All the colorful melodrama that transpired wherever Maharajji went; all the various ways the devotees thought of and reacted to Maharajji, and his many faces in response; the anger and abuse, the chiding, the tenderness—all of this filled the time and space when we were around him, and yet . . . we knew that this was a part, but not the essence, of the relationship. It was not acts or words or opinions, but something far more subtle that Maharajji was transmitting to us. It was deep within ourselves that Maharajji was gently transforming us.

ॐ राम

There was no aspect of life that was not touched by him.

ॐ राम

You know, you could go to Maharajji filled with many problems. You’d sit with him a while and they would all be solved.

ॐ राम

He would create an entire situation just to teach you. He never gave lectures or taught from scriptures, but he taught through incidents and situations.

ॐ राम

Maharajji guided us on all levels—spiritual, mental, and material. He gave instructions in how to raise children and in being a good marriage partner and in business. But these were not specific rules or instructions. He guided by changing the heart.

ॐ राम

I was invited by a group of high-powered folks at Esalen to join them in studying with a Sufi teacher in South America. I was very uncertain about the whole matter, so I wrote to KK in India and asked him to find out from Maharajji whether I should go to Chile for these studies. Then the answer came back from KK: “Maharajji says that you can go and study with a Sufi saint if you desire."

As I read the letter something happened in my heart and I suddenly felt absolutely certain that I didn't want to go, and so I didn't. On my next visit to India, when discussing this letter with KK, he told me, “When I asked Maharajji, he said, “IF HE WISHES, LET HIM GO. . .' And then he said, “WHY WOULD HE WANT TO GO?' But then quickly he added, 'DON’T WRITE THAT LAST PART IN THE LETTER.' " (.R .D .)

[-from Ram Dass, ed., “Miracle of Love,” 1st Ed. (1979), pp. 89-90.]

ॐ ♥ जय हो नीम करोली बाबा की ♥ ॐ

Jai Jai Neem Karoli Baba
Kripa karahu aavai sadbhava

You unfailingly come to my aid when I chant these lines to you
It is by Your Grace that I remember you
Thank You for dissolving the sufferings of Saṃsāra
In the Love and Grace that is your Be-ing
Om Guru Om

I take the dust of my Guru’s lotus feel to polish the mirror of my heart

===========================================================================

DESIRE IS THE UNIVERSE

Desire. I remember the moment Maharajji asked me if I had any questions. Before coming to India, I had read “The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna” so I knew the “right” answer to such an important question. After all, this was my chance to get all my loftiest desires fulfilled. I asked for a pure heart. He said, “LOVE ALL AS CHRIST DID.” Oh, is that all? That might be a little difficult, so I also asked for a pure mind. “LOVE ALL MEN AS BROTHERS.” Uh oh, I had some other desires in that direction.

I asked Maharajji to bless my parents. He said that when a daughter is born who is a devotee, the family becomes believers. He again said they would believe in God (still waiting on that one, which is the trouble with promises made by timeless beings), and that I hadn’t believed in God until I met Ram Dass (very true). And that sometimes I strayed from the path and sometimes I didn’t believe in Maharajji. Oh dear! So I asked him for faith. ACHA.

Desire. What a tricky concept. No wonder it was #1 on Ram Dass’s slate board.

There are the desires that are the “golden chains”—the desire to be at One with it all, the desire to love all as Christ did—the “up-level” desires. And then there are the other desires—someone to love, a place to live with a washer and dryer, chocolate (the opposing desire to losing 20 pounds). The tricky part is not berating yourself for the “lower” desires. Desire is the creator. After all, if we didn’t have desires, we wouldn’t be here, on Earth, now. We wouldn’t have created the world, our world, the one each one of us lives in. Desire is the universe.

Desire is a trap. Of course it is. Someone once taught me to wend my way through my personal chaos by asking myself what did I really want versus what did I really need. It’s those wants that keep pulling us away from center, from the now (as Blake so wonderfully illustrated in his post “Enough!”). And forget giving up the desire to experience the bliss. I will gladly come back into duality, lifetime after lifetime, to be with Maharajji again.

What I want, and need, is to live in Spirit, in the ebb and flow of the yin and the yang. Slowly, slowly, I move along the path laid out in the great Gayatri Mantra: From the unreal, lead us to the Real; from darkness, lead us unto Light; from death, lead us to Immortality.

Om, shanti, shanti, shanti.

ॐ ♥ राम राम ♥ ॐ

Jai Jai Jai Neem Karoli Baba
Kripa karahu aavai sadbhava

You unfailingly come to my aid when I chant these lines to you
It is by Your Grace that I remember you
Thank You for dissolving the sufferings of samsara
In the Love and Grace that is your Be-ing
Om Guru Om

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