Tomorrow

You won the lottery. A cheque for one million dollars was sent to you, but unfortunately you misplaced it. Every night before you go to bed, you tell yourself that tomorrow you will contact the lottery office, explain the situation and resolve it. A year has passed but that tomorrow has never come. So, every day you go to work, struggle to make ends meet while somewhere you have a million dollars lying around unclaimed. Does that sound like something you would do?

Probably not. And yet, when it comes to meditation, so many of us suffer from this disease called the tomorrow syndrome. We say, “Today, I have a meeting, I have emails to reply to, travel plans to make, so I’ll meditate later when I’m relaxed.” Before we know it, it is dinner time, it has gotten late and the body is too tired to even try. So, we go to bed promising to make good – tomorrow. But it never happens. We have the best intention, but the fact is, when that procrastination demon rears its ugly head, we are powerless. And the worst part? Give in often enough and it turns into a way of life.

Procrastination is defined as the act of wilfully delaying or not doing something that requires immediate attention. Practically speaking, one might understand delaying something which has no deadline. It might even be considered reasonable to put off trivial tasks that are of no consequence. But how does one explain postponing the primary purpose of human life for which we know there is limited time? Why would anyone deliberately delay something that the delay could lead to tragedy? Would a fireman delay going into a burning building to save a life?

Human beings are very clever about worldly affairs. People put so much time into planning every little thing to perfection. But when it comes to death, which can come at any time, what is our plan? As initiates on the path of Sant Mat, we often expect our Master to fulfil his part of the promise to liberate us from the painful cycle of physical life. But we have to ask ourselves, are we fulfilling our part of the promise to prepare for the journey that lies ahead?

Saints and mystics urge us to think and reflect. We say we will attend to our spiritual duties once we are settled in our lives, after we have children, when we have a nice home, when we have discharged our worldly responsibilities, when we have no more challenges to face.

Mystics assure us that there is no such thing as an ideal time – our circumstances are never going to be perfect. If this world is not perfect and we know that we are not perfect, then how can the environment and situation around us ever be perfect?

We always try to give the time we have no use for to the Father. Once we are rejected by society, by our children or friends, then we want to devote our time to the Father. When we become old and our senses don’t go with us, our eyes refuse to cooperate, ears and limbs refuse to cooperate – then we want to worship the Father. We have to give the best time of our life to the Father.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh, as quoted in Legacy of Love}

Unfavourable conditions come and go. It is the nature of human life. But even if right now is not the perfect time, it is all we have. And if we do not use it, we will lose it. Once we accept this basic precept, we will realize that the perfect time, the ideal time, the best time of our life that we can give to the Father, is now.

Tomorrow is a dangerous word. It has been said that it is the devil’s favourite word because if he can get someone to put off thinking about the Lord for one more day, he has them where he wants them. We use ‘tomorrow’ like the owner of a gas station that has a sign that says ‘free gas tomorrow.’ Every time we drive by, the sign puts us off for one more day, until one day we are stranded in the middle of the road with no gas. Do we really want to be in this kind of a predicament at the time of death?

Today you say, ‘I’ll meditate tomorrow’;
When tomorrow comes you say, ‘Not now, next day.
Saying ‘tomorrow, tomorrow’,
This golden chance will pass away.
_{Kabir, The Weaver of God’s Name}