"Invocation is my Vocation"

Kailash worked in higher education for many years (as Dr. Kurt A. Bruder; Ph.D, The University of Texas at Austin, Communication, 1994; M.Ed, Texas Tech University, Counselor Education, 1998), but is now devoting all of his energies to developing and presenting material that supports our direct knowledge of the Divine, and enhances our immediate, sustained experience of Love.

In his scholarly work, Kailash investigated a variety of topics dealing with the subject of the human sense of self, one's response to the question, "Who am I?" This issue has always been a central concern across the world's Wisdom Traditions, which recognize that the concept of our separation from one another, and all things, fuels our suffering. Finding a practical solution to human egotism is the perennial preoccupation of spiritual communities throughout history.

Throughout his career, Kailash has explored the communication, beliefs, practices, and experiences of people in a wide variety of religious traditions. He integrates these insights into his personal life, spiritual path, musical performance, and ongoing research, in the hope of offering valuable means of moving beyond our obsessive self-concern into a stable, integrated condition of happiness and well being.

This fundamental transformation in our approach to life is best accomplished by cultivating a preoccupation with Perfection. This means habitually arranging to think about, passionately embrace, and ultimately identify with the Highest Ideals we can imagine. To this end, Kailash has become an Invocation Specialist--someone who excells in invoking the Presence of the Supreme, and who regularly and successfully assists others in doing so, too.

Kailash lives with his beloved wife, Jaishree, and their sons, Bodhi Shankara (b. June, 2006) and Maitreya Aumkara (b. March, 2008), in Fletcher, North Carolina (just south of Asheville). His eldest son, Tristan (b. December, 1995), lives in Texas.

Kailash's Lineage

I have found that telling one’s story necessarily involves telling some part of many other peoples’ stories. We each have innumerable lines of connection that continue to shape who we are. Every relationship--no matter how slight--makes its mark on all parties involved. Within the world's Wisdom Traditions the relationship that exists between guru ("remover of darkness") and disciple--are commonly formalized, celebrated as sources of divine grace, and treated with great solemnity. The "family tree" that one is grafted onto in this relationship is one's lineage.

This is my lineage, through the grace of my Guru, Bhagavan Das. [References to material in Bhagavan Das autobiography, It's Here Now (Are You?), are contained in brackets. You may click on the hypertext links to learn more about any of the figures introduced below.

Lineage is a term used to describe an unbroken continuity of transmission through initiation from one individual to another. In initiation, the deposit of spiritual knowledge and enabling energies that are "held in trust" by the teacher are passed on to the student. In physical heredity, whatever the genetic inheritance of the parent happens to be, that is what is transmitted to the child; in spiritual heredity, whoever the teacher is "plugged into" by initiation constitutes the realization potential, or the relational support for enlightenment, that is extended into the next generation.

In the following, I trace the network of most significant transmissions received by my beloved Root Guru, Bhagavan Das (b. 1945). http://www.bhagavandas.com/

In order to account for the quality and breadth of the gift that he has given me, it is necessary to invoke the memory of an extraordinary array of saints and sages across a variety of spiritual traditions (principally within Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Native American Shamanism).

I first encountered Bhagavan Das as a literary figure, reading the counter-culture classic Be Here Now (by Ram Dass) shortly after it came out (c. 1971). I remember being amazed that an American could actually do what he did: travel the world and do whatever was necessary to have a direct experience of God.

I feel that this brief encounter planted a psychic seed in my heart that motivated me as a perennial seeker within a wide range of spiritual traditions.

After the publication of his spiritual memoir, It's Here Now (Are You?) (1997), I became reacquainted with Bhagavan Das. After some weeks of listening to his most recent CD, Now, practically non-stop, I became determined to meet him. I was initiated on October 5, 2002, at Karuna Yoga, Northampton, MA.

When Bhagavan Das (né Kermit Michael Riggs) went to India, he was first initiated by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, founder of Transcendental Mediation (TM). [28-29] http://www.tm.org/main_pages/ maharishi.html He was given the mantra, "Ram," and was told to recite it at least twice a day for twenty minutes. But this practice was not sufficient.

It was Swamiji who introduced Bhagavan Das to his true root Guru (and, therefore my Paramaguru), Neem Karoli Baba (Maharaji) [45-56] http://www.neemkarolibaba.com/ http://www.dlshq.org/saints/ neemkaroli.htm Bhagavan Das was first Western devotee of Maharaji. To this day, Maharaji remains the center of Bhagavan Das' life.

"Enlightenment is the beginning of the journey, not the end...Real masters don't get upset when you visit other saints because real master don't see other beings as separate from themselves." [58-59]

In keeping with this wisdom, Bhagavan Das continued his quest. The next saint he encountered was Anandamaya Ma. [56-58] http://www.om-guru.com/html/saints/anandamayi.html In receiving her darshan, Bhagavan Das became utterly devoted to the Divine Mother (in all her forms).

After much travel and many adventures, Bhagavan Das returned to Maharaji. After an extended stay with him, Maharaji told Bhagavan Das to leave India and return to America. [108] Disobeying his guru, Bhagavan Das fled to Tibetan Buddhism for refuge, both in Northern India and Nepal.

Near Darjeeling, he met Dorjechang Kala Rinpoche (of the Shangpa Kargyupas lineage, at Samdamp Tarje Ling Gompa, c. 1967). Bhagavan Das was the first American that Lama Kalu ever met. http://www.iol.ie/~taeger/kalubio/ kalubio.html http://www.iol.ie/~taeger/bio/kalu.htm

Shortly thereafter, Bhagavan Das (called Anagorika Dharma Sara within the Buddhist tradition) received Vajra Yogini initiation from His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje (of the Karma Kagyu lineage, at Rumtek monastery in Sikkim). http://www.simhas.org/karma16.html

After several more years of spiritual practice, Bhagavan Das was compelled by the authorities to leave India. Just prior to his departure, he had a mystical dream-encounter with Nityanananda. http://www.nityananda.us/ http://www.cosmicharmony.com/Av /Nityanan/Nityanan.htm Bhagavan Das reports that Nityananda appeared to him at Ganeshpuri, telling him to "Go to the kund" (hot spring). Nityananda initiated Bhagavan Das into the mantra, Om Namah Shivaya, as he worshipped a Shiva lingam at the edge of the pool.

Returning to the U.S. (after some time in Japan) in 1971, Bhagavan Das met Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche (the 11th Trungpa Tulku). http://www.shambhala.org/teachers /vctr/index.html http://www.dharmafellowship.org/ trungpa.htm

Bhagavan Das received further Vajra Dakini teachings from Trungpa, as well as not-so-gentle encouragement to re-enter life as an American. It was Trungpa who suggested the title of Bhagavan Das' first recording, AH!

While staying at the Lama Foundation in Taos, NM, Bhagavan Das met Little Joe Gomez, leader of the Native American Peyote cult. [203-211] (no website available) Little Joe adopted Bhagavan Das as his grandson. For several years, as he worked various jobs, legal (mostly sales) and illegal (cultivating magic mushrooms), both in Hawaii and on the mainland, Bhagavan Das reclaimed his birth name, Kermit Michael Riggs. In the early 1980s, after a painful divorce, he turned to Pentecostalism, becoming "a fundamentalist Christian poster boy; a fallen guru saved by Jesus." [259]

©Lisa Law

By the late 1980s, he had become alienated from institutional Christianity (though still Christian in his beliefs). At the encouragement of a friend, he went to see Amritanandamaya Ma (Ammachi), the Hugging Guru. http://ammachi.org/ Receiving darshan from Amma reawakened his long-dormant Hindu saddhu self. After a long hiatus, he was finally surrendering to being Bhagavan Das. [285] And that is who he has been ever since.

Another most significant figure in Bhagavan Das life was Lama Thubten Yeshe (of the Gelug lineage). http://www.lamayeshe.com/ http://www.iol.ie/~taeger/yesheque/ yesheque.html Bhagavan Das considers Lama Yeshe, together with Chögyam Trungpa, the teachers with the clearest understanding of the Western mind. They were able, therefore, to have the most profound impact of any teachers who came to the West.

When Bhagavan Das initiated me, he gave me the name Kailash. I hope to live life in such a way as to be worthy of this name.

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