Practice is all about being in the now. You can follow your breath, listen to the sound of the wind or feel tiny nerve pulsations under your skin in order to arrive smack dab in the middle of the now. But wait. The now is a temporary thing. Moments flit by, evanescent, like bubbles on a fast moving stream, like dewdrops on a blade of grass, like candles in a strong wind. If we assume that the flickering moment is all that there is, we are lost, adrift in a sea of transience. In all that you see, hear and do, if you seek fulfillment in the moment you suffer, stranded on the shifting sands of samsara. It is for this reason that you must realize the Now of the Now. Consider that the first now is the small now. It is the now of doing the dishes and waiting at a traffic light. It is the now of your aging body, your cash flow, your kitchen, and the well-being of your kids. The small now includes fluctuations in technology, politics, money markets and weather. The small now is always under the sway of the see-saw effects of karma.
On the other hand, the big now is perpetual, unending, beyond measure. It is the open canvas onto which the scene of the ever changing is projected. The big now does not come and go, it is never born nor dies, it neither increases or decreases and can never be lost or found. The big now is timeless and transcendent. In no way do the fluctuations of the small now ever compromise the big now. It is unshakeable, indestructible, and beyond. Some students believe the big now to be supreme, the true, the great god. But if you worship the big now at the expense of the small now, you fail to respond to the needs of the changing world. You are like an insect frozen in amber, immobilized in the golden glory of your god, incapacitated, heartless. Only when we are touched by the immediacy of the small now, do we open to compassionate presence.
When Ram Dass penned Be Here Now in the mountains of Northern New Mexico in 1971 he was no doubt thinking of the Now of the Now. In being here now, each passing thing appears against the backdrop of the timeless, like the silhouette of a bird in the sky. When you realize the Now of the Now, you are both imminent and transcendent, limited and unlimited, matter and spirit. Know that when you walk the royal road of the Now of the Now you realize the ultimate yoga.
