it is always now

One evening Mulla Nasrudin was walking down a street. The street was lonely and suddenly he became aware of some horsemen, some troops coming toward him. His mind began to work. He thought that they may be robbers, that they may kill him. Or, they may be soldiers of the King and he may be pressed into military service or something. He made himself frightened. And when the horses and their sounds came nearer, he bolted, ran away and jumped into a cemetery, and just to hide from them he lay down in an open grave.

Seeing this man suddenly moving away, the horsemen, who were just innocent travellers, became aware of what had happened. They ran after Mulla Nasrudin and came near his grave. He was Lying there with closed eyes as if dead. “What has happened?” they asked. “Why have you suddenly become so frightened? What is the matter?”

Then Mulla Nasrudin realized that he had unnecessarily frightened himself. He opened his eyes and said, “It is a very complicated thing, very complex. If you insist on asking why I am here, I will tell you. I am here because of you, and you are here because of me.”

This is a vicious circle. If you desire, then you have moved into the future, and this will create the vicious circle. When that future becomes the present, you will again move into the future. Today I will think of tomorrow: this will become a habit. And tomorrow never comes. It cannot come; that is impossible. When it comes it is again today, and I have created a habit of always moving from today to tomorrow. So when tomorrow comes it comes as today, then I again move toward tomorrow.

This is a chain! And the more you do it, the more you become efficient in doing it. And the tomorrow never comes. Always that which comes is today, and with today you have no relationship. You have a mechanism: because it is today, you move. This is a very great habit — not only of this life, but of lives together. One has to break it, one has to come out of it.

Whatsoever you are doing, remember only one thing: remain in the present while you are doing it. It is difficult, arduous, and you cannot succeed immediately. A long habit has to be broken. It is going to be a tough struggle, but try. The very effort will create a gap, and the very effort will sometimes give you some moments of the present. And once you know the taste, you are on the path.

But you do not even know the taste of the present. You have never tasted it, you have never lived in it — never, I say. And it is always here. It is the very life; it is all that is in life.

-OSHO