Ram Dass relays some of the teachings around renunciation, shakti, violence and truthfulness that he received in his many months of study while in India.
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Show Notes
This is It (Opening) – Still residing in India, Raghu and another Canadian go to share darshan with Maharaj-ji, who gave him a feeling of being home for the first time and showed him unconditional love.
“Suddenly the doors to Maharaj-ji’s room burst open and to my astonishment, I realized that I know him. I knew him because whatever I felt from Ram Dass, he was the source. It was beyond what my experience could categorize – but mostly it was the feeling of being home for the first time.” – Raghu Markus
Renunciation of Desire (2:55) – Meanwhile, Ram Dass continues his spiritual evolution and learns the meaning of “renunciation of desire” and explores different vehicles to get to and maintain a place of pure oneness.
“The whole matter of enlightenment that is required is what is called renunciation. When you think of the word renunciation, many of you probably think in terms of people living off in the woods with no possessions. That’s an external manifestation of renunciation – renunciation here means not the renunciation of action but of a desire.” – Ram Dass
Snakes Know Heart (15:00) – Ram Dass talks about doing harm to other beings and the way violence relates to our spiritual journey. He talks about how this philosophy relates to our diet and the environment we create in our bodies.
“The way my teacher started to instruct me on this was by writing on his slate, ‘Snakes know heart.’ Meaning that when you are pure of heart, when you don’t mean harm to anything, you don’t have to worry about snakes because they are appreciative of where you are at. They won’t do you in unless they feel a threat from you.” – Ram Dass
Telling the Truth (19:10) – One of the key lessons that we need to learn as Westerners are those around the importance of truthfulness. Ram Dass explores why we face this difficulty in dealing with truth and practices for changing our relationship to the truth and honest expression.
“Truthfulness is the most profound quality for Westerners to understand because it is the one they struggle with the most. When the heart is totally open and truthful, there is no risk or vulnerability at all.” – Ram Dass
