“I would say that the thrust of my life has been initially about getting free, and then realizing that my freedom is not independent of everybody else. Then I am arriving at that circle where one works on oneself as a gift to other people so that one doesn't create more suffering. I help people as a work on myself and I work on myself to help people.”

~ Ram Daas

“You don’t want to wind up being anything, you want to wind up free”

~ Ram Daas

Our rational minds can never understand what has happened, but our hearts.. if we can keep them open to God, will find their own intuitive way.

~ Ram Daas

"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 Daass

"Suffering is the sandpaper of our life. It does its work of shaping us. Suffering is part of our training program for becoming wise."

~ Ram Daass

When you awaken

You are no longer a Buddhist or a Hindu or a Christian or a Jew or a Moslem.

You are love, you are truth.

And love and truth have no form.

They flow into forms.

But the word is never the same as that which the word connotes.

The word "God" is not God,

the word "Mother" is not Mother,

the word "Self" is not Self,

the word "moment" is not the moment.

All of these words are empty.

We're playing at the level of intellect,

feeding that thing in us that keeps wanting to understand.

And here we are, all the words we've said are gone.

Where did they go?

Do you remember them all?

Empty, empty.

If you heard them, you are at this moment empty.

You're ready for the next word.

And the word will go through you.

You don't have to know anything: that's what's so funny about it.

You get so simple.

You're empty.

You know nothing.

You simply are wisdom-

not becoming anything,

just being everything.

~ Ram Daas

"The whole game of renunciation and purification is an experiment - an experiment in how quickly we can extricate ourselves from being attached to our desire systems. Notice that it isn't a question of getting rid of desires - that's a misunderstanding. Trust me, the desires will stay around! We're just loosening their hold on us, getting clear enough of them so we can see them in some sort of context."

From 'Paths to God: Living The Bhagavad Gita' by Ram Dass