Helping us past discursive thought and separation, RamDev lays the bridgework to the path of Embodied Love and Devotional Vipassana.
Find out more about Dale’s work at the Living/Dying Project: livingdying.org
Discursive Thought & Embodied Love
Explaining how Indian saint, Ramana Maharshi, outlined two paths to God—Bhakti (devotional) and Jnana (knowledge)—RamDev takes the opportunity to share his own particular path: Embodied Love. Highlighting this sequential and natural process of moving from mind to body to heart when afflicted with discursive thought, RamDev invites us into the nondual spaciousness of ‘just being with’ the changing nature of sensation.
“I go through my life, I notice that I’m caught in discursive thought. Then I locate that thought in my body. What is the sensation that’s going on? I go from sensation to just being in my body. What are the sensations? Then from sensations, I go into my heart. That’s really my main practice—using my body to go into my heart.” – RamDev
Tap into the wholeness of emptiness, as RamDev explores Embodied Nonduality, on Ep. 64 of Healing at the Edge
Devotional Vipassana (7:17)
Sharing instructions for a grounding and centering Two-Breath Meditation for embodied spaciousness, RamDev introduces the idea of “Devotional Vipassana” – a mindful awareness of unconditional love at the core of one’s being. Telling India stories of his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, he offers insight into the connection between suffering, forgiveness, compassion, and opening the heart.
“Can there be something we could call ‘Devotional Vipassana’ – that what we’re paying attention to is the reality that the nature of consciousness is love. That even if we’re feeling grumpy, even if we’re feeling tired, there is a love that goes beyond preference. The Beloved can only be everything.” – RamDev
For more insight into RamDev’s concept of Devotional Vipassana, tune to Ep. 60 of Healing at the Edge
Buddhism, Boundaries, & Wholeness (22:00)
After gleaming his ‘Embodied Love’ wisdom through the Buddhist lens, RamDev explores the relationship between boundaries and our sense self, touching on the nuances of separation, wholeness, ego, and death.
“The ego is very persistent, and our job is not to defeat it or destroy it. Because we can’t. But one way of looking at the spiritual path is understanding what the ego is and what it is not: It’s a useful tool, it helps us get through life, but it’s not who we are.” – RamDev
Ram Dass shares wisdom from boundaries to the human agenda, on Ep. 82 of Here & Now
