Exploring the various forms of Yoga, Ram Dass shares methods for coming into the One.
Methods for Union
Once we have tasted the truth of who we really are, what methods can we use to live from that state of being? Illuminating the myriad paths from separateness to Oneness, Ram Dass offers a cornucopia of forms of yoga for coming into union with the One. Due to each of our own unique incarnations and karmic predicaments, there are infinite ways up the mountain. Ram Dass explores these various paths and lineages through the lens of his viscerally unfolding life experience.
“Now, we have evolved into humans with these big prefrontal lobes that can remember, plan, conceptualize, and do all kinds of groovy things. What would happen if you used that thing exquisitely in order to get free of the trap that you got caught in, in which you are creating a prison of thought?” – Ram Dass
Miracle of Love (25:06)
Ram Dass shares a passage written by the World Health Organization’s Dr. Larry Brilliant from Miracle of Love, a collection of stories from India compiled about their Guru, Neem Karoli Baba (Maharaj-ji). The story from Dr. Brilliant elucidates a wide array of the various yogic methods previously outlined, and profoundly exemplifies Maharaj-ji’s unique way of teaching through multilayered experience. It was through these lilas, divine plays, that he would bring his devotees into the miracle of love.
“In the process, the heart gets opened…which is the devotional part, the love. Because when you are with somebody who you open to, and you suddenly experience the intensity and immensity of the love of the universe, you just are so open and so appreciative.” – Ram Dass
‘Nothing New’ by ‘Nobody Special’ (34:51)
Outlining the method of Tantra for using the ‘stuff’ in life for coming from the two into the One, Ram Dass examines working with polarity to get free. Anytime we push away or pull towards something, we get insight into the nature of our mind, into what makes us ‘somebody.’ Describing life as ‘somebody training,’ Ram Dass shares approaches for going into ‘nobody training,’ deconditioning ourselves from the limiting mind-nets of the separate-self to fully come into the totality of the boundless present moment.
“You get to the point that anything you are pushing or pulling shows the clinging nature of your mind, and that is what is creating the suffering of your separateness and keeping you stuck in certain takes of reality – certain planes – thinking you are somebody standing somewhere.” – Ram Dass
Photo by Peter Simon
