Discovering Spirituality with Ram Dass and Maharajji in Maui

In this Can We Start Over episode, Britt and Lindsey share their experiences at Ram Dass's House in Maui, where they each did personal retreats. Britt, who previously considered himself an atheist, talks about his growing interest in meditation and spiritual practices and how this retreat helped him develop a deeper understanding of himself and the world around him.

The episode delves into the importance of personal growth and the journey toward understanding our oneness. Britt and Lindsey discuss what they took from the retreat and how it impacted their spiritual journeys. 

They also talk about the significance of Ram Dass and his teachings, emphasizing the importance of honoring all levels of wisdom and being present in our everyday lives.

Join Britt and Lindsey as they share their insights and reflections on the journey toward self-discovery and personal growth.

Hanuman Maui - The Ram Dass Loving Awareness Sanctuary
Ram Dass - Love Serve Remember Foundation 
Ram Dass Be Here Now Podcast

Ram Dass Books
Polishing The Mirror
Miracle Of Love
Be Here Now
Be Love Now

Keywords: Can We Start Over, Podcast, Personal Growth, Spiritual Journey, Ram Dass, Meditation, Oneness, Self-Discovery, Atheism, Reflections, Insights.

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Britt's Photography
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Transcript

Britt: 0:14

Welcome everybody to another episode of the Can We Start Over podcast. My name is Burt

Lindsey: 0:22

and my name is Lindsay and we are a married couple. We're from Texas. We don't live there now. We actually don't live anywhere. We're kind of homeless because we sold our house. We sold all of our stuff and we took our three kids on the road to travel for a year to find a new home. And when we decided to do it, we were like, let's share the journey and let's talk to other people that started over. Hence what you're listening to right now. Mm-hmm. This podcast, can we start over and Yes, we can. And today's episode is a one-on-one touch base with Brit and I, which we don't get to do a lot, so it's really nice where we share our experience at Rom DA's House in Maui. We each just did personal retreats there, one-on-one. So one of us took kid duty for a few days. While the other went to Ramdas's and then we switched. It was incredible. It was unreal. It was all the things. And so we get into it. We wanted to make sure we shared it with everyone while it was fresh. Yeah. And just happened and. We thank you so much for listening. We're so glad you're here. This is truly done on the road as we go. So we've recorded in a lot of cities now, and it will continue to be as we keep traveling when this episode comes out, we won't even be in the US anymore. We'll be in Japan, or who knows. So, We thank you because listening and sharing the podcast, telling us what you want to hear, like actually is what helps us keep going

Britt: 2:06

and if you need a podcast editor for your own podcast, I might be your guy. Hit me up. I do that. I like editing podcasts. I edit our podcast. I can help you. Just hit us up at info. Can we start over? podcast.com.

Lindsey: 2:21

Brit is an audio engineer of. 15 years and had a recording studio and now he's doing all this stuff on the road and he makes it sound great and he always cuts out all the stupid shit we say, and he makes it. It's nice. To be with someone that knows how to do something so well, so I don't have to worry about it. That's really nice. I

Britt: 2:47

can't be held accountable for the birds and the kids and should do this in a different space every time. So, but that's natural, but that's natural. That's a natural environ. That's what I love,

Lindsey: 2:56

baby. Yeah. Share this episode with a friend who is interested in ROM das or who's interested in. Me,

Britt: 3:05

I can In me. Yeah. I can tell you anything you wanna know about me

Lindsey: 3:10

because I feel like it's a, yeah, it's a juicy one. We were in both, we're in the heart space, the loving awareness heart space. So we hope you enjoy it. Yeah, let's do it.

Britt: 3:24

How you feeling, Lindsay?

Lindsey: 3:27

I don't know. No comment. You got some shit to figure out. Always, always, always. What about you?

Britt: 3:38

I'm pretty feeling, uh, a little blah. Really? A little bit, yeah. Aw. Well, we're packing right now for Japan. Yeah. Tomorrow. Feel like we have a lot to do, which really isn't that much, but for some reason it's weighing on me a bit.

Lindsey: 3:53

Does you feel like when there's a lot to do, you feel blah.

Britt: 3:58

Yeah,

Lindsey: 3:58

sometimes. Yeah. Huh? Yeah. Interesting. Yeah, I'm feeling pretty energized. I am feeling like I have a lot of random work to do. Mm-hmm. Um, but I'm feeling good about it. Yeah. It's what I'm like, where my brain, heart, brain is right now is just. We're in this constant state of, um, taking in new information, like via our surroundings and everything mm-hmm. Is new around us, and then distilling it, trying to integrate it, and then going to the next place. Yeah. So I'm sort of being sort of in this space of, all right, what did I learn here? What do I feel here? Mm. And trying to. Remember? Yeah. But I know that my mind doesn't really need to remember it that much. That's, it's like in, it's in your in my body. Yeah. I do, I do wanna remember all the things that happened when we're on this trip, but I guess what I'm thinking of more is not what did I learn here so much as like, what are the things I did here to check off a list or X, Y, Z, but like mm-hmm. What did I, what am I gonna take away from this place where we are right now? That takes me further down this path of being a human. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know, because we're here for a reason on Mount beautiful Maui. Mm-hmm. So that's what I'm in this, and it feels like it's, there's not that much time to, all right. Distill it all down. What's, what's the feeling? What did I clear? Cleanse, heal, release. What did I. What am I still holding on to here? And then we go get on a plane and go to the next place. Yeah. Um, because vacations are like potent times to do that, to like release or to have a break to see things the way they really are. And we're in this constant state of vacation, which is fucking cool and awesome. And also there's not the integration period, at least right now. Yeah, we don't have like a few days off somewhere. Right? But we did take a few days off. We each took, well, something that we really both wanted to do when we got to Maui. So we've been here about three weeks and we're going to talk all about what we did in Maui on another. Another time, another realm. Yeah. So if you're coming here for that, you should just turn this off. Throw your phone in the river. Jump in the river and swim because you're only alive once. Okay? What are you doing? You don't always need to be consuming content. Go jump in the river and be

Britt: 6:53

free. Are there leeches in it? That's fine. You'll survive. You're gonna be No one ever died of leeches that I know of. Yeah, and I don't know much.

Lindsey: 7:00

Luckily we're spiritual beings living in a highly modern medical time, so you're gonna be fine. We'll get you to the hospital. But really

Britt: 7:10

what we're really here to talk about is how each of us did a personal retreat at ROM DA's

Lindsey: 7:14

house. Yeah, it was amazing. So Rom das lived on Maui for 15 years. And had a home here. People could do retreats when he was um, in his body and living and did them and I'm sure they were fantastic. And now he is no longer in his body. They still offer retreats there and what it looks like, cuz people kept on asking me afterwards, well what is a personal retreat? What does that mean? I think because people are used to a retreat, meaning a group of people goes somewhere and. Does something together, usually naked at some point. Um, but a personal retreat is they have two guest little guest houses and you pay money and you stay there for 3, 5, 7 longer, two weeks a month. I don't know, as long as you. Want, you're just in the space of rom das.

Britt: 8:14

Right. And rom das believed in adult retreats, what he called them, which isn't getting naked and doing things. Maybe, maybe it is, I don't know. Uh, but it's you doing whatever your spirit requires is I think. Yeah. Yeah. While he put it. Um, so for us, we did it how we wanted, and for me that was a mixture of medi group meditation. Um, meditation alone in my room or out in the yard doing, um, service. We made flower bouquets for people in hospice. There's a lot of really cool stuff we did, so we kind of got to design our own retreats.

Lindsey: 8:52

Yeah. Yeah. And spend a lot of time alone. Yeah. Which was nice because at least for both of us, we're constantly. Not alone. Yeah.

Britt: 9:03

Right now I don't think I've spent that much time alone since I was a, you know, a school kid. Oh, really? Yeah. My parents were off in their room doing whatever on the weekend. Yeah, no, I was just milling around the house or Oh, wow. Going to the, the trails or something. Oh,

Lindsey: 9:19

wow. Anyone who. Knows anything about me, probably knows that I consider ROM das one of my most influential and important teachers when it comes to spirituality, the heart, mindfulness, all the things. So we originally decided to come to Maui because the chit tickets were like priced nicely from LA and we booked these tickets a long time ago, and then somewhere along the planning I was like, oh. We could go to Ramdas's house and I was asked you if I could, if you mind, if I did a personal retreat when we were here and then when I talked to you about it, you were interested in it. Oh yeah. And so what, I wanna know what struck your interest?

Britt: 10:06

Well, uh, I guess it all starts with your. Path of learning about Rom Dass really? About five years ago. Through Pete Holmes, right? Yeah. Through the podcast. Mm-hmm. And you would play his talks like in the car. His books were laying around everywhere. Be here now, if anybody's familiar with that book or if you're not familiar with that book. It's a mixture of Rom Dass story. Some art, really amazing art, and basically a cookbook for spirituality, I guess what you would say at the end there. Mm-hmm. Um, giving you steps to, you know, find yourself really, whatever it means to you, honestly. Uh, but it was, it was a really cool book, so that's how I was introduced to rom doss.

Lindsey: 10:53

Yeah. But, and you would consider yourself. Like a beginner ish. Interested in,

Britt: 11:01

in that. Absolutely. Yeah. And then later on, Pete Holmes was telling us about his experiences there, doing his retreats at Hanaman, talking to Ramdas in the body. Mm-hmm. And I thought that was amazing. I was like, this sounds really cool. I I want to do

Lindsey: 11:18

this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What did you. Go in wanting to gain or No?

Britt: 11:27

Well, my intentions, my biggest one was to kind of kickstart a meditation practice or time for myself. Mm-hmm. Or a spiritual practice, whatever that maybe figure out what that meant to me. Mm-hmm. Honestly, because I, I still don't consider myself religious at all, but definitely spiritual. So to me that, that. Means whatever's happening outside of my body that I'm part of.

Lindsey: 11:54

Mm-hmm. Right, right, right. Okay. Ooh, whatever's happening outside of your body that you're a part of, tell me. Yeah. What does that

Britt: 12:00

mean? Well, uh, it actually means everything because we're all the same shit. We're all stardust. Um, but for me, in my life, that just means my mental health, my connection with other people, with my family. With animals, with the earth, with everything. Mm-hmm. And knowledge. Learning this like ancient knowledge. Ramm das was kind of a channel for his guru, for his guru Maharaji and there's so much knowledge there. Yeah. It's just, it's insane. Yeah. It all comes to you. And the first time I read Rom das. I was like, none of this doesn't make sense. Mm-hmm. Like every single thing makes sense and it's put to you in a way that you can relate to. Mm-hmm. He was kind of funny. He didn't take himself too seriously. Mm-hmm. And that appealed to me. Mm-hmm. You know, and you know, people would ask him questions like, Hey, do you believe in this? And sometimes his answer would be like, I don't know, but I don't, I don't know if it matters because the information, the learning was there, and maybe it was a way to rethink something. Hmm. And it all made sense. So for me, I kind of came in open for one of the first times in my life, which had never been, I've always considered myself a, a staunch atheist. Yeah. You know what I mean? And I came in open to be like, well, whatever happens, happens. Because when I was a kid, I'd be like, all right, God, if you're there. Come to me now, let's do this. Mm-hmm. And I, I, you know, said I was open. I tried to be open, never, never felt it. Mm. Didn't, it didn't resonate with me at all, um, any religion. Mm-hmm. Right? Mm-hmm. And not to compare this experience to religion too much because I, I still don't feel like it was, but there was, I definitely now feel like there before, if, before I was conf, I didn't know if there was. Something beyond the actual body. Now I feel like I know that there, there is. Yeah. Uh, and that is kind of crazy for me to say, cuz never in my life would I really have entertained that. Um, but without getting too specific, I, I went through some shit there. Yeah, yeah,

Lindsey: 14:18

man, that's, I love that you said that because I also, I've, I've been on this path longer, but I. Also identified as atheist, I guess it's almost, it almost became like, well, nothing else feels right to put on. So this is how I always looked at like, uh, when I got to a certain age, spiritual connection or religion or whatever it is, it was like, well, nothing else seems to fit. So okay. Atheism, there's nothing I guess. Even that didn't really fit, but I was like, this seems to make the most sense to me. And then what I started going through was just like needing something deeper. I needed something bigger to hold me because whatever the dumb, not dumb, but whatever the goals or the this or the like, Hustle. Or even the friends or the fun times like weren't big enough to hold me. I get that. Support me, you know? And so I'm like, there's gotta be something bigger that I can lean on, that I can like lean into. And then it becomes this very, like if you say spirituality or I'm a spiritual person, it's like so big and vague. Mm-hmm. That it almost is just like saying. Like I'm a banana. It doesn't mean anything almost.

Britt: 15:51

And not to take over, but I like that about it. I like that it can be whatever you think it is. That's a good, really good, and that's something that religion doesn't have room for in my, in my or that in my experience. Understanding

Lindsey: 16:03

in my under, yeah. Yeah, yeah. In my experience. Yeah. That's actually a really good point and that, that actually kind of shines a little light on me and, and so many of us like. The way we can just kind of like poo poo on something. So be like, even though I feel like I'm de deeply spiritual, I can still be like, oh, but you know, does that really convey? So maybe that's not right. Maybe that's not it. Maybe that word's too big and it's like, well let it be too big. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. What did you.

Britt: 16:43

And let me add, sorry. Let me add to that. Um, I also have never liked the word God, right? Mm-hmm. And I still, still doesn't resonate with me. I feel like there's like too much spiritual baggage with that. Yeah. Even the idea of it doesn't make sense, but now I, I, I'm less cringey with it, but I, I feel like. E even this I, I wouldn't have identified with even a week ago. That Right. God is everything. It's us. It's all of it. It's not a person, it's not one like being controlling everything. Right. You know what it is. Yeah. And it feels good that I don't have that baggage anymore. I still don't like the word, and I would rather use the word loving awareness. Yeah. Like MDAs. Yeah. You know? Or consciousness. Yeah. Is this God? Because, um, I guess if you do look at it like nature is controlling everything, it's all a cycle that supports itself, you know? Mm-hmm. Even in death or you know, the things that we don't consider, Helping us. It's helping us, it's helping nature. It's all just one. It's gonna do what it's gonna do. Yeah. You know, there've been what, three major ex like huge extinctions on the planet and the earth has come back stronger every time. Mm-hmm. So if here we go fucking everything up like we are. Prob Well, what we're definitely doing, yeah. Earths gonna be fine. Right? It's gonna come back fine. Right. For killing anybody. It's us. Yeah. You know? Exactly. Anything's not it's gonna thrive. It's humans. Yeah. Um, and animals. Yeah. So there's some weird karma there, but, um, yeah, I don't know. Like, I don't sh I still don't use the term God, cuz I feel like in most cases, especially in the West, we're talking about Sky Daddy who's making the decisions, you know? Mm-hmm. I feel like that's, A kind of a general understanding of God, where we're from. Yeah. So, um, I'm fine with just not even using that term. Yeah.

Lindsey: 18:43

You know? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. The word God bothers me way less. And I do use it because it just, it works. Again, banana, what is it really? You know? Call it what it is. Yeah. Um, and there is so much baggage with it, so you are right. It, it holds both. And maybe we should just take the word God back from religions that have harmed and caused harm. Yeah. And,

Britt: 19:15

and also it doesn't matter. It doesn't use it however we want, because really it's true. It's all about your personal journey. Right. You know what I mean? It doesn't, we don't need to. Yeah. Yeah. Who cares what anybody else thinks about it

Lindsey: 19:27

or needs. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Personal journey and also collective, like our collective journey to something else, but actually the something else is just right here. Yeah. Such a paradox of both. It's like, oh no, we're like individually and collectively going somewhere on the spiritual path, but like the only place to actually go is.

Britt: 19:49

Here to understand it. To understand our oneness.

Lindsey: 19:53

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's all it is. Yeah.

Britt: 19:55

Yeah. We're here. We're already here. Yeah. Yeah.

Lindsey: 20:00

Ugh. So what did you learn about yourself at Ramdas's

Britt: 20:06

House? Um, I learned that I like to read. That's cool. Right? There's, uh, something about me, I haven't read a book in the past eight years since we've had kids. Yeah. Um, and it's not their fault. It's me just like, Trying to get through my

Lindsey: 20:21

daily life. Yeah. It is their fault. They don't even know how to read. It's really hard to have a book club with two people that don't, three people now that don't know how to read

Britt: 20:30

almost four. Um, but I read more in those four days than I've ever read in my life. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. It was wild. Yeah. And I enjoyed it, and I actually got something out of it. Mm. So there's something I also learned how to sit with myself in silence. Mm-hmm. You know? Mm-hmm. And how to medic, how I feel meditating. I learned I guess. Yeah. Um, really got a handle on that. And I've dabbled it in the past. And usually if, you know, for 10 minutes in the morning I'll sit there and meditate and maybe at night while I'm going to sleep, but I've never put aside time, especially in the middle of the day to just sit there and. I guess be one with

Lindsey: 21:12

myself, right? Right. Mm-hmm. You know? Yeah.

Britt: 21:16

And actually see where that takes me. Mm-hmm. It took me some wild places. Yeah. Wow. Um, where, I mean, I feel there were points where I felt like I was on mushrooms. Um, and I don't know. I'm kind of nervous to say that cuz I, I don't know, uh, if that sounds crazy, but, um, I felt like it, I was seeing shit. I was feeling shit. I was. Vibrating. I felt like I was glowing, you know? Wow. Um, it, it was pretty bonkers. I think you can get places with meditation that, um, you can get with drugs.

Lindsey: 21:53

Yeah, yeah. Well, and in that way, like drugs aren't drugs. They're medicine and Right. That's what I'm meant. Meditation is medicine. Yeah. There you go. It really is. Yeah. And when we change it to be, Medicine, it takes all the, like meditation can be sold as this thing to do so you can be a better worker and be a better this. And, um, that's fair. But there's, again, there's something deeper there under it where it's like, oh, this is a medicine for my inner being right. And medicine for the something larger. Like whatever I do for my inner being and my stillness is also serving God or whatever you wanna call it. It's serving community, it's serving collective, it's serving the

Britt: 22:45

earth, it's serving our oneness. Exactly. If you're doing better, we're all doing better. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I mean, that's true of everybody. But if you need a better example, if, um, the president was feeling good, Yeah. And doing something good for himself. Yeah. That would probably trickle down somehow. Benefit. That's so true. There's your trickle down economics right there. Right, right. Trickle down. Spirituality.

Lindsey: 23:09

Spirituality. Oh man, that's so good. Um, and that actually reminds me of you saying like, it felt like I was on drugs. That, that even the drugs, the medicine, whatever you wanna call it, we've both been in ceremony in that way, like. All of that is actually you. You're the ceremony space. Mm-hmm. You are the altar. You are the magic because you're part of the oneness. It's coming from within you and without you. And so it's not just it, it releases the um, The hierarchy maybe of where something comes from, like, yeah, oh, I take a, I take a psychedelic and then I feel this way. Right. That we're, we're co-creating that experience together. Me and medicine. Me and meditation. Yeah. Me and you, me and rom doss. Mm-hmm. Ramdas and Maharaji. Yeah,

Britt: 24:04

man, it, it was bonkers. So at, at the house, it is the house that Ramdas lived in, um, and there would always be other people working there, taking care of him, doing service. There are always people around dropping in and out, and that's still how it is today. So it, it kind of felt like the real world spiritual edition. So

Lindsey: 24:25

funny. Cause it, I was being reminded the whole time when I was there, of when I like lived with a lot of roommates and it was very communal mm-hmm. The way we lived. Mm-hmm. Like the kitchen things were labeled and people made dinner. On certain nights. Mm-hmm. So that has that aspect of like this communal essence.

Britt: 24:44

Yeah. And it was all people from different backgrounds. Mm-hmm. Too. Mm-hmm. And we're just living together with this common goal of like awakening being one and we're awakening. Yeah. It was fucking bonkers. Yeah. Uh, That felt really good. So you can be anywhere in that house. All of Ramdas's stuff is still there. He's gotta study full of his books. Yeah. Um, not just the books that he wrote, but the books that he read, he's reading. Mm-hmm. And you know how important that is. You know, like, yeah. That's, it's bonkers to be able to sit there and read through his books from that. He's, he probably had for 50 years. Mm-hmm. And in some cases, his handwriting would be in the books. He was making notes about the stuff that he liked. There were pictures everywhere. It was mm-hmm. It was heavy going into that room. The second I stepped into that room. I mean, without getting too woowoo, you could, you felt like he was there with you. Um, yeah. And it was intense. Yeah. It was very intense. And not in a scary way, but in a, like, wow, this is like, I feel this energy right throughout my whole body. Right. And I, and that, that kind of made me nervous too. I'm like, oh God, I've never felt this way. Ooh, oh yeah, this, this is freaking me out. Mm-hmm. Yeah. This is the shit that I would maybe roll my eyes at if someone was just telling me about if somebody else told me that. Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? Yeah. Um, so that was weird and hard to let, to let go of, but immediately I let go of it, you know? Yeah. And, uh, on I, I guess the second day I was there, on Thursdays, they do like a group meditation where anyone that. Where anyone that contacts them can come and, uh, do a tour of the house and join in a group meditation. And it was crazy watching the people walk into that study room and have the same expression that I felt like I had the first time I walked in there. You know, like feeling that weird, like heaviness to the room. It was, it was amazing. Yeah. It was cool. No one just walked in, just like, oh, cool. You know, we go, okay. Yeah. Everyone walked in like, oh, wow. Yeah,

Lindsey: 26:50

that's, I guess what threw me off when you said that is the word heaviness. Mm-hmm. Um, because I was associating that with like a darkness or like, oh yeah. I guess it was

Britt: 27:00

more of a lightness really.

Lindsey: 27:01

But there it's like thick, thick. Yeah. It was thick. There's like a thick energy. That honestly feels very, like when I ev when I walked in the first time, I was just like, oh, like felt instantly comforted. Mm-hmm. But it is like walking through a fog or something.

Britt: 27:19

Mm-hmm. So the whole scene is run by Dossy Ma. She was the caretaker for AM Doss for 18 years, I wanna say. Oh really? Oh

Lindsey: 27:28

yeah,

Britt: 27:29

that sounds right. Yeah. Some, something like that. Yeah. Um, and there was a host of other caretakers he had. That helped out, that had been there long term or been in and out of the whole thing. And she was so sweet. Every morning at 8:00 AM we would go on a walk and walk the dog down to the ocean and at that point you could just ask her anything. She was like an open book. She would tell you stories about ROM das. So what was your experience

Lindsey: 27:55

with the whole thing? My experience, uh, I went in. So looking forward to it and also not really setting aside time to have an intention beforehand or anything like that. So I kind of came up with my intention on the fly once I got there. And when I, um, right when I got there, it was just like immediately. Off into that, that thick energy. Mm-hmm. You know, I was immediately introduced to a few people. We went and picked flowers to make, uh, mandala for Ramdas's table in his room. And even though I was with strangers at that point, there was, it didn't feel like these are strangers. It was like, you're here. And you just get folded right into this small group that is always interchanging. Absolutely. Yeah. And so when Dossy Ma asked me did I think about an intention for this time, I hadn't really thought about an intention yet because what I, my intention was to go sit with ROM das and I mean, I've been wanting to do it for over five years. Then at some point he left his body. So I knew it was still important to me, um, to either go to a Ramdas retreat, which they have here on Maui or in North Carolina now, or to come to his house, you know, to be in his presence in some way, in an intentional way. So when I thought about, okay, well what is my intention? What came to me was that I really wanted to de to reconnect with devotion because I've been feeling disconnected from the devotional aspect of whatever my spiritual practice is. It's feeling, it's been feeling a little lacking for me. You know, for whatever reason. For all the reasons, it's just like kind of the devotion is feeling sucked out of my practice, and it almost has been feeling more like. Meditation or these healing practices are so I can do feel better, so I can do X, Y, z, make more money, do more this, whatever. That's all fine and great. But what I found is, okay, I'm, I wanna find devotion. And what that looked like for me. I mean, I'm, I'm a meditator, so I'm gonna meditate a lot. So I meditated, you know, in the morning, in the midday, in the afternoon, in the evening, in the night. But what I learned about felt like I deepened my connection with Rom Dass and his teachings, but I learned so much about Maharajji. I can see the importance of. Turning to turning our devotion to a God or whatever it is for you. Because Maharaji was devoted to Hanman, which is the monkey God in Hindu, the monkey

Britt: 31:05

helper of God Rom Yeah. A form of God. Yeah. Former, right? Yeah. Yeah.

Lindsey: 31:12

And and I can hear like when I even say that, I can hear my friends, I can hear my old me being like, Ugh. What does that even mean? It's dumb. It's this, it's that. It doesn't matter what you're devoted to, as long as it's authentic and it's something greater. So that's why there is the story of Hanah. That's why there was Maharaji teaching. That through his devotion to Hanaman. So I saw the importance of a guru, which I didn't previously know, and I saw how simple being devoted a to a guru can be. At least that's how I saw it. Maybe that's not. How it is for everyone, but like this path of devotion to something greater for the sake of the something greater of the loving awareness. Nice. That's a good And how it like a great way to put it. We feed it, it feeds us and it's this continuation of the something greater. Yeah. And what that looked like for me was, yeah, it was spending time. Oh, did a lot of reading. I did a lot of meditating. I also wanted to be of service, so I picked flowers and reset the altars, and I just let go of any, any, any inkling of an idea that that like bowing to a statue of a monkey. God was silly. Right. And I was just like, you know what? I love it. Yeah, I love it because it feels good, not just self-serving good, but it feels like greater good. Right. And the same thing with Maharaji, the devotion to a guru. Like just for the sake of feeding, the loving awareness that feeds

Britt: 33:12

you. Yeah. And also the path. It doesn't matter. You can find your way there, however, that's so true. However you can get there. Exactly, exactly.

Lindsey: 33:22

You don't need, the point is the monkey God, you don't getting

Britt: 33:24

there don't need maharajji. Yeah. But if it helps you, that's fucking awesome. Yeah. If you connect

Lindsey: 33:28

with it, yeah. It's, yeah. Let it let it fill you up. That's what I am remembering right now. It's just like, let those things fill you up instead of tearing it

Britt: 33:41

down. Yeah. And that's that ancient wisdom. That I was talking about earlier, right? Like all of this wisdom you're getting from Maharaji, from the stories of Hanman, right? All of these ancient tales, it's all stuff that the second you hear it, you're like, ah, that makes sense, makes sense? Mm-hmm. This all makes sense. Mm-hmm. And whether it's real or it's not real, that wisdom is fucking real. Yeah. You know, like you can't deny the wisdom, right. You know what? I don't care if any of them existed, if they did or if they didn't. I'm getting exactly what I need there. The, the knowledge that there was some, that knowledge came from someplace I don't know where. Right? And I'm okay with just saying like, yeah, it was a monkey. God, let's let it be that monkey God, I'm gonna go wipe. The monkey, gods statue, his mouth. Yeah. I'm gonna feed him water and wipe its mouth. Mouth. Let him smell the flowers. Yeah. And light the candle. Yeah. And it felt good. You know? It feels good. God. And you know me, a year ago would've been like, oh, I'd love to put on like a black cloak and a Oh yeah. You know, like, like yeah. Uh, stack some giant rocks and dance naked around or you know, whatever, and be like, yeah, fuck yeah. That's metal. That's awesome. Well, it's the same thing. You know what I mean? I guess whatever our path to whatever, you know? Yeah. Knowledge that we're seeking, whatever that path is. Mm-hmm. It's the same fucking thing. Right.

Lindsey: 35:04

Yeah. I would say that as long as that path isn't leading towards more separateness, right. Then yes. As long as it's leading us back to that universal con interconnectedness and that's, I like you're saying that, and I can picture you just like being silly. Um, and being like, yeah, that's metal. And that's funny, funny, like humor leads us back to interconnectedness. The other thing that I really took away was that my connection to Rom das as my teacher is so real and important, and I like needed to tell him that. Whether he is in his body or not, and I know I could do that anywhere because he is not in his body. But being there and like sitting in the space of rom das and telling him like, thank you. Felt like honoring the wisdom that you're talking about. Absolutely. Especially in a time where, at least for me, I see. So much spiritual content. I mean we're, I've just run over with content every day, but there's so much spiritual content from a lot of young people. That's great. And it seems like there is a disregard for the wisdom. Yeah. That this has been happening forever. Devotion. Sacred practices, meditation. These things have been happening forever, and the more we turn to the wisdom keepers while also making it our own as like, Well, now I'm not even like a new generation. I'm 40 years old. I'm old, but there's like 22 year olds that are teaching this now. It's like we need to honor all the levels of wisdom. Yeah, and whether someone connected with ROM das as a teacher or not, we cannot. Deny the level of importance that he had on bringing this to the West when he did and other people did it too. But it rondos is just synonymous with teaching spirituality at a time when it was just feeling like it was coming to the west long before we were even born. Mm-hmm. And the fact that he did it for so long, And spoke to so many people and the fact that he could be speaking to someone that is my parents' age or his age and they would be getting it and then speaking to me, and I would be getting it. And now speaking to someone who's 25 and they're getting it and it's all coming from Maharaji is like, The wisdom is C, continuing to come down. Yeah. I felt very grateful to be a part of that wisdom. Yeah. Coming down in my own little way. Right. I still don't, I still feel like I haven't fully integrated what I gained there, what I gathered there and you know when you have those, this is obviously something that. Anyone would call a peak experience unless people went there and had a horrible time. Mm-hmm. That probably maybe has happened, I don't know. But you know when you have those times where you just know that the people you met there or something that happened there is going to be important and you don't know why yet. That's what that felt feels like. Nice. It doesn't feel just like, okay, I went and did the retreat thing, check it off the list. That's great. It feels like it's a starting point of something. That I have no idea, and this is so random, but I'm about to say that. I don't know why. A couple weeks ago, maybe it's been a month ago, but I remembered, I don't even know how the story connects. I remembered in 2019 being at a food service show with three people I worked with in the restaurant industry. In a, like a Holiday Inn hotel and in the middle of the night a water pipe burst in my room. In the bathroom, there was water literally spraying out like a geyser, and I had no idea what it meant, and I wasn't like trying to assign some super spiritual meaning to it, but that it was like an instance where I was like, this is important and I don't know why, but this water thing feels. Like some kind of spiritual or whatever, uh, crossroads, like a turning point. And I still can't say, oh, and this, and that's when this happened. But the significance, I'm just saying all of that, it's like the significance of those events where you're just like, this is big. And I don't know why that's how the Ramdas retreat felt for me or even just meeting the people there. It's a little different cuz obviously you can be like, well, why? You were at Ramdas's house, you were like in the presence of ROM das and Maharajji and all these beautiful kind people. Yeah. But it's just one of those things that feels like very significant.

Britt: 40:20

That's interesting cuz you've been on this path longer than I have and so for me it did all make sense at once for me. I'm like, oh, I know why I'm here. Yeah. And this all does so that's interesting.

Lindsey: 40:34

Yeah. I mean, I guess I also knew that, but. To, to just say like, what, what seem, what can seem like an insignificant connection with a person or a sitting in a certain spot. Later you can be like, oh no, that was the turning point right there. And actually taking it back to the, like to the water exploding everywhere in my room and me being completely drenched and it was hilarious. But I can see that as a turning point for me possibly in work where it was like, what are you gonna do? Yeah. And it still took however many months for that to all come to f fruition, but I think that was like a major to turning point for what was happening with. The partnership there, the water pipe exploding and I think maybe that's like this symbolic water pipe exploded at Ramdas's house. Nice.

Britt: 41:33

Yeah. Beautiful. Yeah. Oh, another thing that really hit me was Ramdas's thing was always be here now is a, a type of mindfulness, like be present and know. Where you are. And that hit really hard too. Uh, I know when you went, you were like, oh man. It just, it felt like it flew by for me. I felt like, I felt like I was there for weeks. Mm. It was a weird feeling where I was just like, oh, I'm just here. This is home. And I'm. There's no time or space, you know? Mm-hmm. And that was really weird. Yeah. Because I'm also a person that like goes by the clock. I'm five minutes early to everything. Mm-hmm. You know, and I'm thinking about it 20 minutes before that when I was there, I was just there. Yeah. And that's not common, right. Not a common feeling for me.

Lindsey: 42:20

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But like nothing to do, nowhere to go. And like diving into that. Right. Instead of being like, Nope, better. Better be busy, better do something else. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I feel that. I think it's good. Yeah.

Britt: 42:36

Um, you know, another teaching of Maharaji and Ramdas was to not be connected to things, physical things. Mm-hmm. So, um, that'll be hard for me. It's also not hard because we sold most of our things. Yeah. Um, but at the end, Dossie gave us both these mala beads that each had a thread from one of Maharaji's. Blankets. Mm-hmm. And that's fucking big that this is a piece of my, he died in what, 74 I think. I think. Yeah. And we have a part of his blanket, you know? Yeah. Like he, if you've ever looked at pictures of him, it's just, I. Him with nothing on, but a blanket. Yeah. And a loincloth or what? It has a name, but I don't know. But we have like on our wrists right now that, yeah. And I know like I shouldn't be connected to earthly things, but this is here to just like kind of remind me right

Lindsey: 43:31

of everything. Right. And also, but Ramdas had a lot of things in his house that were obviously significant for him. Right? Yeah. And like a lot of history in his house Yeah. When we were there. So it's gotta be both. It's like the en, the enjoyment of it and the remembering and the connection to it, and also knowing like, hey, can go at any time. Yeah. So if this falls off, In the river that you jumped in at the beginning of this episode. Yeah. Then there it

Britt: 44:02

went. Yeah. You don't need to have the, the physical attachment to it. Yeah. It was just there to remind you.

Lindsey: 44:08

Yeah. Yeah. I really also took away connecting that experience of the retreat at Ramdas's House with this experience that we are on as just, I feel like these next, we're, we are in a turning point in this. Adventure that we're on. We're halfway in, we're about to leave the country. We have no idea when we're gonna be back in the United States. I feel like it's gonna be a long time before we're back in the United States. Yeah, either, um, I can't descri explain it. I don't know why we don't have hard plans really at

Britt: 44:47

all. So if anybody out there wants to help us with that, if you've got a spot in Bali or Thailand that needs tending to, you're not hanging out at.

Lindsey: 44:54

Let us know. Let us know. But it just really gave me, it gave me two things as far as seeing the adventure that we're on many, it actually gave me many things. But two things that I'll say is, wow, I can really be connecting to this wisdom, to this spiritual practice and to the importance on all levels in all the places we're about to go. And that feels so, Nourishing. Yeah. To go to places where, where the wisdom, where the oneness is held sacred still feels very exciting that we're about to do that same. And the other thing is that, There's no mistake I could, you know, still sometimes in my head I'll be like, was this a mistake? Even though it feels amazing, we are so lucky. But I will be, I could be like, is this a mistake? What about equity? What about this? And just some bullshit made up shit. And what I gained, what I feel like I have now is like, this is not a mistake any. Roadblock or pitfall or suffering is part of it. Absolutely. And it can be grace. It can get turned into grace. It doesn't al not, it doesn't always need to be smooth sailing or exactly how you thought it was gonna be to be grace. Like there's grace in the, oh shit, I lost my purse. Mm-hmm What am I gonna do? Or there's grace in the, we were gonna sell our car and now we can't. All of it is grace and it's all leading somewhere really important. And the somewhere is just right back here. Nice. Right back here. Yeah. So thank you. Rom dass. Yeah. Thank you. Rom Dass. Thank you, ma. It's what my prayer is every day. Is including a bunch of other thank yous, but thank you, Maharajji. Thank you Haman. Thank you Ramdas. Thank you Brit. Thank you, earth. Thank you Every fucking body. Yeah. Thank

Britt: 47:04

you listeners. Thank you

Lindsey: 47:05

listener. Thank you. Thank you. Target for sponsor episode. Get your Hanaman statue at Target I l a 14 today. If you buy two Hanaman statues, you get a free bag of checks mixed.

Britt: 47:21

One last thing I wanted to touch on. When you came back, uh, because you did the, the retreat first and then you came back, you definitely had a, um, a feeling about you. Right? So when I was done, I had the same feeling. And for me, this feeling was of like withdrawal, kind of. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Like this spiritual withdrawal. Yeah. And we were just immersed in. This feeling, this love, this togetherness, and this learning. Mm-hmm. You know, something that felt, you know, sacred really. And then we left and we were kind of dumped back into our Airbnb.

Lindsey: 48:04

Right. Back into like your everyday life. Into

Britt: 48:06

your everyday life. Yeah. And my life is sacred, my family is sacred. But it was definitely a real big adjustment to go from this life-changing event to boom. Now we're back in this Airbnb. Right. Right. And so that feels kind of wild that we both felt that. How was it for you? Similar.

Lindsey: 48:24

Yeah. And I, there wasn't a lot of time to really think about it. Like I did feel once I left, I'm like, oh, I'm in this heart space and I feel so open. But naturally, I think when you're gonna be a little withdrawn too, because it's like, what's there to say? What's there to do? Who cares? Mm-hmm. You know, not even withdrawn in a bad way. I don't even think it's bad, but like, Withdrawn in a good way. But then you're right, we get dumped back into life and my mom came to visit like the very next day, and that's amazing. But it's just go, go, go. Yeah. Because now we're like, now we're on vacation. Mm-hmm. And vacation can mean that you need to do a lot of stuff. If you're in a place you've never been, it can mean that. Um, I think especially if someone's coming to visit me, I have a thing where I'm like, okay, let's go entertain this person. Right? So that happened. What I was cons, what I was, and am still just constantly reminded of is what Ramdas taught is like whatever role you're in is actually the practice. Like you can go sit in a cave and you can meditate for months and that's great. But if you're not taking it back to your life, to your everyday practice, to your being a mom, to your being a dad, then you're not really doing real spiritual practice. Like the real practice comes in. How do you show up when you're doing the goddamn dishes? That's what Byron and Katie says is like, do the dishes, sweep the floor, and you know, B one. Nice. It can't just all be retreat. Yeah. I mean, it can be, I guess for some people, but probably, uh, then you'd be, you'd, it'd lose its magic. It's all gonna lose its magic in this that, or you would catch fire. Remember that there's magic. Yeah. Then you would just ascend. Yeah, you're right. It's all, it can all lose its magic unless you remember that the magic is just there and maybe add a little more sacredness. Yeah. You know, it doesn't have to be all or nothing. Also, It doesn't have to be all or nothing. No, it doesn't have to be all day. I'm in the heart, the sacred space and the meditating and the reading. It can be, I'm a dad and also I'm gonna make sure that I'm connected to the oneness. Oh, so I'm gonna read a little bit or I'm gonna meditate a little bit. Yeah.

Britt: 50:41

When I'm making my artisan butt plugs in the basement every night. Carving away, I'm gonna do it in a sacred mind space. Exactly.

Lindsey: 50:49

Exactly.

Britt: 50:50

Yeah. Yeah. So for anyone out there who maybe doesn't know that much about Rom Doss or wants to learn more, Google Loves server member and that's a good, good way to start. Um, you can listen to their podcast and it's actual talks that Ramdas did. Yeah. Hundreds of them.

Lindsey: 51:07

Yeah. Thousands of talks from, from, that's Easies from all the way back to the late sixties to. 2000 something. Yeah.

Britt: 51:14

So that's the easiest way to like really get into it is to hear rom Dawson his own voice talking about it. You can also check out Hanaman Maui. That's his house. Yeah. Um, there's a temple that they built there for Hanaman. Uh, that's why it's called that.

Lindsey: 51:29

And you can stay there like we did. Mm-hmm. You can also, if you just feel called cuz you love rom Dawson, you wanna help his legacy stay alive, you can just donate money. To Haman Maui, and please do, because it helps keep the space that Ramdas really did become. There's so many iterations of Rom das, but it's like where Ramdass feels like he truly became that loving awareness was there in that house in Maui, and he

Britt: 51:59

literally became the loving awareness there and in his bed. Yeah. He merged with the

Lindsey: 52:04

oneness. True. That's true. And so, Yeah. If you feel called to donate some money to them, because then that means that someone just gets to go to a meditation in his study. Yeah. And that's thing. And you can do

Britt: 52:18

that for no money. Just contact them. They reach out and say, Hey, we're doing this at this time. You just show up and you meditate in his house. Yeah. How special is that? Yeah. I mean, it changed both of our lives. Yeah. Think of how many lives it has changed and will change. Right. So I'm happy to. Give them money. Yeah. To keep it going.

Lindsey: 52:38

Or support, even support. That reminds me that how important it is that there's people who keep legacy going. Yeah. You know that some, that there are people who are just committed because they love rom Dass and they're like, we should keep his legacy alive, and that's amazing. Yeah.

Britt: 52:57

Yeah. Well, let's close up with, thank you Ramdas. Thank you Maharaji. Yeah. Thank you Hanaman. Thank you Dossy, ma. Thank you listeners. Thank you, Lindsay. Thank you Brett. Thank you everyone.