Biography DAO-DAS

Dao Das - Mario Quintero, was born in Colombia. Due to the great difference in age and culture, his parents divorced when he was 9 years old. His childhood was marked by fears due in part to the fact that at a young age he was bullied by local youth, a product of his innocence in a hostile environment. However, his passion, strength and taste for soccer quickly transformed that image of an innocent child, because on the playing field he was a brave fighter against much older youth. His adolescence was marked by sports, fulfilling his student duties, helping to work in his mother's small business and not very healthy fun with his circle of friends. Although he showed a keen interest in studying law (law), he studied Business Administration, while simultaneously working as a construction materials salesman. Once he finished his university degree, he joined a medical equipment distribution company in Colombia as an operations and finance manager and a few years later, due to his inclination towards sales, he was promoted to commercial management. At the age of 28, he married Martha Lucia, after dating for 8 years. At the age of 31, his first daughter Paula was born and a year later his son Carlos Mario was born, while simultaneously studying the specialization in Marketing Management, from which he also graduated obtaining the third highest score of his class.At the age of 34, he accepted the position as country manager for an American company specializing in the marketing of medical equipment and quickly climbed socio-economic positions, which caused his arrogant ego with a superiority complex to lead him to a marital crisis. and the consequent separation from his family, while simultaneously being promoted to a position for the Latin American and Caribbean region, with the consequent transfer to the United States despite his resistance. There, working and traveling intensely, he found himself alone, which generated an existential or emotional crisis (depression) which he hid with his mask as a successful man in business.This crisis could generate his first awakening from a dream in which a Being similar to the images we know of Christ Jesus appeared in his words and suggested that he leave the pain caused by the loss of his family in his hands and invited to enjoy existence in the healthiest way possible, with calm and acceptance. Although he knew that this could have been the product of his beliefs and an illusory dream, he decided to follow the teacher's suggestions and this led to him soon reconciling with his wife and she and her children moved to live together. in Miami, where they have lived together very harmoniously. Meanwhile, Mario, although he continued with his usual job and family, became a practicing scholar of Zen Buddhism, joining a community (Sangha) where he obtained great teachings.Reaching almost 50 years of age, Mario was diagnosed with leukemia (blood cancer) for which he underwent very aggressive chemotherapies and especially the first one where he was hospitalized for 6 weeks, going through the most critical moments for the survival of his body. due to his extreme weakness that caused him to lose more than 20 kilos of weight, high fever and constant chills that, together with pneumonia, led him to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where the doctors one night called his wife to warn her that there was a high risk of death. She felt that she should call Mario's mother and sisters to come to Miami, since the patient's diagnosis was not optimistic. Mario feels that he suffered a mental blackout since his body was transferred to the ICU but he remembers two very vivid dreams (perhaps the product of hallucinations of high fevers): In the first he remembers that he was contacted by Buddhist monks who asked him for assistance to help to some beings who were suffering a lot in the bardo or transited after leaving the physical body and who spoke Spanish, so he had to share his knowledge and understanding in this regard so that this step would be with less suffering and he did so. In the second he was transported to a very hot desert where only cacti were visible on a night illuminated by the moon and stars. In his interior he knew that he should go to a certain place, but he was not sure of it. He was walking and suddenly in the distance he saw a humble and small house that seemed to have bulbs that emanated yellow light and he went to it, thinking that this was the destination. However, as soon as he arrived at this house and was about to knock on the door, a very tall man came out of it, a very wrinkled face, long white hair, an old hat, tight jeans, boots almost to the knee, and a leather jacket. dusty leather. The man only peeped to tell him that he was waiting for him to start the journey to his destination. Mario did not feel any fear, he just greeted him and together they prepared to walk through the desert side by side and the image would sound very funny, because due to the tall stature of the man with indigenous features, Mario only reached chest height . They walked for a long time in silence contemplating the night and enjoying the walk. Finally the man asked that they should stop and wait in an absolutely deserted place. Suddenly, and after a few minutes, a large illuminated ship landed near them and from it a very tall man, dressed completely in white, with a cape of the same color and his egg-shaped head, also very light-skinned, came down, accompanied by each side of similar-looking men making their way towards them. When they approached, the old man asked Mario if he was afraid, to which he replied in the negative, because he said that he knew them because he had lived with them. The white man (let's call him the captain of the ship), just greeted him and told Mario that his MISSION was to remember what he had learned from living with them and then he had to share it with the humans who were willing to receive this message. . Mario accepted it, the men returned to the ship and suddenly everything disappeared. It's as if the movie had ended suddenly. Continuing in the ICU, Mario perceived that the death of his body could be imminent and although he did not think much nor did he feel emotions of sadness, anguish, worry, regret, anger or frustration; he recalled a Hindu text called the Katha Upanishad and mentally directed a message to Lord Yama (Lord of death), where he told him that he accepted his will in relation to leaving the physical body, but that in turn he wanted to express to him that he wished to remain a more time in the physical body for only two reasons:to continue supporting his family, because he felt that they still needed him for financial and emotional support and because he felt that he could have something of value to share with some human beings. Later Mario was discharged and continued his treatment at another hospital specializing in oncology in the same city, where he underwent several chemotherapy sessions and finally, thanks to the kind heart of an anonymous donor named Jeremy Stolz, he underwent a successful bone marrow transplant. I mean. In Mario's surely not original words, he says that his body suffered very intense pain, but he did not suffer. During those more than 18 months, his wife was mainly at his tireless service, visiting him every day and informing him of the state of his children, for whom these were emotionally very sad and worrying moments. His bosses in the company offered him their full support and his family and close friends showed great solidarity through prayers and support. Mario remembers a phrase from the psychologist Emma Barte who was with him permanently and who says that cancer is a disease that kills you or transforms you and that either one is fine. After the successful transplant and with a very depressed immune system, Mario sheltered himself at home and as soon as he was able to virtually return to his usual job at the same time that he began to study to graduate from university as a Professional Life & Business Coach and later as a Spiritual Coach based on the teachings of Buddhism. This is how the days went by and Mario took refuge as an autodidact in the mystical teachings of various spiritual traditions and one day he saw that a teacher who had his practice and teaching center in the mountains of Costa Rica was being interviewed on television, whom he contacted and as soon as he felt strong enough he went to visit them. There he met Sifu Rama, who introduced him to Taoist practices, especially Chi Kung and meditation with non-duality teachings that the master had learned in India with Papji (a disciple of Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi) and other masters. Mario, who had already read about Taoism, enjoyed and became very passionate about these practices and teachings in a disciplined way, frequently visiting the blue mountain (name of the place in Costa Rica) and there he asked Sifu Rama one day, who give a new spiritual name to which the teacher just smiled. Later, he told him that his new name would be Dao Das, whose meaning is the servant of the Tao. Mario felt very grateful and pleased with this name. Mario continued his life between his family, work (resuming his travels) and the usual practices of Chi Kung, meditation and self-taught learning through readings, conferences and spiritual retreats. However, his curiosity and taste for the teachings of the East felt that he had to go to those distant lands, so he made two tourist trips with his family to try to learn about the culture and ancestral traditions. One day at dawn in the beautiful mountains of Thailand and after doing his Chi Kung practice, meditation and contemplating the beautiful landscape, the idea came to him to write a book that shared some of the wisdom that he had been privileged to learn from great mystical and spiritual traditions. Although he had already written a book called La Entrega, where he recounts a little about his personal history and his experience with cancer, he felt that he should share something deeper and more essential with Dao Das, which is why his book entitled 7 Magical Cities was born. . Subsequently, Dao Das is linked to a Hindu group (Sangha) belonging to the lineage of Adi Shankara and meets his Guru Swami Satyananda Saraswati, who initiates him into the tradition and as an active member visits the Ashram and participates in activities such as study of sacred scriptures. , attends the Satsang (association or meeting with the highest truth) that the Guru imparts, does Seva (disinterested work), meditates and contemplates. Dao Das feels very privileged by the Divinity in this human experience and his desire in this plane of consciousness is to continue learning and sharing about the essentials, since his only and real desire is liberation (Moksha), which is not something different from self recognition of our true essence, that which is the only real thing that is prior to the universe, what sustains it and what we are (Pure Consciousness) prior to our mind, since it has never been born and will never die despite the fact that our intellect I can't understand it. Namaste!