This is our first update in many months.  Apologies!  It has been a busy time, and a time of some sweeping changes.

Ram Dass is presently staying on Maui, recuperating from a particularly nasty breed of bacteria that has set up housekeeping in his body.  It is tough, and keeps outwitting the antibiotics the doctors have been trying, but we think we finally have it beat.  Ram Dass is at home after spending two-and-a-half weeks in the hospital.  "I'm bedridden on Maui," he says.  "That doesn't sound so bad."  In fact, Maui sounds so good that Ram Dass has decided to make it his home base.  No more Sunday Satsangs at Open Secret, alas!

Ram Dass Returns Home ... to India:

In October, Ram Dass went to India for a few weeks at Kainchi Ashram.  Kainchi is where Ram Dass spent the winter following his first meeting with Maharajji.  It is in northern India, in the Kumoan Hills, the foothills of the Himalayas.  It is a place where Maharajji's presence is very strong and tangible.

Kainchi is in the spiritual care of Siddhi Ma; she is one of the Mothers who loved and cared for Maharajji, and she was especially close to him for many years.  It was to her that he entrusted his "Ram, Ram, Ram" diaries just before he left his body.  It is impossible to convey in words the experience of her presence: the love, the peace, and most profoundly the totality of her faith.  Ram Dass had several private potent with Siddhi Ma, sharing the deep well of their love for Maharajji.  Other Indian friends visited with Ram Dass at Kainchi: K.K. Sah came from Naini Tal nearly every day, bringing special boxes of sweets.  Indra Baba, who officiated at the Durga Puja ritual, came to have chai with Ram Dass on the porch every morning.  Guru brothers and sisters who had been with Maharajji at the time Ram Dass was at Kainchi came and shared stories.  The peace and the devotional bhav of Kainchi, and Maharajji's palpable presence there, awakened the hearts of all of us.  We felt totally loved and cared for; it was an experience of service so filled with Maharajji's spirit that every cup of tea was a love-offering.

While we were staying at Kainchi, Durga Puja was celebrated.  It is one of the major festivals of the year, calling forth the power of the Sacred Feminine to defeat the forces of negativity and wickedness in the world.  Ram calls on that energy to defeat the demon Ravana, and in many villages, at the conclusion of Durga Puja, a huge wooden image of Ravana is burned to signify the obliteration of his powers.  It is a potent ritual of purification and renewal.

Ram Dass and Tipper Gore ...

The September 13th issue of The New Yorker magazine featured a profile of Al Gore.  The author, David Remnick, said, "We passed the Southern Baptist Convention building.  Earlier in the day, Gore had made a point of telling me that he and Clinton used to pray together in the White House.  I asked him which church in Nashville he and Tipper attended now.  There was a pause in the front seat.  ‘We're ecumenical now,' Gore said finally.  Tipper said with a laugh, ‘I think I follow Baba Ram Dass.'" It's nice to be in such good company!

"Fierce Grace," Mickey Lemle's award-winning film about Ram Dass, was shown nationwide on PBS in July.  Ram Dass is now recognized in airports by the most unlikely people, who come up to ask him, "Weren't you on PBS?"

The Wisconsin retreat, held in mid-July, was memorable.  Ram Dass was delighted to find "family" there in the middle of the country.  Before the week was over, the Sisters from the Christine Center, where the retreat was held, were rocking out to Uma Reed's kirtan right along with all the retreatants!  The Breitenbush retreat, which immediately followed, built on the momentum of the Midwest week – and it soared!  It was essence Ram Dass, combined with Krishna Das' bhakti-powered kirtan.  Words can't do it justice, but everyone there felt transformed by the experience.

Maharajji's birthday (or "appearance day," as it's called in India) will be celebrated this year on December 19th.  December 21st is the Winter Solstice.  We are in the midst of Hanukkah, and Christmas is soon to follow.  Let's celebrate, celebrate, celebrate all these manifestations of the return of the Light.  Happy Holy-Days, and God Bless Us, Every One!