Sharing the lila of Rama & Sita in the Ramayana, Krishna Das helps free us from the gravity of separateness orbiting the ‘Planet of Me.’
In this ‘Hanging in the Heart Space’ session from January 21st 2021, Krishna Das answers audience questions exploring the lila of Rama & Sita in the Ramayana, freeing oneself from the gravity of the ‘Planet of Me,’ devotion’s relationship to emotion, Siddhi Ma’s connection to Maharajji, facing obstacles to practice, motivation for chanting, Hanuman, being here now, and being ‘”real fakes” with Ram Dass.
Join KD in virtual Satsang every Thursday at 4 pm PST for the live recordings of ‘Hanging in the Heart Space‘ – featuring music, conversation, & live Q&A with KD. Livestream airs on Instagram, Facebook and Youtube
Lila of the Ramayana: Rama & Sita
Opening the ‘Hanging in the Heart Space’ question and answer section to the virtual audience, Krishna Das begins the podcast prompted to explore the Hindu holy book, the Ramayana. Focusing on the story of Rama and Sita—respectively the masculine and feminine aspects of the singular God—Krishna Das illuminates the Lila (divine play) of the universe represented through their tale.
“You’ve got to understand: Rama and Sita are not two different people. They’re two sides of one coin. They’re both incarnations—Ram of Vishnu; Sita of Lakshmi, the Shakti. Without the Shakti there’s no Vishnu; without the Vishnu there’s no Shakti. They’re together. They came to preform a Lila – a drama in order to lure the evil out of the world and destroy it.” – Krishna Das
For even more insights into the Lila of Ram, Sita, and Hanuman in the Ramayana, tune to Ep. 191 of Mindrolling
Planet of Me: Devotion is the Ocean, Attachment is Emotion (7:27)
Sourcing an audience question asking him to reconcile attachment and devotion, Krishna Das shares enlightening insights and potent metaphors elucidating these two key spiritual concepts. Attachment is an emotion, a clinging, a rollercoaster of reaction that reinforces our separateness as ‘different waves.’ Devotion; however, is oneness, unconditional love – it is the ocean that connects and is also the waves.
“We’re attached to that identity—that egoistic, self-centered, ‘Planet of Me,’ around which all of our stuff orbits. When that ‘Planet of Me’ is dissolved or understood to be not even their in the first place, all that stuff that’s been orbiting it just floats away. It has nothing to orbit around. There’s no gravity of separateness anymore.” – Krishna Das
“Devotion is a love in which the self disappears. The self is absorbed in the Big Self. Devotion is falling in love with love itself. There’s not necessarily an object of that love. Gurus, Deities, Bodhisattvas, Buddhas can be an object of devotion because they know they are not different than you. They live within us. Their true nature is the same as our true nature. So by tuning to them through devotional practice, we are uplifted and our hearts are lightened.” – Krishna Das
Wake up from the ‘Movie of Me’ with Ram Dass, Trudy Goodman, Jack Kornfield, Raghu Markus, & Duncan Trussell, on Ep. 269 of Mindrolling
Simplicity in Practice: Chanting, Hanuman, & Being Here Now (28:38)
Tackling queries pertaining to traversing dimensions and the deeper meanings of Hanuman, Krishna Das sifts down to the simplified. Explaining that the real game is in the repetition of the name, Krishna Das explores the relationship of Hanuman and prana (our life force) to the simplicity of ‘being here now’ in the present moment.
“I don’t know about other dimensions. I’m a very simple person. I sing, watch tv, sleep, and eat. I don’t know about molecules or sound yoga. I chant out of love, to quiet myself down, to enter into that loving presence. That’s all I know.” – Krishna Das
“Hanuman’s not somebody else that we find. Hanuman is our pran—our life, our life force—already. Right here, now. Through the repetition of the name, everything is uncovered, revealed, made full and complete. Nothing more. No other practices need to be done. No understanding has to happen first, before we repeat the name.” – Krishna Das
Open yourself into the lineage of Hanuman and learn to let go into the collective well of unconditional love, on Ep. 97 of Mindrolling
