#Guru Ram Dass

[mountain-sage]

[mysticalblizzardcolor]

April 15 · “Everybody doesn’t have a guru or a physical plane guide, many people have inner guides that they experience as their inner voice, which could be their inner voice or it could be another being helping them. There are many levels of this game. Each person gets their ‘karmuppance.’ They get just what they need, just when they need it.” – Ram Dass

[underground-hip-hop-affiliated]

[radical-revolution]

“Truth is one of the vehicles for deepening spiritual awareness through another human being, and if there is a license for that in the relationship, in any relationship – with guru, with friend, with lover, with whatever it is – it is an absolutely optimum way of coming into a liquid spiritual relationship with another person.” - Ram Dass

[dasenergi]

“The guru knows the journey is an illusion, their job is to get you to see that there is nowhere to go, that you are part of the One.”

—Ram Dass

Neem Karoli Baba (Maharaj-ji), 1971.

[songbirdstew]

I've been listening to old episodes of You Made It Weird (with! Pete Holmes!), and just hit a stretch where Pete went to a retreat with Ram Dass back in 2015, and while he was there, Pete recorded a series of episodes with several other people who lived with Maharaj-ji (for example, an episode with Krishna Das), and all of them share these great stories of feeling a pull to drop everything and go be with their guru and have these great stories of meeting him and learning from him, and Pete shares his experience of reading and listening to Ram Dass and then coming to the retreat and meeting him in person, and also randomly ending up having breakfast with him as just a normal guy, and sharing a moment of just genuine sweetness and affection.

After listening to these episodes for two or three days, I have a dream where I have the exact same experience, where I hear things, read things, and then feel compelled to travel, to undergo this transformation, to meet my guru and learn at his feet, and I do go, and I do meet him, and it's a feeling of humility and completion and gratitude.

Only, for me, in my dream, it's not Maharaj-ji, it's not Ram Dass.

It's Shel Silverstein.

[herbaklava]

“In bhakti yoga the form of your Beloved can be whatever you love deeply. You can find it in God, in a guru, in a teacher, in a flower, or a pet. The Beloved is everywhere. You can find the Beloved in anyone or anything you love deeply enough that opens your heart and takes you through. Just allow that love to open you and dissolve the boundaries of your separate-ness, melding into one.”

- Ram Dass, Polishing the Mirror: How to Live from Your Spiritual Heart

[santmat]

  A Critique of  Ascender's Comment and My Own Comments Regarding This Wonderful Book of Kabir Panth Prayers, by James Bean

Reviewer: ascender - August 15, 2024

Subject: Need for a Living Master

"Sant Kabir was the Guru of His time. Only those to whom he personally gave initiation while in His human form can return to Sat Lok in His Name. The vast expanse of darkness of Mahasunya or Maha Sunn is said to be 80 billion miles, it cannot be crossed without a living Satguru to take the soul across to the purely spiritual realms above the region of Sunn. The worship of dead saints cannot liberate the Jiva. Only a living Master can do so. The search for God in the human form; Shabd incarnate, "The word made flesh and dwelling amongst us" is the greatest imperative for the devotee wishing to reach back to the Absolute Lord. However, the sacred bani of the sants, of Kabir Sahib and others, is a guide and inspiration to assist us in our understanding, and increase our longing for our True Home."

My critique of the review left by the person with the username Ascender made on August 15, 2024 at the Internet Archive titled, Need for a Living Master, as well as a brief exploration of the book being commented upon, Kabir Panth Book Of Prayers -- Sandhya Path -- The Path of Spiritual Realization. And this also serves now as a kind of Forward for this rare book in the Sant Dharam Das Kabir tradition of the Anurag Sagar.

Not as Ascender suggested, but as the contents of the book and the title of the book clearly state, this is NOT a collection of verses all attributed to Guru Kabir but actually represents a compilation of compositions made by many over the centuries in the Satsang Community of Kabir. These are used as prayers, psalms (hymns)  and sayings of wisdom by those satsangi disciples part of the living sangat related to Kabir. Indeed, the modern-day lineage of Sant Satgurus of Sant Mat connects directly back to the Sant Dharam Das line of gurus of this Kabir community in fact. There are many such collections of writings from the Sant Dharam Das line of Masters, and some of those other texts such as the Anurag Sagar (The Ocean of Love), Kabir Sagar (Ocean of Kabir), and others have also been uploaded to the web as wonderful ebooks, done with the motivation of edification and education of those curious about the spiritual path. "You can not just brush the surface of a culture and pretend that you’ve found an answer. We must turn inward to the deepest of our own roots to find the very best of who we are." (Ravi Shankar)

So, yes Kabir taught the need for a living Master as have his many spiritual successors all the way up to the living present time. It would be a fallacy for anyone to suggest being curious about the earlier writings of the Sant tradition of India somehow would mean that one would not be interested in being initiated by a living Master. Rather, it's the opposite of that. It is not an "either or" proposition. The interests of the faithful devotee of Sant Mat encompassess both. Those who are initiated by contemporary Masters, those who are followers of the spiritual practices of Sant Mat, are precisely the ones who are most-of-all fans of the literary treasures, the spiritual classics, scriptures, the poetry and prose, the banis and bhajans of the earlier generations of these Saints and Mystics. Studying the teachings of the Masters is also a way to break free from being stuck in one's mind -- our habitual thinking patterns, and practice Remembrance of the spiritual path (satsang).

And if one actually takes the time and reads this, Kabir Panth Book Of Prayers, they will soon discover that it does advocate sitting at the feet of a Living Teacher of one's own time: "By devotion, all the sufferings of Dharam Dass vanished. It is by the good deeds of millions of births that he met Satguru Kabir." "Who is greater than Ram and Krishna? Even they accepted a guru. They were masters of the three worlds, but were humble before the guru." "As many saints, mahants and sadhus there were, they all served at the lotus feet of the guru." "Do not go through life without a guru. Keep this firm principle in mind!" "Without a guru, who else can remove doubts? In what way can the heart possess discriminative spiritual knowledge? Without a guru ignorance cannot be removed, and the soul does not realize it's true form." There are whole sections of this book extolling the need for a living master of the time! 

The traditional format of a satsang is for someone to recite or sing from some earlier collection of Sant verses such as from the Bijak of Kabir, the Adi Granth, Anurag Sagar, Paltu Sahib, Namdev, Tukaram, Tulsi Sahib, Soamiji Maharaj, etc... and then a Master or whoever is giving the satsang discourse comments upon those verses. Traditional Sant Mat from India, as it has always been, focuses upon the teachings of the living Master, the earlier Masters of the lineage as well as the great collection of banis, bhajans, granths, all this vast Sant literature that has accumulated over the centuries out of the utmost respect for all of these great Masters, Saints and Sages that have blessed the world over the millennia, the various yugas, great epochs of time. One is counseled constantly about the need to have satsang every single day, to hear from one's teacher (Sant Satguru), to spend some time studying the instruction and wisdom of the Saints, to do simran and to meditate each and every day. "You should do your Bhajan and Simran every day." (Baba Jaimal Singh) "Do not live even a single day without inner meditation." (Baba Devi Sahib of Moradabad)

This Kabir Panth Book of Prayers is one such valuable collection, I dare say, is one of the more colorful assemblages of verses intended to inspire the satsangi to do the spiritual practices of the Sants: Simran: the Remembrance of names of God, Dhyan: inner visions of Divinity, radiant forms of Light, and Bhajan: the Unstruck Melody of the Sound Current or Audible Life Stream. And beyond these, one is encouraged to become a bhakta, a devotee approaching the Supreme Being with a spirit of love and devotion at every step. One is the "drop" of the soul merging into the Divine Ocean of Love. So the place we wish to ascend to is not to just any astral occult realm of esoterica but the Most High heavens of the Eternal Truth and Love, "the Far Country" that is the Goal of this Path of the Masters. 

"The tenth gate is the gathering point of consciousness. Therein lies the path for our return. The tenth gate is also known as the sixth chakra, the third eye, Bindu, the center located between the two eyebrows. This is the gateway through which we leave the sense organs' gates, enter the divine realms, and finally become established in the soul. We travel back from the Realm of Darkness to the Realm of Light, the Light to the Divine Sound, and the Realm of Sound to the Soundless State. This is called turning back to the Source." (Swami Santsevi Ji Maharaj, Book of Sarvadharma Samanvy)

How could the love between Thee and me sever?

As the leaf of the lotus abides on the water, 

so thou art my Lord, and I am Thy servant.

As the night-bird Chakor gazes all night at the moon, 

so Thou art my Lord, and I am Thy servant.

From the beginning until the ending of time, 

there is love between Thee and me;

And how shall such love be extinguished?

Kabir says: "As the river enters into the Ocean, so my heart touches Thee." 

(Guru Kabir, Songs of Kabir)

Free Online Book at the Internet Archive E Library: Kabir Panth Book Of Prayers -- Sandhya Path -- The Path of Spiritual Realization: 

https://archive.org/details/KabirBookOfPrayersSandhyaPath/mode/2up

Archive of All Past Posts With Search Engine: 

https://SantMatRadhasoami.blogspot.com

Free Sant Mat Radhasoami E-Library Online:  

https://santmatradhasoami.blogspot.com/2019/01/sant-mat-radhasoami-books-main-page-e.htm

[mountain-sage]

[mysticalblizzardcolor]

Neem Karoli Baba (Maharaji)

[dustedmagazine]

Rick Rubin (with Neil Strauss) — The Creative Act: A Way of Being (Canongate)

Mega-producer and record label magnate Rick Rubin brings us his first book (co-written with Neil Strauss), The Creative Act: A Way of Being. At 404 pages, the book is a surprisingly breezy read, giving some insight into how Rubin approaches the art of being creative. Which for him boils down to a way of being. Those looking for juicy anecdotes about recording sessions with Johnny Cash, LL Cool J, Slayer, The Red Hot Chili Peppers or any of the other innumerable artists Rubin has worked with will be disappointed. But for those curious about the modus operandi behind one of the most influential record producers of the last 50 years, and how this might relate to one's own life, The Creative Act: A Way of Being could prove useful.

Admittedly, I was at first skeptical when the book caught my eye in a bookstore window. I was like, That Rick Rubin, the producer?  Well, why shouldn't an immensely successful record producer know something about creativity? It was more the framing of this knowledge as a way of being that caused a brief spate of disbelief on my part. Growing up in Los Angeles (The Land of Fruits and Nuts, as my hard-scrabble relatives in South Boston referred to California in general) I was used to seeing books from dime-store gurus. Edgar Cayce, Ram Dass and Timothy Leary paperbacks lined my mother's bookshelves. I had girlfriends who went to Golden Dawn temples, friends who dragged me along to channeling sessions for some deity from Venus. It was hard for me to take any of this very seriously.

Maybe it was the extreme disconnect between Rubin's commercial background and his espoused role as a seer that pushed me over the edge and caused me to buy the book. The opening quote from American artist Robert Henri sets the tone for what follows: The object isn't to make art, it's to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable. The book therefore provides less a toolbox for working on one's life than a series of vignettes where Rubin extrapolates on various contingencies related to achieving a state of mind and spirit where creativity is possible. Some of these topics include, Listening, Self-Doubt, Non-Competition, Freedom, Inspiration and Awareness. Basically anything which Rubin feels has pertained to his creative process is included in this book.

Ironically, what came more to mind while reading this was not Rick Rubin's background but the German artist Joseph Beuys' famous dictum, Everyone is an artist (Jeder Mensch ist ein Künstler). Unlike Rubin, Beuys did not frame his belief as much in the context of a spiritual journey, but like Rubin he did see himself as a kind of shaman or teacher who could lead society onward to a new — and more positive — direction by unleashing the creative possibilities each person innately possessed but perhaps did not know they had. For Beuys, this would later morph into a concept of social sculpture, where the creative state in each person would further society as a productive, forward-thinking organism.

This would also be the gist of Rubin's book. He's not trying to tell us how to make a better record, write a more catchy song, more successfully promote an artist's career (although all these things are mentioned tangentially throughout the book) but to help people realize their own unique creative strengths in the hopes of steering society in a less self-destructive direction. Though the main text and sprinkling of aphorisms scattered liberally throughout the book often verged for me on a kind of treacly sweetness, in the end I came away feeling that Rubin had really made a sincere attempt to show people the way to something they might not have realized they'd had all along.

The most inspiring take-away from the book would be this sense that even in a person's everyday life there is this great wellspring of energy to approach the most mundane tasks from a creative standpoint. That being creative doesn't necessarily mean creating something, making some beautiful object. It's about a state of mind where creativity equates with a way of existence, of approaching life with an awareness that will put one in a place where they can reconnect to a life energy which, at the very least, will lead one to experiencing a more personally fulfilling existence.

All this being said, the book also includes many concrete examples of how to circumvent creative dilemmas and meltdowns, whether this be in the recording studio or just trying to make it through a workday. Though Rubin seldom mentions people he's collaborated with by name in the book, he gives numerous examples of how he works in the studio — not necessarily microphone placement or which effects he used, but more how he guided various recording artists on an inspirational or spiritual level to realize their full creative potential. And in this context the book moves beyond its often sentimental, esoteric trappings to provide some real-world advice for people, whatever their vocation in life, to find a new way of being.

Jason Kahn

[hicapacity]

A világ gyönyörű és borzalmas hely. Kár tagadni.

Minden szépsége ellenére is rettenetes dolgok történnek benne jó emberekkel.

Az ember tekintete örökké vádlón az égre mered: miért? Avagy a leggyakrabban: miért én?

A teodicea - a rossz létezésének magyarázata a világban - évezredek óta foglalkoztatja az embereket. Miért van rossz a világban? Vallási kontextusban: miként lehetséges egy jó Isten léte, ha a világban gyerekek halnak éhen?

Aki azt gondolja, hogy majd én itt most egy egyszerű és megnyugtató választ fogok adni erre a kérdésre, az téved. Egyébként sem hiszek a szabványos egyenválaszokban. Azok mindig is hamisan csengenek és üresen konganak. Ahogy Viktor Frankl mondja: az ember a világtól kérdezi, hogy mi az értelme - pedig a világ mindvégig tőle kérdezi ugyanezt.

Az ember a saját, szenvedésben érlelt válaszait, igazságait tapasztalati úton találja meg, és nem tekintélyelv alapján fogadja el holmi dogmákból.

Az én tapasztalati úton megtalált igazságom az, hogy bár nem tudod megváltoztatni azt, amilyen a világ és ahogyan működik - de azt meg tudod változtatni, ahogyan te működsz és ahogyan viszonyulsz a világhoz. És sokkal kevesebbet szenvednénk ebben a világban, ha többször és többet összpontosítanánk az utóbbira.

Ez nem jelenti azt, hogy legyünk passzívak és kritikátlanok a világgal szemben. Mi több, paradox módon a világot is azok az emberek tudták kifordítani a sarkaiból, akik előbb saját magukban megtalálták az archimédészi pontot ehhez.

"Az elméd elvárásai teremtik a saját poklodat," írja Ram Dass, az amerikai pszichiáterből lett hindu guru. "Amikor frusztrált leszel, mert valami nem úgy történik, mint gondoltad, vizsgáld meg azokat a gondolataidat; ne csak azt a dolgot, ami frusztrál. S kezdesz majd rájönni, hogy a szenvedésed jelentős része azokból a modellekből ered, amelyeket az elmédben hozol létre arról, hogy milyennek kellene lennie a világnak. Közben képtelen vagy engedni, hogy egyszerűen csak - legyen."

Eckhart mester, a 14. századi keresztény misztikus, aki nagy hatással volt Lutherre és egy sor más jelentős gondolkodóra, ezt úgy fogalmazta meg: "miértek nélkül élni". Anélkül élni, hogy folyamatosan vádlón az égre néznénk, hogy "miért én". Elengedni a görcsös igyekezetünket, hogy csak azért tegyünk jót, mert cserébe várunk érte valamiféle ellenszolgáltatást. Boldog életet. Örök üdvösséget. Elengedni a folyamatos összehasonlítgatást másokkal, akik jobbak, szerencsésebbek, mint mi. A múlthoz, ami szebb volt - a jövőhöz, ami majd szebb lesz. Elengedni a saját megszállott ragaszkodásunkat ahhoz az "önkorlátozó meggyőződéshez" (copyright Máté Gábor), hogy valami baj van velünk - hogy valami baj van a világgal. Csak lenni az Örök Mostban.

Ezeket az igazságokat persze megtaláljuk - aztán időről időre elfelejtjük, és megtaláljuk megint. Az emberi élet tele van ellentmondással és esetlegességgel. Minden tudásunk feledésre van ítélve - de minden pillanatban újra emlékezhetünk rá.

(notes to myself)

[swatithestar]

Everything comes back to you ☆

We tend to push ourselves harder than we should. Our minds either wrapped up in the past or the future outcome we desire. When really, none of that matters. See, I used to bash myself when I felt like I wasn’t getting enough done and like I’m not where I should be in life. Of course, social media affects that in a way where we feel we should have everything accomplished at such a young age. Constantly being shown others achievements, but we don’t truly know what they had to go through to get there. And if you want something another has it’s just because a part of you can also have that thing.

With pleasure comes pain, gain comes loss and fame comes shame. They’re all the same, they’re all just happening. The trick is to get of your head and get into your body. I study vedic astrology so Rahu rules the head and Ketu the body; Rahu rules illusions and desire vs Ketu spiritual liberation. When we’re too in our heads we start to lose sense of the body, we want to work with both energies to make our desires comes to life. You see, we don’t have these fantasies and desires for no reason, it’s something we’re meant to achieve. The moment I started tapping into my body more, I realized how important the flow of energy is. The goal is to do what you feel on your day to day, don’t force it. My best work comes from a channeled state of energy, when i felt i should do it in that moment. That moment you’re feeling like hmmm maybe I should write or I should paint, DO IT. You feel like reading or turning on some music and having a dance party, DO IT. Listen to your body and flow with your energy, you know what’s best for you. The secrets of mysticism are that they aren’t secrets, it’s only a secret because of where your heads at. All the knowledge and wisdom we seek already lie within us, but your receiving mechanism isn’t in tune with that particular frequency. You can read all the books in the world and go to every guru, but you all ever find is yourself.

That’s why activities like breath work, meditation and yoga help because you’re calming the mind, you are grounding yourself and tapping into source. Connect with your senses, connect with the elements around you, connect with yourself!

☆ Sources: My own personal experiences and some wisdom from the book “Be Here Now” by Ram Dass

☆ Channeled song:

[radical-revolution]

If I go into the place in myself that is love, and you go into the place in yourself that is love, we are together in love. Then you and I are truly in love, the state of being love. That’s the entrance to Oneness. That’s the space I entered when I met my guru. - Ram Dass

[bestmessage]

Guru Ram Dass Ji Birthday Messages and Wishes

Guru Ram Das ji birthday wishes and Guru Ram Das ji status messages to Share with family and friends. Guru Ram Das inspiring msg to wish everyone around.

[nijjhar]

Punjabi - Hari means intact with Family Tree and Green, while cut off is... Punjabi—Hari means intact with the Family Tree and Green, while cut off is "Sukkot" = Dry Dead Wood. https://youtu.be/3qMV22c0Z1M Hari Om Shanti in Brahma, Yahweh, Khudah, etc. if you go by the will of Brahma taught by a Brahmin Guru = Moral Teacher Matt 13.v52 to Har Aikum Kaar of Parbrahm, Elohim, Allah, etc. if you go by the Will of ParBrahm, Elohim, Allah, etc. taught by your own “Innerman”, the Christ = Satguru, etc. BRAH KAE BAETTAE TO PARBRAHM KAE BAETTAE. Hari Om Shanti prevails if you stick to your tribal fathers or remain a Hindu, the First Panth where the moral laws are taught and make you faithful to the creator of Nature Brahma, Yahweh, Khudah, etc. Prophet Elijah, my god is demiurge Yahweh. Otherwise you are just a Sukkatt, dry wood cut off from the family tree in Adam and joined the tribeless groups of Satan and he creates the sectarian riots as in 1947 when our Jatts cut themselves off the Family "JATT QOM" Tree of Hari Om Shanti and joined the groups of Al-Djmar Al-Aksa, the most powerful Satan that exploits people in the name of religion and create deadly sectarian riots. Recent example of this most destructive powerful Satan was President Morsi of Egypt having a Mountain of Muslim Brotherhood but the ever-faithful sons of Ishmael locked him in the jail and he died there or Hari Om Shanti prevailed among the tribal people. In 1947, our Jatts that were kept United by our Jatt Qom Pillar Chaudhry Chhotu Ram Ohlyan Jatt that religion is a changeable shirt but not your physical body that is born and will die left His Tenets and changed their tribal identity into Sikh Qom, Hindu Qom and Muslim Qom, etc. or became Sukkot, then they died as the dry wood, Sukkot, catches fire and burns. The Green Wood "Hari" doesn't catch fire but flourishes under their Jatt Qom Unity and they live in Peace "Shanti". Or Hari Om Shanti prevails among the faithful tribal people and Brahma, Yahweh, Khuda, etc., the Creator of Adam and His tribes looks after your comforts and you have no Hurricanes, floods or the natural disasters as the Mammon-infested USA and others suffer. I lived in Ghana for 14 years and never had strong winds or disasters. The same applies to the people of the Brazillian Jungles who have the tribal marks for tribal unity. True Khalistans are 4 Sachae Takhts. This Fake Khalistan is of the Malaish Khalsas of Munnmukh ParMeena Banda Bahadur, killer of Sachae Patshah Gobind Singh Ji. https://youtu.be/WTCf0oRufi0 The description is too long and I have put it on my website:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/FakeKhal.htm INTRODUCTION:- If a Sikh of the Second Panth, Bhai Ghaniyia Ji, had no enemy or stranger, then why into the Sikh Gurdwaras bring the weapons of the Third Khalsa Panth who kill the tyrants? A man of Surti, one in a million, KOTTON MAE AIK, will know this. Tell me which are the First and the Fourth Panths? The greediest of all the Khatris of the type 22 who started fleecing the simpleton devotees at Baba Bakallae have printed the ATT KHARI Beerrs highly forbidden by Satguru Arjan Dev Ji to run their businesses. The Janum Sakhis and other books are highly corrupted. No wonder Satguru Arjan Dev Ji forbade the copied Beerr and foretold, spiritually blind people will read the Khari Beerr. No wonder the greedy Bhatt had leprosy – KOHRR. RABB RALAEE JORRI; IKK ANAH = SANGAT, TAE IKK KOHRRI = MUNNMUKH GRANTHI. Nirmallae Sants used to rebuke these greedy Khatris and they answered:- KISSAE NAE KHOTI VAH LAEE; KISSAE NAE POTHI. Watch Youtube Channel that exposes these greedy Khatris:- Punjab Siyan:- Satanic greedy Khatris https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr5EqtvA_lg&t=722s Sants of the Fourth Panth are "Dass" and the Khalsas of the "Third Panth" are "Singh" surnames. And Nanak was the Second Coming of Jesus, the "Christ = Satguru" and not a Brahmin Guru. The greedy Khatris messed the people so much that they did not know the First and the Second Panths. Was Bhindranwale a Sikh, Khalsa or a terrorist? WHY TEN LIGHTS? By Chaudhry Rajinder Nijjhar Jatt, M.Sc., Retired Senior Lecturer in Metallurgy, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana, West Africa. E-mail:- Nijjhar@gmail.com Nanak wasn't a Moral Teacher, a Brahmin Guru – Matt 13v52 but Satguru = Christ of the highest order that Preaches the Gospel to one's mind, Munn, Nafs, etc. https://youtu.be/HquVBRjtXF8 www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/tenlights.htm Punjabi - Nirmallae Sants learnt the Scriptures from Kanshi and then, they Preached the Gospel like St. Paul. They do not handle money or they are the sons of Satan. https://youtu.be/chiRrKtEqLg My ebook by Kindle. ASIN: B01AVLC9WO www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/JAntisem.htm www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/JOHN 8V44.htm Any helper to finish my Books:- ONE GOD ONE FAITH:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/bookfin.pdf and in Punjabi KAKHH OHLAE LAKHH:-  www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/pdbook.pdf EXPOSES the CROOK KHATRIS:- Punjab Siyan. John's baptism:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/johnsig.pdf Trinity:- www.gnosticgospel.co.uk/trinity.pdf