Paramahansa Yogananda taught, “Live each present moment completely and the future will take care of itself”.
The mystics, saints, and sages have all pointed to one blazing truth: the present moment is eternity itself. St. Augustine called time a mystery of the soul; Paramahansa Yogananda spoke of the eternal now as the doorway to God; and modern success teachers remind us that the only point of leverage you ever truly possess is this instant.
Right now, you stand at a threshold. In this very breath, you hold no karma. The past has dissolved into memory, and the future has not yet been written. You are free. Yet the moment you act, consequences are born. Karma begins to ripple. Each thought, word, and deed is a seed sown into the soil of eternity. And though the fruits of that soil may ripen in ways mysterious to the material mind, to the spiritual eye they reveal perfection, guided by divine love.
God, as the prophet Samuel said, “looks upon the heart.” Your inner state—your beliefs, your intentions, your energy—is the true measure of your life. Actions matter, but it is the heart behind the action that determines whether the act rises as incense toward heaven or sinks into the mire of self-serving ego.
This is why moment-to-moment practice matters. Success, both material and spiritual, is nothing more than a succession of present moments, lived rightly, adding up like drops into an ocean. Each now is a chance to align your will with the eternal. Each now is a chance to choose love over fear, clarity over confusion, service over selfishness.
The Bhagavad Gita reminds us: “You are entitled to the action, but never to the fruits of action.” Do your duty, do it passionately, do it with joy—and then release the outcome. The fruit belongs to God. You were never the Doer, God is. This truth liberates you from the anxiety of results and anchors you in the bliss of the work itself.
Yes, cunning strategies, manipulation, and Machiavellian tactics often produce quick victories. Evil always comes sugar-coated, or else no one would taste it. But the harvest of such seeds is bitter. Al Capone ended mad with syphilis in prison; Adolf Hitler committed suicide in a bunker of despair. Their fruits rotted. Compare them to Mother Teresa, whose life was radiant with love, or Padre Pio, whose heart became a beacon of miracles. Their fruits endure in eternity.
Rewards may or may not ripen in this lifetime, but ripen they shall. Karma is patient. Sometimes the lesson comes swiftly, other times over lifetimes.
But to the soul walking in faith, one more act of love, one more step of courage, one more punch through the veil of illusion can bring a rebirth into greater strength, higher wisdom, and divine joy.
Love is its own reward. When you choose love now, eternity opens within you. The world is but a dream within a dream, and when the dream ends, all of us must return to the Father. Even the most lost soul has a path home.
That is the story of the Prodigal Son: no matter how far we wander, God’s grace is waiting-if we repent (Change). The banquet table is set, and the loving Father runs to meet us when we turn our face toward Him.
So master this moment. The now is your eternity, your destiny, your karma yet unwritten. With every heartbeat, with every breath, let your heart align with love, let your action spring from truth, and let your destiny unfold as a song of grace.
The Mastery of Now is the mastery of life eternal.
“In the absolute sense, anything that contradicts true happiness is untruth; and that which gives permanent happiness is truth. Permanent happiness refers not to the temporary thrill that comes with material success and pleasure, but to the joy found in the soul’s attunement with God. By this standard, you can judge any action you perform as to its projected end result – whether or not that action will promote lasting happiness. The ultimate Truth is God; and God is the ultimate Truth.”
– Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda
Journey to Self-Realization
“What is Truth”, pg 107
