In This Moment

The following excerpt is, again, from Joel S. Goldsmith’s book Practicing the Presence.  I read the following pages and felt they were an interesting

Practising the Presence Joel Goldsmith

Christian take on the Power of Now. There are also some interesting corollaries to the Yoga Sutras, mentioned at the end of this excerpt.

“There is only this moment–a moment of Christhood. We cannot live yesterday. No one has it within his ability to live yesterday and no one can live tomorrow. There is only one time in which we can live, and that is now, in this instant; it is what we are, in this instant, that constitutes our life.

In Isaiah we read, ‘…though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow.’ In the same vein, the Master said to the theif on the cross, ‘Today shalt thou be w

ith me in paradise.’ These examples are indicative of but one point, and that is that we live in a constant state of nowness. Yesterday does not exist. As a matter of fact, even an hour ago does not exist, and, therefore, all the things that belonged to yesterday or to an hour ago are as dead as yesterday’s newspaper; they are no part of our being unless we revive them in this moment.

Our demonstration is to maintain our integrity to the highest degree of which we are capable at any given moment. If we

make a mistake, let us pick ourselves up and be sure that it does not happen again. It is only what we carry into the present that hurts us–not what happened in the past, but what we carry over into the present of what happened in the past. If each of us could begin everyday afresh with the realization, ‘I and my Father are one**,’ it would make no difference what our mistakes were yesterday as long as they are not repeated today. It is only when we revive yesterday and bring it back into today that it injures us. We do not live on yesterday’s manna, but neither can we suffer from yesterday’s lack of manna. It is only what we are and what we have this instant, what we are living in this instant that counts. It is only we who, in memory, bring yesterday into today. We can bring yesterday into our deeds, also, by making the same mistakes today we made yesterday.

If we, in this moment, revive our hates and fears and animosities of yesterday, they are alive and active in our experience today. Then we are subject to the punishment of cosmic law, because it is in this moment in which we are in enmity or antagonism to the law of Christ. But this moment let us bring ourselves to the realization:

Yesterday is gone forever; tomorrow will never come; there is only today; and today love is the fulfilling of the law. This moment I acknowledge Christ as my being; I acknowledge the Christ as the life of my friend or enemy; I acknowledge the Christ alone.

Then, in this moment, we are Christ-consciousness. In this moment, we are aligned with cosmic law, and all the power of the Godhead is flowing through us to ‘forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, to lead us not into temptation,’ to hold us on the course leading to spiritual fulfillment. Let us hold steadfastly to this Christhood. ‘Go and sin no more.’ It makes no difference how scarlet our sins were a moment ago, if, in this moment, we realize the Christ–Christ as omnipotence***, Christ as our individual being, Christ as the only power unto our experience. Then we are children of God, then we are aligned with the cosmic power, and all the forces of the world unite to uphold us, support us, sustain us, and maintain us.”

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** I:23.    Samadhi is also near when there is perfect alignment with Ishvara.

In Sanskrit this sutra refers to, “Ishvara pranidhanad”.  Ishvara is the eternal Self, the ultimate seer.  Pranidhanad refers to the perfect aligning of our being with Ishvara.  By adopting the view point of Ishvara as the eternal Self and the pure witness of all experience, our being merges with the vast ocean of the infinite consciousness.  This alone can bring higher samadhi quickly into our being.

***I:25.     In Ishvara, the seed of omniscience is unsurpassed.

Ishvara is free of conditioning.  By perfect resonance with this principle of creation, the yogi experiences an unconditioned state of consciousness, which is the threshold to full absorption in total liberation and pure being.  All time and all places are encompassed in Ishvara as the lord of the universe.  By aligning with the principle of Ishvara the yogi learns and grows by the same power that lead the ancient teachers to the realization of the eternal Self.

Demonstrate God

The following passage comes from Joel S. Goldsmith’s book called Practicing the Presence.

Practising the Presence Joel Goldsmith

“Meeting God face to face is the end of the road.  There is nothing more to be desired. When we come to this point, we know exactly what Paul meant when he said, ‘I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.’ It is almost as if we were looking over our shoulder and watching the Christ work in us and through us and for us. It goes before us. If supply is needed, It provides it.  If a home is needed, It provides it. If transportation is needed, It provides it. We never have to take thought of these things; all we have to do is continue our life of contemplation, and then we shall find that in our business, profession, or artistic pursuits, we shall have greater discernment, ability, health, inspiration, joy and remuneration.  However, we shall not be praying to achieve these results:  They will flow of their own accord just as the sun rises in the morning and goes down at night.  We shall have had nothing to do with it except to contemplate it, behold it, watch it.  We did not have to pray to God about it, and we did not have to know the truth about it.

So with us. We learn not to try mentally to manipulate our lives, hoping that by affirming some truth something good will be brought into our experience. Life becomes a complete joy, because just as we need have no concern for the movement of the sun, moon, or stars, so we need feel no burden of responsibility for our supply or our health.  All these are a matter of God’s grace.  Our only responsibility is that the Spirit of God dwell in us.  At one time or another, we must begin to make the transition from being man whose breath is in his nostrils, who cannot please God and who is not under the law of God, to being the child of God. From that point on we cannot fail: It is only a matter of devotion.

We cannot use God, but we can yield ourselves to God and let God use us.  We can contemplate the things of God and meditate upon the spiritual, invisible, and unseen, until we actually feel that spirit and presence of God within us. Then let our prayer be:

Give me more wisdom; give me more light; teach me how to abide in Thy Word. Let me want Thee for Thy sake only.  Let me never ask for a single thing for any person.  Let me tabernacle and commune with Thee.  Let my only purpose be to unit with Thee.“