Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
28 June 2019
Plan Your
“Future”
Plan your future is the advice given by parents, elders, friends, colleagues, teachers and everyone to each other due to knowledge. Knowledge also informs that you plan your future in the present. Knowledge also informs that the future is yet to come.
Knowledge also informs that man and woman will come to know their future. Knowledge informs that those who plan their future in the present are not free from unwanted emotions in the present moment.
Man and woman with wisdom, however, are free from unwanted emotions in any moment. So what is the wisdom of the advice given by knowledge, which is: plan your future.
The wisdom is that neither man nor woman makes any moment in life because the moment in life was in life much before man and woman were in life. Wisdom informs that neither man nor woman makes either the present moment in life or the future moment in life.
Wisdom also informs that neither man nor woman can make a moment in life because he or she needs to be in the moment in order to make a moment. But they cannot be in the moment without a moment being there.
Wisdom informs that neither man nor woman makes a moment and that the present moment renews itself every moment continuously, uncontrollably and unpredictably by the intelligence in life.
Wisdom informs that every moment, which is the present in life, is a gift to man by the intelligence in life. Man cannot give this gift to himself nor to another human being because neither man nor woman can make the present moment in life or the future moment in life.
Wisdom informs that man and woman know only the present moment and not the future moment. This is because they are only in the present moment every moment and never in the future moment in life.
Wisdom informs that the content of every moment is what man and woman have in the present moment in life. What man and woman are meant to plan in the moment is the content of the moment and the plan is a gift to man by the intelligence in life. Man cannot give this gift either to himself or to another human being because neither man nor woman makes the present or the future moment in life.
Wisdom informs that every man and woman’s plan for the future may or may not happen, just as the plan for the present may or may not happen. This is because only what is meant to happen in the moment will happen and nothing beside what is meant to happen in the moment can happen.
Wisdom informs that what is meant to happen in any moment in life happens because of the intelligence in the moment and not because of man or woman. Neither man nor woman makes any moment in life.
The enlightened accept what man and woman have in the present as a gift from life and do not expect them to plan their future or the present, including what he has himself. The enlightened neither plan for the present nor for the future.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2019
Editor’s Note:
The idea ‘I rule’ is strongly held in the minds of human beings and so is its antithesis ‘I am ruled’. Thus, man’s behaviour reflects this idea, albeit illusory. Furthermore, its influence may give rise to disturbing emotions and inappropriate actions. The wise, however, understand that whatever happens in any moment is meant to happen, like it or not, and is the gift of the intelligence of life. Understanding this is the birth of acceptance.
Julian Capper, UK
German Translator‘s Note:
Who hasn't sworn to himself and the world to plan better for the future after an accident, a defeat or an unexpected event? This is socially and personally demanded, although no one can know exactly what the future will bring. The human confusion on this point is immeasurable. Hence the gratitude when, as here in this article, clarity is proclaimed.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany.
Dutch translator’s note:
The mind is almost always busy making plans and achieving goals. Planning happens and with this man thinks he can avoid mistakes in the future: forgetting something or not having enough time to do everything that has to be done. But there is never any certainty things will work out according to the plan, because every time the plan may happen or may not. Man believes the planning until he begins to understand that even with planning he or she has no control over life.
Paula Smit, The Netherlands.