Beloved Friends & Family,

What could I possibly say in the wake of the passing of one of the great icons of our age, and my personal friend and mentor?  The impact of Ram Dass on an entire culture, and on my one little life, is beyond description.  And yet, as his body is offered to the flames and his soul heads off to what he called Soul Land, I try today to pay him some tribute.

When I heard the news that Ram Dass had died, only minutes after his last breaths, my reaction was cataclysmic.  Shock waves of grief crashed over my heart and I could hardly breathe.  I collapsed into Ganga Das’ arms and wailed.  Where was this intensity coming from, I wondered?  It’s not as if Ram Dass’ death was unexpected.  In many ways, I had been wishing for him to achieve liberation from the confines of his broken body.  He had lived with increasing physical pain for many years after his stroke and valiantly rose beyond his own discomfort to dispense transformative teachings and radiate simple love.  And yet, even though Ram Dass and I rarely saw each other in person, I felt like I had lost my best friend and I was not sure how I could walk this world without him in it.

As I reflected more on his death over the next couple of days, I realized one reason why it felt so momentous to me: Ram Dass’ passing is a kind of coming of age for me.  As long as RD was alive, I could hide behind the mantle of his authority and rest there.  Now I was being offered the choice to slip into my own skin and inhabit it in a way I have never needed to before.  It’s time, in other words, to grow up.  I do not expect this process to be apparent to anyone but me.  It is a deeply interior shift and has nothing to do with worldly recognition or adding another item to the spiritual to-do list.  It’s about saying a full-bodied hineyni – Here I am – to a legacy I carry in every fiber of my being.  Ram Dass infused me with the essence of his wisdom and his love, steeped in the fragrance of Neem Karoli Baba, and it is with reverence and some trepidation that I take up that cup and share it.

I first met Ram Dass when I was 14.  He gave me my name, and along with it my embodied sense of devotion to the One who transcends all religious institutions and subverts all established belief systems. My attraction to the mystical heart of all spiritual traditions, my intimacy with the Absolute in the form of Divine Mother, and my commitment to social and environmental justice are all fruits cultivated in the garden Ram Dass bequeathed to me.  My consciousness is so threaded with his that I cannot distinguish what emerges from my mouth (or pen) as my own or his.  Nor does it matter.  Ram Dass has been my elder Guru brother, a loving soul relative, for most of my life but at the core, he was my teacher.

As I continue to mourn him during these early days of his death, I aspire to quietly embody his lineage in all that I do and am moving forward.

To be continued.

With love,

Mirabai