A friend looking at a brass colossal statue infront of Hammersmith station today "Hey thats cool, how is it Ive never seen this before and I've passed this station atleast 15 to 20 times" "well, thats how present you are!"
Present, is such an everyday word and yet its essence is so powerful. I was in America for the summer and as you already know that continent is known for its vastness and surprising natural beauty. Its just when you see such expansion or anything absolutely stunningly beautiful your mind becomes empty and is captured by this rush of now, the present. You end up gaping at it. Well honestly US isnt that beautiful (the much I've seen), London is far ahead in the artistry and beauty aspect in general terms, but I did get this feeling when i saw the Niagara falls and for like the ten minutes we were on the 'Maid of the Mist' (a boat that takes you closer to the falls) i was just captured by the sheer rush of it. I know it sounds a bit insane probably, like get over it, its just the Niagara but arguably there are two kinds impact that the situation can bring. First, just being captured by the invisible essence of presence and second, knowing that you are captured by the essence and are directly witnessing/noticing its effect on you. I think it then becomes subjective, for me its meditative.
But i have to say its not only the nature's giants that grasp your attention, standing on top of the Empire State building and on the glass floor of CN Tower were quite fascinating too. They command presence you cant get away from it.
Anyhow coming back to the topic, my uncle the other day was talking about actors and stuff and he said the actors he likes are the ones who just come on screen and just captivate your attention. One generally would say its coz she/he has a lot of presence. That doesn't mean a person is beautiful or even a good actor, it just means, according to me, that the actor is so involved in the beauty of acting that he feels the 'rush of presence' in his job, making him a stronger performer. I mean you can tell if a guy is involved or loves his work or not and hence, i feel, to do what you love will make the world love you.
It is a fairly spiritual subject and spirituality in Hinduism reminds me of mindlessly reading out mantras and shlokas. No offense to anyone, I've done the same throughout my younger years and still do. But we have to admit, we aren't pros in sanskrit, so we dont really know what each word means. I recall my class 10 board exams nine years ago, when I use to read the Hanuman Chalisa every morning, like religiously, and it did help me concentrate and get me back to books. But i remember very clearly writing in my journal at that time with a bit of anger that i dont really know exactly what im reading, and what it means but it does work (all i knew was it praises Lord Hanuman, and Ram and Sita in bits) Why does it work? There is definitely something else, a force that pulls you in and improves your mental ability and for me now I can say that is the rush of presence. You read it with your presence, your heart, your inner being there is no way it wouldn't work.
