Ram Dass, Going Home Page #2

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-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

that understands that suffering is grace,

that suffering is the sandpaper,

from the spiritual point of view,

that is awakening people.

And once you've started

to spiritually awaken,

you re-perceive your own suffering

and start to work with it

as a vehicle for awakening.

As my guru says, "God comes to the hungry

in the form of food."

[Ram Dass] My name...

is a name for Hanuman.

Hanuman... is a loving servant.

The Hanuman garden...

is where Hanuman hangs out.

Hanuman likes vegetation around him.

He's a child of nature...

and I contact him there.

I mistake his words...

by the quiet.

Ram said to Hanuman,

"What are you, monkey?"

And Hanuman answered,

"When I don't know who I am, I serve you.

When I know who I am,

I am you."

[indistinct chatter]

We've lived longer than we think.

You're traveling through lives.

What did you learn...

in this life?

Considerable joy.

Considerable joy.

[inaudible]

When you're in your soul

and you love something,

and the things become melding, melding...

So you love something

and you become one with it.

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