Krishna Das – Ep. 39 – Relationships and Maharaji’s Early Life
This podcast is an excerpt from a workshop with Krishna Das where he recounts lesser known details of Maharaji and his mysterious early life. Krishna Das reminds us that our basic spiritual work is a means for gathering the inner strength necessary to be a better human being toward ourselves and others. If those who are closest to us do not feel loved, then we likely need to reevaluate the motives and intentions that shape our relationships.
Show Notes:
1:00 – Someone asks about intimate relationships and how their spiritual pursuits impact their partnership. “What happens when your spiritual journey causes a divide?” Krishna Das brings it back to the point of spiritual practice is to get you to the point where one can be a human being, “that’s your first job.”
02:41 – One develops inner strength on the spiritual path, to become more authentic and a real person, not to develop a spiritual ego. “Be a person first.”
04:28 – If your spiritual path is dividing you from your partner, you should look at that, and unravel the projections one puts on other people. That’s why we do spiritual practice.
05:43 – Workshop attendee shares a story from her childhood and the concept of forgiveness inspired by the phrase: if a wave comes, you can’t fight the wave, if you go with the ocean, it’ll bring you back safely to shore.
08:10 – Maharaji and his early life. He was born in a village called Akbanpor, to a landowner father, his mother died at a young age, his father later remarried. By the age of 10 he had already started wandering in the jungles when he was initially betrothed and later married.
09:22 – Maharaji ended up having 2 sons and 1 daughter. After his daughter’s marriage he returned to the life of a wanderer.
09:57 – A classic Maharaji quote: “I have the keys to the mind.”
11:49 – “Maharaji was running the whole show.” Krishna Das shares how Maharaji continued to be the one to look over his own household, throughout his while continuing to live on the road and at ashrams.
12:10 – The name Neem Karoli Baba comes from the Neeb Karori village.
12:55 – Krishna Das and Arjun have visited the caves Maharaji had dug for him and had spent many years living in without leaving.
14:20 – No one knows if Maharaji had any gurus or teachers.
16:57 – The last years of his life is when Maharaji started to spend more time in the ashrams. It was the only way to keep track of him and spend time with him.
18:00 – Krishna Das elaborates on the overall awe-inspiring experience it was just to look at Maharaji- “we just stared at him.”
20:00 – Shares a story about being in a deep meditative state with Maharaji and the other devotees, and being told to “Jao” or leave to catch the bus. He leaves them with a mysterious phrase “it’s in the blood!”, most likely a reminder that the same blood runs through us all. We are all one family in the end.
