A book literally jumped out at me this week. I went to pull one book out, but another one leap out before I could catch it! These are the words I turned to when I opened the leaping book:
“And an astronomer said, Master, what of time?
And he answered:
You would measure time the measureless and the immeasurable.
You would adjust your conduct and even direct the course of your spirit according to hours and seasons.
Of time you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit and watch its flowing.
Yet the timeless in you is aware of life’s timelessness,
And knows that yesterday is but today’s memory and tomorrow is today’s dream.
And that that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space.
Who among you does not feel that his power to love is boundless?
And yet who does not feel that very love, though boundless, encompassed within the centre of his being, and moving not from love thought to love thought, nor from love deeds to other love deeds?
And is not time even as love is, undivided and spaceless?
But if in your thought you must measure time into seasons, let each season encircle all other seasons,
And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing.”
-Kahlil Gibran, “The Prophet” *Note: Typed as true to form from book as possible.
Last week I invited my students to let go of the limited idea of time as we know it in minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, year, and so on, and to remember that they are timeless. And to remember them Self as the Infinite. This reminded me of the Sanskrit term, aparigraha. “Graha means to take, to seize, or to grab. “Pari” means on all sides. The prefix ‘a’ negates the word. So, in essence, aparigraha means to not grasp on all sides. What would it feel like to let go of your grasp on time and know the timeless? What would it feel like for time to let go of its grasp on you?
This is hard to do when I witness my children growing so fast and quickly before my eyes. Hard to do as I watch “time” pass and feel my own body ‘aging’. Hard not to already wish for more “time” as I watch my parents age, because I have already seen all my grandparents pass on into the timelessness of the Universe.
And yet, to know our Self as the Infinite, as Source, as God, as Life, or however you name/feel it, as that ‘song’ and ‘contemplation’ that was there when the stars where ‘scattered into space’, then we know we are timeless! Because the song carries on. Because we carry on in Spirit, and in others memories, and in the forming of new constellations within the Universe, and in the ripples we have created in the Universe simple from our being, our birth.
“Accept the present moment and find the perfection that is deeper than any form and untouched by time.” -Eckart Tolle Thank you Maxine for this quote. When I let go of the idea of time, I can only be in the present moment, because that is where I live. It is my mind that carries me to the past and future. So, in aparigraha with time, I feel the freedom of the present moment! I no longer feel sadness, or desires, or excitement, but rather a steady focus with what is here now. The moment I am living in. Typing now. Tending to my baby later; ah, there’s a “time” word though! But that in being with my baby later, I will be with her fully in That moment. Eating dinner with my son. Creating next weeks class. Listening to the wind. Hearing my own breath. Talking to my husband. All present moment tasks/freedoms/gifts. And even picking up my dogs poop. Present moment! lol! “When you make the present moment, instead of past and future, the focal point of your life, your ability to enjoy what you do and with it the quality, of your life increases dramatically.”-Eckart Tolle
“Time is basically an illusion created by the mind to aid in our sense of temporal presence in the vast ocean of space. Without the neurons to create a virtual perception of the past and the future based on all our experiences, there is no actual existence of the past and the future. All that there is, is the present.” -Abhijit Naskar, “Love, God, & Neurons: Memoir of a scientist who found himself by getting lost.”
And then there is this magical story, if you have a few minutes, please read it. Read HERE. About a calligraphers apprentice. I love the part about the term ‘non-self’, not “no self”, non.
This is all why I chose a picture from the past. India, 2012! The song continues! 😉 See the valley below? Elephant Valley, Tamil Nadu, India. Tureya Ashram.
Namaste, Infinite One.