Being Ram Dass

the guru is not about continuity but presence, the subtle moment-to-moment essence behind this reality. The Taos ashram is part of Maharaj-ji’s lila, his dance, his play in the world.

As the Tibetan Book of the Dead suggests, when you die, you are received on an astral plane by loved ones who have died before you: parents, friends, lovers. If you don’t go into the clear light in the bardo, then you are pulled on to the next incarnation. If you’re reading this, you didn’t make it into the clear light last time.

We think our power is the power of our minds to conceive new ways of manipulating objective reality. Our minds are our very being—or, as Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” What we think of as reality is a conceptual thought of how we think it is. We’re afraid that if we give up thinking, we give up our power and free will, and we may succum

The combination of Buddhist meditation and bhakti devotion is still my practice. Integrating Buddhist wisdom with the opening of the heart feels like a completion of both.

notice how many angry people there are at peace rallies. Social action arouses righteousness. But righteous anger can close your heart. If I want to be free more than I want to be right, I have to let go of righteousness. For social action to be done with love, the spiritual work has to come first. I work on myself to perform social action from a p

I am living in the presence of Maharaj-ji’s unconditional love. I have never been loved so completely. My parents loved me because I was a good boy, my lovers because I loved them back. There were always conditions on love. Now there are no conditions; there is only pure love. I, who never felt worthy of love, am dissolving into it.