I was drawn to be very solitary as a scholar. I lived a very quiet life, aloof, with my books, with my walks in nature, meditating, and of course with my teacher.
I only work with professionals. I don't mean at seminars, but in my business.
I've been very fortunate because many of the teachers I had were exceptional. But I didn't realize that at the time that all teachers were not alike.
I personally don't subscribe to any particular cosmology or beleif system. I'm a seer.
Rama was not only on the lips of Hanuman. He was enthroned in his heart. He gave Hanuman exhaustless strength.
For me, Rama and Rahim are one and the same deity.
I do have a staff of what some people would consider to be very attractive, chic women. They are not on the staff because they are attractive and chic but because they care about the welfare of others.
Ramanama purifies while it cures, and, therefore, it elevates.
I loved Laurel and Hardy and TV shows like 'Robin Hood' and 'Rama of the Jungle'.
Zazen's music is composed in other dimensions and it is played by some of my students. I go through the music they have played with my aura and wash out anything impure.
They presented a description of the world to all of us which was very limited and narrow.
The women that I met were exceptional, extraordinary - tremendous purity, tremendous gentleness, self-giving and power.
I found the experiences that I had with sexuality were wonderful, they were very uplifting - we had a good time - and they didn't seem to affect the level of my mediation.
Devotion differs. Devotion exists for the total existence, without the counterpart, mm? There is nothing against devotion. There is hate against love; there is nothing against devotion. No-devotion is not against devotion, it is just absence. So when someone says, "I am devoted to Rama," really he is using a wrong word. If he loves Rama, then he cannot love Krishna. If someone says, "I am devoted to Krishna," then he cannot love Christ. He is using a wrong word. He is continuing the love phenomenon; it is not devotion.
Love can be the only answer. But snowboarding also works for me. Because I love snowboarding!
I too have experienced the extreme pain of living, but I have also experienced some of its remarkable ecstasy.
Since I have spent many years of my life living in Los Angeles, and since I'm also in the music business, I know that much more is talked about in Los Angeles than ever really occurs.
In poetry, and in my study in graduate school, I was drawn to a particular poet, Theodore Roethke. I did a dissertation on "The Evolution of Matter and Spirit in the Poetry of Theodore Roethke" for my Ph. D.
I am simply a human being who is fascinated by the life process.
To see them succeed, to see them improve, that is what matters.
