28. Tomorrow Never Comes!

When we have a task to do, we often put it off by saying, 'I will do it tomorrow.' Little do we know that tomorrow does not actually exist!

We are used to thinking that the time at our disposal can be split into three parts: past, present and future. What has already happened is in the past, what will or might happen belongs to the future, and what is happening now is the present. I can tell you that your fundamentals are completely wrong. There is only one period of time - now. There is no other aspect of time.

We are fond of saying, 'Tomorrow I will do this.' But, be very clear: when tomorrow comes, it will arrive only in the form of today - now. It never presents itself to you in the form of tomorrow. You can say, 'Tomorrow, I will be happy. Tomorrow I will become enlightened. Tomorrow I will do the meditation.' Please understand that the tomorrow you are thinking about is never going to arrive in the way you are thinking. It is arriving in the form of every moment - now.

Be very clear: again and again, you promise that tomorrow you will be happy, tomorrow you will be enlightened, tomorrow you will be joyful, because you do not yourself believe that these predictions will ever happen. You are simply finding reasons to postpone these things from happening.

A small story from Bharat:

In Hindu Astrology, Saturn, one of the nine planets, is revered as well as feared as a minor deity. GanesÁa, the elephant headed son of Siva, is considered to be immune to the evil intents of Saturn. It is said that he has a big sign on his door that says, 'Go away today and come back tomorrow.' So, whenever Saturn comes around, he reads the notice on the door and goes away. The following day, when Saturn returns, the same thing happens: he reads the sign and goes away. Tomorrow never comes!

This is exactly how we live. In our case, whenever we decide we want to learn to truly live, to fully express our Being, and to live as we truly desire, our mind always says, 'No, No, No, No, No! Now is not the right time. Let us wait. Let us do it a little later. Let us give it a little time until tomorrow....tomorrow.'

When you put off your spiritual development until tomorrow, you are providing an excuse for yourself to never do anything now or today. In fact, by saying 'tomorrow,' you will never achieve anything at all. You will simply find comfort in holding onto the reasons that your mind makes up to satisfy itself. And you will never grow.