Ram Dass, Going Home

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1

[Ram Dass] We are...

soul.

As souls...

we are not under...

time or space.

We are...

We are infinite.

[wind blowing]

[Ram Dass on recording]

Try following your breath.

And every time any thought arises...

notice it and then go back to the breath.

Each time your awareness

is drawn away from the breath,

to a thought or a sensation...

to a memory or a plan...

to a sensation in your leg

or a sound in the room,

notice that it has gone away

from the breath,

and bring it back to breath.

Now, you don't have to keep

your eyes closed to do this.

Try opening your eyes,

but keep the breath the focus.

Let it all be there.

Don't be busy not seeing

or not thinking...

[chime dings]

[birds chirping faintly]

[Ram Dass] My guru hangs out

at this place.

[breathing heavily]

It seems to be the holy ground...

holy ground.

I feel this place like that.

It's one step from India.

Maui is a refuge.

It's away from the hustle and bustle.

All my life, I've been...

going city to city to city

on speaking tours.

It's a good place to stop.

No more planes.

I'm going nowhere.

Going nowhere.

Up here in my study...

it's a bird's view.

It's a birds view.

They fly. They do pirouettes.

They do all kinds of things.

And I see. I hear.

[waves crashing]

I love the ocean.

I think of where the ocean goes.

Everywhere.

Everywhere.

The wind here is the trade winds.

And they keep it cool.

And their sound is in the trees.

[wind blowing]

Nature is my friend.

And that just gives me the ambiance.

In Maui...

I'm just doing a stage of my...

Sadhana, my spiritual work.

More and more love, more and more love,

more and more love.

Truth, love...

consciousness.

That's what God is to me.

It's just consciousness.

[metal cranking]

My life has been a dance

between power and love.

The first part...

until Harvard,

power, power, power, power.

[motorcycle engine rumbling]

Up until drugs...

I thought power was end-all and be-all...

because I was a little individual.

Then drugs and on...

[motorcycle engine rumbling]

[engine stops]

[wind howling]

...love, love, love, love.

My first mushroom trip...

it was so profound that I saw that...

radiance was inside.

And I said...

"I'm home. I'm home. I'm home."

My life was from roles...

to soul.

[metal cranking]

[typing]

[Ram Dass on recording] The great way

is not difficult

for those who have no preferences.

I know nothin' about the future.

[Ram Dass] Before the stroke,

I had written a book that was called

How Can I Help?

And it was about helping.

I was gonna help, you know?

After the stroke...

I would have titled the book...

How Can You Help Me?

In this culture, dependency is a no-no.

The stroke showed me dependency.

And I have people that are dependable.

My stroke makes it hard to play the cello.

It's difficult to play golf.

Those are out there and I'm in here.

-[harmonium playing]

-[man vocalizing]

The stroke pushed me inside even more...

and it's so wonderful.

[laughs]

I don't wish you the stroke, but...

I wish you the grace from the stroke.

[caretaker singing "Sita Ram"]

My guru told me that the stroke

would be grace.

When I met Maharaj-ji...

it was unconditional love.

It was wonderful to be loved that way.

And I said, "I'm home. I'm home."

A guru is the doorway to God...

to consciousness, to the One, Ram.

[continues singing "Sita Ram"]

With psychedelics,

Maharaj-ji said you could go into the room

in which Christ and Buddha exist.

But you only stay... a few minutes.

A few minutes.

[continues singing "Sita Ram"]

[Ram Dass on recording]

Every time I would sit with Maharaj-ji,

time would stop.

It was like a moment expanded.

He lived in eternity.

[Ram Dass] Most of what we encounter

are thoughts.

[thunder rumbling]

I project not only the names, but values.

So that's around, judging everything.

Without those projections...

I can see everything.

[Ram Dass singing]

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily...

Life is but a dream

Row, row your boat

[woman sings]

Gently down the stream

[Ram Dass singing]

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily...

Life is but a dream.

The incarnation is a dream.

This incarnation suggests

there are other incarnations.

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily...

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily...

People don't seem to know

that they are a soul...

that their consciousness

goes way farther than the incarnation.

We pinch ourselves to know we're alive...

in this life.

The soul is in the heart level.

That's the entry point.

And then you mantra...

[chanting] I am loving awareness.

I am loving awareness.

I am loving awareness.

I am loving awareness.

I am loving awareness.

I am loving awareness.

I am loving awareness.

Identify with loving awareness,

and then go through the veil...

that consciousness veil.

Going through that veil

is part of...

spiritual practice...

and the main part of dying.

Merrily, merrily, merrily...

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily...

Life is but a dream.

[chime dings]

Make friends with change.

[doctor] And stay breathing.

[Ram Dass] There's change

in the body, strength.

Memory.

Death is change.

Just another one.

Just another one.

If you're identified with your soul,

death is a snap.

The soul...

goes...

birth, death, birth, death.

Death is another step towards home.

Okay.

And how is this side, Ram Dass?

-It's... It's okay.

-It's okay.

-Oh, wait a minute.

-You're gonna retract that statement?

-Yeah. [chuckles]

-It was okay.

I give up.

[Ram Dass on recording] I realize

it's presumptuous to talk about death,

as if I know.

[audience laughing]

[Ram Dass] But I have a lot of hutzpah.

-That's Sanskrit for, uh...

-[audience laughing]

[Ram Dass] And something has happened

to me as a result of my meanderings

through the realms of consciousness

over the past 30 years...

that has changed my attitudes

towards death.

A lot of the fear that death generated

that led to denial

has gone from me.

Death does not have to be treated

as an enemy for you to delight in life.

Keeping death present

in your consciousness,

as one of the greatest mysteries,

and as the moment

of incredible transformation,

imbues this moment with added richness

and energy that otherwise

is used up in denial.

Death is not an error.

It is not a failure.

It is taking off a tight shoe.

I'm one of the strange people

that absolutely delights and enjoys

being with people as they're dying,

because I know

I'm going to have an opportunity

to be in the presence of truth.

So when I sit with somebody,

the first thing I have to do

is open myself to all my reactions

to their predicament.

All of it, all of the pain of it.

Grieve for the other person's loss.

And when they feel heard in the grief,

then we can start to meet

behind the grief.

And I'm faced with the paradox that I,

as a human, with a human emotional heart,

want to take away your suffering.

And at the same moment,

there's another part of me

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