Transcript
[0:00] grateful and honored to have Krishna Das
[0:03] here with us. We'll do it short and
[0:04] sweet. There's so many and he's not
[0:06] here, so uh
[0:09] >> [laughter]
[0:09] >> Yes. And uh
[0:12] we'll start with the Gajananam, the
[0:15] invocations, so you're welcome to join.
[0:37] Gajananam
[1:20] >> [singing]
[1:59] >> Om Sarva Mangala Mangalye
[2:02] Shive Sarvartha Sadhike
[2:06] Sharanye Tryambake Gauri Narayani
[2:10] [singing]
[2:11] Namostute
[2:13] >> [clears throat]
[2:13] >> Narayani
[2:15] Namostute
[2:18] Om Sahanavavatu
[2:22] Sahanau
[2:24] Bhunaktu Sahaviryam
[2:27] [singing] Karavavahai
[2:29] Tejasvinavadhitamastu
[2:32] [singing]
[2:33] Mavidvishavahai
[2:37] Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
[2:43] Om Peace Peace Peace
[2:47] Om Gurudev Satguru Sivananda Maharaj Ki
[2:50] Jai Om Gurudev Swami Vishnu-devananda
[2:53] Maharaj Ki Jai. Let's give a big hand TO
[2:56] KRISHNA DAS.
[2:58] >> [applause]
[3:03] [clears throat]
[3:04] >> DO YOU ALWAYS DO WHAT YOU'RE TOLD?
[3:09] ALL RIGHT.
[3:10] Thank you. That was the whole Vedas in 2
[3:12] minutes. Excellent.
[3:35] So, anybody have anything to say?
[3:39] Okay. See you later.
[3:43] Okay.
[3:47] Yes, I'm just I'm curious about your
[3:50] first interaction with Maharaj.
[3:53] and how you felt at the time, what
[3:56] happened in that interaction, and
[3:59] how you knew that he
[4:01] really couldn't.
[4:03] Okay.
[4:09] My first
[4:12] conscious interaction, if you could call
[4:15] it that, with him, with Maharaj, it was
[4:18] when I met Ram Dass.
[4:21] You know, he had come back from India.
[4:24] And he [clears throat] was living at his
[4:25] father's place,
[4:27] in, uh,
[4:28] New Hampshire.
[4:31] And I heard about him from some friends
[4:33] of mine.
[4:36] So, I went up to see him.
[4:39] And, uh,
[4:45] well, okay. But, the minute I walked
[4:47] into the room where he was sitting,
[4:50] uh, he was sitting on the floor, on the
[4:53] other side of the room,
[4:55] leaning back against the wall, and his
[4:57] eyes closed.
[5:00] The minute I walked into that room,
[5:03] I knew
[5:05] that whatever it was I was looking for
[5:08] was real.
[5:11] And it was in the world.
[5:13] And you could find it.
[5:15] And that was
[5:16] the beginning of the rest of my life.
[5:19] Uh,
[5:20] from that moment on,
[5:24] I didn't know what it was, or how to
[5:27] find it, but I just knew,
[5:30] you know, I had read all the books, all
[5:32] three of the books.
[5:35] We're talking about, you know, the the
[5:36] 1600s here.
[5:38] A long time ago.
[5:41] There was just a few books around.
[5:42] Autobiography of a Yogi,
[5:45] Gospel of Ramakrishna,
[5:47] Zen and Japanese culture. You know, a
[5:49] couple of books.
[5:52] >> [clears throat]
[5:54] >> But this this was real. This was my this
[5:57] came from inside me or from somewhere.
[6:01] And from that moment on
[6:04] uh
[6:06] I was aware of this presence whenever I
[6:09] looked
[6:11] when I wasn't busy doing other things.
[6:15] And then
[6:16] I spent about
[6:19] 2 years with Ram Dass hanging around
[6:23] in the States.
[6:26] And then
[6:27] I went to India to meet Maharaj-ji.
[6:32] Now,
[6:34] I had been feeling all that we had was
[6:36] these little pictures, you know, little
[6:38] black and white pictures of him.
[6:41] And uh
[6:50] But the minute when when I when I
[6:52] But I had been feeling him everywhere. I
[6:55] was like the air.
[6:59] So, when I first walked into the room
[7:01] with him
[7:04] it was very
[7:05] confusing
[7:07] because
[7:08] I couldn't figure out how all this got
[7:11] into that little body
[7:14] wrapped up in that blanket. How did that
[7:15] happen? How is it?
[7:17] It was my mind kind of went like
[7:20] But
[7:21] he just
[7:23] That was
[7:24] We had been um
[7:27] uh
[7:29] Rameshwar Dass and Danny Goleman, we had
[7:31] gone to India together
[7:33] through London.
[7:35] In those days you took you found these
[7:37] really cheap flights, bounced over and
[7:40] So, we're in London for a few days and
[7:42] we met Swami Muktananda there.
[7:46] And uh
[7:52] He He said, "Well, you're getting into
[7:53] Mumbai.
[7:55] Why don't you go out to my ashram for a
[7:56] week and chill out before you go see
[7:58] your guru?" We said, "Okay."
[8:01] So, we went to Ganeshpuri for about a
[8:03] week.
[8:06] And uh
[8:08] I had a funny experience there. So,
[8:10] I was reading a book called uh
[8:12] Ramakrishna and his disciples, which is
[8:14] a beautiful book.
[8:16] >> [clears throat and cough]
[8:16] >> And um
[8:18] I don't know if you know the story about
[8:20] Ramakrishna and Vivekananda.
[8:23] The first time I think Vivekananda came
[8:24] to see Ramakrishna,
[8:27] Ramakrishna put his foot on
[8:29] Vivekananda's leg
[8:31] and Vivekananda started to go out
[8:33] and he freaked.
[8:35] And so, Ramakrishna
[8:37] took his foot off and said, "Okay, not
[8:39] now."
[8:41] So, I was uh they gave us this little
[8:44] hut to live in up on the hill. There was
[8:46] nothing there and now it's like a city.
[8:49] There was So,
[8:50] I was lying in bed and I was reading
[8:53] this book
[8:54] and I was reading that story
[8:57] and just as I read
[8:59] that Ramakrishna puts his foot on
[9:01] Vivekananda,
[9:02] I started to go out and the book dropped
[9:05] from my hand
[9:06] and oh,
[9:08] before I tell you that. So, when we were
[9:09] in London,
[9:11] we walked into the room where uh Swami
[9:13] Muktananda was and he immediately turned
[9:16] to us and he said,
[9:17] "These boys aren't English.
[9:20] >> [laughter]
[9:21] >> Come here." So, he had us sit in front
[9:23] of him and
[9:24] he said, "Come tomorrow morning and
[9:26] meditate with me."
[9:27] Like at 4:00 in the morning.
[9:30] So, we didn't have any money. We had it
[9:33] taken us like 3 hours to walk to this
[9:35] place.
[9:36] So, at around
[9:38] 10:00 we walked back. We laid down for
[9:41] about 10 minutes and we got up and
[9:43] walked back.
[9:44] We got there about 4:00 in the morning
[9:46] or maybe it was 6:00 in the morning.
[9:48] And we were ushered upstairs to his
[9:49] room.
[9:50] And he was sitting on the bed naked
[9:52] except for a lungoti covered in ash,
[9:55] right? And I went, "Oh, wow."
[9:58] And he said, "Sit down."
[10:01] So, uh
[10:03] So, we sat in front of him and he gave
[10:05] us a mantra and
[10:07] he
[10:08] went to each one of us. So, he went in
[10:09] front and he put his fingers in my eyes,
[10:12] in my eyeballs. And I thought he was
[10:13] going to pop my eyeballs out. He just
[10:15] went ah
[10:16] like this. And then he banged me on the
[10:18] top of the head.
[10:21] And
[10:22] then he sat down again and don't worry,
[10:23] nothing happened.
[10:26] Until
[10:28] now I'm in that little hut on the hill
[10:29] at his ashram and I'm reading this book
[10:33] at this point where Ramakrishna's about
[10:34] to put Vivekananda in samadhi and my the
[10:37] book falls from my hands and I
[10:42] I go out my my eyes go up where he
[10:45] pushed them
[10:46] and then right where he banged me on the
[10:48] top of the head, I went out through the
[10:49] top of my head and I'm shooting up
[10:51] through space
[10:53] and I'm looking at the stars and the
[10:55] space is amazing and I go, "Wow, this is
[10:57] great." And I'm flying up, it's
[10:59] fantastic and I thought, "Did I just
[11:02] take acid?"
[11:05] >> [groaning]
[11:07] [snorts]
[11:09] >> So, then uh
[11:11] a few days later we went up north and uh
[11:14] eventually we found Maharaj at Kanchi
[11:16] temple.
[11:18] When
[11:20] So, we came in and we we bowed down
[11:23] and Danny had a picture of of Nityananda
[11:26] who was Muktananda's guru.
[11:29] Maharaj says, "What's that?" Mhm.
[11:31] And he he said, "Oh,
[11:33] he's a good sadhu."
[11:35] That means he's God on Earth.
[11:38] You know, this is Maharaji knew
[11:39] everything about everybody.
[11:41] If he said he's a good sadhu.
[11:44] So,
[11:46] then we gave him we put our apples down
[11:48] and he threw them to the other people in
[11:50] the room.
[11:51] And I went,
[11:52] "He didn't take [clears throat] our
[11:53] apples."
[11:55] And he looked at me and said, "What did
[11:56] I do? Did I do right?"
[11:58] I said, "I don't know."
[12:01] He said, "Did I do right? What did I do?
[12:02] Did I do right?" I said, "Anything you
[12:04] do is right."
[12:06] "What did I do?" "I don't know." He
[12:08] said, "The prasad comes from God and it
[12:11] goes to God."
[12:16] And then he said, uh,
[12:21] I forget exactly how it happened right
[12:23] now, but then he said, uh,
[12:30] something like if you want it, don't
[12:32] take it.
[12:34] >> [laughter]
[12:35] [clears throat]
[12:36] >> I'm I'm working on that.
[12:39] It's only been 55 years or so.
[12:42] >> [clears throat]
[12:42] >> And, uh,
[12:44] he said, uh, "When you have got Oh, cuz
[12:47] I was wondering he he didn't really
[12:49] accept the apples." I thought, right? He
[12:51] said, "When you have God, you don't need
[12:53] anything."
[12:55] And I [clears throat] just looked like,
[12:56] huh? And he said, "When you have God,
[12:58] you have no desires." And I went, "Oh."
[13:04] And then he had us fed and
[13:08] Yeah.
[13:09] But it was
[13:11] it was really a shift because
[13:14] what happened was I I wound up getting
[13:15] very attached to the body.
[13:20] And, uh,
[13:22] which caused me a lot of suffering
[13:23] later.
[13:25] But in the meantime, it was pretty good.
[13:30] But yeah,
[13:32] it was somehow it must have been
[13:34] necessary to
[13:37] go through that.
[13:44] But that feeling of when I walked into
[13:46] the room where Ram Dass was sitting,
[13:50] that never changed. That's exactly what
[13:53] it is even right now.
[13:55] That's his presence
[13:57] for me. That's what I call it. Other
[13:58] people call it other things.
[14:01] And that presence is always here
[14:05] when I remember to look.
[14:07] I mean, it's still here when I'm not
[14:08] looking.
[14:19] And then he said, "Come back in
[14:21] a week." A week?
[14:24] You know, so we went and went back to
[14:25] the town and
[14:28] hung around for a while and then we came
[14:30] back. We started The first in that first
[14:33] few months,
[14:35] he would just say, "Come back in 3 days.
[14:37] Come back in 4 days."
[14:39] He didn't let us hang out too much
[14:43] at that time.
[15:03] We'd heard all the stories about him
[15:05] from Ram Dass for years, you know, and
[15:19] and the feeling was of Of like I said,
[15:21] it it wasn't a new It wasn't something
[15:24] new.
[15:25] It was something
[15:27] that we we knew from whenever.
[15:31] It was familiar. It was home.
[15:38] He said to KK KK was there. KK was one
[15:41] of his old disciples, friend of Ram Das.
[15:44] He said,
[15:45] "These are good boys and they come from
[15:46] good families." We looked at each other
[15:48] like, "What?"
[15:50] >> [laughter]
[15:52] >> I don't know Maharaj's qualifications of
[15:55] good family, but
[15:58] it must be
[15:59] something good.
[16:08] And then he disappeared.
[16:13] >> [laughter]
[16:15] >> Jesus.
[16:17] >> [laughter]
[16:21] >> He always calls me at the wrong moment.
[16:24] >> [clears throat and cough]
[16:28] >> Then he disappeared and we just So we
[16:30] thought, "Okay,
[16:33] why don't we go meditate?" So we went to
[16:35] Bodh Gaya
[16:37] and we took these Buddhist meditation
[16:38] courses, like
[16:40] 10-day courses. I don't know. We did
[16:42] like
[16:46] maybe four or five in a row.
[16:51] And then
[16:53] Ram Das showed up.
[16:56] And he hadn't found He hadn't seen
[16:59] Maharaj since he came back the second
[17:01] time.
[17:04] So at one point, we decided, "Okay,
[17:06] enough of this Buddhist stuff. Let's go
[17:08] find Maharaj."
[17:10] And that's the story about the bus. You
[17:12] know the story about the bus?
[17:14] No?
[17:16] So uh
[17:18] one day this beautiful brand new
[17:20] Mercedes bus
[17:21] shows up in Bodh Gaya. I mean, this
[17:24] little village.
[17:26] Later we found out the guy was a hash
[17:28] smuggler and he had the bus full of
[17:30] hash. We didn't know that.
[17:34] But anyhow, so he was heading back to
[17:35] Delhi.
[17:38] >> [clears throat and snorts]
[17:38] >> So, we decided, "Okay,
[17:40] we're going to go
[17:42] we'll go back to Delhi and we'll
[17:44] we'll ask around some of the old
[17:46] devotees that we we knew and we'll try
[17:48] to find Maharaj."
[17:50] So, let's say there were um
[17:53] 15 of us, 16 of us
[17:55] who got on the bus.
[17:58] And um Sharon Salzberg was there, but
[18:00] she stayed.
[18:02] She's been meditating all these years
[18:04] while I've been watching TV.
[18:09] So, uh
[18:10] we get on the bus
[18:12] and [clears throat] then we had this
[18:13] very intense
[18:16] argument.
[18:19] We some of us wanted to stop
[18:22] at the mela.
[18:23] In Allahabad, there was every year, you
[18:26] know, Kumbh Mela. Every year there's a
[18:28] mela.
[18:31] Every 12 years [clears throat] it's a
[18:32] Kumbh Mela. So, but this was uh
[18:35] one of those years when it was just a
[18:37] regular mela and there was only maybe 10
[18:39] million people there.
[18:43] But Ram Dass wanted to get to Delhi.
[18:45] And he was kind of the boss, you know.
[18:48] But we were having, you know,
[18:50] we're having an argument and he was
[18:52] saying, "No, I'm going to we're going to
[18:53] Delhi. We're not stopping. We got to get
[18:55] there by tonight."
[18:57] No, we want to go we're passing right by
[18:59] the place. You can't believe you're not
[19:00] going to go there, you know.
[19:02] It's really It was very intense.
[19:03] Finally,
[19:04] it was agreed upon that we would go
[19:08] we would see the place, then we get back
[19:10] on the bus and we get to Delhi by that
[19:12] night.
[19:14] Okay.
[19:15] So,
[19:17] See, [clears throat] Danny had gone
[19:18] there.
[19:19] Uh he had escaped
[19:20] escaped from one of the meditation
[19:21] courses
[19:23] and gone there for a few days.
[19:25] And then he come back and told us about
[19:27] it. So,
[19:30] So, we got on the bus
[19:33] and the bus pulls up to this area by the
[19:36] river
[19:38] which
[19:39] maybe a few days before where there were
[19:40] 10 million people,
[19:42] there was nobody.
[19:45] Not one human being was there. It was
[19:48] empty. There was a dog walking across
[19:50] the field. I can remember that.
[19:55] So, we went, "Oh,
[19:57] all right. Well, let's let's head back
[19:59] to Delhi."
[20:00] So, the bus started to make a long turn
[20:02] in this field.
[20:04] And then Danny said, "You know, there's
[20:05] a Hanuman temple in the corner of this
[20:07] field at the edge of the field. Why
[20:08] don't we go see Hanuman?" And then we'll
[20:10] go to Delhi. Okay, we'll go see Hanuman.
[20:13] So, the bus
[20:14] makes this long turn right around the
[20:16] edge of the field
[20:18] heading towards the Hanuman temple.
[20:21] And then
[20:23] walking the other way
[20:26] in the opposite direction that the bus
[20:27] was going
[20:29] was Maharaj.
[20:31] >> [cough]
[20:32] [clears throat]
[20:33] >> He was walking with somebody and that
[20:36] person later told us as the bus just
[20:38] about came up to him, he said,
[20:40] "They've come."
[20:43] So,
[20:44] only one of us saw him. Rameshwar saw
[20:46] him. Otherwise, we would have gone right
[20:47] by him.
[20:48] >> [laughter]
[20:49] >> And then we all jumped. We ran out of
[20:51] the bus. Everybody's crying, laughing.
[20:53] It's terrible, huh?
[20:55] And then Maharaj says, "Okay, follow
[20:58] follow us." And he gets in a rickshaw
[20:59] with this this guy whose name was Dada.
[21:04] And he asked us So, this Mercedes big
[21:06] huge Mercedes bus is following this
[21:09] little cycle rickshaw through the
[21:10] streets at about 2 miles an hour, you
[21:12] know.
[21:16] The rickshaw pulls up to a house.
[21:17] Maharaj-ji and Dada go in.
[21:19] The bus stops. We kind of get out. I
[21:22] mean now what, you know?
[21:25] And lady comes out of the house and
[21:26] says, "Come come in come in and have
[21:28] your meal."
[21:30] And we said, "Our meal?"
[21:31] "Yes, this morning Maharaj-ji told us to
[21:34] prepare food for 17 people.
[21:37] That you'd be coming."
[21:39] That's 16 of us and the driver.
[21:47] So
[21:48] who decided
[21:51] in that big argument about what whether
[21:54] we should stop or go or straight or not
[21:56] stop,
[21:57] who decided that? We thought we were
[21:59] deciding.
[22:00] But obviously
[22:02] that's not the case, is it?
[22:07] See, those things were always happening.
[22:11] And uh
[22:20] And you kind of got used to it.
[22:22] And you kind of relaxed into that space
[22:25] where
[22:28] you had no secrets.
[22:30] He knew everything.
[22:33] And he still wasn't kicking you out. It
[22:35] was very hard to understand.
[22:37] >> [clears throat]
[22:47] >> When uh
[22:48] when he took the keys away from Ram Das
[22:51] to the Volkswagen bus
[22:53] and gave them to me, I kept them with
[22:55] me.
[22:56] They were never more than like 2 inches
[22:58] away from me.
[23:00] Because I wanted to drive Maharaj
[23:04] in the in the car.
[23:05] But I never said anything. I just I was
[23:08] ready.
[23:10] So about 9 months went by
[23:13] and we were in the laband and I'm
[23:15] sitting there. Maharaj just turns and
[23:17] says,
[23:18] "Got the keys?"
[23:21] Jala, let's go. Yeah.
[23:24] So we walked out to the the Volkswagen
[23:26] bus.
[23:27] And Maharaj was very short.
[23:29] So Dada was walking with him
[23:32] and he opened the door and they opened
[23:34] the and he
[23:36] he had to throw himself up into this
[23:37] onto the seat, you know?
[23:39] And as he did that, he backed his head
[23:42] on the door, the the edge of the car.
[23:45] I mean, really hard. I almost my
[23:48] pants.
[23:50] I said, "Dada, did you see that?"
[23:53] And Dada said, "He did it on purpose.
[23:55] Just get in the car and drive."
[23:57] That is a real devotee.
[24:00] >> [laughter]
[24:03] >> He did it on purpose.
[24:06] For Dada,
[24:09] anything Maharaj did was was on purpose.
[24:12] He knew what he was doing every second.
[24:14] So then I get in the car
[24:16] and I start driving and Maharaj goes,
[24:18] "Watch out! You're going too fast! Watch
[24:20] out! There's people over there! Watch
[24:21] out! Be careful! Watch out!
[24:22] The whole way to the Sangha like 20
[24:24] minutes.
[24:29] And I'm like
[24:31] driving.
[24:32] We get to the Sangha. I stop the car,
[24:35] turn it off. We're there for like a
[24:36] minute. He said, "Okay, let's go back."
[24:39] And the whole way back, same thing.
[24:40] "Watch out! There's coming up! People
[24:41] coming! You're going too fast! Watch
[24:45] So we get back to the house, okay?
[24:49] A few days later,
[24:51] see uh
[24:54] Ramdas had come back to India the second
[24:56] time
[24:57] after traveling around the world with
[24:58] Muktananda, he had met Muktananda in
[25:00] America.
[25:02] And then
[25:03] Muktananda asked him to show him around
[25:05] and then they wound up going to
[25:07] Australia and then to India.
[25:10] So,
[25:12] he had asked Ram Dass to come do a
[25:13] pilgrimage with him
[25:15] in that winter.
[25:17] And Ram Dass had agreed.
[25:20] So,
[25:23] time came to go.
[25:25] And Ram Dass said to Maharaj-ji, "Do I
[25:27] have to go?" Maharaj-ji said, "You said
[25:29] you would go. You have to go."
[25:31] So, we were sent with him.
[25:33] So, I'm driving out of Allahabad.
[25:37] >> [clears throat]
[25:38] >> And there's this long
[25:41] turn
[25:43] somewhere and on one side of the road,
[25:45] the other side of the road, there's a
[25:47] reservoir.
[25:49] And I'm driving and I'm going too fast.
[25:54] And the bus starts to slide across
[25:57] the road and the reservoir is right
[25:59] there. We were going right into the
[26:01] water.
[26:02] When a huge wind came like
[26:06] and literally the car
[26:08] went back 10 ft back on the other on the
[26:11] right side of the road.
[26:13] And I thought, "Ah,
[26:15] that's why he banged his head."
[26:17] He He did that.
[26:34] It's really difficult for us
[26:36] to
[26:37] wrap our heads around the fact that
[26:42] there are beings that live only to help
[26:44] us.
[26:48] They have nothing more to gain for
[26:49] themselves. They've done it.
[26:52] Been there, done that.
[26:54] And they're only here for us.
[26:57] And everything they do is motivated only
[27:00] by one thing.
[27:01] Love and compassion.
[27:03] And kindness. That's three things.
[27:07] Which is one thing.
[27:11] It's really hard cuz we live in a world
[27:13] where it's
[27:16] an eye for an eye
[27:19] every day.
[27:32] Anybody?
[27:35] Yeah.
[27:36] You told us the story of the name of the
[27:38] driver.
[27:40] But what is the story behind Krishna
[27:42] Das's name? Who picked the name for you?
[27:46] One day, you know, I'd been driver for
[27:47] about 9 months or a year, something like
[27:50] that. I said, "All right, that's it, I
[27:51] guess. I'm driver."
[27:54] I wrote it in my diary that night.
[27:56] Next day I get
[27:58] we go to the temple.
[28:00] I get called into Maharaj's room. He
[28:01] looks at me and said,
[28:03] "Arjun?"
[28:04] "No."
[28:05] "Krishna?" "No."
[28:07] "Krishna Das." I said, "Krishna Das?
[28:10] I'm a Hanuman guy." He just laughed. He
[28:12] said, "Don't worry.
[28:14] Hanuman served Krishna, too."
[28:17] And that's the whole thing.
[28:19] And the story about it is a beautiful
[28:21] story in the Mahabharata, the big war.
[28:25] Krishna is Arjun's charioteer.
[28:28] And
[28:31] every day of the fight when the fighting
[28:33] was over,
[28:35] Krishna would get down and help Arjun
[28:37] off the chariot because he's the
[28:39] charioteer, that's what he does.
[28:43] The last day of the war after it was
[28:45] over, Krishna says to Arjuna, "Okay,
[28:48] every day I've been helping you off the
[28:50] chariot, but today you jump off now and
[28:53] run as fast as you can away from the
[28:55] chariot."
[28:56] So, Arjuna does. Krishna steps off the
[28:59] chariot.
[29:01] There was a white flag. Every all the
[29:03] chariots had a flag, right? There was a
[29:05] white flag with a red monkey on it.
[29:09] The minute Krishna stepped off the
[29:10] chariot, the monkey flew out of the flag
[29:13] and the chariot exploded into a million
[29:15] pieces.
[29:18] And Krishna says to Arjuna, he said,
[29:20] "Hanuman has been absorbing all the
[29:23] missiles that have been thrown at you.
[29:26] Didn't you notice that in the whole war
[29:29] you never had to change your chariot
[29:30] where everybody else almost every day
[29:33] had to get a new chariot?
[29:35] In those days they fought with atomic
[29:37] weapons.
[29:39] Really? Because of the power of the
[29:41] mind.
[29:43] They would shoot an arrow, but they
[29:44] would put a a mantra on the arrow.
[29:47] And the one with the most concentration
[29:51] had the most powerful weapon.
[29:55] When two of the same mantras met, the
[29:58] one who had the most concentration and
[30:00] the purest intention,
[30:03] that's that was more the most powerful
[30:05] one.
[30:11] And there's a story about Arjuna who was
[30:16] the second greatest archer.
[30:19] He's usually called the greatest, but
[30:20] actually his
[30:22] older brother, who was unknown to them
[30:24] at the time, was was greater.
[30:27] But they were all with their guru,
[30:29] their Dronacharya was their weapons
[30:32] guru.
[30:34] And they were all the archers were lined
[30:35] up
[30:37] and [clears throat] um
[30:38] Dronacharya asks
[30:41] one guy, said, "What do you see?"
[30:43] The guy says, "I see a tree."
[30:46] The next guy, "What do you see?" "I see
[30:48] a tree with a bird on a branch."
[30:52] Uh next guy, "What do you see?" "I see
[30:54] the branch and the bird."
[30:57] Next guy, "I see the bird."
[31:00] Next guy, "I see the feathers and of of
[31:03] a bird."
[31:04] And finally it gets to Arjuna. He says,
[31:06] "What do you see?" "I see a black spot."
[31:09] Which was the eye of the bird.
[31:12] Which is why Arjuna was the greatest
[31:14] archer.
[31:16] He
[31:17] was beyond
[31:19] conceptual thinking.
[31:21] And he saw a spot. He didn't see the eye
[31:24] of a bird.
[31:26] The target was a spot.
[31:29] And that's what made him the greatest.
[31:32] The second greatest.
[31:36] Yeah.
[31:41] Hi, and thank you for everything
[31:42] Krishna.
[31:43] >> Hold on. Can you turn up a little bit?
[31:45] Thank you for everything you teach us
[31:46] here. Thank you so much. First is a song
[31:49] request for tonight. Could it be
[31:51] possible you sing I Want You to Show Me
[31:54] Tonight? You can request it. Please.
[31:56] Thank you.
[31:59] I'll get it. And the second is a What
[32:01] happened with those times? Are we going
[32:03] to see those times again of that so much
[32:06] power
[32:07] in our humans? Not in this age.
[32:11] This is the age of
[32:14] Kali Yuga they call it. It's the dark
[32:17] ages.
[32:18] We don't see that stuff these days. Some
[32:20] people have are open enough to
[32:23] perceive those kind of things, but most
[32:26] of us
[32:27] we watch too much TV.
[32:30] And we're not open for that. We're not
[32:32] our
[32:33] our senses aren't purified enough. Our
[32:36] mind is cluttered with nonsense.
[32:39] And uh
[32:41] for instance
[32:46] they say that Hanuman
[32:49] won't come, even can't come in his real
[32:51] form.
[32:53] But he'll come in a different form like
[32:55] a like a sadhu or a
[32:58] or you know, one time
[33:00] I was in a delicatessen in my local
[33:03] town.
[33:04] This is when I saw a cheese.
[33:07] So I went in and ordered cheese
[33:08] sandwich.
[33:11] Then I'm waiting in line
[33:14] to pay for the sandwich. And there was
[33:15] this guy standing in front of me
[33:18] in the line. And there was something
[33:20] about this guy. I couldn't What is it?
[33:23] And I so I kind of like
[33:26] went around like to see see his face
[33:28] like and he he turned away.
[33:31] And I'm behind him. He didn't see me do
[33:33] that, right? I'm like this and he he
[33:35] turned away.
[33:36] So I went, "Did that happen?"
[33:39] So I kind of went around the other side
[33:41] and he turned away.
[33:42] I couldn't believe it.
[33:44] So then
[33:46] he uh
[33:47] he pays for his whatever he paid for
[33:51] and I'm there and I'm waiting for my
[33:52] change. And he turns to me and he says
[33:56] he looks at me and he smiles and he says
[33:58] "It's not in the eyes, you know."
[34:01] And he turns and walks out and I'm
[34:02] waiting for my change and it What am I
[34:05] waiting for? And I run out and there's
[34:06] nobody there. A huge empty street. There
[34:09] was no place that guy could have gone.
[34:12] It was really a trip.
[34:14] So
[34:15] they come and they they say hello, but
[34:17] they don't necessarily tell us what's
[34:19] going on.
[34:21] But they say you can't really see those
[34:23] forms
[34:25] uh
[34:26] in at this time
[34:28] cuz it's we're too dense.
[34:31] And if we did see those forms, we would
[34:33] like we'd just explode.
[34:35] It'd be over.
[34:37] So.
[34:39] But, you know,
[34:41] just work on your concentration.
[34:42] Anything can happen.
[34:46] Yeah.
[34:47] Is there somebody here?
[34:49] In the front. Here.
[34:53] >> [snorts]
[34:56] >> Hi.
[34:57] Um I'm just wondering I just recently
[34:59] lost somebody very close to me suddenly
[35:01] and unexpectedly.
[35:03] Um and I'm just wondering if you can
[35:05] kind of talk to us a little bit about
[35:07] grief and loss.
[35:15] Well, we're human beings, you know.
[35:18] So, we're
[35:27] That's the deal, you know. We have all
[35:29] these emotions.
[35:31] We don't see
[35:34] anything other than our own stuff.
[35:38] And we suffer
[35:40] from our attachments, our the things we
[35:42] love, the people we love who
[35:44] are no longer in the body.
[35:46] We miss them.
[35:49] There's nothing you can do about that.
[35:50] You just have to live with it.
[35:53] But, you can also recognize that the
[35:55] grief
[35:56] >> [snorts]
[35:56] >> and is actually you're still a
[35:59] connection.
[36:03] They're still present within you.
[36:06] And actually
[36:08] not in the body, but they're still here.
[36:13] They say that the time of death is
[36:16] written when you're born.
[36:20] And there's no slippage in the system.
[36:28] And uh [clears throat]
[36:34] you know, I'm I'm at the age now where
[36:37] every other day
[36:38] somebody's popping off.
[36:48] And even though
[36:50] I've been doing this stuff for so long
[36:53] and
[36:55] all the old devotees that I'm
[36:59] lived with and loved and learned from,
[37:01] they're all gone.
[37:06] I'm the old devotee now.
[37:10] God help us.
[37:14] So, you just, you know, don't fight the
[37:16] grief, you know,
[37:17] be with it.
[37:19] It's the connection.
[37:22] And they say
[37:24] that
[37:26] those beings who leave the body, they
[37:28] don't want to see us sad. They're still
[37:29] here. They're aware of what our we're
[37:31] feeling.
[37:33] They could possibly be aware depending
[37:35] on how close we are with them.
[37:37] And it hurts them to see us that way.
[37:41] So,
[37:43] try to process that, too. We have to
[37:45] process that, too.
[37:48] A a dear friend of mine went was had
[37:51] cancer. She was in India and she went to
[37:54] see this really
[37:56] very
[37:57] high lama
[37:59] who she knew. And he just laughed. He
[38:00] said, "Oh, what are you worried about?
[38:02] You've done this so many times before."
[38:06] But we don't see that, you know, we we
[38:08] we
[38:09] we
[38:10] we think we are who we think we are.
[38:13] We were born, we're now this, and then
[38:15] we'll be that.
[38:17] That's just one storyline
[38:20] that is not
[38:21] especially accurate.
[38:25] But yet that's who we are. So
[38:28] >> [clears throat]
[38:29] >> see the grief and live with the grief as
[38:32] connection
[38:33] and the love. It doesn't
[38:35] It doesn't stop the love.
[38:37] But you can't hold on to that form.
[38:42] Although the person is still that
[38:43] person.
[38:45] That soul is still the same soul that
[38:47] was in that body
[38:49] that we loved.
[38:55] It's just all about love.
[38:58] And you can't
[39:03] You can't pick it up and
[39:05] take it out, you know. It's just there.
[39:08] So
[39:10] might as well find a way to uh
[39:14] to kind of
[39:18] unfold it and include it.
[39:21] And include that person. The person's
[39:23] not gone. The body's gone.
[39:25] But because we think we are our body, we
[39:28] think they were their body.
[39:30] And that's
[39:32] you know, that's what it is. If you we
[39:34] knew who we were, we wouldn't have that
[39:38] those issues. But we we don't.
[39:41] So inside of that we have to accept who
[39:43] we are
[39:44] and accept our feelings and not try to
[39:47] push them away. They're not wrong.
[39:50] We can learn a lot.
[39:54] But it's very difficult and it's
[39:56] painful.
[39:57] Where you going to go in this world that
[40:00] it's not like that?
[40:07] One time a a very old
[40:09] Swami
[40:11] was coming out of the mountains and
[40:13] stopped in Kanchi.
[40:16] And when Maharaj he came to see Maharaji
[40:18] and Maharaji
[40:20] he he fed him sweets after sweets after
[40:23] sweets.
[40:24] And the guy said, "Oh, in my life no one
[40:27] has fed me like this." And he was crying
[40:29] and Maharaji was giving him more sweets
[40:31] and more sweets more food more food.
[40:33] Then the guy gets in a car and he
[40:37] being driven down to the train. He gets
[40:39] about 10 minutes away from Kanchi and
[40:41] has a heart attack.
[40:44] And Maharaji said,
[40:46] "I fed him. I fed him and sent him on
[40:48] his way."
[41:06] Oh, did he pick somebody? Yeah.
[41:08] Back there.
[41:10] Oh.
[41:14] Thank you.
[41:16] It's amazing hearing these stories about
[41:18] these gurus who can further
[41:21] spiritual development. But in the case
[41:23] where there isn't somebody externally,
[41:26] can you share something about developing
[41:28] a relationship with our inner guru or
[41:31] gurus in another realm? Mhm.
[41:45] I was with this llama once and
[41:47] he's giving a workshop or a retreat or
[41:49] something and one
[41:51] a woman said to him,
[41:53] "Rinpoche, what happens if you fall in
[41:55] love with your guru?"
[41:57] And he looked and he said, "Are you
[41:58] crazy?"
[42:00] He said, "You're going to fall in love
[42:01] with the one person the universe has
[42:03] been who's promised to destroy you?
[42:06] Destroy your ego?"
[42:09] Um
[42:11] we have the guru thing all wrong, you
[42:13] know? I mean, we we we think it's
[42:15] it's like a romantic relationship
[42:18] between two people.
[42:20] It isn't.
[42:21] Guru
[42:23] is not other than who we are.
[42:27] And Maharaj
[42:30] he know that. He knows that.
[42:32] I don't know that. And so, I get
[42:35] attached to his physical presence.
[42:43] You work on what you have to work on.
[42:46] It's not a mystery, our stuff. All we
[42:49] have to do is look and we see our stuff.
[42:52] Our shame, our fear, our grief,
[42:55] our selfishness,
[42:57] our anger,
[42:59] the way we treat other people, the way
[43:01] we treat ourselves.
[43:02] Hey, there's enough to work on.
[43:05] And all that's covering up the guru
[43:07] within.
[43:10] The guru within is your own soul,
[43:13] your own being.
[43:15] And a real guru knows that.
[43:18] And as a result, doesn't want anything
[43:19] or need anything from you.
[43:23] Because they are you.
[43:28] So, just
[43:33] just try to become a good human being.
[43:36] What more can you do?
[43:38] That's all it is anyway.
[43:41] Guru or no guru in the outside world, we
[43:43] still have to live every day
[43:46] and do the best we can.
[43:55] The longing
[43:57] is complicated.
[43:59] The longing for a guru,
[44:01] somebody love you the way you want to be
[44:04] loved and
[44:06] free you from your suffering
[44:09] and help you on the path.
[44:14] Yeah, maybe.
[44:21] A real guru knows that that's just a
[44:23] storyline.
[44:24] A real guru is not in time.
[44:27] There's no past, there's no future,
[44:29] there's just right now.
[44:32] Right here
[44:34] where we are.
[44:36] Everyone has that inside.
[44:40] It's actually not inside because there's
[44:42] no inside or outside, but we talk like
[44:44] that.
[44:49] You can You can bring one of these great
[44:51] beings to mind
[44:54] and you can
[44:55] develop a relationship with that person,
[44:58] with that being.
[45:00] Whether they're in a body or not,
[45:01] they're still present
[45:03] because they were always present.
[45:11] Just because they're not available
[45:15] in the physical world anymore doesn't
[45:17] really mean anything.
[45:19] That longing though
[45:21] is
[45:23] it's the same in grace and it's
[45:26] uh
[45:27] it's the thing that ruins your life.
[45:31] Cuz nothing will ever be enough until
[45:32] that longing is fulfilled.
[45:36] But does that mean
[45:38] Let me That longing will not be
[45:40] fulfilled even if you trip and fall
[45:43] at the feet of a real guru
[45:46] because we still have our stuff.
[45:48] I was with Maharaj-ji for 2 and 1/2
[45:50] years
[45:52] and I'm basically the same schmuck I
[45:53] always was.
[45:55] 55 years later. Give me a break.
[46:00] So
[46:02] it doesn't It's not like something's
[46:04] going to happen. Someone's going to push
[46:05] a button and all of a sudden
[46:06] everything's going to be great.
[46:08] We still have our stuff to deal with
[46:10] every minute of every day.
[46:13] And if you don't deal with it, it deals
[46:15] with you.
[46:19] And
[46:22] these beings can come and see us in our
[46:24] dreams where we're more open.
[46:29] And if you do have a dream of a saint
[46:32] they say that we can't manufacture that
[46:38] that
[46:39] vision of a saint. They they it's them
[46:41] coming to see us.
[46:43] So if you do have a an experience like
[46:45] that, that's a really beautiful thing.
[46:48] But once again
[46:55] it's our own efforts and our own desire
[46:58] to
[47:01] get it together that that
[47:03] carries us along.
[47:05] And you don't know if if and when you're
[47:08] going to meet that a being like that in
[47:10] the outside world in the outside world.
[47:15] I Basically, I think
[47:17] those of us who are there were the ones
[47:19] who just couldn't make it without that.
[47:21] Everybody else was cool.
[47:23] They didn't need it.
[47:28] For myself, that would be true.
[47:32] Can't talk for anybody else.
[47:40] Guru is always present
[47:43] because we are always present.
[47:46] You're going to get you're going to
[47:47] leave this place and go back to home.
[47:51] You'll be there just like you're here.
[47:54] And Guru is also there because you're
[47:56] here.
[47:58] There's nowhere you can go where you
[48:01] will not be.
[48:02] And if you're there,
[48:04] the guru is also there.
[48:07] So,
[48:09] why don't we see that? Why don't we
[48:11] experience that?
[48:14] You know why.
[48:17] So,
[48:18] now do something about it.
[48:27] The longing is what saves us.
[48:30] That's the That's how we feel as we're
[48:33] moving into our own being.
[48:36] We experience it as longing for
[48:38] something outside of us, but it's
[48:40] actually we're being we're being pulled
[48:43] inside.
[48:45] But we feel as if we're longing for
[48:47] something outside like a guru
[48:50] or a lover or a dog.
[48:54] Somebody to love us.
[48:57] And that's what we feel like when we're
[48:59] being pulled in.
[49:04] And you know, it's not so much that
[49:05] Maharaj loved us loves us.
[49:08] It was that
[49:11] we were
[49:13] it it we were safe to love to open up.
[49:18] There was no
[49:21] fear
[49:23] of anything. We were We were We were
[49:26] home
[49:27] and our hearts just uncurled.
[49:31] That's what we want.
[49:33] But we think, "Okay, if that happens,
[49:36] then that will happen." But it's not
[49:38] like that.
[49:39] That can happen anytime, anywhere.
[49:48] And when we chant, those names are the
[49:51] names of that place in us.
[49:58] And every time we
[50:01] chant one of those names, we're moving
[50:03] towards that place.
[50:04] Where it all is.
[50:10] Whatever form attracts you, whatever
[50:13] name attracts you, whatever chant
[50:15] attracts you, that's
[50:17] that's
[50:18] being you're being pulled to that.
[50:44] The guru business is really pretty
[50:45] nasty, you know.
[50:48] I've seen so many people
[50:51] destroyed by some
[50:54] You know.
[50:58] Manipulating them, taking their money,
[51:01] alienating them from their families.
[51:04] It's a nasty thing.
[51:08] And don't give yourself away.
[51:11] Don't give yourself away to anyone or
[51:13] anything.
[51:15] Guru's inside of you already.
[51:22] Don't You can't buy it by giving
[51:24] yourself away.
[51:26] And anybody who's willing to take you,
[51:30] you should run.
[51:41] And the prettier are prettier they are,
[51:44] the handsome they are, the faster you
[51:46] shouldn't run.
[52:08] We need to remember to look.
[52:12] We need to figure out where to look and
[52:14] how to look.
[52:16] And how to see.
[52:20] And when we do, we'll see everything.
[52:23] We'll know what we need to know.
[52:27] All these practices
[52:29] are purification of the mind.
[52:34] Asana practice pranayama purifies the
[52:37] nadis
[52:39] in the body. The prana flows through the
[52:41] nadis. Prana is life. Prana is not just
[52:43] energy. It's consciousness.
[52:47] It's awareness.
[53:15] Anybody?
[53:18] There's somebody in the back had their
[53:19] hand up for a while.
[53:28] Thank you so much
[53:30] for being here and for your time.
[53:32] >> Hold on one second. Kev, I don't think
[53:33] this is on.
[53:37] Barely on.
[53:39] I don't think I was speaking loud
[53:41] enough.
[53:42] It's okay. I'm deaf.
[53:43] >> [laughter]
[53:44] >> Thank you so much for being here and for
[53:45] your teachings.
[53:47] I was
[53:49] drawn to you years about ago
[53:52] about your teachings of how to
[53:55] deal with suffering and heartbreak.
[53:58] And you had
[53:59] spoke about attachments
[54:03] and expectations that we put out to the
[54:05] world and how that creates the suffering
[54:07] and the heartbreak inside of ours
[54:09] ourselves.
[54:12] So I digested that
[54:14] and I tried to work with that
[54:17] not to put on expectations and on people
[54:21] and situations.
[54:24] But I've been blessed to be a mother
[54:27] and having children, I found a lot of
[54:30] suffering and heartache in that.
[54:32] And I'm wondering what you could share
[54:34] with us
[54:36] about
[54:37] children and raising children but not
[54:39] attaching
[54:41] to the outcome or the suffering that can
[54:44] happen and the heartbreak that can
[54:45] happen from being a parent.
[54:55] My daughter's here, so I have to be
[54:56] careful.
[55:10] Well,
[55:12] I think the most important thing, of
[55:13] course,
[55:15] is that
[55:16] they
[55:19] somehow know that you love them
[55:21] regardless of anything they do.
[55:25] Is it working or not?
[55:30] Um
[55:37] Beings are born with their own
[55:38] individual karmas,
[55:42] uh
[55:46] they're not blank slates when they're
[55:47] born, and
[55:49] they come in with all kinds of stuff
[55:51] just like we do.
[55:55] So, the the most important thing
[55:57] is that they feel loved.
[56:01] As far as creating boundaries and
[56:07] teaching children about right and wrong
[56:09] and
[56:10] what leads to happiness and what leads
[56:12] to suffering,
[56:14] uh
[56:15] you'll have to ask Dr. Spock.
[56:21] Uh
[56:26] Yeah, now the light's on.
[56:27] Light wasn't on before.
[56:33] And there's no escape from suffering.
[56:39] Of course, you didn't think it would be
[56:40] like this.
[56:43] That's That's our problem.
[56:45] [clears throat]
[56:46] We keep doing things
[56:48] and not recognizing
[56:51] what's involved with the whole thing.
[56:54] The whole package.
[56:56] It's like
[56:57] like rock stars, you know? I mean,
[56:59] somebody once I guess I was being
[57:01] interviewed a Rolling Stone, and the guy
[57:04] said to me, "Come on,
[57:06] with all these rock stars getting holy,
[57:08] what's that all about?
[57:10] Isn't that just bullshit?" And I said,
[57:11] "No, it's not.
[57:13] These people are like the kings of the
[57:15] planet.
[57:17] Kings and queens, and anything they
[57:19] want, they can get 24 hours a day.
[57:22] They've been there, done that, and they
[57:24] know it doesn't work.
[57:26] But we
[57:29] we don't know that yet. We're still
[57:31] hoping that makes us happy.
[57:34] And that's not life.
[57:38] I mean
[57:40] happiness is good.
[57:45] But there's always
[57:47] an end to it.
[57:49] Here.
[57:50] In here, that's not the case. In here,
[57:53] there's no end to that.
[57:56] Real
[57:57] love, real joy.
[58:00] But that's not what we're talking about.
[58:01] We're talking about relationships. We're
[58:03] talking about people with their own
[58:05] agendas
[58:08] that are different from our agenda.
[58:11] What are you going to do?
[58:14] Just do the best you can.
[58:17] And when you have to say no, you have to
[58:19] say no.
[58:21] No matter what it does.
[58:23] It's not easy.
[58:33] My mother was really hard on me.
[58:36] And
[58:37] many, many, many, many years later,
[58:40] a psychic told me
[58:41] she was hard on you because she didn't
[58:43] want you to turn out like your father.
[58:47] So, she had a reason for being hard on
[58:49] me, which I didn't know when I was a
[58:51] kid. All I knew is that
[58:53] it wasn't a lot of fun.
[58:58] You know, we don't know our parents as
[59:00] people.
[59:02] We know them as our parents.
[59:05] Maybe if we live long enough and they
[59:06] live long, we get to know them a little
[59:08] differently.
[59:10] We don't know what they went through
[59:11] growing up. We don't know
[59:15] how many times they had their hearts
[59:16] broken.
[59:18] We don't know
[59:20] what they lost, what they wanted and
[59:22] didn't get.
[59:23] We don't anything about that.
[59:26] All we know is how it feels in the
[59:27] house.
[59:31] So, you try to make that feeling in the
[59:33] house
[59:35] as good as possible
[59:37] considering everything you've gone
[59:39] through
[59:40] and considering who they are.
[59:43] And just try to keep that atmosphere
[59:46] as open
[59:47] and as non-judgmental as possible. But,
[59:50] you still have to have say no at times
[59:53] and make boundaries for kids.
[59:58] I guess.
[1:00:01] I didn't like boundaries. You put up a
[1:00:03] boundary, I killed it.
[1:00:06] But, anyhow, it sounds good.
[1:00:10] I'm sure that was very helpful.
[1:00:45] Thank you. Can you Can you hear me okay?
[1:00:47] >> Yeah. I I can't hear I can hear myself
[1:00:50] also. It's okay. Yeah, good.
[1:00:53] Um
[1:00:54] >> [clears throat]
[1:00:55] >> Um thank you so much again for being
[1:00:56] here. It's very inspiring listening to
[1:00:59] you.
[1:01:00] Um
[1:01:01] I wonder sometimes
[1:01:05] studying
[1:01:06] yoga philosophy
[1:01:08] um
[1:01:10] What's that?
[1:01:11] Sorry.
[1:01:13] Well, being here, you know, studying
[1:01:15] yoga philosophy, sometimes
[1:01:17] you know, it's they talk about karma
[1:01:22] the yogis, accepting your karma,
[1:01:24] accepting the fact that and you said it
[1:01:26] yesterday, too, just
[1:01:28] don't be the writer of the script, just
[1:01:30] let things be the way they are supposed
[1:01:32] to be because you have to work through
[1:01:33] your karma.
[1:01:35] But accepting your karma,
[1:01:37] yet
[1:01:39] not allowing yourself to become the
[1:01:41] victim of circumstances and being like,
[1:01:44] "This is my karma." And then you just
[1:01:46] kind of let go
[1:01:48] and stop fighting or stop putting effort
[1:01:50] in.
[1:01:51] Like how do you find the balance?
[1:01:55] And how do you know what action to take?
[1:01:58] Not to override God's action
[1:02:01] in a way.
[1:02:04] >> [clears throat]
[1:02:07] >> Well,
[1:02:09] so
[1:02:10] what you said like being taken advantage
[1:02:12] of, is that was one of the things you
[1:02:13] said?
[1:02:15] Like when somebody
[1:02:17] you're in a situation and somebody's
[1:02:18] abusing you.
[1:02:20] You just accept that? Is that what
[1:02:21] you're saying?
[1:02:23] Why would you do that?
[1:02:25] You say, "This is my karma." Why isn't
[1:02:27] Why isn't your karma to punch the guy in
[1:02:28] the face?
[1:02:31] Why do you Why do you just That's See,
[1:02:33] that's
[1:02:35] You can't up-level things in your mind.
[1:02:38] You know, and and there's nobody
[1:02:40] Everything can change at any moment. No
[1:02:43] situation is solid.
[1:02:46] You can change it with your own actions,
[1:02:48] with your own inner
[1:02:50] understanding.
[1:02:54] So,
[1:02:55] you don't have to accept anything that's
[1:02:57] negative from the outside world in any
[1:02:59] form ever,
[1:03:00] unless you want to.
[1:03:03] You don't say, "This is my karma."
[1:03:05] You know, if you if you trip and fall
[1:03:07] and break your leg, yeah, okay, that's
[1:03:09] your karma. There's not much you can do
[1:03:11] about that.
[1:03:12] But in terms of relationships with
[1:03:14] people
[1:03:15] and situations that are fluid and can
[1:03:18] and
[1:03:20] based on uh
[1:03:24] two beings or more than two beings
[1:03:26] relating
[1:03:27] can always change.
[1:03:29] And there's no reason to accept any kind
[1:03:31] of negativity from anybody at any time.
[1:03:34] There's different ways to deal with that
[1:03:37] which are more or less effective.
[1:03:40] But certainly it can be dealt with and
[1:03:43] certainly it's not a
[1:03:45] it's not cruel fate.
[1:03:47] Karma is not fate.
[1:03:49] Fate means there's no change. This is
[1:03:52] it. This But karma is exactly the
[1:03:54] opposite.
[1:03:56] It can always change. You can always
[1:03:58] decide to do this or that or that or not
[1:04:02] do this or that or that.
[1:04:04] And
[1:04:05] everything you do
[1:04:07] changes this moment.
[1:04:10] So, I mean
[1:04:12] surrender is
[1:04:14] happens by grace.
[1:04:17] It's not something we do.
[1:04:19] So
[1:04:21] I have to talk about Ram Dass. Ram Dass
[1:04:23] was high-flying, golf playing, sports
[1:04:27] car driving,
[1:04:28] running around the world talking, giving
[1:04:30] lectures, and then he had a catastrophic
[1:04:32] stroke.
[1:04:33] He couldn't move, he couldn't talk,
[1:04:36] couldn't do anything for himself.
[1:04:40] But as the time went on
[1:04:42] so there's nothing he could do about
[1:04:44] that. The physical thing happened,
[1:04:46] right? Yes, this is karma.
[1:04:50] But
[1:04:51] how he lives with it
[1:04:55] is up to him.
[1:04:56] And he chose to
[1:04:59] aggressively, powerfully,
[1:05:01] and and vigilantly
[1:05:05] be present with it
[1:05:07] and not get caught in depression or
[1:05:09] anger
[1:05:11] or or you know, like the same thing can
[1:05:13] happen to two people and one person just
[1:05:17] is destroyed by it, another person
[1:05:19] blossoms.
[1:05:21] So,
[1:05:22] the karma is more interior.
[1:05:25] What's going to happen in the outside
[1:05:27] world is going to happen.
[1:05:29] What's not dictated is how we live with
[1:05:31] it.
[1:05:33] We're always free
[1:05:35] to
[1:05:38] to
[1:05:40] with great power
[1:05:42] face a situation
[1:05:45] and transform it within,
[1:05:47] even if it can't be changed outside.
[1:05:57] Sometimes when we try to change things
[1:05:58] outside, it just makes things worse.
[1:06:02] Like trying to change somebody,
[1:06:04] change the way they are.
[1:06:07] You can't.
[1:06:09] You can only let them be who they are
[1:06:12] and
[1:06:13] real love is letting people being who
[1:06:15] they are and that in that atmosphere
[1:06:17] somebody can actually change
[1:06:20] because they're allowed to let go.
[1:06:22] They're allowed to drop some of the
[1:06:24] negativity
[1:06:26] because you're not reacting. Because if
[1:06:28] we react, we hold them in that place,
[1:06:30] just like we're getting stuck in that
[1:06:32] place.
[1:06:34] So,
[1:06:44] giving up is not surrender.
[1:06:47] Surrender means motivating yourself to
[1:06:50] the ultimate degree
[1:06:53] to overcome any kind of inner and outer
[1:06:55] negativity.
[1:06:59] To fight,
[1:07:01] to be present, no matter what happens,
[1:07:05] and no no who's doing it.
[1:07:08] If something doesn't feel right,
[1:07:10] it doesn't feel right.
[1:07:12] We The main thing The The The one thing
[1:07:14] that we all have to learn
[1:07:17] in any kind of life, and especially in
[1:07:19] so-called spiritual life, is to trust
[1:07:21] our own self.
[1:07:25] And to hear what what's right for us.
[1:07:28] At least what we want.
[1:07:31] And then go for it.
[1:07:38] Taking into account different sets sets
[1:07:40] of circumstances.
[1:07:42] You You You say you want to go up to the
[1:07:45] to the mountains and be a sadhu and live
[1:07:47] in a cave.
[1:07:48] Yeah, right.
[1:07:50] With the rats and the snakes and the
[1:07:53] you know.
[1:07:57] And then leaving your family without any
[1:07:59] food.
[1:08:00] So, that's not very good.
[1:08:02] So, within
[1:08:04] the circumstances of our lives, there's
[1:08:05] a lot of room
[1:08:07] to do what we want to do.
[1:08:09] And to become who we want to become.
[1:08:21] You know, somebody once asked the Dalai
[1:08:23] Lama, "Your Holiness, are you happy?"
[1:08:27] And he said, "Well,
[1:08:30] I guess you could say I've had a hard
[1:08:32] life.
[1:08:33] I had to take over the reins of my
[1:08:35] country as a teenager.
[1:08:37] I had to watch as the Chinese invaded
[1:08:40] and actually killed millions of my
[1:08:42] people.
[1:08:43] I had to escape over the mountains. I'm
[1:08:45] a refugee in another country.
[1:08:48] But, I'm happy.
[1:08:53] Because, you know, our happiness can be
[1:08:55] there no matter what's going on in the
[1:08:57] outside world.
[1:08:59] And that's the most important thing to
[1:09:01] know.
[1:09:02] Just because everything is screwed up
[1:09:04] out there doesn't mean that we have to
[1:09:06] be screwed up in here.
[1:09:09] It's our job to unscrew ourselves.
[1:09:18] A group of ministers went to see the
[1:09:20] Dalai Lama once and
[1:09:22] they said, "Your Holiness, what's your
[1:09:23] idea of sin?"
[1:09:26] He thought about it for a minute and
[1:09:27] said,
[1:09:29] "It's kind of a Christian thing, isn't
[1:09:31] it?"
[1:09:34] There's no sin, original sin, in Eastern
[1:09:37] religions, Eastern philosophy.
[1:09:40] The word for sin is usually pop, which
[1:09:42] means what makes you burn.
[1:09:45] But it's not original evil.
[1:09:48] It's exactly the opposite.
[1:09:51] They Everyone has Everyone's soul is
[1:09:54] 100% pure.
[1:09:57] Everyone has Buddha nature within.
[1:10:00] There's no
[1:10:02] stain
[1:10:04] on our inner being.
[1:10:06] Never was, never will be.
[1:10:09] But that inner being is what's covered
[1:10:11] up with our stuff.
[1:10:14] So, how do we uncover that?
[1:10:17] In a good way.
[1:10:21] Well,
[1:10:22] that's what we're trying to do.
[1:10:53] No one? Someone?
[1:10:55] Somebody?
[1:10:58] No.
[1:10:59] Okay.
[1:11:01] Hi. Hi. Um, you just touched on
[1:11:05] surrender, but I'm wondering if you can
[1:11:07] talk a little more about the role of
[1:11:09] surrender on the spiritual path and
[1:11:13] how we do or don't do that and what we
[1:11:15] are surrendering to.
[1:11:18] >> [clears throat]
[1:11:20] >> Yes.
[1:11:23] Um.
[1:11:29] Surrender is is is liberation.
[1:11:33] It's freedom.
[1:11:36] It's the release
[1:11:38] and the the the uh
[1:11:41] the transcendent
[1:11:43] of the delusion
[1:11:45] of separate self.
[1:11:48] Thinking that we're separate
[1:11:50] from everything and everyone else.
[1:11:53] That's what happens when that is
[1:11:54] surrender.
[1:11:56] That ultimately happens only by grace.
[1:12:00] Surrender has nothing to do with obeying
[1:12:02] someone
[1:12:04] or believing something that you don't
[1:12:06] believe in
[1:12:07] or making yourself do something that you
[1:12:09] think somebody tells you you should do.
[1:12:12] Okay, I'll surrender to that knowing
[1:12:14] that it's not right or it feels weird.
[1:12:16] That's not surrender.
[1:12:19] Surrender is
[1:12:21] being with what is
[1:12:25] without
[1:12:27] coloring it or manipulating it or trying
[1:12:29] to make it fit or you know,
[1:12:32] being with what is.
[1:12:33] So,
[1:12:34] we see our stuff
[1:12:38] and we want to be free of that stuff.
[1:12:42] Free of everything that causes us pain.
[1:12:47] So,
[1:12:50] the more we uh
[1:12:52] see what's going on in us,
[1:12:55] the more we can let go of stuff, and
[1:12:57] that's
[1:12:59] on the road to finally
[1:13:02] seeing through this
[1:13:04] this belief that you're you and I'm me.
[1:13:08] Because if everybody in this room
[1:13:11] look is like a little bubble,
[1:13:13] and each bubble thinks it's it's
[1:13:15] separate from the other bubbles.
[1:13:18] But, we're all in this big bubble
[1:13:20] together.
[1:13:21] And
[1:13:22] the little bubbles are very tenuous and
[1:13:25] very,
[1:13:27] uh, they keep breaking.
[1:13:31] Um,
[1:13:35] Ram Dass had a had a a real core of
[1:13:38] stuff that he hadn't ever been able to
[1:13:40] deal with,
[1:13:42] and it was causing him a lot of pain.
[1:13:45] The stroke
[1:13:47] absolutely wiped it out.
[1:13:50] He
[1:13:53] he he didn't have one moment off,
[1:13:56] one moment vacation
[1:13:58] from pain,
[1:14:00] from the wheelchair,
[1:14:02] from having to accept help from people.
[1:14:05] He had to become really humble,
[1:14:08] really open,
[1:14:11] and he did.
[1:14:12] And he triumphed over that situation.
[1:14:18] Uh,
[1:14:19] because he fully accepted it. He wasn't
[1:14:21] trying to change it. He no longer wished
[1:14:24] it to be any other way.
[1:14:27] In fact, Sydney Ma had said to him that
[1:14:30] if he learned this particular prayer to
[1:14:32] Hanuman, he would walk again.
[1:14:36] But, he didn't really try.
[1:14:38] He was okay.
[1:14:40] He didn't want to get caught in trying
[1:14:44] to make it some other way.
[1:14:46] But, meanwhile, all of us, you know, we
[1:14:48] wake up in the morning and we wash our
[1:14:50] faces and put our makeup on and our
[1:14:52] clothes and we try to look as good as we
[1:14:54] can, so
[1:14:55] when I you know, when do we come out of
[1:14:58] our room, you know, looking like
[1:15:01] and not worrying about what other people
[1:15:02] think.
[1:15:04] It's very difficult
[1:15:06] to get to that place.
[1:15:08] Everybody wants to be loved. Everybody
[1:15:11] wants to be appreciated.
[1:15:14] And the real thing is that we can't
[1:15:15] appreciate ourselves.
[1:15:18] So
[1:15:29] Ramana Maharshi said that
[1:15:31] what a a devotee, a bhakta, feels
[1:15:35] on the way to liberation
[1:15:37] is what a gyani or a wisdom someone who
[1:15:41] intellectually
[1:15:43] follows path of wisdom
[1:15:45] is what they feel after liberation.
[1:15:49] So this
[1:15:50] the gyani feels the bhakta feels on the
[1:15:52] way to liberation, all the bliss and the
[1:15:54] happiness and the joy and all this
[1:15:56] thing, and then boom, merges. But the
[1:15:58] gyani
[1:16:01] >> [laughter]
[1:16:01] >> boom, after liberation has the same
[1:16:03] experiences.
[1:16:06] So
[1:16:07] we just have to deal with what we have
[1:16:09] to deal with, you know.
[1:16:11] But neurosis [clears throat] won't let
[1:16:13] us do that.
[1:16:14] It wants us to be more and be better
[1:16:17] yogis and hold our breath longer and
[1:16:20] hold our position longer and get our
[1:16:22] foot behind our head without breaking
[1:16:24] our our hip off, you know, I mean.
[1:16:28] We're just we we're always trying to
[1:16:30] make ourselves better.
[1:16:33] So
[1:16:34] surrender in this case would allowing
[1:16:37] ourselves to just be who we are
[1:16:39] and not
[1:16:41] fixing it up all the time.
[1:16:44] But it's very hard because we're brought
[1:16:46] up in a culture and our parents, the
[1:16:48] same.
[1:16:50] They are always doing that.
[1:16:53] So it's it's it's radical to even think
[1:16:57] about not doing that.
[1:16:59] And to actually find a way to
[1:17:04] to see all the ways that we do that is
[1:17:07] is pretty interesting.
[1:17:15] So one does not surrender asking the ego
[1:17:19] or mind
[1:17:21] to kill the ego is like asking the thief
[1:17:24] to be the policeman.
[1:17:26] There'll be a lot of investigation
[1:17:30] and no arrest will ever be made.
[1:17:33] So you little by little you plant the
[1:17:35] seeds
[1:17:36] that
[1:17:37] push out the weeds as time goes on.
[1:18:10] Just to try to become a good human being
[1:18:13] is really a big thing.
[1:18:16] I mean, the great saints
[1:18:20] they they are what human beings
[1:18:24] can become.
[1:18:26] They are who we are trying to become or
[1:18:29] who what we're trying to do.
[1:18:52] >> So about gurus, you know, read the books
[1:18:56] about about the gurus themselves, not
[1:18:59] not philosophy.
[1:19:01] Read what they did. Read about their
[1:19:02] lives.
[1:19:04] How they treated people, how they acted.
[1:19:09] See, you know, absorb kind of
[1:19:13] how they lived in this world.
[1:19:15] It it
[1:19:17] it does something to you.
[1:19:20] It changes something. It shows you
[1:19:22] what's possible, but in a very deep way,
[1:19:25] not in a
[1:19:26] mental way.
[1:19:28] Some of them were like completely crazy.
[1:19:31] One of them, one great saint, he used to
[1:19:35] he used to
[1:19:36] go into this little cage.
[1:19:40] And he lived in a cage for years.
[1:19:44] And he said,
[1:19:45] "The more I suffer, the better it is for
[1:19:47] you."
[1:19:50] And he did. And that was what he did.
[1:19:59] I'm not suggesting.
[1:20:06] But just to see how
[1:20:08] free these beings are and how
[1:20:10] non-judgmental they are and how
[1:20:13] how they navigate
[1:20:16] their lives. It's quite amazing.
[1:20:35] >> When I was in Rishikesh last,
[1:20:38] they gave me a a bunch of books. They
[1:20:40] always give me a bunch of books.
[1:20:43] Published by Divine Life Society. So,
[1:20:45] they gave me this little pamphlet.
[1:20:47] Thin little pamphlet was how I found how
[1:20:49] God came into my life by Swami
[1:20:51] Sivananda.
[1:20:53] And you know how God came into his life?
[1:20:55] Because he was a doctor and treating
[1:20:58] people
[1:20:59] and seeing all the suffering, he it was
[1:21:02] through that
[1:21:03] that that he found uh
[1:21:09] spiritual reality
[1:21:11] through helping people.
[1:21:14] That's how it his life changed around.
[1:21:20] Maharaj's teaching was very simple. Love
[1:21:22] everyone, feed everyone, remember God.
[1:21:58] Mhm.
[1:21:59] >> [clears throat]
[1:22:03] >> Uh Oh, thanks. Yeah. Uh
[1:22:06] I I heard that
[1:22:08] Maharaj he said that it's better to love
[1:22:11] everything than to try to figure it all
[1:22:12] out.
[1:22:14] Yeah. Um Everyone, he said.
[1:22:16] >> Oh, everyone. Yeah.
[1:22:19] I mean
[1:22:20] you don't have to love a light bulb
[1:22:21] necessarily.
[1:22:24] But people.
[1:22:26] Do you have a recipe for that?
[1:22:42] From going on repeating these names
[1:22:45] everything is accomplished.
[1:22:47] Now, he said that
[1:22:50] and I've heard that a billion times
[1:22:54] in the last
[1:22:57] long time.
[1:23:00] If I really believed it
[1:23:02] I mean, if I really believed it, what
[1:23:04] else would I be doing?
[1:23:07] But and to the extent that I believe it,
[1:23:09] to the percentage point that I believe
[1:23:12] it
[1:23:13] that's how much practice I do.
[1:23:16] No more, no less.
[1:23:19] But still, I know he said it.
[1:23:22] I know it must be true.
[1:23:25] And I waste so much time.
[1:23:28] It's extraordinary.
[1:23:32] So, that's the recipe.
[1:23:34] Just repeat the name.
[1:23:36] Whenever you remember
[1:23:38] whatever you're doing
[1:23:40] doesn't matter. You don't have to be
[1:23:42] sitting still. You don't have to be
[1:23:44] cross-legged.
[1:23:45] You don't have to take a bath first. You
[1:23:48] don't have to click it or click a mala.
[1:23:50] You don't have to count.
[1:23:52] Just in the mind. Whatever name you
[1:23:55] like.
[1:23:57] They're all the names
[1:23:59] of that being that lives within us.
[1:24:02] Of that love that lives within us.
[1:24:06] They're the names of what we're looking
[1:24:07] for every day in the outside world.
[1:24:10] Cuz it's all within us.
[1:24:40] >> I had a nervous breakdown in the temple
[1:24:42] once.
[1:24:44] The summer of '72.
[1:24:47] >> [clears throat and cough]
[1:24:51] >> I was so afraid of
[1:24:55] romantic relationships that
[1:24:57] I avoided everything and I was celibate
[1:25:00] the whole time I was in India.
[1:25:05] So
[1:25:07] Maharaji started teasing me about
[1:25:09] getting married.
[1:25:11] And the more he teased me
[1:25:14] the more I started to shake.
[1:25:17] And then one day
[1:25:18] uh one of the women said to me
[1:25:20] "Do you think if Maharaji if two people
[1:25:22] are supposed to be together, do you
[1:25:23] think Maharaji would put them together?"
[1:25:26] I said, "Yeah."
[1:25:28] Then she said, "Why don't you ask
[1:25:29] Maharaji to marry us?"
[1:25:35] Later that day I was sitting with
[1:25:36] Maharaji and
[1:25:38] he points
[1:25:40] like
[1:25:41] next to me. So I said
[1:25:43] and there was a guy sitting there.
[1:25:45] Sometimes I I would translate simple
[1:25:46] things for people.
[1:25:48] I said, "Him?" "Nei nei."
[1:25:51] There was another guy. "Him?" "Nei nei
[1:25:53] nei."
[1:25:54] And I turn and and it's her.
[1:25:57] And he looks at me and he says, "Do you
[1:25:59] love her?"
[1:26:01] And I said, "Oh, yes. I love her as a
[1:26:03] sister so much." He laughed.
[1:26:08] You know, Krishna Das is very cunning.
[1:26:14] But he kept on teasing me and
[1:26:18] and uh was driving me out of my mind,
[1:26:20] really.
[1:26:21] Really he really and he knew what he was
[1:26:23] doing.
[1:26:24] So, one day the the Shah family came for
[1:26:27] their yearly
[1:26:28] Guru Puja. They came to the temple with
[1:26:30] all this stuff and everything and all
[1:26:32] the Westerners rushed into the room
[1:26:35] to be where in the Puja and
[1:26:38] um
[1:26:40] Now, you see
[1:26:43] they brought a blanket for Maharaji.
[1:26:46] Maharaji always wore a blanket.
[1:26:49] Dada used to say he had two blankets. He
[1:26:52] had the outer blanket and an inner
[1:26:54] blanket that hid his true nature from us
[1:26:57] cuz we just couldn't it was too much.
[1:27:00] So,
[1:27:02] I wanted that blanket.
[1:27:05] Cuz what would happen if he would take
[1:27:06] the new blanket he'd take the old
[1:27:08] blanket off and give it to somebody and
[1:27:10] put on the new blanket.
[1:27:14] In my state of mind, that blanket was
[1:27:17] like
[1:27:19] God.
[1:27:21] I wanted it.
[1:27:23] So, I'm standing in the back
[1:27:26] and sure enough, they do the Puja and
[1:27:28] everything then
[1:27:29] they offer him the blanket. He takes off
[1:27:31] his blanket and he looks right at me and
[1:27:34] he throws it to the guy next to me.
[1:27:40] I heard a crack of thunder.
[1:27:45] And it was my mind and he immediately
[1:27:48] said
[1:27:49] What?
[1:27:50] Give him the Gita. Read the Gita. Go
[1:27:52] ahead, read the Gita. Go in the back and
[1:27:53] sit there and read the Gita.
[1:27:55] I was like, uh
[1:27:57] Okay, okay, I went back to this room and
[1:28:00] in the back.
[1:28:03] I'm sitting there and uh
[1:28:06] I'm reading
[1:28:08] Oh,
[1:28:09] I forgot to mention also one of the
[1:28:11] reasons that I was so
[1:28:14] fragile at that point was that
[1:28:18] a woman that I'd been
[1:28:20] in relationship with early on,
[1:28:23] actually my first relationship, had just
[1:28:25] killed herself.
[1:28:29] And then
[1:28:30] she came to see me at night.
[1:28:33] And she wasn't happy with me.
[1:28:35] "Why didn't you help me?
[1:28:38] Why didn't you do something for me?"
[1:28:39] right?
[1:28:41] So,
[1:28:42] as we're walking down the street in my
[1:28:44] dream, I was talking to her and she was
[1:28:47] chilling out and softening, her eyes
[1:28:49] were softening.
[1:28:51] And then, boom, I left her there.
[1:28:53] And I woke up.
[1:28:55] And I was like, "Whoa." So, I ran to the
[1:28:57] temple.
[1:29:00] And I dragged Dada in
[1:29:03] to translate.
[1:29:04] So, I'm telling Dada the whole story
[1:29:06] about this woman.
[1:29:08] And as I'm telling the story, Maharaj
[1:29:10] starts saying over and over
[1:29:12] in Hindi, he's saying, "Two days before.
[1:29:16] Two days before." Just repeating that as
[1:29:19] I'm telling Dada the story.
[1:29:21] Now, the minute I finished telling Dada
[1:29:22] the story, without any translating to
[1:29:25] Maharaj, he looks at me and he said,
[1:29:27] "Two days before she died, she thought
[1:29:29] of you.
[1:29:30] That's why this has come back to you
[1:29:32] like that."
[1:29:33] Then he bopped me on the head and said,
[1:29:34] "Don't worry. She won't bother you
[1:29:36] anymore."
[1:29:37] I said, "Baba, what about her? Will she
[1:29:39] have a good birth?"
[1:29:41] And he said, "Yes, she'll have a good
[1:29:43] birth."
[1:29:44] That's the only time I ever heard him
[1:29:47] Well, there's two times, three times
[1:29:48] maybe,
[1:29:49] actually talk about rebirth.
[1:29:52] He never talked about that stuff.
[1:29:55] So,
[1:30:04] anyway, so then, that's one of the
[1:30:06] reasons I was so fragile. So then now
[1:30:08] I'm sitting there in this room
[1:30:11] and I'm reading the Gita and I'm reading
[1:30:13] the part the soul is not born, it
[1:30:16] doesn't die, you can't cut it, you can't
[1:30:19] and uh
[1:30:21] etc. etc. And then the book
[1:30:24] falls from my hands
[1:30:26] and
[1:30:27] this black hole
[1:30:30] opens up in the floor in front of me.
[1:30:34] Like a slow motion whirlpool like this.
[1:30:38] And I'm being drawn down into it. And I
[1:30:41] haven't There's no resistance. So my I'm
[1:30:43] just going down into this hole.
[1:30:46] When all of a sudden somebody comes to
[1:30:48] the door and says, "Krishnadas." What?
[1:30:51] "Maharaj is calling."
[1:30:52] Okay.
[1:30:54] So then
[1:30:56] I made my way down the front of the
[1:30:57] temple.
[1:30:59] And by the time I got there
[1:31:01] I was weeping. I just fell in his lap.
[1:31:05] And he just sat there really quiet,
[1:31:07] which was also unusual.
[1:31:09] And he let me cry.
[1:31:14] Many years later that guy who called me
[1:31:17] he said, "Did I ever tell you what
[1:31:19] Maharaj really said that day?" I said,
[1:31:21] "No."
[1:31:22] He said, "Quick, go find Krishnadas
[1:31:24] before he kills himself."
[1:31:27] And he got there and just as I was going
[1:31:30] into this black hole.
[1:31:31] It was quite amazing.
[1:31:34] So then I am
[1:31:36] I'm I'm crying and I say, "Ah, what's
[1:31:39] what's wrong with me? I'm so selfish.
[1:31:41] All I do is think about myself." Maharaj
[1:31:42] goes, "Attachment."
[1:31:45] "It's all attachment."
[1:31:47] I said, "But I
[1:31:48] attachment."
[1:31:50] And then he said, "Don't worry. Don't
[1:31:51] worry. You'll be happy when you're
[1:31:53] married."
[1:31:56] And I said, "Baba, I want to marry you."
[1:31:59] He laughed.
[1:32:01] He said, "If you marry me,
[1:32:04] all you'll get is love."
[1:32:10] Cuz he knew what I wanted.
[1:32:14] He actually said, "You won't get laid."
[1:32:20] And then he patted me on the head and
[1:32:22] sent me away and then
[1:32:24] here we are.
[1:32:27] These things were happening around him a
[1:32:29] lot. Stuff would come up.
[1:32:31] And he would
[1:32:32] either directly or indirectly,
[1:32:34] situations would develop where stuff
[1:32:38] would happen with the person like all of
[1:32:40] a sudden
[1:32:41] somebody would burst out crying, you
[1:32:43] know, for no apparent reason.
[1:32:46] And it was usually some kind of
[1:32:49] purification, some kind of like
[1:32:51] explosion of stuff that was then
[1:32:54] washed away in his love.
[1:33:04] We can't hide from ourselves.
[1:33:09] I wish we could.
[1:33:11] But we can't.
[1:33:14] So it behooves us to pay some attention
[1:33:18] to our lives
[1:33:21] and try to get it working the way we'd
[1:33:23] like it to work.
[1:33:26] Whatever that means to you.
[1:33:29] Each one of us has a whole different
[1:33:30] thing going on.
[1:33:34] But nobody's going to do it for us.
[1:33:37] We have to do it ourselves.
[1:33:44] So it's 1:30 and now I've depressed you
[1:33:47] enough.
[1:33:53] So that's it, right?
[1:33:55] Okay.
[1:33:57] You win, STAN.
[1:33:58] >> [applause]
[1:34:07] >> SO, WE WANTED TO THANK KRISHNA DAS SO
[1:34:09] much for the words of wisdom and
[1:34:11] actually taking us to another sphere,
[1:34:13] right? Almost to be with Maharaj.
[1:34:16] So, let's give him a big hand.
[1:34:19] >> [applause]
[1:34:26] [applause]
[1:34:27] >> And we're very much looking forward for
[1:34:29] tonight. Tonight we'll have the last
[1:34:32] concert for this time with Krishna Das,
[1:34:34] Nina Rao, and Arjun.
[1:34:37] And until next year, so already to start
[1:34:41] planning the next time, right?
[1:34:43] Hopefully.
[1:34:45] >> [laughter]
[1:34:47] [gasps]
[1:34:47] >> And we'll conclude with mantras.
[1:35:16] Asatoma Sadgamaya,
[1:35:19] Tamasoma
[1:35:21] Jyotir Gamaya, Mrityorma
[1:35:25] Amritam Gamaya. Om Purnamadah Purnamidam
[1:35:31] Purnat
[1:35:33] Purnam Udachyate,
[1:35:35] Purnasya Purnamadaya,
[1:35:39] Purnam Evavashishyate.
[1:35:43] Om Shanti Shanti
[1:35:47] Shanti.
[1:35:49] Om Peace Peace peace.
[1:35:54] Oh, adorable Lord of mercy and love, let
[1:35:56] us abide in thee forever and ever. Om
[1:36:00] Guru Sivananda Maharaj ki jai. Om Swami
[1:36:04] Vishnu Devananda Maharaj ki jai.
[1:36:08] Om Namah Shivaya.
[1:36:11] Let's give another big hand to Krishna
[1:36:13] Das. [applause]
