It makes me happy to see this article here. I have always been impressed with the way Ram Dass has traveled through life.
My favourite example of this (albeit not one that's always been at peace) is the Dalai Lama. Dude goes around talking about love and acceptance and whatnot, which is great and he seems like a great guy, but his experience as someone with an international organisation dedicated to looking after him is maybe not 100% relevant to the life of some random pleb in a Western country.
I don’t think the Dalai Lama is a great example. He doesn’t do it out of choice but out of duty. It’s what a Dalai Lama is expected to do. They are believed to be the reincarnation of an enlightened person who represents compassion. He’s also the head of the exiled Tibetan state, so he probably will have people looking after him whether he likes it or not.
I think there are only very few people that are really spiritually enlightened and they are not necessarily the famous gurus.
I know nothing about Ram Dad's but when I was more involved in yoga I saw some very shady behavior of public gurus.
I've had many teachers that were superb at imparting their lessons while living with the foibles and flaws of being real people. You take what you need from the teacher and move on.
An example in popular culture: someone like Bill Cosby, who I am sure influenced countless people to be better people. Well, it turned out that he had major problems (to put it mildly!). Does that negate the "lessons" that he imparted in another aspect of his life? I would argue no.
I know you aren't negating this argument in your post, but I just wanted to say this and chose your post to glom onto! :)
Same for some gurus who outwardly are serene and friendly people but their ashram is a dictatorship that terrorizes and manipulates people. There is also a lot of sexual abuse going on. Ram Dass himself did questionable things.
I think bad behavior negates the teachings or at least diminishes them by a lot. How am I supposed to know something works if it doesn't work for the teacher?
Unfortunately there are only a few authentic gurus and teachers.
- Nietzsche