Dass Quotes

This getting straight not only applies to people but to things as well, such as favorite music, disliked foods, special treats, avoided places, all your toys, etc. Everything must be rerun through your compassion machine. ~ Ram Dass

All acts of healing are ultimately our selves healing our Self.
-Ram Dass ~ Ram Dass

Early in the journey you wonder how long the journey will take and whether you will make it in this lifetime. Later you will see that where you are going is HERE and you will arrive NOW ... so you stop asking. ~ Ram Dass

All you can do for another person is be an environment in which if they wanted to come up for air, they could. ~ Ram Dass

You must come to see every human being Including yourself, As an incarnation In a body or personality, going through a certain Life experience which is functional. ~ Ram Dass

When Maharajji came out you never knew what to expect. He could do the same thing a week in a row until you'd think, "Well, he'll come out at 8:00." Then he might not come out all day, or he might just go into another room and close the door and be in there for two days. You had to learn to expect the unexpected. One day he came out and all he said all day long was "Thul-Thul, Nan-Nan," repeating these words to himself like a mantra. Days went by like this and somebody finally said, "Maharajji, what are you saying?" And it turned out to be an old Behari dialect, and all it meant was "Too big, too big, too little, too little." When he was finally asked why he was saying this, he said, "Oh, all you people, you all live in Thul-Thul, Nan-Nan; you live in the world of judgement. It's always too big or too little. ~ Ram Dass

After meditating for some years, I began to see the patterns of my own behavior. As you quiet your mind, you begin to see the nature of your own resistance more clearly, struggles, inner dialogues, the way in which you procrastinate and develop passive resistance against life. As you cultivate the witness, things change. You don't have to change them. Things just change. ~ Ram Dass

Giv Herren sin Aere, giv Kongen sin Told. ~ Petter Dass

The giving and receiving is the tricky thing. It's not the gift. It's what the heart says in giving the gift, and from my point of view, one doesn't give or receive - that's a role we have to play. But the gift - it's God's gift. I think that it's better to be souls than roles. ~ Ram Dass

If you want oneness in society, you have to teach people to go inside instead of going outside, because if they want peace, they need to find it within. ~ Ram Dass

The gift you offer another person is just your being. ~ Ram Dass

If you rest in the silence inside, all those you meet will have their spiritual hearts resuscitated. ~ Ram Dass

Pain is the mind. It's the thoughts of the mind. Then I get rid of the thoughts, and I get in my witness, which is down in my spiritual heart. The witness that witnesses being. Then those particular thoughts that are painful - love them. I love them to death! ~ Ram Dass

Now is now. Are you going to be here or not? ~ Ram Dass

Your problem is you're ... too busy holding onto your unworthiness. ~ Ram Dass

The heart surrenders everything to the moment. The mind judges and holds back. ~ Ram Dass

Maharajji would quote Kabir: It is easy to dye your cloth, but it is hard to dye your heart. ~ Ram Dass

woman once came to Gandhi with her young son. "Mahatma-ji, tell my son to stop eating sugar. It's not good for him." Gandhi told her to return with her son in a week's time. When they returned, Gandhi said to the boy, "Stop eating sugar." The woman was perplexed and asked Gandhi why he couldn't have told the boy that a week earlier. Gandhi replied, "Because at that time I had not given up sugar." What ~ Ram Dass

When your mind is quiet, you enter into the flow of love, and you just flow from one moment to the next as naturally as breathing. Whatever arises, I embrace it with love in the moment. This is my practice of polishing the mirror to reflect love. In this moment there is just awareness and love. If someone asks me how to get into their heart, I give them this practice: I Am Loving Awareness. ~ Ram Dass

My life is a creative act
like a painting, or a concerto. ~ Ram Dass

If you want to see how enlightened you are, go spend a week with your family. ~ Ram Dass

The Ego ages ... the Soul evolves ... and to the Awareness, nothing happened! ~ Ram Dass

I think that people should give gifts by really recognizing the spiritual worth of the person and their (the givers') own worth. You usually give a present that the other person needs or wants, and I think it just emphasizes wants and needs. ~ Ram Dass

I've got to love the souls of people. Because I can't love every incarnation. I have to identify with my own soul. And then I can have such compassion for that soul who has an incarnation like George Bush. I feel compassion. That's karma of the here. Compassion and love, that's all. ~ Ram Dass

Faith is in the soul. Belief is thought. Faith is so rich. Faith gives me my spiritual self. ~ Ram Dass

I look at you, and I see in you the yearning to get back to God. That yearning is love. ~ Ram Dass

We come into relationships often very much identified with our needs. I need this, I need security, I need refuge, I need friendship. And all of relationships are symbiotic in that sense. We come together because we fulfill each others' needs at some level or other. ~ Ram Dass

As long as you have certain desires about how it ought to be you can't see how it is. ~ Ram Dass

It is possible that in the 21st Century the Earth will not be inhabited by humans. One of the great mystics of India, a very simple man up in the mountains, somebody once asked him about the future. He said there will come a time when you'll walk five miles and you may see a light and you'll be so happy to know another being exists. ~ Ram Dass

The Ego is an exquisite instrument. Enjoy it, use it
just don't get lost in it. ~ Ram Dass

It's only when caterpillarness is done that one becomes a butterfly. That again is part of this paradox. You cannot rip away caterpillarness. The whole trip occurs in an unfolding process of which we have no control. ~ Ram Dass

Look at the people you don't love and see them as an exercise for you to open your heart. ~ Ram Dass

Most of us are convinced that we are our egos, which is who we think we are. The ego is part of our incarnation. It dies with the body, which is why we are so afraid of death. Death scares the hell out of who you think you are, especially if you think you are this body. ~ Ram Dass

I will work on myself, since the work on myself is going to be the highest thing I can do for it all, since I understand that as man up-levels his own consciousness, he sees more creative solutions to the problems that he's confronting. ~ Ram Dass

The way you come to fully appreciate the infusion of the Spirit is to more and more come fully into the moment, where this moment is enough. ~ Ram Dass

In India, there's a way of seeing life as a cosmic play. It's called Lila. I can watch my life, and I can see my guru playing with me. ~ Ram Dass

If a pickpocket meets a saint, he sees only his pockets." Then he'd get up and leave. Or he'd write, "If you wear shoeleather, the whole earth is covered with leather." These were his ways of teaching me about how motivation affects perception. ~ Ram Dass

Faith is what is left after all your beliefs have been blown to hell. ~ Ram Dass

I see my life as an unfolding set of opportunities to awaken. ~ Ram Dass

As soon as a person starts thinking, 'I want to be a better person,' that is the start of Yoga. ~ Baba Hari Dass

I used to be afraid of things like strokes, but I've now discovered that the fear of the stroke is worse than the stroke itself. ~ Ram Dass

The universe is made up of experiences that are designed to burn out your attachment, your clinging, to pleasure, to pain, to fear, to all of it. And as long as there is a place where you're vulnerable, the universe will find a way to confront you with it. ~ Ram Dass

Coming into the place of Soul-awareness is coming home. ~ Ram Dass

Potent Quotes "Whatever you do, or eat, or give, or offer in adoration, let it be an offering to me; and whatever you suffer, suffer it for me. Thus you shall be free from the bonds of Karma which yield fruits that are evil and good; and with your soul one in renunciation you shall be free and come to me." - Bhagavad Gita ~ Ram Dass

Let the natural flow of the universe, course through your being, and harmonize your soul. ~ Ram Dass

No one can please everyone. Your mental peace is more important. If you are in peace, then others around you will feel peace. So your best effort should be to work on yourself. ~ Baba Hari Dass

The ego is frightened by death, because ego is part of the incarnation and ends with it. That is why we learn to identify with our soul, as the soul continues after death. For the soul, death is just another moment. ~ Ram Dass

The soul is not part of the incarnation. It comes into the incarnation. And the soul is not afraid of death because it has done it so many times. ~ Ram Dass

The thinking mind is what is busy. You have to stay in your heart. You have to be in your heart. Be in your heart. The rest is up here in your head where you are doing, doing, doing. ~ Ram Dass

If you think you're enlightened go spend a week with your family. ~ Ram Dass

I love everybody and they, in turn, love everybody, and that's spreading love heart to heart to heart. That's my approach of my work. ~ Ram Dass

If a pickpocket meets a Holy Man, he will see only His pockets. ~ Baba Hari Dass

We've been proceeding so long on the plane of consciousness, we don't realize we are spiritual beings. Our minds, our senses, and the society around us all say, "Come on, you're getting into fantasy." ~ Ram Dass

Remember, we are all affecting the world every moment, whether we mean to or not. Our actions and states of mind matter, because we're so deeply inner connected with one another. Working on our own consciousness is the most important thing that we are doing at any moment, and being love is the supreme creative act. ~ Ram Dass

You two are together in the stars, but not in this world, in this life. ~ Ram Dass

Psychedelics helped me to escape.. albeit momentarily.. from the prison of my mind. It over-rode the habit patterns of thought and I was able to taste innocence again. Looking at sensations freshly without the conceptual overly was very profound. ~ Ram Dass

I can do nothing for you but work on myself ... you can do nothing for me but work on yourself! ~ Ram Dass

Don't think about the past. Just be here now. ~ Ram Dass

I love everybody. Even George Bush. ~ Ram Dass

Desire is the creator; desire is the destroyer. ~ Baba Hari Dass

Love everyone, including yourself. This is real sadhana. ~ Baba Hari Dass

Ask yourself: Where am I? Answer: Here.
Ask yourself: What time is it? Answer: Now.
Say it until you can hear it. ~ Ram Dass

Prolong not the past Invite not the future Do not alter your innate wakefulness Fear not appearances There in nothing more than this ~ Ram Dass

A relationship starting out as one that awakens love can only remain a living vehicle for love to the extent that it is continually made new or reconsecrated. ~ Ram Dass

you base your faith on experience, your faith is ~ Ram Dass

Religions are founded by what mystics say when they come back;
but what the mystics say is not the same as what happened to them. ~ Ram Dass

If you want to be surrounded by Souls, become identified with your Soul.
It takes one to know one! ~ Ram Dass

When humans come together with a true spirit of dealing with the mystery collaboratively, it's incredibly beautiful. ~ Ram Dass

In our Western culture, although death has come out of the closet, it is still not openly experienced or discussed. Allowing dying to be so intensely present enriches both the preciousness of each moment and our detachment from it. ~ Ram Dass

So we won't take ourselves too seriously. Because taking something serious doesn't make it go away any faster. In fact, it keeps making it a little bit worse. ~ Ram Dass

Without remaining open to change , we can not remain open to life ~ Ram Dass

We kill each other over which name to call the Nameless. ~ Ram Dass

I can go all over the world with Skype. ~ Ram Dass

Working on our own consciousness is the most important thing that we are doing at any moment, and being love is a supreme creative act. ~ Ram Dass

You've been somebody long enough. You spent the first half of your life becoming somebody. Now you can work on becoming nobody, which is really somebody. For when you become nobody there is no tension, no pretense, no one trying to be anyone or anything. The natural state of the mind shines through unobstructed - and the natural state of the mind is pure love. ~ Ram Dass

That Bhagavad Gita instruction to be unattached to the fruits of your actions is the key. If you are a parent raising a child, don't get attached to the act of raising the child. That doesn't mean you're not a loving, active parent. Your job is to love and nurture, feed and clothe, take care and guard the safety of the child, and guide him or her with your moral compass. But how the child turns out is how the child turns out. Ultimately he or she is not your child; who they turn out to be is up to God and their own karma. Your ~ Ram Dass

Meditation means to be constantly extricating yourself from the clinging of mind.
By letting go of even the thought 'I,' and 'me' what is left?
There is nowhere to stand and no one to stand there.
No separation anywhere.
Pure awareness.
Neither this, nor that.
Just clarity and being. ~ Ram Dass

Birth, death, and suffering all bring us to the very edge of what our minds can understand. ~ Ram Dass

Learn to watch your drama unfold while at the same time knowing you are more than your drama. ~ Ram Dass

Compassion is the basis of all truthful relationship: it means being present with love-for ourselves and for all life, including animals, fish, birds, and trees. Compassion is bringing our deepest truth into our actions, no matter how much the world seems to resist, because that is ultimately what we have to give this world and one another. ~ Ram Dass

When I look at my life, I see that I wanted to be free of the physical plane, the psychological plane, and when I got free of those I didn't want to go anywhere near them. ~ Ram Dass

the journey across the great ocean of existence Is a journey inward ever in deeper and deeper and the deeper you get in the more you meet truth ~ Ram Dass

Finally you come to a point where you almost know it all. You are very wise. You are very pure ... except for the fact that you may well have gotten caught in the last trap ... the desire to know it all and still be you, "the knower." This is an impossibility. For all of the finite knowledge does not add up to the infinite. In order to take the final step, the knower must go. That is, you can only BE it all, but you can't know it all. The goal is non-dualistic - as long as there is a "knower" and "known" you are in dualism. ~ Ram Dass

Each of us finds his unique vehicle for sharing with others his bit of wisdom. ~ Ram Dass

Death has such great importance in this society that it affects everything. I learned from my guru that death is not the enemy, I see it as another moment. Yet it's the end of an incarnation and means going on to other incarnations. ~ Ram Dass

We gain internal freedom through external actions. ~ Ram Dass

Remember, Be Here Now. ~ Ram Dass

So many times each day we support each other informally without ever becoming 'helper' or 'helped.' Perhaps we're finding an article of clothing for a partner, cutting bread for one of the children, collecting the mail for the person at the next desk, holding the coat for someone at a restaurant. ~ Ram Dass

Who in all his works sees God, in truth he goes to God. ~ Ram Dass

You have all the time in the world, but don't waste a moment. ~ Ram Dass

Turn your melodrama into a mellow drama. ~ Ram Dass

I don't really believe anything I say. Because the nature of my work concerns the spaces between the words, rather than the words themselves. ~ Ram Dass

Our culture's zeal for longevity reveals our incredible collective fear of death. ~ Ram Dass

Information is just bits of data. Knowledge is putting them together. Wisdom is transcending them. ~ Ram Dass

Every religion is the product of the conceptual mind attempting to describe the mystery. ~ Ram Dass

If you would truly bring peace to the world, identify with that place within you where you are Peace. ~ Ram Dass

Being in love means seeing the Beloved all around me. ~ Ram Dass

Working with the dying is like being a midwife for this great rite of passage of death. Just as a midwife helps a being take their first breath, you help a being take their last breath. ~ Ram Dass

You may protest if you can love the person you are protesting against as much as you love yourself. ~ Ram Dass

The spiritual journey is individual, highly personal. It can't be organized or regulated. It isn't true that everybody should follow any one path. Listen to your own truth. ~ Ram Dass