Duncan Trussell Family Hour - Raghu Markus
Episode Date: January 6, 2018Raghu Markus returns and we discuss tantra, meditation, and what it means to be in the present moment ...
Transcript
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Hello friends, it is I Dunkin Trussell and you are listening to the Dunkin Trussell family hour podcast and this is the
108th episode of this podcast and the number 108 is a transcendent number
8 plus 1 is 9 9 represents 3 3's 3 represents the Trinity father son
Holy Ghost Brahman Vishnu Shiva the thesis the antithesis and the synthesis
Mother father child it goes on and on and on the triangle the connections in the Sri Yantra Mandala
The golden mean it represents so many things many of which I don't understand at all
including the rasa lila
rasa means juice and
lila means dance and the rasa lila refers to in
Vaisnaiva mythology this sacred night where Krishna on
In in the forests of in Vrindavan was so overcome by the beauty of nature that he began to play his flute and
this mystical sound of God playing his flute out in the forest caused all the gopy girls to leave whatever
it was they were doing to go dance with Krishna and
Krishna split himself up into 108 parts so that he could individually make love with each of those sweet cowhergows
And that's a very deep thing on the surface. It sounds like it already is pretty deep
It sounds like a psychedelic space orgy, but the thing that it's pointing to at least in my
mind is the idea that you can have a direct communication with nature the supreme intelligence or
if you want to be lazy God and
That's that's a beautiful story. There's 108 beads on
Many mallas that people chant on including the mallas that the Hare Krishna's chant on
There's actually 109 beads, but the 109th bead, which is sort of at the center of the mala
is
Depending on what religion you're in is either the guru bead or the Krishna bead and it's the bead that when you reach that bead
You stop chanting and think of your guru or of God and then
Go in the opposite direction and that represents the cycles of time the seasons and so many other incredible things
You could just get lost in it. You can get lost in symbols because they're so powerful and beautiful and
So liberating if you use them in the right way, but the weird thing about symbols is they can also
Imprison you that's what's fascinating is that symbols can simultaneously be a lock and a key
For example, take the word love the word love is a symbol that points in the direction of this incredible
Feeling of pure novelty and freedom and autonomy
It's that feeling that happens when you realize that you are in a brand new universe
It's being born again when you're falling in love and you start feeling that first sweet
Fluttering of the heart and you look around in this boring old dumb world that you are shuffling through is suddenly
glowing with light and
There's you notice butterflies and flowers and things you never noticed before you notice how
Gigantic the sky is and suddenly you start hearing birds again and every time you hear the birds you think of whoever you're falling in love with
There's every
Stupid love song on the radio that you've heard a million times through the course of whatever dark depression or whatever
Empty boring lonely moments proceeded you meeting your sweet darling lover
Suddenly those songs that were so stale and boring and embarrassing are filled with meaning you can listen to the cheesiest
Love song ever you can listen to Beyonce singing her newest hit
Drunken in love or whatever that song is and if you listen to that and you're not in love
It's very similar to listening to house music when you haven't taken a dose of
LSD or ecstasy. It's just like oh god. This sounds like Pac-Man vomiting
I don't want to listen to this get me out of here. Why do they have glow sticks? Why are they rubbing vixx vapor rub on their neck?
I don't understand any of it
But if you take ecstasy somehow it suddenly all makes sense suddenly the glow sticks make sense
Suddenly you understand why all the various components that are happening at whatever rave you're at are there and you understand
Well, that's what love is like love is the ecstasy that makes the music of this reality
sound beautiful and
The Rosalila is about music. It's the flute. It's the it's the sound of Krishna's flute and to me that
Sound is what comes through the teachings of Ram Dass or Jack cornfield or any of the crazy teachers
Who who who are always?
drawing you out of the musty old
Hut composed of boring symbols that you've gotten stuck inside up and we all get stuck inside
Those musty boring huts. They're the people who are always luring you out and
That's what the Rosalila is about. I guess it's about listening for the sound of Krishna's flute or listening
For the sound that is underneath everything
That's always inviting you to climb out of the old
Stagnant symbol structures that you've gotten trapped inside of I was just I just had
definitely the greatest birthday of my life and
Was driving back from this vineyard that I was hanging out at with my girlfriend and we're on the 101 and it is a wonderful day
We've just had some delicious wine
The day before was bicycle day
Which as many of you know is the celebration of the first intentional ingestion of LSD by a human being on planet Earth
it was an incredible day and
So we're listening to Jack cornfield. He's this Buddhist teacher that I really like and
He's been on this podcast actually we're listening to him one of his audible audio books and it's great
And I'm really connecting with a lot of what he's saying and the 101 even though it's
Slammed with traffic. It doesn't seem bad to me because I'm it's that's how great my day is that the 101 doesn't even seem bad
Even though it's just
Congested with traffic all the cars look beautiful
Everything looks incredible. We're listening to Jack cornfield and my girlfriend suggests that we
Go swimming in the ocean that we're driving next to
Now my the first thought that I have when she says this is no, I'm listening. I'm listening to someone talk about
Buddhism right now. I don't swim in the
cold-ass ocean and
Then I realize oh god. I'm basically inside a Jack cornfield story right now
Because rather than go and experience life rather than go and dive into the ocean of experience
I would rather listen to someone
Inviting you to go dive into the ocean of experience and that's the thing you can get caught up all these teachers
They're telling you stop the car and jump in the ocean
They're all asking you turn off the radio. Don't let you don't have to keep listening to us
Dive into the ocean of love jump out of your comfort zone and into
This ocean of love that's around you at all times all you've got to do is abandon those crusty
Stinky symbols that you've gotten stuck in just like some smelly old sock
You've been wearing for a few days pull off the sock and jump in the ocean and so
That's what we did. We pulled over. I found we found a
Nearly empty beach and I went
Diving into the cold water with my 40 year old body
And I felt like I was kissing God on the mouth. It was
Amazing I had done something I normally never would have done and I think that's I'm not gonna keep saying this
But then that's what the Rossell wheel is about
It's about not just hearing the flute
But following in the direction of where the flute is coming from
Abandon the old systems out with the old in with the new that's what Easter is about
Happy Easter all of you happy
Resurrection day. I hope that you guys find a way over the next few weeks to be rejuvenated and reborn and can shake off whatever
stupid stinky crusty
Symbols are holding you into the smelly hut of your life
When just write down this tiny little path is a blue-skinned
Cowherd boy who wants to make sweet love with you all night long
This is a great podcast Ragu Marcus is joining us today, but first some quick business
I'm gonna read a news story to you if there's kids in the room. I suggest that you have them leave
This is a very sad and tragic story
Shortly after midnight around the time that he left his work
George Winston entered the basement apartment of 18 year old Karen Sparks
He had been designing a website for and she had paid him way too much money and he was coming to collect the bill
But something happened
Something broke inside of his brain and he bludgeoned the sleeping woman with a metal rod from her bed frame
Smashing her with a computer that he had used to design her blog and then left with her face in his pocket
Leaving behind a faceless corpse to be found by the police
He had painted html all over the wall of her
apartment the html was code for a poorly designed website the website itself was a website with a
malformed urls and a
Shopping cart that did not work
The death of Anne-Marie
Winston-Williams is
A death that did not have to happen if
Anne-Marie Winston-Williams had only gone to squarespace
Com instead of hiring a web designer off of Craigslist
Today in the United States
Just under heart attacks the second leading cause of death is being bludgeoned to death by a
Dissatisfied web designer who has not been paid the inordinate amount of money that he demanded to create the website
He was not equipped to build because he was not a good web designer
Don't let this happen to you guys
I don't mean to bring Nancy Grace level darkness into this podcast, but it's I feel like I should warn you
There is a darkness at the edge of town and that darkness weighs
290 pounds has pizza all over his shirt and cannot design another website without
plunging his fingers into your eyeballs and ripping out your eyeballs and
filling your eye sockets with
Keyboard cleaner that's how you do is that how you want to die?
Is that how you want to die you want your last moments to be you waking up to the
slobbering sound of a web designer climbing through your window his breathlessness because he had to go up a flight of steps
the strange
Stink emanating from his unwashed underarms the smell combining with the doctor pepper
Burps coming out of his mouth as he plods towards your bed to bludgeon you to death with a very keyboard
He used to create your flower delivery website that never even worked
That can happen
Go to Squarespace comm if you're thinking about getting a website built and you don't want to risk being murdered now
I'm not saying there's not great web designers out there. I know they're great web designers out there
I use one his name Steve. He's amazing. I'm so lucky to have found him
It's like finding a unicorn in a forest filled with rapists
Yes, I said it. It's true
Finding a great web designer is like finding a unicorn and San Quentin
It's hard. You're lucky if you find a great web designer when you if you find one congratulations
You have contacted the Messiah
To all you great web designers out there
I bow to you, but you know as well as I do that there are an ocean of
Overpriced hacks who would willingly take the money of people who only want to start a brand new business because they finally
Had the courage to get their life going
And in return for that money, they will give them a crappy shoddy useless product
A lot of people can't afford a high-level web designer. The truth of the matter is is that really great web designers aren't cheap
They're expensive
And if you want it if you can't afford a web designer in the old days if you couldn't afford a web designer
That's it. You either spend the next six months snorting Adderall and learning how to code hdml
Or you start a brick-and-mortar store, but these days you can start your own website
You can create a high-level
Aesthetically pleasing
Functional website for as low as $9 a month by going to squarespace.com
They've got a modular system that will allow you to put whatever pieces together that you need to put together
To create a really great website. I've gone there. We've built a website using squarespace
You can go to podriff.com. That is the website for the
Oculus Rift podcast project that I'm working on
That's a pretty good website
But if you want to see a really great website that I designed using squarespace go to squarespace
Squarespace.com was designed
Using Squarespace figure that one out. I can't it seems like
Someone must have a time machine or something. I don't know how exactly that would have worked, but it worked
They built Squarespace using Squarespace the thing invented itself. It's like trying to figure out the big bang
We don't know how Squarespace came into existence. All we know is that it's there and it's there for you
So if you've been creating excuses for not starting that business or blog or whatever type of website
You want to start if you've been creating excuses that are based on not being able to find a web designer
Not having the skills to do it not having the money to do it all those excuses are now gone if you go to squarespace.com
You can start building a professional level bad-ass website for as low as eight dollars a month
That's 20 pages galleries
500 gigabytes bandwidth
two gigabytes storage two contributors fully integrated e-commerce and
You can accept donations and sell one product. They've got other tiers to
Professionals $16 a month and business $24 a month if you sign up for an entire year with any of these you get a free domain name so
Go to squarespace.com if you've been thinking about starting a website
Everything is there for you and they have great support. I made sure of this by contacting them
You can they get back to you right away and that's an important thing when you're building a website
No matter how simple the system is you always need help for this stuff and Squarespace is there to help you
So go to squarespace.com
Sign up
Put my name in and you will get 10% off
That's Duncan when you sign up put my name in as your code word you will get 10 percent off
Trust me guys
The last thing you want to have happen to you is to be dragged out of your house by a slobbering
maniacal
disgruntled hacky web designer
Taken to his awful house dragged into the basement and then have
HTML carved into your back for the next two years as Nancy Grace talks about how you vanished leaving behind
Only a shitty blog with a shopping cart that didn't work
You don't want that to happen. You don't want to join the legions of
Murdered do you know how many people disappear a day in the United States a?
Lot and that number equals the number of shitty websites that are created a day you do the math
Go to squarespace.com start a great website today. Put my name in Duncan 10% off
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Not 27th, which I've been saying god damn it in earlier podcasts May 24th
We will be doing a live Duncan trustle family hour podcast
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and he's gonna play some music up front and
Be one of the guests and there's gonna be lots more happening than that
If you go to Duncan trustle.com there is a ticket link there
I highly recommend getting tickets because this thing is definitely gonna sell out so get tickets now
Don't put it off buy tickets now go to Duncan trustle.com the link is there in the forum
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Okay, let's get this podcast going
Today's guest is a one of the hosts of the mind-rolling podcast
He hosts that along with a great David Silver you can go to mind rolling podcast calm
They've got incredible episodes the most recent one is with Krishnadas
Who is this incredible curtain Walla who plays beautiful music and I got to listen to him
The last time I was at a Ram Dass retreat because he played every night
But there's 64 episodes of this thing up now and their life changers all of them are incredible
he's also the director of the love server member foundation and
that's Ram Dass's foundation and
he
Got to hang out with Maharajee neem. Kali Baba in India a few decades ago. So that's an incredible thing
by itself, I'm really lucky to have him as a friend and a teacher and
Would really appreciate it if you guys would check out the mind rolling podcast because it's amazing
It's a really really good podcast and now there's 64 episodes of it
All right, open your third eyes spread out your arms
Climb out of that stinky hut and let's go make out with Krishna and Raghu Marcus
Or at least
Have a picnic. We don't have to we don't have to make out
And
One two three four five six seven eight nine ten
One two three four five. Hold on one second. Raghu Marcus. Thank you so much for taking the time
You are quite welcome. I'm always glad to be here, but it's
Especially precious that you're giving me an hour of of your time when you're in Hawaii at the spring retreat
I
I don't know what I keep thinking to myself. Why didn't I come this year?
I should have come and you've been calling me and
you start off every conversation by it's
Describing in detail the smell of the flowers
The wind blowing through Lumeria, which is this incredibly beautiful
I don't know. What would you call that a spiritual center? What is that place?
Just a retreat center. It's just
It's done by an artist from Los Angeles
somebody who he wrote a book called sacred spaces actually and
Zorn is his name and it is impeccably done
Inside outside with plan layout the kind of foliage and and plants and trees and
It's it's on a hillside overlooking the ocean. It's it's just a sacred spot. It's really amazing
I'm going anyhow poor thing. You're in LA
Well, yeah, it's not like I'm in hell or anything like that
It's not like you know what you could be in Montreal
Where I'm from because on Tuesday
They're supposed to get something like two feet of snow. Oh
Yeah, wow. Yeah, I you're right. I shouldn't good
I'm here, but I remember that feeling when you get off the plane in Hawaii is
Unlike anything when you feel the energy coming out of the ground there
There's some extra Prana or some extra juice coming out of that place and then you combine it with those retreats and it's just
It's it's it's it's unforgettable. I um, I don't know. I feel really anyway
I'm not gonna keep saying I feel dumb for not going there, but how's it going?
What what's the theme of the retreat this time? So the theme of the retreat is
from Sharon Salzburg her idea
was to call it
compassion and adversity
Since we all have adversity and we certainly need to cultivate compassion to get through that that seemed right
so
Yeah, we're right in the middle of all that and in the last set and we have Jai Utah here as well
You know, John. Yes. Well, I mean, I know the music
Yeah, well, he by the way, he has a new record out and you should tell your listeners about it
It's called return or I will return to Shiva station
Jai Utah Uttal and it is an
Acoustic
Reinvention of an album he did
actually for my label at the time
Tryloka in like 15 years ago or something or more
So it is a momentous moment sort of to kind of go full circle with him. He is a
Student of Ali Akbar Khan one of the greatest musicians in the world
so if you want to hear something really solid and totally absolutely connect you to the
Real spirit and he's got real spirit and so Jai Utah there that and go to go to Duncan's
Amazon portal and buy it
Yeah, please
Okay, that's the ad for the day. Okay, great
What's
Good, I
Wanted to I want to okay. I want to just got to read this thing to you. Okay. Okay
It's about compact. You think people would be interested. It's it's not too too long. Yeah, let's hear. I want to hear it
Yeah, okay
And then I'll tell you all about the retreat perfect
Compassion involves more than simply knowing about a different situation
Even witnessing pain directly does not necessarily prompt a reaction of compassion
And I'll tell you who's writing this after I read it
I observed this for myself once while watching a doc in which animals were being hung upside down to be slaughtered as
Their throats were cut blood spurted out in their legs jerked in terror and pain
He was extremely hard to watch
unbearable really
But as the butchers butchers sawed through the animals next to
Deprive them of life the men were laughing and joking
They could obviously see the animals painful movements and hear their cries the suffering was visible and audible
But they did not seem to recognize that these were signs of terrible pain
And even if the butchers did see that they were inflicting pain the animals suffering didn't amount to anything for them
They treated it as if they were watching a show. In fact, some people even kill animals as a form of recreation
Hunting is considered a sport in some cultures, isn't it? Some people seem to believe it is courageous to kill animals
Unfortunately, nowadays we have developed the wrong kind of fearlessness
Fearlessness and harming others at some point this courage quote-unquote in harming others is bound to turn on us
As people become habituated to taking the life of animals with no thought for the pain
They are causing in the end it becomes easy to harm and kill humans
Even the pain of our fellow human beings can cease to catch our attention
The real courage that comes from compassion is very far from this
When compassionate compassion is present
We do not overlook others pain
Rather, there is a sense of urgency to end that pain as if a fire had just been lit underneath you
When you have such compassion as soon as you see suffering you wish to jump up and act to end it at once
You have no fear and no hesitation in taking on the suffering of other people
Animals and even the planet itself. This is what I would call the right kind of fearlessness
This is the fearlessness of true heroes
Can you take a wild guess as to who would write such a thing?
I'm gonna say George W. Bush
Is that from his autobiography is that the autobiography of George W. Bush
Or is that rums it's rumsfeld isn't it? Yeah
This is written by the 17th Carmafa, so you better take that all back
This is like the the who's the 17th Carmafa. Can you can you see what is Carmafa mean or third in line?
They say
Not in line. That's not the proper thing the third most important llama in Tibet
Number one is the Dalai Lama number two is the Panchen Lama who is was kidnapped by the Chinese
Okay, and it's being held in prison in China and number three is
Carmafa and
this Carmafa
Is about 30 years old and the his predecessor
So many of us have met both the 16th and the 17th Westerns
The 16th was is exactly the same like Nincoroli bottom. That's you know a fully omniscient being and
And so I met him and then I met the 17th
Who's this 30 year old young guy and when I met him?
You know I you hear all this bullshit about oh, yeah total coups and you know
They transfer something goes transferred to their body reincarnated
You know and and they you know the kid finds the right objects when they said to him that were the objects of his predecessor
People oracles have dreams. I mean it's the whole nine yards and but you just read this, you know, you don't
If it's just head stuff until you actually meet this guy, which I did
at the 17 car map in a hotel room in
in Washington when the Dalai Lama was there, there's a couple years ago and
He at the end and we just bantered around in this hotel room about worldly stuff. There was no to nothing
You know, we're having fun. He's a young, you know, he's man. He's and he's absolutely a beautiful
young man
Inside now anyhow, he put the this, you know, they put a it's called a cut a scarf around you as an honor at the end
Yes, and he said goodbye and he clasped my hands for two hours
I first of all, I understood the whole
Succession the reincarnation the holy shit. This is really, you know, it's experiential. This is real what these people do
This is that's a shocking moment. Isn't it when you realize that it's real that's
That's a real because that
I can remember when I started realizing that that was from hanging out with you guys
And that's a really intense moment when
It's a little trans transporting moment for sure
It really is because it's so funny how the mind when you hear these stories you every single
story that you hear
My mind tends to reduce it to
Western
The way the west likes to dilute stuff, you know, for example the west
Loves to call
you know healing the placebo effect
and
And when you hear well the placebo effect and then right away you think well, that means it's not real
There's a there's a great article. I just read actually about the placebo effect in this case where a
man
Came to the hospital with all these tumors and they told him that he was gonna die
and he
Had heard that there was some sort of weird serum made from horse blood
It was some strange thing and he demanded that he got it to be injected with this stuff and the doctor
Realizing this man only had maybe a month to live thought why not?
Let's inject him with it if he wants it it won't hurt him
And so they he injected the man with this stuff and they say this is a medical report
I'll find the article and put a link on the
On this on my website, but the tumors they say melted away
Over the course of a couple of days the tumors just melted away and then he read that
This horse serum he finally found something that shows that this was actually bullshit and didn't work at all and the tumors came back
So this is one of the many cases of um
people, you know that shows how very powerful this stuff is and
Anyway, I think I've gotten a little bit off track because I want to talk to you
More about compassion, which is oh wait a minute. What about this incredible article he wrote? I mean
He's not like writing about the teachings of the bardos
He's writing about like what's right in front of us and what's going on in this planet right now
and you know
This this doc are obviously set him off
And he uh, you know, so he uh, you know, he wrote this thing
I found it because of this whole thing being about compassion
And you know, he really spells it out here. I mean, you know, it's like I you know
We do so many things that are screwed up
But eating meat do you consider eating meat to be a violent act?
You know what?
I've been I mean, I don't eat red meat, but I eat
You know, I have eaten foul and I eat fish, right?
I mean, I stopped eating falcons. I saw something in India. It was so horrible
I couldn't eat a piece of chicken for you know, 10 years
But this is what did you see?
This is like you're you know
Because we're in the situation we're in
The extreme measures you got to take sometimes to
Have the correct effect
To be able to lift us up rather than pull us down. That's what he's talking about here
And that's the kind of fearlessness that really you know, it's not
Just this alone is a not aside from the cruelty the way they raise livestock and everything, you know
Aside from the you know, it's really bad for your health
You know eating, you know, oh, well, let's go eat free range. You know, okay, you know, I hear all that
But uh, this is about fearlessness and extreme measures and I can't believe that a young Tibetan
Monk who's a reincarnation of this amazing being is doing this. So that's why I was blown away by it
Yeah, it's I mean, it's it's it is very insightful when I hear it though
I have some things come to mind like for example when he's talking about hunting
um
hunting
The killing an animal in the wild
Is if they're if you're going to put a hierarchy or a gradient of compassion when it comes to
Slaughtering animals
Killing an animal in the wild is the most compassionate way to get meat
um
The animals lived a completely free life
Usually depending on the skill of the hunter. It doesn't even know what's happened. It's just gone
This is again, I'm going to take it back to we are in certain times
Very few. I mean, there are definitely people who
Survive off of hunting and he ain't talking about those people
He's not talking about the reality of hunting for food and eating that food and sustaining yourself
He's talking about maniacs. Okay who go out there for sport
Okay, you know most hunters that I know I I'm not a hunter
I eat meat. I feel guilty about it. If I think about it too much
I
Imagine that I I should have a vegetarian diet
But most hunters that I know
are
far more in tune with
The earth and with the the food that they're eating than people who eat cheeseburgers
I've never met a like, you know, my dad hunts
Joe Rogan hunts and these people they have a direct contact with the thing that they're killing
and then they take the meat and they
Prepare it and cook it and give it to their families
and
Okay, well, we're not let's I'm trying to get to the big we're not talking about people like that for sure
people who are actually
acting in the
In the manner of how the american indians acted, right?
That is not who he's talking about. He's talking about ignorance
Right. He's talking about being fearless
And doing things that would help create an antidote to the ignorance, right?
Which means curbing your own something at times. That's what he's talking about. Yes. Yeah. Yeah that that
Right. I know we're getting I'm getting a little off track. I just it's I only just because it's you know, you want to take the
It's a good point. It's a good point. There are people who are doing it fully in the in the spirit of
That the native americans held for the sanctity of the of
You know of the lives that they were
Taking and so on and so forth and and it was in the full cycle of life and you know, I mean
You you tell me that these people are in that kind of a place and you know, I believe you
Well, they're I'm not saying that they're they're they're
reincarnated
Tibetan monks, you know, but but yeah, but I you know, I think the deeper level here is that kind of
numbness that overcomes a person
And that allows for all kinds of behavior, you know a kind of like, you know, for example, we walk, you know, you you walk
through a yard
And you're just walking through grass like in lumaria. You go walking through grass and
If you could zoom into that grass, I'm sure that you would see all kinds of bugs
Getting crushed, you know, there's a constant
flow of
Death happening around us at all times and you can only be aware of a certain amount of the violence that you're
Putting out into the world, you know, but eventually some people are
Completely unaware of anything that they do. It's numbness. Numbness seems to be the mother of violence
That's exactly what he's addressing and you're hitting it right on the head
And that's that's really what's being talked about and so at this retreat
We're talking about what's the first thing, you know, that's
Nothing can happen around this word compassion
Unless you start having some for yourself, you know
The stuff that we do the judging and, you know, the self-worth issues and
You know, or the opposite, you know
of
Being completely caught in your role ego, whatever it is. They own the first
Leverage, right the first
Transformation
Can only take place
In reality, I mean, you know, you can do yoga and meditate and all that shit
None of it's going to matter unless you can actually
Have compassion for your bullshit for you, you know, as I did this podcast with
Alan Watts
I think I said it to you because I said this thing is unbelievable. We found Alan Watts telling
talking about
Jung and Jung's relationship with
With that rascal part of him and how he had accepted that and without doing that
You know, there's no way that he could help anybody
He couldn't treat anybody unless he had that first basic thing of accepting
You know the shadow stuff as you know, as you know with Jung
But then the the anecdote was antique dope
T. Doe was uh
That he's he said I just started to be kinder to the bullshit that was in my head
Let me ask you compassion when when is compassion when does compassion for the self become enabling
laziness like
real-world example
I want to go to the gym today. I just want to go jogging. It makes me feel good
but
if I
If I'm come what what if I don't go to the gym today
Am I supposed to be compassionate to the part of myself that didn't
go and exercise
Or is it is there ever a time where there's usefulness and guilt where there's some sort of
Merit to looking at your day and thinking, you know, I didn't really accomplish what I wanted to accomplish today
That does not make me feel good
That makes me feel like I need to tighten up and try harder and that creates this guilty feeling
Is there a place for guilt in the spiritual path in this practice?
No, not guilt
No, it's just that's just mind. It has nothing. It's guilt is no different than I got to take a shit. It's just another thought or emotion
It means absolutely nothing and the point is that's cool the compassion isn't to I fucked my day up or not the compassion is
Well, that's cool. I'm still thinking that it matters if I went to the gym or not
That's cool or you know, I want to kill that guy
I want to I have somebody I'm really am angry at by the way
And uh, I'm gonna admit it on your show
There's a lady I have a dog my wife brought the dog back from India from
My guru's ashram in the foothills of the Himalayas
Okay, kenchi
And it's and kenchi is the name of the dog brought she brought saved it on the streets
It was a street dog puppy three weeks old
So she got it back to figure must be a good reason why this dog's coming back anyhow
But the dog has in its genes it likes to go around anywhere
So we let it out and she goes around and there's one neighbor across the woods insist on calling the cops
And they're saying okay in five if you if you get five tickets we can take the dog and we're gonna kill it
You lived in this place, uh, you know boy the south is harsh
12 years a slave freaked me out by the way
Um anyhow, so this woman I I have really really
Uh terrible terrible thoughts and emotions about this woman that I cannot do anything about despite my 45 years of
You know working on this. See that's that's real
You know, I don't really have that much guilt about it. I'm just like
Wow, I gotta turn this around or my dog won't be able to go out. How do I turn it around?
And I've got to turn around inside me first and that's really what it's all about
Right and that's compassion for the self
Yeah, yeah, and if you can't do that then okay, you're okay
You're just another human
You know screwy
Screw up no problem. But you've you you know, it's it's the impatience that comes, you know, it's it's this
You know all those feelings are you know guilt anger
Uh a sense of um
You know not not working hard enough or accomplishing enough or all these things they they have some real serious emotional
Undertones that go along with them. They're heavy. It's a heavy place to be and and you just want it to stop
You know, you you I when I'm feeling those things when I'm feeling
Any kind of the the the negative emotions, you know
Jack cornfield says bow to them as they come to you and but I bow to them and you know
It's like shitting like you said it's like I can bat if I'm constipated
I can bow to the constipation
But it's not gonna change the fact that I need to take a shit
You know what I mean? Like I it's like there's action too, right?
Or I do like how how how when does bowing to these things become?
a form of
pacifism
When there needs to be direct action that should be taken the warrior's way all that stuff
You're getting that one wrong
That bowing is not a passive act
And the it absolutely not it's an act of like an act of
prayer it's an act of
It's it's intention
To
Surrender
Through the one inside yourself as rhombus would say
It's that intention
And that can't happen in none of this can you know this compassion
Thing nothing can happen unless you do the first very first thing and you already know this
And you know not to sound pedantic, but we all have to get control over our minds or ain't nothing going to be
Effected which is what you're saying, you know you try and do this shit, but if you do not have if you are not
Having intention like we just talked about in the act as an act of
You know connecting to the one if you don't have you know, you need that intention
But at the same time you need to have some sitting meditation
Mindfulness practice, you know the big buzzword now mindfulness, but you do need
You know something to get a hold on the monkey mind. I want to talk to you about that
um meditation
And getting a hold of the monkey mind
now
Do you think that
sometimes I on walks
I'll be chanting Hare Krishna and I have you know very
Wonderful moments
Through that does that count as meditating or is meditating limited to just sitting
Still for some period of time
It is absolutely sitting still minimal minimally 10 minutes
At least every day
In a in the same kind of place would be good too, you know
Little corner where that's all you do so so walking around and chanting doesn't count or being in your car and watching your breath or
Any of that stuff that that's secondary to this moment of finding a place and sitting still for 10 minutes
Absolutely, that doesn't mean, you know going around chanting is another method
Okay, but it's too easy to get daydreaming, you know either, you know breathing in your car is good like you know to just get to some
Place of equanimity, you know before you're going to do something or whatever you're going to meet somebody where there's any anxiety
That's a great practice
But and so it's chanting, you know just walking down the street, but none of it replaced is the formal
Coming back to whatever that, you know in the case that you know, that's
Practice we've been doing for a long time is and we've meant we've talked about it before, you know
Insight meditation or vipassana
Where you're just using your natural breath focusing on the feeling of either your rising stomach
Rising and falling stomach or the feeling is the breath goes in the nostrils and out without any effort
And then every time you realize your loss you come back and as Sharon just said earlier today
this morning
That is the great beauty
Because you can start again once you realize you're lost
You can start again and you just keep doing that and nothing stays the same
And that's the insight you get when you get into the more deeper parts of this meditate of this practice
So yeah, that is not replaceable. So that is a so it interestingly that reminds me that seems to be a microcosm
of the entire spiritual practice, which is
that it
Involves getting lost it involves not just
Finding yourself again, but getting lost is seems to be as much a part of this
Process is
Not being lost. Is that fair to say?
Yeah, absolutely. Um
You know
It's the nature of
As humans and that's the good, you know, that's a good thing to wait in terms of self compassion compassion for your bullshit
You know, that's definitely
A good mantra. It's okay. I'm just human
You know, I think that's a great mantra. I don't know who whatever one of these teachers said that
It's okay. I'm human. It's okay. I'm human. What a cool mantra. I've never heard that before
Yeah, I think that's great. By the way. Yes, um
There's some people at this retreat. I said, how did you get here? This is a young guy from Australia, right?
A Duncan I listened to Duncan
That's great. Hey, and then
Then he comes up to take a picture of ramdas and he met somebody else another young girl, right?
and uh
I said and she said we just met
Because we both came here because we heard about her on dunking. Oh, that's so cool. Wow
How you're like the pied piper for uh, ramdas or something. Yeah, I'm the pied piper. It's true
I mean, I do I well because I talk about them all the time and I talk about you guys all the time because you guys have
Had such an impact on me and these conversations that were recording
What's so cool is every once in a while you'll just call me you always call me exactly the right time
And you always accidentally bring up something that I've been wondering about or stuck on and these conversations
Are so rejuvenating to me because every that's what you guys do is you remind me
again and again and again that it is about
Just finding yourself in the moment just going back to finding yourself in the moment and also this
Um, it's nice to be reminded that I need to be meditating again because I stopped I always stop ragu
I'll get it down, man. I'll have it twice and you're going to hell and you you just
You should start watching jimmy swaggered so he can knock the evil out of you
Do you think I should start whipping my own back with my belt?
Yeah, it's good. That's a good. That's what ramdas recommends, right?
Didn't maharajee have everyone sit and whip themselves with their own belts in the morning?
Yeah in riad
Now I wanted to ask you if you could
um
So walk me through what you do in the morning when you meditate. How does it work for you when you get up?
Do you mind like you wake up and then what happens?
My wife wants to have a chat with me and then I tell her, you know what? I'm really not good at talking for about, you know, another 90 minutes
That's what happens
Um, and she's listening to this now. I bet whenever this is going to air. So hi
Hi, sorry. Sorry. It's one listen. It's exactly what I said
Just now. I do that practice. I I use the natural breath
You know the practice of vipassana you go online Sharon Salisbury jack cornfield
Put them up on your thing let people go and they give
beautiful
They have all kinds of different cd dvds and all both. Sure. I listen. I'm listening. I listen to them all the time
So, but I'm curious about you. I'm curious about you wake up. Do you have coffee first?
No
So you wake up you go you go to your puja table
Uh, exactly and you burn incense
No
No incense
No, it's gonna bother me kind of billowing
incense that's been made in india with toxic materials. No, no candles
Nothing. No zero. So you you and and and do you sit in a chair or a cushion?
On the cushion
And you sit in a cushion and then you just by the way, what's that?
Who would be interested in this?
Well, I'm intro you've already because I mean, I don't know if there's a right way to do it
But I I'll tell you if I am meditating. Here's what I do
Wake up. Look at my phone. Check my messages. Go to reddit go to cnn.com
If I really want to get bummed out, I'll go to the drudge report
Then I wake up. I go into my kitchen get a
Pour some coffee
I'll burn incense light some candles make a big show of the thing. I have a bell
I'll ring the bell. I don't even know why ring it. Then I sit down
Oh, that's fantastic. I'm actually could you send me your list?
I like your list way better
I'm gonna start doing it the way you do it and I'll probably get enlightened
You know and that brings up another thing. Nobody should think anybody has I mean the reality is we do have to get a
Hold of our minds and that is
Seemingly the simplest way is just follow your breath and whenever you're lost come back to it
Sit with a straight back as possible or and be comfy
And try and do at least 10 and then get to 20 and that's it and and you know, you'll there will be a re
in statement
Some of the sanity that you've lost this lifetime
Right and it's shocking and that's the other thing that happens when I do meditate
And then at the end of the period I will suddenly feel so much better
It reminds me of when I go running
And there's something in that that's so
Simultaneously wonderful yet the mind
Does not like the simplicity of of of it
It's almost as though the mind doesn't want it to be that easy that you could just sit down
And then suddenly feel feel a minute now
It's not easy the hardest thing I ever did was one of these the posh and a 10 day courses
It still probably would remain the hardest thing that is that is nuts when I hear about those 10 day vipassana courses
I just can't just even thinking about it right now gives me a
Headache and anxiety attack
Yeah fear and you should have it because sitting and facing yourself hour after hour after hour
Especially in your case could be a frightening possibility
Uh, but uh
You know what you walk out of there first of all you can meditate for the rest
You'll know how to meditate for the rest of your life. That's worth something
Yes, really do it and second of all you have gone through some
Definitive catharsis of your inner being so for sure for sure
But you know, we don't have to get that heavy about it really if you just sit down and just start the process of watching
You know just watching letting the thoughts go, you know not
Catching on to everything. That's what's really going on. That's where the the compassion comes in whenever you realize you're sticking
Or you're doing what uh, Sharon called today. She was yesterday or today
Doing the add-ons. You know what the add-ons are. No
Geez, it's really humid in here. I'm kind of feeling humid
sticky I wonder if I you know if I'm gonna start sweating
But I got to go out so I wonder if the shirt I'm wearing is the right one
Okay, that's the you're lost. You're it's called if there's an actual
Poly term for it. I don't know the poly word, but it means
proliferation
Okay, so until you can get a grip on that and that's what Sharon is teaching and by the way
It's upstreaming as we speak if you go to can I give this little uh, yeah, please
But you know the problem is if you give it it won't this comes out and
Yeah, because you're not can't you just put this out right away if you know what?
You well then but then it's gonna mess up my plan
Which is to make it the 108th episode
But you know what I will do is if you when we get up when we get done with this podcast
I'll tweet live stream ramdas retreat
So, you know what don't even worry you can do that
But the reality is this if you go to ramdas.org you'll see
A live spring retreat stream you just hit on that and it's going to be cached
So you'll be able to watch it anytime. That's so cool that you guys do that
Yeah, no it is I mean it's it's our mission statement. It's to share
It's just what you know, it's what ramdas was about when he came back
From india and his guru said, you know the first time he said whatever you do
Don't talk about me
That's all he did he didn't do anything more than that
That's the way you get your message out is you tell you tell hippies not to talk about you
Hey, could I uh, could I read one more thing? Please
Uh, to me this this is uh, this is a quote from a book by a man named joseph goldstein
Who is Sharon's partner at the
IMS which is uh
Insight meditation society in barry, uh, massachusetts
Um, who just wrote a book called mindfulness, which is just this it's a very very
thick book
That is absolutely incredible. I'm not you know, not something you just not like uh, not bedtime reading
It's really something to work with kind of a deal. Um, but he had one of the best, uh
Uh, explanations and definitions of compassion
Uh, and it really references everything you and I have been talking about when you're talking about what does that think and just leverage out of us out
Of the you know ignorant part of ourselves. This is causing so much pain, right and we talked about compassion
Compassion is the very act of emptiness of self
This is compassion not as a stance of the ego
Or even as a particular practice
But as this spontaneous expression of a heart and mind
Free of self reference
Wow
Is that I mean that's where we that's the only thing that's gonna
It's gonna save not only ourselves, but everybody
You know, let's everybody, you know, that's too dramatic. No, it's beautiful. I've had these experiences
I know
I know what he's talking about. I've had it the first time I felt that I was on lsd
I was on this
Wonderful liquid lsd that someone had at this party. I've never had lsd like this since
Um, it was amazing. It was just this
Someone must have just made it a day before or something. It was just perfect
organic
What's that
Fresh and organic fresh and organic and just you know
I don't know if if you ever come into contact with
Well made or I don't know anything about lsd manufacture
But if you come into contact with the real thing it is it is really like getting to
Just kiss jesus on the lips and I it was I remember sitting
I was with this girl. We were listening to
I think we were listening to bay tovan
She had a record and she was playing it and I was listening to the musical notes
And then I started thinking about my thoughts and I'm thinking this is you know
I'm thinking this is mindfulness practice before I ever came in contact with it really
I'm just thinking like well my thoughts are there and then I started thinking where are my thoughts coming from like
What's producing the thoughts and I was able to follow the thoughts all the way back
And something happened in that moment where I just was
It's gone
like I just something happened and it was just this feeling of
expansiveness and
That's all just this sense of you know, it reminds me of what ramdas says when he says dying is like taking off a shoe
That's too tight
You know, it was that feeling so I know exactly that idea of being free from self reference
Yeah, yeah, and and and of course that's why psychedelics, you know, they were important to us too
You know those of us that went to india at that time and followed, you know
his lead
We had a and he himself we had a basic
understanding
experientially of what was being talked about
You know, so when we actually went there and met that thing that was like meeting a giant
I don't know what to call him, uh, you know that explains it in a way that it's not the normal terms of
You know indian to enlightened or realized, you know
It's a
Giant love computer that knew exactly the right thing for everybody to get free
at every second
And was omniscient knowing past present and future of every being, you know, so, you know, whatever that
That's a that was one of my first impressions of him when when I was there. Wow. So
Um
To have a sense of that which you did through that acid truth
Is high, you know, it's pretty important. Um
And now i'm not and most people go out take acid and go to
Electronic or concerts, right? Sure. So, you know, that's a different that's just the same kind of thing
We talked about it at the very beginning
It is what, you know, how you relate with
You know, if it's hunting and you're relating with it
In a way that you are participating in the cycle of life and you are completely connected
That's way different from someone who's you know, got a submachine gun out there, you know, you know hunting animals
Okay, that that's two completely different things right in the same way. So is this
And it's and I see what you're saying now. It's it's this okay. Okay. This is
This reminds me of something that I was thinking. Um, because I've been listening to a lot of jack cornfield lately and and thinking about a lot of what he's
Talking about
The thought when you think about reality nature
Life everything around us and us
You can either have an experience of directly connecting with it
Or you can have an experience of trying to not connect with it trying to avoid connecting with what's happening
And if you get caught up in your thoughts thoughts are this kind of like phantasmal representation of life
They're you do you know, they're they're ghosts they're
clouds
And and you get caught up in in those clouds then you're not having a direct interface with life
And it seems like the compassion that you are talking about
Is having a once you really start connecting to life
Then how would you be violent or how could you be?
In that if you were really in that state of interfacing with those animals hanging there
Watching
Yeah
Yeah, that that's that nothing to do with compassion when when this stuff start when you
When it when you do start to evolve you just can't do those kinds of things because it's just so unconscious and ignorant
You can't do it. You can't be slaughtering, you know animals. You can't do it
You know and that's a whole other level now the level
I mean what we're talking about with compassion is a way to leverage
the
Complete self-referential nature that we have I mean mine all day long
Attached to and stuck to every thought as if it's real
that's what
Way to to leverage that is the first thing you got to do is stop hating yourself for having those thoughts
Or feeling less than or feeling more than you know
And and so that's what we're talking about is having you know, it's ramdus calls. I love my thoughts to death
It seems so I I love what you're saying
But it's I'm just gonna let my mind speak for a second because my mind when it
when it
contemplates the idea
of spending any amount of time
either like loving either my narcissism or
Embracing what's happening the way I'm living and the way I'm acting
For better or for worse when I'm being kind or when I'm being cruel
It when it considers the idea of letting myself relax into it even for a second
it is like
it's
That's a monstrous act. It's the it's like I don't understand relax into what into the cruel you're been cruel to somebody
let's say
I'm saying okay, for example, just a simple simple
um
I can't enjoy if I'm when I'm not meditating which I'm not doing right now
It's very hard for me to enjoy
anything
Everything that I do is laced with some
bit of guilt so and especially things that aren't related to working or
Producing something working on a podcast or working on stand-up or writing or exercising so for example if I'm
I don't know
Playing a video game. Let's say let's say I sit down and decide to play a video game
I can't do it if I do it for more than a few minutes
I'm just filled with such a sense of self loathing
And I look at what I'm doing and I just think you can't do this anymore. You're 39 man
You can't play it video games. This is fucked up. You are
um wasting time you're wasting time
And so and so then I I'll play that I'll that never has stopped me from playing a video game
But I'll just now I'll just play it with this feeling of guilt or let's say I'm eating marijuana for example
Let's say I wake up in the morning and I and I'm like, you know what?
I'm gonna eat some marijuana and go right at a cafe
So I'll go I'll eat marijuana. Everything becomes beautiful. I'll sit and write at the cafe
But there's always an undercurrent this dark black river of guilt running through everything. So
I got it. Okay. The doctor has a solution. Great
Keep eating that marijuana every day
Twice a day and go do keep doing it and play and play the video game while you're doing it
It's probably more you know more fun. Yes, because nothing's gonna happen to you you get just you don't get anything out of it
You're gonna continue to do that till you either don't get anything out of it or it's distracting
You know some other priority, right? Yes, but so nothing's gonna change
You are gonna keep doing this shit until it just sort of you know
It evolves into something that because nothing stays the same. You're not gonna be doing this forever, right?
Either
You know, I mean whatever it might be. So what the only thing you can deal with is is the guilt is to is to
Love that is to give it space is to
Just witness it
From a deeper place that you know, you're human. There's your mantra. It's okay. I'm only human
Oh
God that is so wild man
That is so you are what you're saying is blasphemy to so many people so many people would hear that and they would think no
No, you don't embrace that you don't embrace that you you stop clench
Clench up tighten your muscles go jump in some mud or you know find some uncomfortable activity to spend your time doing
Until you feel better about yourself
No, you do that might be the next thing you do because it's proliferation goes from guilt
To you know trying to hammer yourself to death thinking, you know, you whatever it may be it goes from one emotion to another
Yes, so each time you just it's like when you're meditating you and you you realize you're lost and thought and you're not
Uh feeling the breath going in and out of your nostrils as you breathe normally
You know and oh lost and thought so instead of going oh my fucker. I've lost it again
You go out great. Okay. I'll start again
So you keep starting again by okay. I'm you know, I feel guilty about this and you know, I'm a lazy fuck
And uh, you know, I'd rather do this than meditate or whatever and I just find out fun
You know, it's okay. It's okay. And you stop that self-referential
We need to do you think I mean, I'm doing this all this time myself
And but that is uh, my little method or our methodology
It's so cool, man
And it's so intense because it is not passive to really do that
That is not a passive thing to really just let yourself be in the thing and while you're in it love it
Instead of ripping yourself to shreds over whatever the
Dissatisfying thing or the thing that's less than the way you think you should be that you're doing it's just
It really is I I think it's a revolutionary take on on on it. You know, it's a
You don't hear that a lot of the time so many models of the way to be are based on in you know
Symbolically whipping yourself with some kind of belt
Spare the rod spoil the child
Hello
So we got we oh one second so we got cut off for a second there. Hold on one second
And uh, when we were cut off, um, where we left it was, um
So what I was we got cut off right when I said it seems like
So many systems teach that you should be hurting if you want to grow spare the rod spoil the child
What system where is that system?
It's the it's the system of the of public education. It's the system of the military
industrial complex prisons
It's the system of work. It's the system of capitalism
It's the idea that if you want good things you suffer now suffer in the moment
So in some future point you can feel great, but right now if you're not feeling bad, you're not doing something right
Okay, we grew up with the worst horror in this culture. Yes. It's true
And our parents said whatever they did and past car. I mean we have a lot at surus as they say
Yes, you know what surus are
Say that again, please out you fade it out
We have a lot at surus
Yes a lot of surus problems. Yes
And so what we just got it just stopped looking at the
You know the this big ugly world that has created the monsters that we call us
In terms of being completely lost and ignorant and say, okay
We have some tools now and we're going to start to use these tools because we don't want to be so
screwed up anymore
That's you know, there's you have to have some motivating force for wanting to change
Whatever it is. It could be through suffering or it could be just through
Waking up on acid seeing the connectivity of everything and knowing that that is possible
so
So that that's we'll go back to the tool the two tools compassion
for you know, all of these feelings and self-referential
bullshit that comes up every second and
start
Loving it to death. It's the only is the best way you could say it. I mean compassion or the or you know
We're only human. We really are only human. We're doing the best we can so we're only human
So you pick yourself up. I mean if if you walk home today, you know go home today from this podcast
And go, okay
I've been feeling shitty because I haven't meditated and somehow something's waking me up and I think I'm going to start again
So you'll start again. Great. That's the beauty of the human thing. We can start again because we got consciousness
Oh
God you're I'm so lucky
I really must be one of the luckiest people ever that I get to have these conversations with you
I feel so grateful. It really is cool, man. Every time it's like a tuning fork. This is why you need a spiritual community
I think this is the reason there needs to be a sangha. This is why people need you know, because I
You know, sometimes I'll I'll
Some of my friends they don't have they don't have a ragu marcus or ramdas and and they get
You know, they're you get they don't have someone to say listen. Love yourself and just meditate some more. You'll be fine
They don't even have that. So I I think it's so important what you guys are doing and I you know, I don't mean to like
It's a little complex, of course. I don't want to dumb it down too much. There are other I mean certainly
You know, look at someone like yourself. You delve into it. You've gone to retreats, right?
You you're engaged with people like jack cornfield. Yes, right who have, you know, so much to offer
practical stuff not esoteric
Stuff, you don't need
You know this guy
Joseph Goldstein who's been studying and you know every year he goes on, you know, sell three months retreats. I mean he's really
um
Practicing what he's preaching and has really is an amazing soul that
That podcast will be out on a mind-rolling podcast folks
In a in a couple of weeks
But he said to me
You know what?
I'm not a buddhist
Sky has been practicing buddhism for 50 years or something 45 years 40 years. Yeah, he said i'm not a buddhist
It's not about a buddhist. It's about self-awareness
That's what it's about. It's about being able to do something decent for your neighbor
Or anybody anybody you see every day that you're having, you know a generous exchange rather than
What is what am I going to do? Oh god this that you know, whatever all the bullshit that goes through our minds
so it's worth
Getting control of that mind and it's worth practicing compassion. Well, it because it creates
Revolutionary changes in your life and i'll give you an example and this is directly
This is directly from from the stuff that that i've learned from going to the retreats and talking to you and
Rom das and jack cornfield, which is that i was having uh speaking of neighbors
I was in a cold war with my neighbor
um, and and we were in a cold war over
uh
I don't know the garbage cans and i don't know just we were
She it just was a power struggle thing and i my ego would flare up and and i
Didn't want to do anything that she wanted me to do
Because i felt i didn't like the way she was asking me it's just all bullshit ego stuff
and
You know i would so i was in this dumb war and i used to live my whole life like that man. Oh my life
used to be
Vengeance was normal like if i could win i that's all that mattered or if i could be
You know even i'm not saying i was like a rampaging jerk, but definitely was into winning
Winning these winning a war like that. I wanted to be the one you got apologized to i wanted to be the one on top
but
I remember just this you know from
Assimilating some of this stuff that you guys were saying and going into a mindful state and watching and thinking okay
Wait, that's your ego that wants to
Tell her that you think she's a fucking asshole and that if she has a problem talk to the landlord not me
And so she got sick and i was thinking about all this stuff and and and and this was like she was sick in the midst of
Us having real serious
Like not serious, but we're just not getting along and then i'm like you know what i'm gonna get her some soup
i'm gonna bring her some soup
i'm gonna bring her some miso soup
Because that helps when you're sick and i brought it to her and i remember how happy she got and we looked at each other
And suddenly this entire thing that would have been going on even to this very day
It transformed and now when i see her
We smile and talk and i'm living in a little tiny little utopian place here that used to be
a war zone
And that's because of what you guys are putting out there and that's how revolutionary this stuff can be
And and because it really is important to have harmony with your neighbor
It's a terrible feeling to know that
I know what you're feeling with your neighbor. It's it's a real mind fuck. It's a real drain
Yeah, and i i'm not kidding about that. I'm having a real problem myself with it and uh, and you're absolutely right
It's revolutionary and and what the this thing i read of the karma karma earlier
You know fearlessness it takes real fearlessness to
To even approach changing
Who you've been, you know
And so that's definitely part of the whole uh recipe for just being able to break through of
Of this complete self-referential life that we lead
So, uh, that's beautiful though, and which yeah, that's really sweet
Well, it's it's sweet and it's it's in it and it leads it's it leads to
It leads to a kind to i don't know what the word for it is, but it's it's ecstasy
It's a kind of great feeling the more you do these things the more
um
It's it's we the mind all the things the mind tells you to stay it's like the mind
Looks at a hot tub
And says oh that's freezing water do not go into that hot tub
And then you begin to think like god i i'm gonna avoid these actions of compassion and love at all cost
That's the fear and then the moment it happens
Wow, this feels better than anything i've ever felt
And then you start thinking like well is this then then if i keep doing this then how ha
What universe am i going to be living in?
It's almost the opposite of an apocalypse
You know, it's it's like a nirvana lips or something
Nirvana lips
Yes nirvana lips
That's i'm gonna i've got to save that i've got a that's got to be someone's nickname
And by the way nirvana just got uh inducted into the uh rock and roll hall of fame and they deserve it
They deserve because they were so happy didn't they used to play at the rom-dos retreats
Oh, yes every yeah as every year. Yes kurt would reimagine his body and
Reimagine his fun
This is fun
I always love hanging out with you. Well, I wonder what would have happened. That's funny to think
You know what what if kurt cobain had gone to a rom-dos retreat? Would we not have had nirvana?
What would have happened? Would you guys have if eliminated?
A wonderful band by transforming kurt cobain's
angst into something beautiful and ecstatic
You want to hear something crazy? Yes
Kurt cobain's manager
When nirvana is at the retreat happens to be a very
Close old friend. His name is danie golbert
and he
Is uh here at the at the retreat do you believe we're talking about that? That's wild
Wow, that's cool. That is really cool. Those retreats are great, man
I am not going to keep you away from the retreat any longer. We've we've done an hour. Thank you for for
You're you're the time that you've given us and um, please
I know everyone wants is going to want to know how to find that stream. So that's at rom-dos.org
You guys are going to have this if people want to listen go to the retreat
at least
Sort of go to the retreat listen to the lectures at the retreat. They can go there, right? Watch is not listen
You know you actually it's a it's a video. Oh cool. Oh, that's great guys. You should definitely go and do this
I'm going to action, but
I'm going to do it and it's a good it's a far far away, but in december
I'm definitely coming to that retreat. So some of your some of your audience
You know your your podcast audience is at this retreat. How crazy is that? Well, hopefully they're listening this conversation
Hi, you guys. I love you. I wish I was there with you
I'm going to be there in december though. So come back again in december because I remember the
The last retreat I met people from the podcast and it's really cool hanging out in the beach
at night after the retreat and everyone's just
Naked
Yeah, everyone's naked making love shooting heroin
Just kidding everyone's heroin was nice with all right. I I love talking to you today
Uh, I love you ragu. You are such a wonderful person. Thank you for this and um, I'll put all the links to
The uh, ramdas website and mind rolling podcast which you got all of you should be listening to that podcast
Um, and any other links that you send me links blah blah blah. Thank you ragu
Please tell everyone hello and uh, tell ramdas. I love him. Please
We'll do all of you. All of all of by ragu. See ya. Aloha
Thanks for listening everybody. That was ragu marcus
Be sure to listen to mind rolling podcast located at mind rolling podcast dot com
And go to square space dot com sign up for a membership. Put my name in duncan. You'll get 10 off
Thanks for listening everybody and give us a nice rating on itunes. Won't you see you around. Bye. Bye