On Lay Monasticism Bro. David Steindl-Rast O.S.B. and Ram Dass

"Maharaji, how did Christ meditate?” He closed his eyes and tears ran down his cheeks, and he opened his eyes and he said: “He lost himself into the ocean of love.”

[Ram Dass, cont. from page 1] ...

In 1970 I went back to India. I had better quickly tell you two relevant things. In 1967 when I was in India at the temple, there were only two books in the room that I was in. They happened to be in the room. There was nothing else but a table and a mat to sleep on. The two books were the Bhagavad Gita and the New Testament. As a Jew I had never taken the New Testament terribly seriously. I was trained not to do that, as you understand. Since I had no reading material and I was basically an intellectual, I read these books from cover to cover a number of times. And I realized that what I was seeing in my guru, that love that he had touched me with, was the love that I felt in relation to Jesus. When I came to India the second time I had already written a book called Be Here Now and many Westerners found their way also to my guru. During this period of time, the two years I was in India in ’70 to ’72, my guru spoke repeatedly about Christ. Now here is the peculiar predicament. I had gone to India, a Jew had gone to a Hindu temple, to be introduced to the New Testament, and when I came to India the second time my guru talked about Christ.

This was a man who did not live very much in form. You couldn’t find out whether there was any human being at home in him at all. He would go in and out of planes of consciousness all the time. He would forget you even existed. He wouldn’t even know you a moment later. He read my mind at all times. There was nowhere to hide from him and there was no judgment. Once he said the following thing: “Christ died for Truth. He gave his life for the Dharma.” “Maharaji, how can you turn fear into love?” “If you trust in Christ, you’ll have no fear.” Maharaji said to a number of the Westerners: “Christ is your guru.” They said, “But Christ isn’t here,” He said, “Christ never died. He lives in everyone’s heart.” Many, many times he said to me again and again: “Be like Christ.” He said in regard to Truth: “You must tell the Truth, Ram Dass. Christ told the Truth. They killed him for it, but he told the Truth. Be like Christ, Christ died for love. Be like Christ. They slandered him but it didn’t matter.” And he said to us one day: “Meditate like Christ meditated.” "Maharaji, how did Christ meditate?” He closed his eyes and tears ran down his cheeks, and he opened his eyes and he said: “He lost himself into the ocean of love.” Once he looked off and he got into a kind of reverie and he said: “Christ died for humanity, but who will die for him?” and somebody said: “Maharaji, what can I do to gain a pure love for Sri Rama?” (Ram, being a Hindu form of God). Maharaji said: “You can get it by the blessing of Christ.” Maharaji said: “Serve the sick and poor, that’s what Christ did.” One time we were talking about politics. Maharaji said: “Lincoln was a good president.” I said, “Yes, Maharaji, why is that?” He said, “Because he knew Christ was president. He was only acting president.”

Now this is a peculiar predicament when we are talking about an East-West dialogue: I have gone to the East to find a jungle saddhu who is teaching me all about Christ. Maharaji gave me no forms. When I’d say to him: “Maharaji, how can I know God?” He would say, “Feed everyone.” “Maharaji, how do I awaken kundalini?” “Serve everyone.” “Maharaji, how can I know God?” “Love everyone.” He would just constantly remind me of these things. He gave no forms. He didn’t give any yoga. I learned Ashtanga yoga from somebody else, but he himself just sat on the table and was just there. He’d throw me out. I’d come and touch his feet and he’d throw me out. And all I know was that I loved this being and yet I couldn’t find him anywhere.

The only rule I live by is to be true to my own heart, to my own inner voice. My guru is within my heart.

So in the course of my own yearning to purify myself, I sought out and practiced in a variety of traditions. I have sat Zen, zazen, in both Kyoto and America, numerous times with Sasaki Roshi. I’ve studied Theravada Buddhism in Bodh Gaya, in Bombay, and in America many times. I’ve sat through many, many retreats. I’ve visited monasteries, Catholic monasteries, the Sufi tradition. In each case I have profited. I’ve quieted my mind, I’ve deepened my insight.

For a long time I was seeking: “Is this my way? Is this my way?" It was only later that I realized that my way was the way of what might be called Bhakti yoga, or yoga of devotion, and that my guru was my way. That meant that I saw my guru as many of you see Christ. That is, I saw him not as somebody, not as Jesus but as Christ. I saw him as a vehicle to see through, the Father is in me and I am in the Father.

At one point I was sitting across from Maharaji in the courtyard while everybody else was over at his feet, and I thought: “That isn’t what it is about. I can’t worship this body of him. That’s not what it’s about, it’s more than that. I really don’t care if I never see him again. I love him so much I don’t want anything else but to be with him and it doesn’t matter if I don’t see him again.” You can understand that paradox. At that point Maharaji sent an old man running over to me who touched my feet. I pranamed and said, “Why did you do that?” He said, “Maharaji said, 'Go and touch Ram Dass’ feet because he and I understand each other perfectly.’” And what he was telling me was “Right on, don’t get caught in my form.” Then he threw me out again.

I represent a phenomenon that has happened in the West. If you want to look at it from the view of reincarnation, I would say that there are a lot of us who have been incarnated in the West and who are ready to touch the living Spirit, or who are touching it. The only rule I live by is to be true to my own heart, to my own inner voice. My guru is within my heart. I don’t have a set of rules to live by. The Ten Commandments are not something that have become obvious to me through my meditations. What I demand of the spiritual paths I practice is that they be real for me and feel right in my heart and that they be living Spirit.

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