Frequently Asked Questions

On this page some of the commonly asked questions about Rama, Rama's teaching, and the Rae Chorze-Fwaz Mystery School are addressed. This includes both questions that I know people have asked and questions that I can feel people want to ask but haven't actually done so yet.

What are the core elements of the practice?

In my opinion the core elements of the practice, in order of importance, are meditation, career, and teaching. Rama taught a form of chakra meditation that was and is very empowering and was intended to be practised twice a day. The details will be posted on here soon. Rama also felt that a successful career was essential in order to live and work in the world--that we do not have the luxury of spending all our time meditating and so must have a good career in order to move forward with our practice. Finally there is a responsibility to teach--to share our knowledge with others.

What about selfless giving?

I prefer to think in terms of teaching rather than selfless giving. I believe that as long as we are incarnate in physical bodies in the world, we do in fact need to have some concept of 'self' in order to know how best to give and utilize our talents. Giving totally selflessly can leave one open to allowing others to simply walk all over you, and I don't feel that is especially good karma for anyone. That said, I know a lot of teachers do talk in terms of selfless giving, and Rama's earlier students seem to focus on it a lot, suggesting that it was perhaps once a more important part of the Rama study. My own experience is that Rama taught through a very capitalist teaching model--he encouraged a high level of etiquette but he also encouraged people to be very successful. He was incarnate in America, a highly capitalist country, and he wanted his students to be successful Americans and to teach others to be successful Americans.

How many of Rama's students have attained Enlightenment?

It is hard to say. Rama gave empowerments towards the end of his life which were intended to allow students to enter the initial stages of Enlightenment within 4-5 years. He didn't necessarily guarantee full Enlightenment within a single incarnation, though--although he didn't rule out the possibility either. Since it has now been over 10 years, one would expect that some students would be going through the initial stages of Enlightenment by now, and indeed I believe that some are. I don't feel I'm qualified to judge whether a particular Rama student is Enlightened, nor do I feel they are qualified to make judgements about me. I do feel that anyone considering studying with me or with any other Rama student is qualified to make judgements for themselves about whom to study with.

Now that you mention it, what exactly *is* Enlightenment?

That is a difficult question because Enlightenment is beyond words. It is that which cannot be put into words. As soon as you start trying to express Enlightenment in words--as soon as you start trying to think about it--something essential about Enlightenment is lost. Enlightenment is not even really a state of mind--it is that which is beyond all states of mind. On this path with Rama, we tend to learn the first steps--basically introductory meditation--as something we can learn without the Enlightened teacher's direct involvement. If we stick with the path, though, we begin to need more of the teacher's time and direct involvement in our meditation path. Although we may have an Enlightened teacher, Enlightenment itself remains beyond all words. We may not be able to define Enlightenment, but we know whether it is something we are drawn to. If we are drawn to Enlightenment, then we know it and it is something we should pursue. And if someone is not drawn to the path of Enlightenment, or feels drawn away from it, we should respect their choice as well. Ultimately everything is Enlightenment anyways.

Why so much emphasis on money?

Rama did place an extraordinary emphasis on money while he was teaching and indeed this attracted some controversy. He wanted his students to make a great deal of money but he also expected, as an American capitalist, that students would make a substantial financial investment in their future. These resulted in large tuition charges that attracted considerable controversy. My take on this is that Rama simply felt that the business world provided the best opportunity, in contemporary America, to teach. People spend a lot of their time in the business world and so if you can learn to turn business into a form of meditation, you will advance much faster. However, it is also my belief that if Rama were alive today, the emphasis on money would be less. Rama taught, while physically incarnate, during a phase when corporate America was very popular--indeed probably more popular than at any prior time in its history. The reputation of corporate America has dropped in recent years and I suspect if Rama were still around physically, he would be less focused on money.

What's the deal with teachers sleeping with their students?

This is a tricky one. It seems to me that the issue of human sexuality is something that a lot of spiritual communities, from the smallest fledgling groups to the largest and most ancient religions on the planet, are wrestling with these days. It is as though we seem to be willing to trust some people, our so-called 'spiritual teachers', as being more advanced or closer to Goddess/God. But as soon as those teachers reveal a sexual side--show that they are human--they are suddenly cast down just as fast. Sometimes this castdown is defended on the grounds that sexuality may be fine, but when it happens between teacher and student, there is too large a power imbalance for anything healthy to result. My own sense, though, is that rather than just casting down a teacher for being anything except celibate, we need to meditate more deeply on what is happening. A teacher who has enough personal power to be an effective teacher is not going to cease being a sexual being--indeed their personal power will tend to attract others to them. They are going to be engaging in sexual relations and, probably, they are going to be the more powerful partner in such relationships. The question then becomes not whether the teacher is celibate--in most cases they won't be--but whether the teacher is using her or his sexuality to help and empower others, or solely for her or his own gratification.

Was Rama a cult leader?

During the time that Rama was physically in the body, there were a significant number of news articles in the popular media accusing Rama of being a so-called 'cult leader' or worse. Such articles always struck me as somewhat interesting because it was never entirely clear what they meant by Rama being a 'cult leader'. It seemed to me that a 'cult' was basically just a small or 'startup' religion--it seemed that the mainstream religions were granted a certain degree of respect simply due to their size which was sometimes denied Rama because his group of students was seen to be small. Certainly Rama took a controversial position on some matters--whereas there seems to be a prevailing opinion that spiritual teachers should steer clear of matters involving money or sexuality, Rama had no hesitation about expressing his views on both matters. But at the same time, Rama didn't encourage a 'cult of personality' to develop around him. He would teach students for awhile, but when he felt that a student was becoming too dependent on Rama's energy--and wasn't building enough of their own energy--he would often subtly encourage such a student to leave. Or, to tell it like it was and put it more bluntly, such students would be kicked out. In this way, Rama would teach his students 'in the nest' very intensively for awhile, but eventually would kick them out of the nest and make them apply what they'd learned to become strong in their own rights. That, it seems to me, is the complete antithesis of what a cult leader does--a cult leader wants to control a devotee's life for life--but Rama wanted to built a strong network of powerful, independent people.

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