The Power of the Beloved

All methods are traps. In my relation to my guru, at first my love was so strong, all I wanted to do was rub his feet and look at his form and just be around him. Then, as time went on, not that the love grew less, the love grew different, until I was very fulfilled just being at a distance in relation to him. It kept growing deeper and deeper until I really didn’t care whether I was with his form anymore. I started to relate to him in a way where it wasn’t that man in India anymore, it was the essence of love, and I began to experience it in myself in relation to him. The whole quality of the dynamics of the situation was changing as I was growing in wisdom and as my heart was opening and my surrender was greater.

When I have kidded about it I said, I worshipped his form until I realized that that was just the doorpost and I was just rubbing the doorpost- I had to look through the keyhole and each surrender led me in and in and in. It was a method that took me right back to myself and to beyond form. In the presence of love a lot of the qualities of renunciation or intellectual discriminations that are really difficult when you are trying to do them in a rajasic, “I can do it!” way, are indescribably easy in the presence of that unconditional love.

Those of you who have had a really powerful love relationship will recognize what it is like to care more about your beloved than about yourself. Your favorite food comes on the table and your main concern is that the other person has enough of it, not that you get enough of it. You are fulfilled that they should eat it. When you have a child, that’s the kind of experience you have. People say, “aren’t you self-effacing, aren’t you sacrificing your child,” but it isn’t sacrifice, it’s joy. All austerities with a dry heart are heavy, but with love they become, “Oh, I’ll do this for my beloved. I’ll give this up, it will get me closer!” When you really want to get close to your beloved, you can’t give things up fast enough.

 

Ram Dass, 1973

 

8 thoughts on “The Power of the Beloved”

  1. When I first realized Maharaji-ji despite the incredible blissful feelings I was very concentrated on his pictures and what did he say to this person or that person. In the same way you have I too have become so much more aware of the essence of him rather than the physical body. I still feel good when I see a picture of him or someone else acknowledges what he said or did; but now I know he is inside me and that is for keeps. It is not a picture that may fade or get thrown away or words that recede with age. It is my awareness of him in everything I do and every thought I have that makes him impermeable; and always there loving me.

    Reply
  2. I thought about Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead reading that. People who pretty much worshipped Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead and now those forms are pretty much gone, they are free to be interpreted as needed.

    Reply
    • the wonderful, enveloping, and enlightening spirit of jerry garcia and the dead are all around us, especially when one is transported by their music in an “accidental” way. (on the radio, or via a pizzaria juke box, etc.) “what a long strange trip it’s been” frequently pops into my head as i look, really look, at what’s around me in this extraordinary universe.

      Reply
  3. Love makes us become super-human, maybe spirit and this is why we give up everything…as love is everything or nothing.

    Reply
  4. I think this speaks to the fact that we can get mesmerized by gurus, when in fact we should be looking within. They don’t have the answer we seek, but in fact we do. They may be in our live to give us some support while we figure that out.

    Reply

Leave a Comment

RamDass-Store-Shop-700x286

Ram Dass Online Shop

Buy books, media, digital downloads, apparel, devotional, art & other great items!

Join Our Newsletter

Sign up for the Love Serve Remember newsletter to receive teachings, exclusive offers & more.

Something went wrong. Please check your entries and try again.

Donate to LSRF

Help ensure that the teachings of Ram Dass will be available to generations to come.

A Network of Mindfulness & Spirituality Podcasts
❤️   DONATE
Share via
Copy link
Powered by Social Snap