Neil: Dear Ramji, your decision not to go on the teacher’s circuit is very interesting. How much do you get per hour as a house painter? It seems a lot of hard work when you could have an easy life as a teacher. Why don’t you teach more? Never mind the easy life, but it is much needed for the purification of people. I love you and have met you as the self, which is no meeting. The teachings of the Gita are the most valuable in my life. Eternal thanks.

Ram: Hi, Neil. Your affection for me and the teachings is indeed gratifying. It wasn’t a “decision,” because there was never a choice. I’ve just been following a very simple principle of living since I realized who I was and what I have now as a life is a result of that, not of any conscious decision. Even if I wanted to I have no idea how to get on the “teacher’s circuit” that you are talking about, short of having a rich person with a strong love of Vedanta sponsor me. It’s a huge commitment in terms of time, effort and money. I don’t believe in promoting myself and I honestly think that people are pure enough as they are. You must know how resistant to change people actually are, how they will hear fine teachings, get very high in samadhi and then fall right back into the arms of their vasanas without so much as a by your leave. Look at your own case. The spiritual thing to do would be to resolve your relationship problem, but months and years pass and nothing changes. I understand how difficult emotional attachments can be, but if someone wants to be free they have to make sacrifices to clean their karmic account.

Who is willing to do this? People are happy to have their cake and eat it too, but they are not happy with either the cake on the table in front of them – or with the full tummy.

If somebody invited me to give a satsang or do a weekend intensive and they got the people together and made all the arrangements, I would be happy to do it. But honestly, Neil, painting houses is a lot easier than getting on the satsang circuit. This is your desire, not mine.

I’m just floating along in life. I have no goal, no burning desire to be anybody or do anything. Manual work is satisfying – you see results and you stay healthy and after a few months you have a nice stash of cash and can head off to India and live like a king for a year or two.

The next way station on my journey is the grave, so why make a big fuss to change the world? I did some teaching in my life and attracted people and lived well, but the truth is that people start clinging to you, drawing inspiration from you, needing you, programming you, asking you for your time twenty-four hours a day. After a while you become famous and you are like a prisoner in a cage – obligations, obligations and obligations. Nobody ever asks what they can do for you, they only ask what you can do for them. Most people in the spiritual world are not actually sincere. They are playing at it; it is a kind of lifestyle. When asked to make serious sacrifices they will not do it. I have one friend I have been like a guru to for more than ten years. He still asks the same questions and is still stuck in the same box. He will get so high hearing Vedanta and make all kinds of resolutions to change and in a few days the resolutions wear off and he is right back where he started. And then he comes to me with questions and to get some inspiration. People are like this. Where’s the satisfaction in it for either him or me?

On the other hand there are a few people, very rare people, who are really clear about what they want and for whom a few simple words from Sri Ram will enlighten them for good. I am not a kindergarten teacher. Let life purify people. When someone is really ready he or she will just appear in my life and teaching will take place – once and for all. Look at the satsang gurus – they go from place to place saying the same thing to the same crowd over and over again. Everyone has a good time and when they walk out they are thinking about the next satsang, not making the room in their lives to allow the wisdom to flower.

At the root of my position on teaching is the view that everything is just fine as it is. Both happiness and misery serve the self. What is there to change? At some point a person has to accept himself or herself as he or she is. The more you purify the more you build a purification vasana and it becomes a self-defeating cycle of activity that keeps one from appreciating the beauty that is.

~ Love, Ram