Focus on NOW. Whatever you understand by the term is fine. Just focus on what the term refers to. Cut out the distractions. And slowly …
Dive in.
As you immerse yourself into the Now, you start to realize Now encompasses everything you know. Every experience, every activity, every memory, every anticipation, every thought appears in NOW alone.
Not just these. All that is known, all that is knowable, the One that knows, are all present in the present moment only. Whatever you are experiencing right now, be it a acute physical pain, a heartache or the feeling of calm, experience of warmth, or a beautiful sight, are appearances that are presented to the One that knows - You.
Go a little deeper.
Try to step out of Now. Can you move, ever so slightly, to a point out of now?
No.
You can perhaps think of something that happened in the past? But look closely. The only current reality in that activity is not the event that you are remembering but the thought of remembrance that happens now. Same goes for any anticipation of future. Or an imaginary situation. All these are just thoughts which appear in mind, NOW.
Mind you, these Appearances can entrap and hide the underlying reality of NOW where all this things are playing out. That is what Maya does.
The trick is to keep the focus on NOW and let the appearance appear and disappear in and out. Now thus becomes the screen on which the flashing movie of reality unfolds.
Meditating thus, you realize that Now is beyond time. In fact, NOW encompasses all eternity. It is timeless.
Everything appears in NOW.
Go Deeper Still.
See if for a moment you can imagine a YOU that is not NOW. This is a delicate step. Takes time. But soon
you realize that that YOU and NOW are actually inseparable. This NOW you realize is not a slice of time, it is not an instant in the temporal stream. Rather what this NOW is the substratum of all appearances, it is the timeless awareness, that we call Brahman. The timeless presence in which moments (time) appear is the ultimate reality. The self-luminous, self-aware Is-ness in which all "reality" appears. It is YOU.
As you focus on NOW, you find Yourself.
Stay there.
Update: 13-Sep-2025
I saw this picture containing a saying by Spira that I think adds more context to this reflection. So I am including this here.
Just wanted to clarify ---
The passage doesn't propose to defend -- presentism (“only the present exists”).
Instead what it try to posit is that
Sat-Chid (Brahman) is the ultimate reality. Also Ananda, but that's a discussion for another day.
