To Tom, more on Ram Das

[Guest guest]

Om Namah Shivayah,

 

I have continued to read this thread, and feel compelled to respond again. As I

said before,

Ram Das did lead me to Amma via a six degrees of separation, and for this he

will always

have a special place in my heart.

 

In my humble opinion, Ram Das is a seeker on the path, just as we all are. He

may have

flaws and imperfections, as do we all. Why the incessant need to put him (or

anyone for

that matter) under a microscope? Ram Das has never claimed to be a guru. From

what I

see, he is a sharer of experiences and a wonderful storyteller. Take someone

like Utah

Phillips, for example. He is a folk musician and storyteller, and his stories

always have

wonderful little morals....some spiritually oriented, some political. People

find a kindred

spirit in him, he is a great entertainer, some people relate to a lot of what

he is saying, he

is an old man who has lived a long time and has some interesting parts of his

life to

share...but you would hardly call him a guru, and he would laugh if you dared

call him

one. I think it is exactly the same with Ram Das.

 

When there is this non-stop drive to pick apart someone, I think we need to look

inside

and see why that drive exists. So much time has been wasted trying to paint a

negative

picture of a very compassionate, emoting, spiritually aware elder who has done

nothing

but share his personal stories with the world. Why not appreciate his positive

aspects

rather than try to muster up as much negative as you can? Now we have made a

virtual tag

game over judging the soul of Ram Dass.

 

I can't help but wonder what Amma would have to say about this. When she takes

Ram Das

into her arms, I am certain all she sees is a being filled with pure light and

love.

 

Tom, your points are very well taken, and I do understand what you are saying

about

discrimination. I hope that we will also be able to use discrimination when

talking about

others.

 

Namaste,

 

Ananthasree

 

 

Ammachi, "Tom" <tomgull@h...> wrote:

>

> Not to pick on you, but to address some of the other posts:

>

> FACT: In Fierce Grace their is footage of Ram Dass leading a large

> group of people in meditation and giving teachings, with most of the

> testimonials of his friends glorifying him. People on the film seek

> out his advice in general counseling, versus spiritual practice. So

> the fact that he's not actively seeking followers is nothing. I've

> had plenty of 'teachers' try to seduce me to be a follower through the

> years, subtly, as any politician would.

>

> FACT: It's a western path to choose "teachers" (upa gurus) versus

> picking one sadguru. This has very specific effects, versus picking

> one and doing sadhana.

>

> FACT: When you glorify someone who isn't worthy, you hurt both them

> and you. The difference is if you serve someone who may not be

> complete, but DOES know the way, as described in Swami

> Paramatmaananda's autobiography, part1 (then you benefit).

>

> What one person sees as invalid or unnecessary criticism, the

> discriminitive sadhak sees as fact-finding rather than blind

> acceptance.

>

> tom

>

>

> > Dear Tom ~ as far as I know Ram Das gave up his use of hallucinogens

> after

> > meeting and accepting Baba as his Guru. I am not sure why you feel

> it's so

> > important to negatively judge him. Why not just accept your own

> perception as

> > true for you, and allow that others' perceptions are true for them?

> Jai all

> > teachers and Gurus ~ Linda]

> >

>