PRESENT..!!

...the present is being continuously being distorted by Memories of the past or by projections into the future.
The pristine present moment is continuously adulterated by the distortion. The mind is therefore never still.
The thoughts keep flowing relentlessly, almost involuntarily. And thoughts are entirely within the domain of past events or apprehensions of the future.
..the "here n now" all the while gets modified into the "then n there" depending on the programme that is used..the prgrm is the amalgamation of memories, temperament & conditooning. The output genereated after the processng of present is thn categoriesd as happiness, sadness n the entire gamut of emotions. The present intrinscally has no characteristic. It is devoid of any emotional shade. it is just AwAreNess..Pure Being-ness.
The mind transforms unbiased cognition to baised perception. All emotions are purely within the ambit of perception. There is nothng absolute about them. The constant struggle that ensues in the mind is the duel btwn the individual's perception of what is n how it ought to be.
The natural succession to this line of thinkng is whether one can really manipulate the outer wrld n ensure what ought to be...honestly "NO"...
The present moment is wasted in castigating d past n strategising the future.
Knowing deep down , of not havng the whrwithal to effect our will, we would realise hw insane is our obsession with power to control.
It is a common xperince that anticipation of happiness is probably more joyful thn the actual event n anticipation of pain is more painful thn the point of suffering. In both the cases it is the present moment that is pregnent with perception is in hyperbola. That is why wen the actual event takes place, both the pain n d happiness r lesser thn projected.
Meditaion is training the mind to be in the here n now..

The present moment is devoid of any sense of ego.
The pure present moment wen disrobed of d past or future is just a sense of "am"ness...the "am"ness has no name,no past n no aspiration..rather lyk what d bungee jumper xperince..
or those moments wen one is so absorbed in what one is doing that one loses the sense of identity. Like listening to soulful music..
We all probably xperince these quasi static states off n on but we might nt b aware of it. that point of impersonal conciousness is nothng short of meditation. and losng one's identity, even if for a few moments, is plesurable. Becoz at that moment all percieved emotions also vanish as they r of the sense of identity..the realised soul resides in that state voluntarily..

(in TOI..4july..by Deepak Ranade: deepakranade@hotmail.com)