Finding An Enlightened Teacher

"I’m an enlightened teacher and my name is Rama. I’ve been teaching Buddhism for lots of incarnations, and I teach it in this incarnation. But none of us really teach Buddhism. Buddhism is a way of life. It’s yoga. And we practice it. People can watch us practice it; they can learn how to practice it by watching, by observing, by listening, by becoming sensitive. But I think it’s something that life teaches us. We are teachers. We are necessary, but life is the real teacher and always remember that." ~Rama

Is it important to have a teacher on the pathway to englightenment? Definitely. Do they have to be in the physical? Not necessarily. The Buddha stressed 3 components in walking the path to truth successfully, (success meaning, continually progressing without veering off, crashing, becoming an egomaniac, getting distracted by or sucked into the wrong planes of attention, etc. I'll discuss these issues in a future blog). The first is the Buddha - meaning, you need an enlightened teacher - someone who is liberated, who has transcended the human condition through their own self effort and lives in states of perfect light. The second is The Dharma, meaning, the secret teachings of ancient, mystical wisdom that have been handed down through the ages. The third is The Sangha, meaning having a group of like minded buddies who are also having transcendant experiences of light, humor and silence. With these 3 parts moving in your life, you'll be able to walk the path with grace, integrity and joy.

In many cases, people start with The Dharma, in which case, they've found a book or a set of techniques, perhaps a way to meditate or to "stop the world". Something entices a person to begin exploring their possibilities. Many times it starts with the question "Is this it? Could this really be all there is to life? Is this planet, this insanity of humanity (hey - it rhymes!) - is this the only way - to live, to be, to die?" And when the answer is, "IT CAN'T BE!", then a person starts exploring. They might read a book such as Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse, or, Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach, or Journey to Ixtlan by Carlos Castaneda, or Surfing the Himalayas by Rama (Frederick Lenz). In any case, they begin to question the authority of this reality we call life on earth.

"Study the great teachings of the teachers, read books that expand you, that are bright. See films, plays, art forms that elevate your consciousness, that bring you into a sense of how beautiful this world is, how beautiful other worlds are, how beautiful nirvana - the transcendental - is." ~ Rama

The next thing that may happen is a person becomes prompted to find other ways to be. Perhaps they look into something on a physical level, such as yoga or back-packing. Or, perhaps they go a little deeper, and look into Buddhism, Hinduism, Sufism, Taoism. Then the moment comes. They want to go much deeper.

This is the point when they might begin taking steps towards changing their fate. They might start meditating, or whirling, or chanting, or practicing mindfulness. And then, they usually hit a wall. How to go deeper - into truth, into silence, into the light beyond this superficial layer we call life on earth. At this point, they may or may not acknowledge that they're looking for a teacher. But, they want one. They want to be guided into the highest realms of possibility by someone whose gone there, who lives there, because by now they've accepted that there is no limit, there is no truth to the human condition, yet truth exists - in existence! And it's time to start exploring and transforming. To see the mysteries and marvel at the wonders of eternity. To experience love, power and unrivaled joy.

So then, does a teacher show up magically? Should one go searching for a teacher, to the far corners of the earth? Usually, when a person is ready to start going deeper, and when they are open to existence and begin to trust their own inner truth, vs. listening to their personality and ego view that was conditioned into them, when they start asking for guidance, Yes, life will bring it. The only question is, will the seeker be open enough to see when the teacher appears.

"That's what I'’m trying to tell you, my friends. To be happy is not something that happens to you because you're born, because and you live on this earth. Nor is it something that happens to you because you're rich. I know a lot of wealthy people in West Los Angeles. They're not necessarily happy. Money doesn't make you happy. You might as well have some if you can, but that's not the ticket. Health is nice. It doesn't make you happy. You only notice it if it's not there. Fame doesn't make you happy. It just makes you look in the mirror a lot, worry about how you look today for your audience. They are fun things to pursue if you get a kick out of them, but what makes you happy is not being born - it's not having a human body - it's not this world. It's a decision. It's a decision that you make every day, and that you renew - that you strengthen through meditation." ~ Rama

So here we are, at the stage where a person wants to know, needs to know, is there a teacher out there for me? Like when Dorothy asks the wizard, Is there anything in that black bag for me? YES, there is a teacher out there for you. Do they need to be in the physical, or can you still make progress without a teacher in the physical? I guess it depends on who you are. Some people do need a teacher in the physical. Someone sitting in front of them having REAL experiences in light. On the other hand, it can also be a bit of a distraction - everybody vying for the teacher's attention, when the teacher doesn't view anything on those human terms. Yet people are projecting human-ness into this non-human association. Then these distractions become a layer of illusion that doesn't need to be, shouldn't be, part of the experience of working with a teacher. Either way, it may be difficult to run into a teacher who is fully enlightened. It's rare and there aren't many of them on the earth at any given time.

On the other hand, some people may prefer an enlightened teacher who has lived in their timeframe, in the modern world. One who understands how to reach enlightenment and gives explicit, relevant, applicable steps toward doing that. Rama was such a teacher. He was born in the U.S. in 1950 and grew up during the 60's youth counter-culture revolution. He sought truth throughout his youth and studied with many mystical yogis, one of whom was enlightened. He's the real deal. Rama is no longer on this earth, but his teachings and truth continue to live through the practice of hundreds of students.

Rama was fully enlightened - he attained what is known as liberation, meaning, he worked very hard, in many many lives, meditating and practicing mindfulness, until he was no longer imprisoned by the human form, the conditioning we all receive as people who are born. Here in the U.S., when he meditated, the room turned gold - a fluid, ecstatic light infused all who were present. He taught many students. He was a brilliant teacher who reached into eternity for truth and didn't accept the status quo of society or the human condition. He was radical in his ability to merge with all of existence inwardly, yet outwardly, he was very disciplined and conservative in that he always aligned to truth - never to expectations placed on him by society, students or family. He was conservative financially in that he was frugal when he had no money and philanthropic when he did. He was adamant that his students handle themselves with integrity, with what he called etiquette, meaning, bringing your highest consciousness to student activities, including meditations, dinners or spiritual journeys. The rest of the time was your time, to get your life together, meditate with love and consistency, and practice mindfulness in all aspects of life. But he also encouraged allowing the ecstasy of meditation to bring fun, brilliance, and excitement to your life.

Some places in the U.S. where Rama taught

"I’ve been teaching yoga and Buddhism for a while - many, many, many lifetimes. I’ve had lots of students, disciples. A long time ago, many lives ago, I had great teachers, radical, radically wonderful teachers who brought me through the enlightenment cycle like I’m bringing some people through the enlightenment cycle in this and other lives. And the thing that I’ve noticed, that I learned from my own teachers a long time ago in another universe, the thing that I’ve observed in the successful students that I’ve had over the lifetimes, is a quality which I think you can develop. I think it’s something that’s in each of us, and it’s a quality of gentleness but strength, silliness but maturity, optimism but a sense that it’s not going to be easy, if not impossibly difficult, but we’re going to get it done anyway, a kind of quiet fortitude that is renewed by a person’s love of light." - Rama - Balance Talk

Rama was very hands on in terms of teaching students how to become seers, to use their intuition in life's decisions, to integrate the teachings into everyday life and to ultimately become wise and become their own teachers. But, he was very hands off when it came to the personal lives of his students. He expected students to figure out their own lives and rarely got involved, unless a person had a question, in which case he would turn them back to themselves to answer their own question. He ran a squeaky clean center - no ashram politics. Everything was handled very professionally, in a business like manner, with a grace and elegance that were brought to all scenarios, which usually included periodic meditations at a university lecture hall or hotel conference center, or dinners held at beautiful venues in various cities all over the world. There was no "party line" with Rama - he didn't allow for it - for groups of people to formulate clicks of whose cool, or whose in, or, who has special access and knowledge. And there were no "ashram patrons", no rich students who gave him all their money, who he would then be forced to treat in special ways. No. Instead, he charged tuition, in a university like manner, equally across the board. In this way, people used all the power and energy they were gaining from meditation and empowerments, and applied it to living a balanced, dynamic life, using all elements of daily living to learn about love, truth, compassion and humor and to go more deeply into light through their own personal practice.

Some of the places Rama took students on spiritual journeys 

"You decide to be happy. You find out how. You find the happiest person you know, but not happy in a facile sense. We'’re not talking Rodney Dangerfield who makes me laugh, but I have no idea if he's personally happy. You find a special teacher, someone who doesn't just look majestic and say the right words, but someone who themselves is obviously intrinsically happy in a very deep and quiet way. Someone humorous, someone you can see if you probe their depth beyond just the external caretaker personality they may choose to manifest, someone who is really at peace with themselves. They’ve got it wired. You learn happiness from someone who knows it, like you learn mathematics from someone who knows it." ~ Rama

One of the things about Rama is that he lived the adage of freedom - samsara is nirvana. Meaning, eternity is in everything, enlightenment is in everything. It's in consciousness and it's in the physicality of the world. Everything comes from the same source and returns to the same source. We are all that existence. Therefore, we don't need to run away to a monastary and avoid living in the world. Instead, Rama taught students how to see truth in everything, going grocery shopping, getting a haircut, having a career, yet using the progressive abundance generated through career to have a beautiful home - one that could be used as a meditation sanctuary, and to have the mobility to take holy journeys of power and transformation all over the world.

"Balance - It's a way of being. It's a conscious decision, and the shortcut to happiness, to spiritual balance, is to meditate. If you meditate twice a day and not just sit there but actually meditate, raise your attention with your willpower to a brighter sphere of consciousness, learn the discipline of meditation and practice it in, hopefully, a very beautiful way - if you do that, and you have a teacher to direct you who is happy, not just someone who has good PR, then you will find happiness. But it doesn't just come. Otherwise everyone would be happy in the world. Hardly anybody's happy, not even for a moment. Take a walk today and look at how many people smile. Not many. Look at how troubled they are. Look at how unhappy, how stressed out. Whether we go through the ghetto or we go through Beverly Hills, they're stressed out. They're not happy out there. And even the ones who are happy (what they call happiness) are just looking at the fog bank. They can see a hundred yards and that's all. Real happiness is something most people never know. What we experience in yoga, in deep meditation, that ecstasy is beyond what human beings call happiness. Yet it's human beings who experience it, who practice yoga." ~Rama

The long and the short of it was, Rama didn't have a problem with money, sex or materialism. He taught that it's all in your intent. If you make money and use it to spread the Dharma and to live in fields of light, then money isn't so bad. If you have a relationship and you learn from it, to give, to love, to offer your highest consciousness to your partner, then sex isn't so bad. If you use your money to create a life of beauty, with furniture, clothes, a car, food, that vibrates with you, that is high vibe and fun, then materialism isn't so bad. But because Rama didn't kow-tow to traditional, staid religions, because he didn't appear in traditional garb, because he didn't seem like the world's notion of a holy man, he got lots of heat from traditionalists and media. Rama was outrageous, but in a beautifully radical, free, powerful, loving and compassionate way. He didn't live to be understood by humanity.

Of course, if you're bucking the system, if you're going beyond ego and teaching others to do the same, why would the collective ego of humanity like you? They don't. As a matter of fact, an enlightened person is the ego's worst nightmare. Why? Because their life is about going beyond ego - busting it, exposing it, transcending it. So, it's true, the planet didn't understand or accept Rama. But when it comes to enlightenment, when have they ever?

I am a mentor and I was given the secret teachings by my teacher, Rama. He was enlightened. He could meditate on his students and shift their consciousness to one of pure light beyond thought. That was his talent - he could use his power to infuse a person's consciousness with light, whether he was with them or not. What does that mean? It means that a person could go beyond thought and beyond the out of control monkey mind altogether into perfect silence, and be inundated in the light of eternity. It's blissful, revolutionary, and feels like you're swimming in an ocean of love. You experience the oneness of the universe, and come to a knowledge that you are that - that light is you - it exists within you and you can access it through meditation. That's one of the most wonderful aspects of having a teacher is, they introduce you to the light of eternity that is within you.

So, back to teachers. Rama was enlightened and as such, he wasn't hampered by the physical.  He had come to understand the nature of life and death, of the physical and the immortal. He had dissolved over and over in samadhi - the highest of meditation - merging with pure light. He was liberated - the ultimate freedom that keeps progressing into newness and truth every minute. Given that he had transcended the human plane, yet he chose to be here to teach his students, he was able to teach them inwardly, through a heart connection of truth. So, can you do the same? Absolutely! That's the good news :) I've seen students who have established a connection with Rama and he teaches them inwardly all the time - through meditations, mindfulness practice, through dreams, in all of life's situations. If they're open, they get ushered along through the teachings he left behind, but also through a very live-wire connection with the truth that he merged with, the truth that is existence, that is inside of all of us.

"If you'’re interested in happiness, you want to be balanced in life. If you want to be able to handle death and life, success and failure, then I would suggest that you practice yoga and Buddhism, not just go through the motions, not just do what everybody else does. But that you find a teacher who is happy, focus your life on happy and beautiful things, put a smile on your face even if you don'’t feel like it. Don'’t just sit there. Go do something. And don'’t expect that it'’s going to be fun unless you make it fun." ~Rama

So, do you need a teacher? Yes! Find one. It's wonderful to know you have options. You can choose to study with Rama, or any other enlightened teacher. It can be someone in the physical, or it can be an enlightened teacher who lived and taught at some point on the earth. Someone like Babaji or other teachers from his lineage such as Lahiri Mahasaya, Yukteswar, Yogananda.

Ramakrishna was a wonderful enlightened being from India in the 1800's and there were many teachers who came from his lineage such as Brahmananda or Vivekananda.

Ramana Maharshi was a wonderful Indian guru, or Adi da - an American teacher, or Shunyru Suzuki who taught Zen or Chogyam Trungpa from Tibet. There are teachers who are alive and having many transcendant moments with students, such as Sri Kaleshwar. 

If you choose an enlightened teacher who is no longer in the physical, you may want to find a mentor and sangha, somebody to walk the path with, who also studies with that teacher. If the teacher was truly enlightened, then they transcended the physical and can still provide a beautiful connection between you and eternity, until you've established that connection so completely that there is no difference - then you are the enlightened buddha, you are the perfection of existence. It can happen :)

Good luck in all your journeys into light!

To hear the Secret Mystical Teachings of Enlightenement, visit Rama's Official website:

The Frederick Lenz Foundation.org