Only God — Ram Dass Tells a Maharaji Story

be here. Now [Music] >> for that we have to go to India to Alahabad. Alahabad is the government seat of Uttar Pradesh which is their largest state on the continent of India on on the country of India and my guru my spiritual teacher was having darian meaning he was sitting in a room and a lot of people came to hang out with him because it felt good and so there might have been 40 of us in the room, some westerners and a lot of Indians. My guru was sitting there and he said he was talking to different people about things just kind of randomly. You just sort of sit there and you just hang out. It's like sitting in honey or something like that. It's really tasty. And he was talking to this older gentleman and he said, "Ramdas used to be a great professor at Harvard, a very important man. And he built me up." Now, if you knew my guru who had one water pot and a doty that kept falling off him and lived in culverts under roads, he was hardly somebody impressed by any of that crap. But he was milking it like it was like and Ramdas is this and Ramdas is that and he was doctor and you know and the man was getting more and more impressed and uh Maharaji introduced this man to me and he was the head of the Supreme Court of Uttar Pradesh and the head of the court said perhaps you'd like to visit the court. Now I grew up in a family of lawyers and I didn't come to India to go to the court system of India which is it's all nightmare to me. I mean that's a hard world. I honor you that are lawyers. So I of course didn't want to do this but I was very well trained in my parents' knees. So I said that would be very nice figuring someday. So the man says tomorrow. So I said I said it's up to my guru. Okay. I figured he'd save me. Maharaji says if Ramda says it would be very nice, it'll be very nice. And he looked at me like this. See, like don't screw around, baby. So, okay. And so I went to the court to the court and there was a murder trial with three judges sitting there and I felt all of that and went through that and then I ended up in the in the room of the uh lawyers were all wigged and uh with their robes and they surrounded me because I was from the states and uh I was new in the room and they and I was being escorted by the chief of this court that helped and they started ed to question me about Nixon's China policy which was had just come in at that moment. Now I had read Time magazine so I was totally knowledgeable about the deepest truth of this topic. So I said everything I had learned in time and they were deeply impressed because I said it with the authority of being being brought in by the chief justice you know. So uh then I was sent back to my guru and I came back and he said, "So what happened at the court?" He's like a he's sitting with the women out in the kitchen and what happened in the court. So I start to tell him and he keeps filling in information. So obviously he knows. So then he kind of dismisses me. Later the evening, there's a darian, another darian, and there is a man sitting in the back. He's and I'm sitting in the back and he looks just like a spy print. If you've ever seen the spy print of lawyers, they're sort of caricaturures with the long ears and the long faces and the long nose and the the barristister look. and he said to me, uh, I wondered if you would like to speak to the Rotary Club of Alahabad and also to the bar association. So, I mean, I didn't come to India to go on the cream vegetable circuit, you know, I could do that here. So, and um I didn't want to do either of those. And I remembered what happened the other day. So, I said, "No, I don't want to do either of those." But I said, "But it's up to my guru." So, the lawyer and I went up to the guru. The lawyer said, "I'd like Ramdas to speak to the Rotary Club and to the bar association." Maharaji acted as if the most wonderful mitzvah had fallen from the skies. I mean, you want him to speak at the ro like now we're going to be in, you know? I mean, it was like the Rotary Club, the bar. And he called people in. He says he wants him to speak at the Rotary Club and the bar association. So then Maraji looks at me and says, "What are you going to talk about?" So that hadn't entered my mind yet. So I said um law and dharma meaning the the spiritual laws and the humanmade law. Acha very good. So then he said are you going to speak about Hanuman the monkey? Well, Hanaman is the Ishtadev or the divine form for the army in India. It's on all the flags. Hanaman because Hanuman is the is the aspect of the route to God that goes through service. In fact, my name Ram Das means servant of Rahm, which is another name for Hanuman, the monkey. So, I am a of a monkey sect basically. So he said, "You're going to talk about haram." I said, "Oh, sure." He said, "Are you going to talk about Christ?" Oh, I said, 'Absolutely. I I saw how I bring that in. And he said, "You going to talk about me?" I said, "Well, you're my guru. Of course, I'm going to talk about you." So the lawyer interjects. He said, "Well, we rather thought Randas would speak about Nixon's China policy." Maharaji looked appalled. You wouldn't trust him to speak about something like that. Ramdas doesn't speak about those things. Ramdas speaks only about God. I said, "Yes, that's true. I only speak about God." And the lawyer says, the lawyer says, "Well, I'll tell you. Um, maybe I'll just have a few people into my house one evening. I don't think it would be appropriate for the Rotary Club or the Bar Association." Now, that was an interesting statement. I don't think it would be appropriate for the Rotary Club or the Bar Association. Now what happened was that story stuck in me and thousands of times when I've been giving lectures I'm in the green room back there being neurotically nervous and I think I hear Maharaji saying Ramba speaks only about God. I think well that's going to be simple. But the fact is I'm about to deliver an address to a group of business entrepreneurs and I had planned to talk about sustainable consumerism. Now Marachi says Ronda speaks only about God. Now I have about two minutes to figure out how to say what I was going to say but also say it speaking only about God. [Music] Just be here now.