Interview  with Barbara Ford-Hammond                                                                                               

Interview with Barbara Ford-Hammond 
for the Body, Mind, Spirit blog

Please introduce yourself:

My name is Ram Das Batchelder; I’ve been on the planet 52 spins around the sun and I’m hot on the trail of Enlightenment. American by birth, I had a spiritual awakening when I was in college, fuelled by several things: intense theatre studies, psychotherapy, and marijuana. I went from cynical atheist to deluded prophet within a year! I had no knowledge of the spiritual path at all, I didn’t even know there was one, but suddenly, there was no doubt about it, God was talking to me. This awakening culminated with meeting an angel, whose name was Serenity, and then a trip to a mental hospital in a police car, siren wailing! I quickly talked my way out the door, and the next day met an old friend, who told me, before I’d said a word, that he’d just had a vision of an angel. I was having so many divine experiences in those days that I thought I might be the Messiah! It’s a very funny story, actually, how I finally overcame that delusion and discovered the genuine spiritual path. I also had a powerful experience with Jesus in those early days – he came into my body one night, filling me with bliss and permanently blowing away my scepticism. But what’s funny is that when Jesus left my body that night, I suddenly understood that reincarnation is true. That was his gift for me. Eventually, I started meditating, and with the help of a good therapist, I quit smoking cigarettes and marijuana, dropped my delusions, discovered “A Course in Miracles” and found a girlfriend who wanted to try tantric sex. All that was very healing for me, especially the sex. About a year later I met Amma, the hugging Saint, and I’ve spent most of the last 25 years in India. The first twelve years I was a desperately horny monk, and for the last twelve years I’ve been happily married to a beautiful Venezuelan woman. In addition to “Rising in Love” I’ve written four children’s books for Amma’s ashram, and they’ve all been translated into four European languages and are selling well on Amma’s tours. I also wrote a novel in rhyming verse, “Sathyaram Discovers the Mother of All,” and handed out 5000 copies of it to the devotees in India. My meditation has progressed steadily, and during the last couple of years I’ve been having frequent samadhi experiences; these have been accompanied by a growing sense of peace. But I don’t call it Enlightenment yet; if you congratulate my wife on how spiritual I am, you may get a sceptical look: “You think so? Try living with him.”

That’s the short version of my story; for the long, juicy and very funny version, I’d recommend reading “Rising in Love.”

Where do you get the inspiration to write?

All my books have actually come when I’m saturated with meditation. When my inner battery is fully charged, some kind of inspiration for a writing project will often come, and a kind of subtle inner command appears from my Guru: “Try it,” or “Write that book!” So the inspiration comes straight from my Guru, and that being the case I can’t really claim credit for the writing either. I’m not someone who sits down to write every day; I wait until I get the prodding from God to get down to it. The words usually flow quite easily at that point.

Was the process of writing as you expected? If you have written more than one book does the process change?

The four children’s books and the novel I did were all in rhyming, rhythmic verse, so that’s a very slow and deliberate process. You have to choose your words very carefully to create not only a perfect rhyme but exactly the meaning you want to convey in each couplet, so the rhymes don’t sound contrived. And of course, there were some constraints in writing for kids, and for an audience of ashramites, a kind of censoring which naturally occurs. I was okay with that, but I must say it was a great relief to write “Rising in Love,” which is being published not by the ashram but by O Books, and is written in rocking PROSE, so I could open the floodgates and let my mind flow onto paper without any need to censor myself. I totally enjoyed the writing process, and I think readers will have a blast, too.

Where do you write?

For the most part, “Rising in Love” was written at a small desk in our 10^th floor flat in Amma’s ashram, overlooking a river which stretches out for miles to the north, with a slice of ocean visible to the west, and an endless forest of coconut palms in between them. The ashram is located on a narrow peninsula between the “Backwaters,” as the river is called, and the Arabian Sea. It was from the balcony outside our room that I looked down, on Dec, 26^th 2004, to discover that the Asian Tsunami had completely flooded the ashram. More than 60 people were killed on the peninsula, but no one in the ashram was hurt. It was amazing to see the incredible compassion with which Amma responded to the tragedy.

Have you advice for someone who wants to write a book?

This may not work for everybody, of course, but my best advice is, first: get down with God and ask God what S/He wants to say through you. Step 2: ask the God within you, that is, yourself, what you really want to say to the world. When those two align, you’ll naturally be inspired, empowered and guided to write, for the service of all beings. Write to awaken and to help others awaken. Be a beacon of light to humanity. Life is too short for anything else. Then the whole universe will be singing through your fingers.

What type of books do you like to read?

One of my favourite books is “Miracle of Love: Stories about Neem Karoli Baba,” by the famous American teacher, Ram Dass. (Same name as mine but spelled differently.) If you read this book, Neem Karoli Baba will somehow make his presence known to you; he will literally tap you on the shoulder, and that’s pretty amazing considering he left the body in 1973. He’s one of the immortal Masters, and an incredibly fun fellow to get to know. (Ram Dass played a small role in my own story. When he came to see Amma for the first time, in Boston in 1988, and was lying on Amma’s lap receiving her blessings, it suddenly dawned on me -- Amma and Neem Karoli Baba are one! This realization rapidly snowballed into the discovery that night that Amma was a full Divine Incarnation – and that she was my Guru.)

Back to the books, I also love the teachings of Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Robert Adams, Anandamayi Ma and many others. It’s a little embarrassing to admit it, but I do most of my scriptural reading these days on (gasp!) Facebook. I know, how terribly unspiritual! But paper is just so passé, is it not? Besides, I like Flirtbook, er, Facebook.

And your favourite book of all time?

“Fifty Shades of Grey” – hahaha! Just kidding!  I guess I would have to say the Ashtavakra Gita, an amazing Advaita scripture. “Let the waves of the Universe rise and fall as they will. You have nothing to gain or lose. You are the ocean.” 

3 things people might not know about you:

Three weeks ago, I gave up sugar, wheat, corn, cheese, dancing naked on the laundry roof, and peanuts. Due to a popular outcry, I’ve taken dancing naked off the list, but limited my hours from 2:00-4:00 a.m., in an effort to keep the elderly ladies who frequent the roof at other hours from proposing. So far I’m doing great with my diet; my hands only shake when I walk near a bakery.

My wife and I lead tours to the sacred cities of India, and I give classes to our tour groups in both English and poorly pronounced Spanish. Our English website is currently under construction, but our Spanish site is http://nirvana-merida.com. You can also contact me by email at ramdasbatch@gmail.com or via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ramdasbatch and https://www.facebook.com/risinginlovetours.

I recently edited “Spiritual Experiments,” the autobiography of Matias Flury, and it has just been accepted for publication by O Books! Hurray!

What is happening next in your writing career?

My guess is that I will soon attain full Enlightenment and remain in a perpetual state of levitation. Since my computer will be unlikely to levitate with me, I will then be above this petty writing game. My disciples, however, will write many books about me, and I will effortlessly make millions of dollars by awakening everyone’s Kundalini, whatever that is, and selling videos. Since I will then be completely free from all attachments, I will give every penny to charity, the only exception, of course, being my 88 Rolls Royces. Those are MINE.

All joking aside, all royalties from “Rising in Love” will be donated to Amma’s orphanage in Kerala, India.

Anything you’d like to mention – if you host events, talks or similar.

I wrote and taught a university course about Hinduism in Venezuela a few years back, and I am now available to give talks in English and Spanish about numerous aspects of Hindu Philosophy, each class accompanied by an elaborate Powerpoint Show. I’m also happy to give a workshop entitled “Becoming an Empty Flute: the Art of Writing Spiritually-in-tune Children’s Books.” And yes, at the drop of a hat I give racy readings from “Rising in Love.” Did I mention I used to act in American soap operas? I love to perform my writing.

To order Rising in Love, and for more information about Amma and her charities, 

see http://www.rising-inlove.org.