your identity is separate from your mind, thoughts, and perceptions. If you watch your mind silently, with eyes closed, you will observe how it loves to escape either to the past regrets or future worries. So, it is challenging to become conscious of the present moment and to observe our thoughts without judgement.

Therefore, silently watch your thoughts. This way, you can have mastery over your thoughts, retaining those that help your happiness, and rejecting what is harmful. You are helpless regarding your past or future, but you can handle the present moment now when you can deliberately insert a great idea or delete negative ones. So, fill your present moment with those thoughts which you wish your mind to dwell in. All the things that you see around were built, discovered or invented by creating the mental images at their present moment and pursuing them moment after moment.

In this issue, we happily present the great story of Kaavya Karthikeyan, who conquered Mt Everest in her mind years before she actually reached there on 20th May 2024. The story of Elon Musk too is the same. So remember, you are sitting on the treasure box of NOW! The same is possible for you in every aspect of your life. Give it a try!

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Two thousand years ago, a penniless prophet and the greatest person the world has ever seen, was wandering through a stony country where the people had a hard time making a living. One day a crowd gathered about him on a hill, and he gave what is probably the most-quoted speech ever delivered at any time. This speech contains twenty-six words that have gone ringing down across the centuries: “Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

There is only one minute in which you live, this minute here and now. Live every moment of your life to the fullest. As you traverse the landscape of life, you must smell the roses, for you get only one chance to live. As the existentialist philosopher Albert Camus wrote, “Real generosity towards future consists in giving all to what is present.” Start doing what you want to do right now. We are just tenants in the tent of time. We have just this instant twinkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake to vanish into thin air.

Delight in the fact of your existence. Enjoy the uniqueness of your being and living. Each moment is a precious diamond in itself. Do not waste this precious treasure. In this context one is reminded of the insightful words of the late Bollywood star, Dev Anand, the evergreen hero, the ever-flowing fountain of unflagging energy and effervescent youthfulness: “I live for the moment. I have been through it all and know how to handle it. Live in the moment, enjoy the moment, because if you don’t, you’ll miss out and trust me, nothing can bring back time lost.”

Living in the present moment requires great mental poise and emotional balance. The difficulties inherent in living in the present moment can be illustrated by an analogy. Think of yourself in a concert hall listening to the strains of the sweetest music when you suddenly remember that you forgot to lock your car. You are anxious about the car, you cannot walk out of the hall and you cannot enjoy the music. Then you have a perfect image of life as it is lived by most human beings. For life to those who have the ear to hear is symphony; but very, very rare indeed is the human being who hears the music. Why? Because they are busy listening to the noises that their conditioning and their programming have put in their heads. Those who live in the magic of the present moment find their eternity in each moment. The wise man seizes the treasures of the present moment. The great French Marshal Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow-growing and would not reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshal replied: “In that case, there is no time to lose, plant it this afternoon.”

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