"A couple of years ago I stopped lecturing and I just hung out at my
house in Boston, taking care of my father. I wasn't full-time doing
that. I was just part-time. But I was sort of helping do that. And there
were many days each week when I would wake him up, take him to the
bathroom, bathe him, toilet him, dress him, feed him, hang out with him.
These were extraordinary periods for me, because in my mind somewhere
was the idea of, how is this an Upaya, or a spiritual method? I went
through so many. I went through so many...
What I did was I kept a diary of what it felt like to do this each day.
To see if I could see through the veils that were created. First of all,
the relationship between my father and I has changed so much over the
years. We never touched each other when we were young. Now I hold him, I
massage him, I dress him. When I'm putting on his socks, he pats me on
the back and my heart just opens. It's so beautiful..."
Explore a new teaching article + video from Ram Dass: Caring for Family as a Spiritual Practice from a 1985 lecture at the SEVA Foundation Benefit.
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