The moment mind starts working, we are not here now and either the future has entered or the past. Either we are remembering the dead past or imagining the unforeseen future. Both of them are false. We are living in a false world whereas TIME is extremely precious, much more precious than the accumulated wealth of the world. Time is fleeting and once gone is gone forever. Gurudev Sh. Swami Vishvas Ji recites in his holy voice:

ए वक्त गुज़रदा जांदा ए, सब नू रोज़ जगांदा ए
पर लक्खां विचों कोई विरला मुल वक्त दा पांदा ए

Unlimited are the gifts of God bestowed on us but in respect of TIME, our benevolent Father has been quite miser that not even a hundredth of a second can be awarded to us, such is the great gift awarded to us but we while this away in anxieties and worries about the future. The present is PARMATMA. So be here now.

Through the present, we slip into God; we slip out of mind and into God. We slip out of ego and slip into our innermost core which is ALL BLISSFUL & ALL PEACEFUL and is the core of the whole universe. Your centre is not your centre alone. It is my centre too. We are different on the periphery but we are one at the centre. On the periphery, you are separate from me. At the centre there is no I, there is no you; there is only we.

It is nearly impossible for us to appreciate that we all are one at the centre or time is fleeting if we don't learn to live every moment totally and to be here now. A king lost his way in a forest and met a wood-cutter who earned his livelihood by cutting the wood from the forest. The woodcutter provided all the comforts to the king he could. The king spent the night and departed. The king was pleased with his hospitality and awarded him a garden of sandalwood.

The poor man didn't know about the precious wood. He used to cut it and burn it. The king visited him after some time thinking that he would be a rich man leading a luxurious life. The king was very much disappointed and shocked to see that he was yet leading a miserable life. The king asked him what he did with the wood. "Cut it and burn it" was the reply. The king asked him to cut a small piece of wood and enquire its value from the market. He did as he was told to do. He was shocked to hear when someone priced it for hundred. He was repenting what he had done with the most valuable wood. A small piece is so valuable. He had the whole garden of precious wood. Alas! Are we not behaving like the wood cutter? The Master of the Universe gave us the precious treasure of Life and we burnt it in lust, anxieties and worries about the future. In fact reality is PRESENT or even the moment in hand i.e. HERE NOW.

Here now! Past or Future is false. Mind lives in past or future because mind is false. Anything false is allured to mind. Present is the death knell of mind. Present provides no space for thought to move. It is so small that thoughts cannot exist. They need a little space to play around, to jog around. The present moment cannot contain any thoughts, so mind cannot exist in the present; it exists in the past or future. Both are not; the past is no more and the future has not yet happened.

There is a story in Mahabharata that king Yudhishitra asked a petitioner to come next day as he was busy. Brother Bhima started ringing a bell fastened outside the palace. Usually the bell was rung to announce the victory over the enemy or an annexation of a territory to the state. Neither was the case but the ringing went on. Yudhistra was told that Bhima was ringing the bell. When asked, Bhima said that his brother had conquered the death as he asked the person to come next day. Brother was certain that he or the petitioner would certainly see the sunshine next day.

We must not conclude that we must not book an air ticket or rail ticket in advance or get a passport. This is practical plan for future. What is to be avoided is to imagine the unimaginable future. We are to be here now. We are to live in the moment totally meaning that the moment in hand is ours; neither the past nor the future moment. That is why it is said that:-

Trust no future however pleasant
Let the dead past bury its dead
Act, act in the living present
Heart within and GOD overhead

Make hay while the sun shines.

And the whole art of meditation is to be here now. To be here now means we have slipped out of mind.  We are not to control the mind. We are just to go beyond mind by watching it. In the beginning mind creates havoc and the more you struggle to control it, the more aggressive it becomes. We are not to interfere with the wanderings of the mind. Our real nature is blissful and peaceful whereas mind is always in pieces and peace is not its nature. We can stay in peace for twenty four hours a day whereas it is just like a hell to pass even an hour in hot temperament.