Ram Dass, born Richard Alpert in 1931, was a prominent spiritual leader and author whose teachings have influenced the fabric of contemporary spirituality. His journey from a Harvard psychology professor to a beacon of Eastern philosophy epitomizes a quest for deeper truth and meaning.
His most vital contribution to the world was his role in bridging Eastern and Western spiritual practices. Through books like “Be Here Now,” Ram Dass introduced the West to concepts like mindfulness and the power of presence. His teachings emphasized the importance of inner peace and the interconnectedness of all life.
The quote, “The most exquisite paradox… as soon as you give it all up, you can have it all. As long as you want power, you can’t have it. The minute you don’t want power, you’ll have more than you ever dreamed possible,” encapsulates the essence of Ram Dass’s philosophy. This profound paradox highlights the futility of clinging to power and control. It suggests that true empowerment comes from surrender and the relinquishment of ego-driven desires.
In our current society, this quote resonates with those seeking liberation from the relentless pursuit of status and influence. It encourages a reevaluation of our values and aspirations, steering us toward a path of selflessness and service. Ram Dass’s words prompt us to consider that in letting go of our attachments to power, we open ourselves to a wealth of spiritual abundance and authentic connections.
The legacy of Ram Dass lies in his call to inner transformation and selfless living. His teachings continue to inspire personal growth, compassion, and a deeper understanding of life’s true riches, making his insights as pertinent now as ever in a world yearning for genuine fulfillment and peace.
Ram Dass Says: “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 Says: “Souls love. That’s what souls do. Egos don’t, but souls do. Become a soul, look around, and you’ll be amazed-all the beings around you are souls. Be one, see one. When many people have this heart connection, then we will know that we are all one, we human beings all over the planet. We will be one. One love. And don’t leave out the animals, and trees, and clouds, and galaxies-it’s all one. It’s one energy.”
Ram Dass Says: “Spiritual practices help us move from identifying with the ego to identifying with the soul. Old age does that for you too. It spiritualizes people naturally.”
Ram Dass Says: “Suffering is the sandpaper of our incarnation. It does its work of shaping us.”
Ram Dass Says: “The cosmic humor is that if you desire to move mountains and you continue to purify yourself, ultimately you will arrive at the place where you are able to move mountains. But in order to arrive at this position of power you will have had to give up being he-who-wanted-to-move-mountains so that you can be he-who-put-the-mountain-there-in-the-first-place. The humor is that finally when you have the power to move the mountain, you are the person who placed it there–so there the mountain stays.”
Ram Dass Says: “The Ego is an exquisite instrument. Enjoy it, use it–just don’t get lost in it.”
Ram Dass Says: “The freer I get, the higher I go. The higher I go, the more I see. The more I see, the less I know. The less I know, the more I’m free.”
Ram Dass Says: “The human mind is like that monkey, incessantly active by its own nature, then it becomes drunk with the wine of desire, thus increasing its turbulence. After desire takes possession comes the sting of the scorpion of jealousy at the success of others, and last of all the demon of pride enters the mind, making it think itself of all importance.”
Ram Dass Says: “The most exquisite paradox… as soon as you give it all up, you can have it all. As long as you want power, you can’t have it. The minute you don’t want power, you’ll have more than you ever dreamed possible.”
Ram Dass Says: “The most important aspect of love is not in giving or the receiving: it’s in the being. When I need love from others, or need to give love to others, I’m caught in an unstable situation. Being in love, rather than giving or taking love, is the only thing that provides stability. Being in love means seeing the Beloved all around me.”
Ram Dass Says: “The only game in town is the game of being, which includes both highs and lows. Every time you push something away, it remains there. The pile under the rug gets very big. Your lows turn out to be more interesting than your highs because they are showing you where you’re not, where you have work to do.”
Ram Dass Says: “The spiritual journey is individual, highly personal. It can’t be organized or regulated. It isn’t true that everyone should follow one path. Listen to your own truth.”
Ram Dass Says: “This love is actually part of you; it is always flowing through you. It’s like the subatomic texture of the universe, the dark matter that connects everything. When you tune in to that flow, you will feel it in your own heart—not your physical heart or your emotional heart, but your spiritual heart, the place you point to in your chest when you say, “I am.”
Ram Dass Says: “Unconditional love really exists in each of us. It is part of our deep inner being. It is not so much an active emotion as a state of being. It’s not ‘I love you’ for this or that reason, not ‘I love you if you love me.’ It’s love for no reason, love without an object.”
Ram Dass Says: “We are all affecting the world every moment, whether we mean to or not. Our actions and states of mind matter, because we are so deeply interconnected with one another.”
Ram Dass Says: “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 Says: “We’re here to awaken from the illusion of separateness”
Ram Dass Says: “What Einstein demonstrated in physics is equally true of all other aspects of the cosmos: all reality is relative. Each reality is true only within given limits. It is only one possible version of the way things are. There are always multiple versions of reality. To awaken from any single reality is to recognize its relative nature. Meditation is a device to do just that.”
Ram Dass Says: “What the word God means is the mystery really. It’s the mystery that we face as humans the mystery of existence, of suffering and of death.”
Ram Dass Says: “What we’re seeing “out there” is the projection of where we’re at–the projection of the clingings of our minds.”
Ram Dass Says: “When somebody provokes your anger, the only reason you get angry is because you’re holding on to how you think something is supposed to be. You’re denying how it is. Then you see it’s the expectations of your own mind that are creating your own hell. When you get frustrated because something isn’t the way you thought it would be, examine the way you thought, not just the thing that frustrates you. You’ll see that a lot of your emotional suffering is created by your models of how you think the universe should be and your inability to allow it to be as it is.”
Ram Dass Says: “When the faith is strong enough, it is sufficient just to be. It’s a journey towards simplicity, towards quietness, towards a kind of joy that is not in time. It’s a journey that has taken us from primary identification with our body and our psyche, on to an identification with God, and ultimately beyond identification.”
Ram Dass Says: “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 Says: “You are loved just for being who you are, just for existing. You don’t have to do anything to earn it. Your shortcomings, your lack of self-esteem, physical perfection, or social and economic success – none of that matters. No one can take this love away from you, and it will always be here.”
Ram Dass Says: “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 mind shines through unobstructed-and the natural state of mind is pure love.”
