1.
Thoughts of the past and future spoil your time.
–Dipa Ma, in Amy Schmidt, Dipa Ma: The Life and Teachings of a Buddhist Master
2.
If I had to use one single word to describe the atmosphere of the Gospel narrative, it would be the word Now. The majority of us spend the greater part of our lives in the future or the past—fearing or desiring what is to come, regretting what is over. M. shows us a being who lives in continuous contact with that which is eternally present. God’s existence has no relation to past or future; it is always as of now. To be with Ramakrishna was to be in the presence of that Now.
–Christopher Isherwood, Ramakrishna and His Disciples
