Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academ-advaita.com
The Netherlands
28 January 2020
Appreciation (8)
“Knowledge and Wisdom”
The past, the future and the present exist in the here and now. You have not realised that the present is the future of yesterday. Understand that you are already in the future, which is the present, whether you like it or not.
Understand that the future is not away from you as you believe the future is. Understand that the future was away from yesterday. Understand that the future and the present are here and now.
Understand that yesterday as the past was in the now as well. Have you not seen that you are still in the now? Can you separate a small child from an old woman who is in the now? If you can separate them and, if they are separate, the old woman who is here and now will not exist.
Similarly, can you separate a small child from an old man who is here and now? If you can separate them and, if they are separate, the old man who is here and now will not exist.
The young boy is gone. He is no more. That is fiction because before and after are not an actuality. This is because before and after too are the moment which is here and now which is always in the moment.
The young boy has not gone anywhere. Energy cannot be created or destroyed. Energy is still here. It can only transform. The energy as young boy is still here, but energy is now as an old man.
Understand that here and now is a moment. Understand that in between a moment and the next is moment as well. What does this mean? This means that past is not before the present and the future is not after the present because the moment is always in the moment.
What does this mean? This means to wisdom that the ‘here and now’ is whole, meaning the moment is the past, present and future. This is wisdom. But to knowledge past, present and future are linear, meaning one after the other and separate from each other in the moment ‘here and now’.
Wisdom reveals that nothing is separate in the moment ‘here and now’. Wisdom reveals everything is precisely in its place because every moment is precisely in its place, which is the ‘here and now’.
Wisdom reveals that everything is precisely where it is meant to be, which is the moment ‘here and now’, which is whole and not linear. Wisdom reveals that what is within any moment cannot be other than what is within it.
To knowledge life is linear and not whole. Therefore, knowledge expects what should be in any moment in life, which is appreciated, and does not accept what is in the moment ‘here and now’, which is not appreciated.
To wisdom life is a circle and in a circle every point in the circle is here and now, including in between one point and the next point is here and now. This makes life whole and not linear.
Man and woman with wisdom appreciate what is within any moment, whether they like it or not.
The enlightened appreciate life as a whole.
Author: Dr. Vijai S .Shankar
© Copyright V.S. Shankar 2020
Editor’s Note:
The parameters of a man’s life are set by the illusory time-frame of past, present and future, such that, if some experience is in the past, there may be relief or disappointment at its passing. If an experience is present, it may be painful or pleasant. If an experience is expected in the future, it is either unwelcome or anticipated enthusiastically. Living in the here and now is a popular expression, but even in knowledge the remedy of ‘living in the here and now’ fades.The linear life has a beginning and an end, albeit illusory. The distance between is precisely measured in years. The wise proclaim that life is beginningless and endless in the moment that is eternal. Understanding the circle of life is the gift of wisdom.
Julian Capper. UK