Posts in the “personal” category

I was just looking around for a Ram Dass quote about Maya and couldn’t find anything great, but then I found this YouTube video where he talks about Maya and illusion:

“There’s a philosophy in India where the outside world — the world of things — all is illusion. And that’s a way to deal with the sense world ... to get free of it, and go inward, and go into the Atman, the God within.”

In this Entering the Stream article, Ram Dass also states the following:

“Beings who have understood how it all is, who have realized their identity with the ātman, are stream enterers; they have tasted the flow of the nectar of liberation. They are a breed apart from other people in the world. They know something others do not know. Every part of their life is colored by that merging.

A free being no longer identifies with the body or personality, with a personal past or future. The body, the packaging, still has its karma running off and the skandhas, the mental aggregates, continue, but with nobody in them.”

(For more on Ram Dass, see my article on The Best Books of Ram Dass (My Recommendations).)

As I continue my quest to learn about Ram Dass and Maya (illusion), I also had a very hard time finding any quotes about Maharaj-ji (Neem Karoli Baba) and Maya, but after sifting through about 1,000 pages of books I finally found this Maharaj-ji quote:

• “All is God’s will, but Maya prevents you from knowing it’s all God’s will.”

If you’re interested in this, you can find this quote and a little bit more on page 326 of the book, Miracle of Love.

October, 2023 Update: I also just found the following quotes in an out-of-print book about Maharaj-ji:

• “You see others trapped by maya (illusion).”
• “This temple and whatever is seen by the human eye are illusion.”
• “Delusion makes everything look real.”

In that first quote the “(illusion)” part was in the book, I didn’t add that.

If you’re interested in learning more about Ram Dass, see my post on The Best Ram Dass Books I Know.

Ram Dass FAQ: What is the best Ram Dass book about the Maharaji, aka, Neem Karoli Baba?

The best Ram Dass book about Maharaj-ji (Neem Karoli Baba)

I believe the best Ram Dass book about Maharaj-ji (Neem Karoli Baba) is the 1979 Ram Dass book Miracle of Love. It’s over 400 pages in length, with story after story about the “miracles” Maharaj-ji performed. Some of the stories are told by Ram Dass, but most of them are told by other people. Almost all of the stories are less than one page in length, so it’s easy to read a few stories every night, if you like.

If you’re interested in what the Maharaji was described as being able to do, along with his quotes about Maya/illusion/delusion, service, loving everyone, etc., this is a great book.

A second great book ...

Another great Ram Dass book about Neem Karoli Baba is Polishing The Mirror.

A great thing about this book is that I think it’s the best summary of all his work. It’s a relatively short book, and summarizes much of what you’ll read in his other books. I really like to underline and highlight words, and I found that I could highlight most of this book. :)

As you can see from the tabs I attached my book, the book covers love, karma, the ego, Bhakti yoga, service, Maya/illusion, The Witness, Hanuman, and much more:

Shinzen Young and other researchers are trying to raise money to fund a study that may one day help everyone meditate more easily:

“Imagine attending a meditation retreat where cutting-edge brain stimulation technology lowers the barriers to meditation, allowing you to access its benefits more deeply. This is our vision, using transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) neuromodulation. We need your support to bring to life the first ever ultrasound-enhanced meditation retreat.”

August 23, 2023: When I became aware in a dream this morning, I was sitting in a small movie theater in New Mexico, watching the movie Easy Rider.

After watching the movie for a few moments, I looked around and noticed the theater was a bit larger than a large coffee shop. There’s a large coffee shop in Palmer, Alaska, they also use for events, and it reminded me of that.

I also saw that there were only three of us in the theater. To my right was a man I didn’t know, and when I looked to my left, Peter Fonda was sitting there. He looked back at me and nodded. I nodded back, and we both went back to watching the movie.

I’ve been working with ChatGPT lately to create images that go with “spiritual quotes,” and it generated this image for the quote, “The only currency you take with you when you leave this world is the love you have given and received.”

“The more you are motivated by love, the more fearless and free your action will be.”

~ The Dalai Lama

“If we do not practice mindfulness while carrying a bucket of water, it is a waste of time to seclude ourselves in a monastery.”

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Do you love
And then how am I to know?
If you don't let your love show for me
C’est la vie.

~ C’est la vie, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer

I’ve written before a friend battling addiction, and today I remembered another thing she told me:

I don’t remember her exact words, but her point was that some (or many) people may think that addicts don’t want to recover, but once they get to a point where they DO want to recover, it’s still a very difficult battle because the chemical addiction is so strong. She mentioned several times that she felt nearly suicidal because she WANTED to stop, but could not stop, at least not without a lot of help and support. She told me this while she was crying so hard she could barely stop.

Fortunately for her, in those times when she did feel suicidal but couldn’t stop on her own, she did reach out for help, and eventually made it past that point.

On a personal note, my friend was a very nice person; she just didn’t have a good situation growing up, and made some wrong turns on the road of life. My experience with her opened up my eyes about people battling addiction.

“Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions asked in the wrong way.”

~ Alan Watts

I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own.

~ from Chasing Cars by Sarah Bettens (originally by Snow Patrol)

I basically gave up my life savings to pay for my mom’s caregiving needs, and as a result, I’ve had to make payments to the Boulder Community Hospital for the last ~24 months on an installment plan for my own medical needs. Today — ten months after I last lived in Colorado — I finally made the last payment on that installment plan.

(Part of me feels like there should be a little celebration for this, but for today, a larger part of me isn’t feeling any joy.)

“Books are the training weights of the mind.”

~ Epictetus

Cats sit on the window sill
Children sit in the show
Why do I feel I don't fit in
Anywhere I go

Thunder clouds have their lightning
Nightingales have their song
And don't you see I want my life
To be something more than long

Rivers belong where they can ramble
Eagles belong where they can fly
I've got to be where my spirit can run free
Gotta find my corner of the sky

~ from “Corner Of The Sky,” written by Stephen Schwartz (sung by the Jackson 5, Dusty Springfield & Petula Clark, and others)

“Perfected beings are pure awareness.”

~ Ram Dass, as I write about here

The following are some favorite quotes from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and his book, I Am That.

And on a personal note, to think that I have come to understand all of these quotes in this lifetime is a little mind-blowing to me.

Here then are the quotes:

Treat everyone you meet as if they are God in drag.

~ Ram Dass

Note: I originally wrote this article in the summer of 2010. I survived on this diet for a long time, but eventually gave up my gallbladder to a surgeon.

My gallstones diet advice: Ugh, my health has destroyed my productivity lately. Due to a mysterious stomach ailment, I’ve had a lot of “stomach” pain, visited the ER several times, met a lot of doctors, had many tests, and lost thirty pounds in less than seven weeks.

The goal of serving mankind is a noble one. Unless, of course, it happens to be in a Twilight Zone episode. ;)