Episodes

5d ago

In this special December treat, featuring kirtan from Jai Uttal, Ram Dass speaks about opening to change and merging with the Beloved. The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. This episode of Here and Now comes from an event at Spirit Rock Meditation Center on July 31, 2000. Ram Dass begins by exploring how Shiva is the aspect of God that rules over change. He talks about changing our self-concept from identification with our egos to identification with our souls. Devotional chanting, or kirtan, is one way to work on transforming ourselves. Speaking about merging with the Beloved, Ram Dass shares how his relationship with his guru evolved after Neem Karoli Baba left his body. He talks about the place of joy that exists inside all of us. That’s the yum-yum place. Jai Uttal takes over and leads a rousing kirtan to connect us all to that yum-yum place. He begins by explaining the chant: “Sita Ram, Sita Ram, Sita Ram, Jai Sita Ram. Sita, the infinite Goddess. Ram, the infinite God. Jai or Jaya, praise or victory.” About Jai Uttal: Jai Uttal is a Grammy-nominated sacred music composer, recording artist, multi-instrumentalist, and ecstatic vocalist. Having traveled extensively in India, he met many great saints and singers, and Bhakti Yoga became his personal path. Jai has been leading, teaching, and performing kirtan around the world for nearly 50 years. He creates a safe environment for people to open their hearts and voices. Kirtan Camp with Jai Uttal starts on January 25, 2026. Nurture the seeds of love and take a journey into the healing power of sound. Sign up now . About Ram Dass: Ram Dass’s spirit has been a guiding light for generations, carrying millions along on the journey. Ram Dass teaches that through the Bhakti practice of unconditional love, we can all connect with our true nature. Through these teachings, Ram Dass has shared a little piece of his guru, Maharaj-ji, with all who have listened to him. Learn more at ramdass.org . “You know those cherries, chocolate-covered cherries? They’re like hard on the outside, but they’re soft and yum, yum, yum inside. We are just chocolate-covered cherries. That’s all we are. And that yum, yum, yum, yum, that’s the joy, that’s the bhakti. Yum, yum, yum, yum. Because we meet each other in the yum-yum place.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Dec 2

Speaking to a room full of Buddhists and psychotherapists, Ram Dass explores the impact that Eastern traditions have had on his life and his extraordinary adventure of coming home to being human. Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. This episode of Here and Now comes from the keynote address Ram Dass gave at the 2nd Annual Buddhism & Psychotherapy Conference in 1987, which was sponsored by the Karma Kagyu Institute. Ram Dass begins by outlining his connection with the Kagyu lineage of Buddhism, sharing stories of his time with Trungpa Rinpoche. He then gives a brief recap of his journey in life and how he was eventually drawn towards Eastern writings and teachings. Ram Dass talks about embracing Buddhist practices and his spiral path of bouncing back and forth between being in retreat and being in the marketplace of life. He explores how his work with dying people helped him embrace the extraordinary adventure of coming home to being human. Sharing a story about Kalu Rinpoche, another friend in the Kagyu line, Ram Dass discusses honoring compassion and the different levels at which we can do service in the world. He wraps things up by saying, “I cannot conceivably repay the debt that I feel to the Eastern traditions for having introduced me to myself.” About Ram Dass: Ram Dass’s spirit has been a guiding light for generations, carrying millions along on the journey. Ram Dass teaches that through the Bhakti practice of unconditional love, we can all connect with our true nature. Through these teachings, Ram Dass has shared a little piece of his guru, Maharaj-ji, with all who have listened to him. Learn more at ramdass.org . “ And I see that as an extraordinary adventure of coming home to being human. It’s interesting that more of the letters I’ve gotten in the past year have said to me, ‘Thank you for being human.’ Isn’t that bizarre? I mean, I’ve spent 25 years trying to be divine, and people write and thank me for being human. I mean, that just seems like a bizarre paradox to me. ” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Nov 18

Speaking across the decades from the 1960s to the 2010s, Ram Dass shares stories about his mother and father, and explores what it means to honor our parents and incarnation. Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This podcast is also sponsored by Magic Mind. Visit magicmind.com to get 58% off subscriptions, free shipping, and a free 15-pack of Sleep Shots. This episode of Here and Now is a compilation of Ram Dass discussing what it means to honor our parents and our incarnation. We begin in 1969 at the family farm in New Hampshire. Ram Dass talks about how most of our efforts to help other people are simply high drama. He tells a story about wanting to speak with his mother about dying when she was going through that process, but she had to be the one to open the door to the conversation. The next stop is the 1970s at the Abode of the Message in New Lebanon, New York. Ram Dass explores how part of the spiritual journey is about honoring incarnation and honoring our parents. He shares stories about spending time with his father, and how moments of intimacy between them were born of Ram Dass not trying to be someone special anymore. We move on to a 1985 Seva benefit in San Rafael, California. Ram Dass discusses moving back home at 50 to care for his aging father. He then tells the story of being called home from a meditation retreat to help his sick stepmother, and a moment of anger he felt towards his guru about what was happening. Up next is a trip to the 1990s at the Conscious Aging Retreat in Clearwater, Florida. Ram Dass responds to a question about helping a child awaken. He talks about how you have to become somebody before you become nobody, and recalls a memory where he and his mother overcame their roles of parent and child for a brief moment. Finally, we end with a conversation between Ram Dass and John Welshons on Maui in 2011. Ram Dass tells the story of a meditation retreat that turned into a therapy group, which triggered a memory from when he was a young child and his mother was holding him down during a temper tantrum. Ram Dass tries to reconcile this memory with the moment when his guru told him his mother is a very high soul. The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. About Ram Dass: Ram Dass’s spirit has been a guiding light for generations, carrying millions along on the journey. Ram Dass teaches that through the Bhakti practice of unconditional love, we can all connect with our true nature. Through these teachings, Ram Dass has shared a little piece of his guru, Maharaj-ji, with all who have listened to him. Learn more at ramdass.org . “Now, I’ve done this, being with my father once a month now, for several years, because I said to myself, ‘Look, you have to honor your incarnation. And one of the aspects of your incarnation is that you are your father’s son.’ And even though, on some level, that seems kind of funny, it happens to be part of what it’s about. Just like I have to honor the fact that I am an American. I have to pay my taxes. I have to do a lot of stuff. And this is one of the things, I must honor it. And then I have to figure out—what does it mean to honor it? What does it mean to honor it? What does it mean to honor parents?” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Nov 3

Ram Dass talks about finding a balance between emptiness and compassion, then answers questions from the audience, including on how to deal with fear around current events. The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This episode of Here and Now comes from a weekend workshop Ram Dass held in San Jose, CA, in May of 1992, not long after the LA riots took place: Ram Dass begins by discussing how it can be difficult to find a balance between the plane of emptiness and the plane of compassion. He talks about the paradox of seeing suffering as grace and still working to ease the suffering of those around us. Ram Dass takes questions from the audience, including about seeing synchronicities, practicing compassion with people who are hard to love, whether consciousness survives death, and how to best honor the guru. The final question is about dealing with fear related to current events, particularly the LA riots that had just happened in 1992. Ram Dass gives an abbreviated version of his lecture on “Riding the Waves of Change,” talking about how the art form is to be part of that in the universe which can handle change without being reactive to the fear by cultivating the parts in yourself that are not afraid. About Ram Dass: Ram Dass’s spirit has been a guiding light for generations, carrying millions along on the journey. Ram Dass teaches that through the Bhakti practice of unconditional love, we can all connect with our true nature. Through these teachings, Ram Dass has shared a little piece of his guru, Maharaj-ji, with all who have listened to him. Learn more at ramdass.org . “So we’re talking about the balance between emptiness and compassion. We’re talking about the balance between control with the mind and boundless love with the heart. I’m just giving you the balances or tensions that you and I, as human species, play with. We’re dealing with the tensions between ourselves as separate entities, with ego structures and bodies and so on, and ourselves as part of one thing that has no separateness at all.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Oct 21

Celebrating the release of There Is No Other , a new book of teachings from Ram Dass' lectures, Parvati Markus and Raghu Markus listen to and reflect on some of the material used in its creation. The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This special episode of Here and Now celebrates the new book, There Is No Other , a collection of teachings taken from Ram Dass’ lectures. In these times, Ram Dass’ teachings on wholeness and unity are more needed than ever. We begin with a clip of Ram Dass exploring the mindset of “us versus them.” Who exactly is us ? Who is them ? Raghu and Parvati reflect on how this clip is central to the theme of There Is No Other . The next clip features Ram Dass talking about the balance of heart and mind. Sharing a powerful real-life example, he explores how we cut ourselves off when we veil our hearts. Raghu and Parvati share how the book is about walking a path to harmony and wholeness. The third clip finds Ram Dass examining Ramana Maharshi’s concept of “God, Guru, Self,” and how we can begin to appreciate that the Spirit is everywhere. Parvati and Raghu discuss how Ram Dass' new book speaks to this really important moment in our lives. We end with a brief clip of Ram Dass talking about the path of love. “Finally,” he says, “you become an environment, a vibratory rate…” “So the mind, if it gets too strong, out of balance with the heart, shuts down all the information that the heart can give. It cuts you off from your wisdom, really. You don’t even see all the stuff. I mean, you and I are simultaneously existing on so many planes of reality, but because of the power of our minds, we keep limiting which realities are real, and the rest of it we either treat as error or we don’t even notice. It’s so deeply unconscious, we just don’t even notice all the rest of us, of ourselves.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Oct 6

Ram Dass explores facing fears of the future as we age, opening up to the mystery of death, and seeing dying as a window of opportunity for awakening. Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. Go to magicmind.com/ramdass or use the code RAMDASS for up to 48% off your first subscription or 20% off one-time purchases at checkout This episode of Here and Now comes from a talk Ram Dass gave in August 1995 as part of an aging study group. If you’re interested in stepping even deeper into the mystery of aging and death, check out Love Serve Remember Foundation’s new course: Walking Each Other Home . Ram Dass begins with a brief meditation centered around the words of Dudjom Rinpoche. It’s used as an example of how we can learn from these powerful texts. Ram Dass discusses facing future fears as we age and how death has begun to emerge from the cultural closet. For him, death is an incredible movement of consciousness into the mystery; it’s a window of opportunity. Ram Dass explores dealing with pain as we age and face death. He shares the story of a friend who created an incredible space for the process of her death, rather than being in a space where there was denial around the idea of death. He urges us to remain students of the mystery of life and death. Ram Dass ends by reading a series of quotes about death and near-death experiences. He talks about opening to death and making friends with it, rather than seeing it as a dreaded, dark hole. The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. About Ram Dass: Ram Dass’s spirit has been a guiding light for generations, carrying millions along on the journey. Ram Dass teaches that through the Bhakti practice of unconditional love, we can all connect with our true nature. Through these teachings, Ram Dass has shared a little piece of his guru, Maharaj-ji, with all who have listened to him. “It’s like the moment of birth, the moment of death, it’s the same thing; it’s an incredible movement of consciousness into the mystery. It’s a window of opportunity. Every death or every birth I’m present at is like a gift from God, as far as I’m concerned.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Sep 23

In this powerful lecture on responding to suffering, Ram Dass draws on the wisdom of the Buddha, Trungpa Rinpoche, and Wavy Gravy, and offers his insight into the secret of compassion. The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. This episode of Here and Now comes from a lecture Ram Dass gave at the Omega Institute on June 28th, 1983. Ram Dass talks about how suffering is everywhere. He examines the different kinds of reactions to it, including denial, pity, cynicism, or trying to “do something about it.” Ram Dass invokes the wisdom of the Buddha and Wavy Gravy to provide a path for us to open to suffering, and offers some insight into the secret of compassion. After a brief review of the Four Noble Truths, Ram Dass explores the concept of being nobody. He discusses the predicament of identifying with anything in form and how we aren’t who we think we are. We exist behind form. In the final part of the talk, Ram Dass introduces the rascally Trungpa Rinpoche, sharing stories of their early meetings. He recalls a dialogue between Trungpa and Wavy about responding to suffering and how they were representing two parts of the same dance. Sponsors Of This Episode: Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp . Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This episode is also sponsored by Magic Mind . Go to magicmind.com/ramdass or use the code RAMDASS for up to 48% off your first subscription or 20% off one-time purchases at checkout. You can support this podcast and listen to episodes AD-FREE on our Patreon . Sign up for a free 7-day trial: patreon.com/RamDassPodcast About Ram Dass: Ram Dass’s spirit has been a guiding light for generations, carrying millions along on the journey. Ram Dass teaches that through the Bhakti practice of unconditional love, we can all connect with our true nature. Through these teachings, Ram Dass has shared a little piece of his guru, Maharaj-ji, with all who have listened to him. “Because part of the secret of compassion is being able to embrace darkness into light. It’s being able to embrace suffering into yourself. It’s being able to acknowledge and allow. And then, the impeccable warrior hears what to do about it.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Sep 10

In this often fierce talk from Ram Dass, he reflects on the pull of God versus the pull of humanity and how we can find the balance between keeping one eye on God and one eye on the world. The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This episode of Here and Now comes from a talk Ram Dass gave in Florida in 1975. Ram Dass describes how, through practice, we can come to a point where we have a choice between fully merging back into God or returning into form. “That moment,” he says, “You have choice. Choice to give up the form, go into the formless. Or, choice to play in the formless, but come back into the form.” Why would we come back into form? Ram Dass talks about seeing the perfection of the universe, including all of the suffering, but also playing your part as an instrument of the Dharma. “You are a statement that will enlighten those who are ready to be enlightened. That is your only function, it’s the only reason you’re on Earth.” Ram Dass explores how true service arises not from the desire to help, but the desire to find freedom for ourselves and others. He talks about how the spiritual path requires balancing the pull of God and the pull of humanity; to recognize the perfection of the cosmic dance and the reality of human suffering. You can support this podcast, listen to episodes AD-FREE , and receive regular guided meditations from Ram Dass & Friends on our Patreon. Sign up for a free 7-day trial : patreon.com/RamDassPodcast “You get so fascinated with God, with enlightenment, with the wisdom of the ages. And in your zeal to do that, it’s very easy to forget. To forget humanity. To forget politics. To forget human concerns. To overlook the daily stuff around you.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Sep 2

Speaking across the decades from the 1970s to the 2010s, Ram Dass shares his wisdom on the importance of resting in awareness. Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. This episode of Here and Now is a compilation of Ram Dass discussing the concept of resting in awareness throughout the decades. We begin in Washington, D.C., in 1976, with Ram Dass exploring being in harmony with the Tao, the Way of things, and how awareness and love are really the same thing. “When you are aware without clinging,” he says, ‘And in harmony with all of the forces, you are no longer in time.” We move on to 1985, with Ram Dass meditating on the qualities of awareness. These are qualities such as spaciousness, equanimity, and love. He encourages us to become instruments of light, love, and presence. “Just allow your awareness to expand, to embrace everything you hear or feel or think.” The next stop is the Virgin Islands in 1995, with Ram Dass comparing awareness to the sky. The clouds in the sky are simply the passing phenomena of life. “Your whole concept of who you think you are,” he says, “All the stuff of ‘me’ is all the cloud. And the cloud is being appreciated or embraced or carried by the sky. The sky is just awareness.” Finally, we end in Maui in 2016, when Ram Dass had learned how to completely rest in his loving awareness. He guides a meditation to connect us to the space of loving awareness, where we can all go for a swim in the ocean of love. You can support this podcast, listen to episodes AD-FREE, and receive regular guided meditations from Ram Dass & Friends on our Patreon. Sign up for a free 7-day trial: patreon.com/RamDassPodcast About Ram Dass: Ram Dass’s spirit has been a guiding light for generations, carrying millions along on the journey. Ram Dass teaches that through the Bhakti practice of unconditional love, we can all connect with our true nature. Through these teachings, Ram Dass has shared a little piece of his guru, Maharaj-ji, with all who have listened to him. Learn more about Ram Dass, his teachings, and more at ramdass.org . “I would say my life is about awareness. And becoming or being aware. Because becoming’s already a trip in the cloud. ‘I’m getting aware.’ It’s another one. ‘I’m washing dishes, now I’m getting aware.’ It’s just another trip, it’s another thing you’re doing. So, I’d say my life is resting in awareness. And into the awareness come phenomena.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 18

In this recording from 1979, Ram Dass gives a talk at a benefit for a food bank, emphasizing that every human being has a right to be fed. The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This episode of Here and Now is from a talk Ram Dass gave at a benefit event for a food bank in Santa Cruz, California, in February 1979. Ram Dass begins by repeating some of the words his guru passed on to him about the importance of food and making sure people are fed. He talks about how we need to rethink the way we approach the issue of food in our culture. Ram Das explores the paradox of suffering: On one level, it stinks, and on another level, it’s all perfect. But it’s very hard not to close our hearts to the tremendous suffering around us. Sharing stories about his friends and his guru, Ram Dass talks about awakening to a place beyond “us” and “them,” a place where we’re all One. Ram Dass emphasizes the importance of quieting our minds and opening our hearts. “I kinda wonder about how the game really works,” he says. “Don’t you? The game of hunger and starvation and feeding and faith and manna from heaven and connectedness. I keep feeling that the game is different than my mind can yet comprehend, but that I’m on the right track when I keep quieting my mind and opening my heart and just serving and feeding and doing what I can.” You can support this podcast, listen to episodes AD-FREE , and receive regular guided meditations from Ram Dass & Friends on our Patreon. Sign up for a free 7-day trial : patreon.com/RamDassPodcast “And all I remember was my guru saying every human being has a right to be fed. A right. A right to food. He said even if it’s the worst thief in the world, he has a right to food. That food is not a bargaining tool of power; food is a basic, shared manifestation of God. And somehow, the haves and have-nots lose sight of that very easily. We can bargain about television sets. We can bargain about automobiles. But we can bargain about food.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 5

In this recording from a 1992 retreat, Ram Dass talks about dealing with change, using the stuff of your daily life to get free, and how your karma defines your dharma. You can support this podcast, listen to episodes AD-FREE , and receive regular guided meditations from Ram Dass & Friends on our Patreon. Sign up for a free 7-day trial : patreon.com/RamDassPodcast Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This episode of Here and Now is from a talk Ram Dass gave during a retreat at the Omega Foundation in 1992. Beginning with quotes from the great poets Kabir and Rumi, Ram Dass talks about how you start to work with each thing in your life as a method, as a practice. What you’ve got in life becomes what you work with, so your karma defines your dharma. Ram Dass brings up the constant changes we’re dealing with in terms of ecology, politics, and how living in “interesting times” can be seen as a blessing instead of a curse. “In dealing with these changes that are going down,” he says, “part of the real art is to look at what is changing and see how your identification with that which changes is creating so much fear in you that you’re pushing against change.” Continuing with his exploration of change, Ram Dass brings aging and death into the mix. He digs into dealing with changes to the body as we age, and how his work with people who are dying is really work on himself. “For me,” he says, “each act becomes part of the awakening.” The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. “And what you do is you just start flipping and taking what you’re given and start to work with it. In other words, your karma defines your dharma. That means what you got is what you work with. I mean, like, my baldness is my karma. I mean, it’s my genetics, it’s everything. Now, it becomes my dharma. Now, I can use it in order to become free of being bald, or being not bald, or whatever.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jul 21

In this recording from 1978, Ram Dass reads stories about his guru, Maharaj-ji, and his many miracles. We invite you to set aside your analytical mind and simply enjoy these miracles of love. You can support this podcast, listen to episodes AD-FREE, and receive regular guided meditations from Ram Dass & Friends on our Patreon. Sign up for a free 7-day trial: patreon.com/RamDassPodcast This episode of Here and Now is from a recording of Ram Dass at the Lama Foundation in June of 1978. Here, he reads stories from the manuscript of Miracle of Love , which would be published about a year later. Ram Dass begins by reading one of his own stories about Maharaj-ji, which involves a dead bird coming back to life. This was one of many experiences that overwhelmed Ram Dass’ analytical mind. Next, Ram Dass reads a series of stories from some of Maharaj-ji’s oldest devotees. He dealt with each person in a unique fashion and would often touch places of the deepest love within people. Ram Dass slips in a story about another great Indian saint, Ramana Maharshi. He then turns back to Maharaj-ji stories, focusing on miracles around food. Maharaj-ji said, “We have an inner thirst for food. We don’t know of it. Even if you don’t feel you could eat, your soul has a thirst for food.” The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. Sponsors of this Episode: Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Get 60% off your first subscription to Magic Mind with our link: magicmind.com/ramdassmf “You see why it’s peculiar to live in a culture like India, where all of these events are sort of like everyday occurrences. In the villages we live in, in the mountains, every family has dozens of these stories, and they just sit by the fire of the evening telling them. To come back to the West, where these stories are thought to be ‘miracles,’ is very confusing sometimes, difficult to integrate.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jul 7

Speaking across the decades from the 1960s to the 2010s, Ram Dass shares his thoughts on the feeling of love and the path of the heart. Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This episode of Here and Now is a compilation of Ram Dass speaking about love and the path of the heart across the decades: We begin in 1969, with Ram Dass talking about Maher Baba, whom he calls the personification of pure love. He describes a particularly powerful LSD trip where he gained insight into the true nature of love. He says, “I now conceive of the fact that falling in love means like falling into a bathtub of love.” We move on to 1979, with Ram Dass addressing the Christian Community of San Francisco. He describes the different stages of falling in love and talks about the devotional nature of the path of the heart. “And that’s one of your predicaments,” he says, “that when you really fall in love, it just opens and opens and opens, and you just don’t know where to hold on anymore.” The next stop is 1986, with Ram Dass touching on conditional love and the deprivation model we’ve been working with all our lives. He digs deeper into the different stages of love and talks about the need to give up the deprivation model. He says, “You change from the deprivation model to the model where there’s an abundance of [love].” We fast forward to the 1990s, with Ram Dass reading from the I Ching about the path of love and the path of the heart. He talks about how we are hungry ghosts who get addicted to the method of love, but all methods are traps. “And yet,” he says, “the bizarre thing about methods is they don’t work unless you get trapped.” Finally, we end in 2017, with Ram Dass telling a delicious story about loving everything, including a rug with spots on it. He talks about how judgment is in the mind, but love is in the heart. “I don’t judge,” he says. “But if I do judge, I love it.” The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. “Now, if you look at in the sense that, in the usual way of, ‘I fell in love with this person, there’s another way of seeing that, which is this person is a stimulus, is something in the world that was just right in a key sense to release us into the place in ourselves where we are love. And we say, as a result, ‘I am in love with you.’ Another way of saying it is, ‘You turn me on to the place in myself where I am love, where I can’t get to without you.’ Now we’re talking about you being my connection to that place in myself where I am love, where I can’t get without you. And then I want to hold on to my connection, just as any good junkie would like to do.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 30

Speaking at a MAPS conference in the early 1990s, Ram Dass looks back at some of the benefits and mistakes of the work he and Timothy Leary did with psychedelics in the 1960s. You can support this podcast, listen to episodes AD-FREE , and receive regular guided meditations from Ram Dass & Friends on our Patreon. Sign up for a free 7-day trial : patreon.com/RamDassPodcast Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This episode of Here and Now comes from a talk Ram Dass gave at a MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) conference in the early 1990s. It immediately followed a talk given by Timothy Leary. Ram Dass reflects on the funny position he’s in between his desire for this gathering of MAPS to put on a good face and be responsible researchers, and his feeling that what has happened is far more profound than that. “What we are doing now,” he says, “is trying to find a way to bring more people along through trying to legitimize our game in society. But the underground process in which psychedelics have continued to be used in the society and have come into mainstream consciousness, that goes on independent of whether we lose or win on the front we’re talking about in research.” Ram Dass speaks to some of the benefits that came out of the pioneering research into psychedelics he conducted with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the 1960s. This includes therapeutic possibilities, opening people up to wisdom from the East, and shifting our perception of reality. Ram Dass finishes by talking about some of the mistakes they made along the way, including how they got too involved with the revolutionary aspects of psychedelics rather than the evolutionary elements. But ultimately, the genie is already out of the bottle when it comes to psychedelics. “Truth cannot be repressed,” says Ram Dass. “It cannot be legislated out of existence. Psychedelics are a healthy pseudopod of society, and they have to be honored. And they will be honored.” This episode closes with a live performance of "Sit Around The Fire" performed by East Forest at the 2023 LSRF Ram Dass Legacy Retreat . This soundscape interweaves wisdom from Ram Dass around identity, inner work and interconnection. "Sit Around The Fire" was composed by East Forest and Jon Hopkins for the album Music For Psychedelic Therapy . The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. “I think we got a little confused about evolution and revolution. I think we played with the revolutionary aspects of psychedelics, when to me, the far more interesting issue is the evolutionary aspects. I think that had we been more evolved in our wisdom, and not feeling we were inventing the wheel all over again, we would have had an appreciation of what the fears were of the society and how to work with those fears rather than just pitting ourselves against them. I don’t think the way we did it was the only way it could’ve been done.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 16

Speaking through the decades, from the 1960s to the 2010s, Ram Dass shares his thoughts on Satsang, the community of seekers who come together in the pursuit of truth. You can support this podcast, listen to episodes AD-FREE , and receive regular guided meditations from Ram Dass & Friends on our Patreon. Sign up for a free 7-day trial : patreon.com/RamDassPodcast This episode of Here and Now is a compilation of Ram Dass discussing community and Satsang across the decades. We begin in 1969, with Ram Dass exploring the power of the spiritual community, Satsang, as a protective and nurturing presence for those on the path. He shares how Satsang serves as a reference group without a physical form. “The universe that is Satsang,” he says, “is an inner universe, not an outer universe.” We move on to 1975, with Ram Dass reflecting on how the cultural despair of the 60s led people to band together out of a sense of spiritual need or purpose. He reflects on how these “spiritual reference groups” exist over time and space in all directions. “One begins to recognize members of one’s group quite independent of geography and quite independent of time.” The next stop is 1986, with Ram Dass noting a growing maturity in the spiritual seekers he gathers with on his lecture tours. He discusses the various paths that bring people together in community and how we reassure each other through our presence for one another. “By reflecting back and forth between our hearts,” he says, “we strengthen our connection.” We fast forward to 1994, with Ram Dass discussing how the spiritual community is a mutual space for growth. He cautions that unless we meet in the deeper place of our beings together, the acts we do with one another will involve violence and exacerbate suffering. “Our art form is to cultivate this space and recognize that we are meeting in it, and share the essence of space behind the form.” Finally, we end in 2017, with a conversation between Ram Dass, Raghu Markus, and Rameshwar Das about how the deeply familial nature of Satsang is rooted in love and truth. They share stories about Ram Dass’ guru brother, KK Sah, and the early days of Satsang in the West. The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. Sponsors of this Episode: Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp . Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind , a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Get 60% off your first subscription to Magic Mind with our link: magicmind.com/ramdassmf Reunion is offering $250 off any stay to the Love, Serve, Remember community. Simply use the code “ BeHere250 ” when booking. Disconnect from the world so you can reconnect with yourself at Reunion. Hotel | www.reunionhotelandwellness.com Retreats | www.reunionexperience.org “It’s just us humans together in the shelter of each other. This is what Satsang, or Sangha, is. This is it. This is the community of beings who are acknowledging that dual intention: You work on yourself as an offering to others, you work on others as a way of working on yourself. Circle’s complete. And everything is part of that circle. All of it.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 2

In this interview from 1977, Ram Dass shares his views on psychedelics and how they can provide a free slate to experience the innocence of consciousness once again. Join the most important psychedelic gathering of the year......bridging science, spirit & society at Psychedelic Science 2025: THE INTEGRATION , hosted by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. Be part of the movement that will shape the next era of mental health, medicine, and consciousness. Featuring speakers like Paul Stamets, United States Representative Tim Ryan, UCSF Neuroscience & Psychopharmacology Researcher Robin Carhartt-Harris, Rick Doblin, founder of Internal Family Systems (IFS) Richard Schwartz, Pilar Guzman, CEO/Medical Director of the American Psychiatric Association Marketa M. Wills - M.D., M.B.A., FAPA, Raghu Markus, comedian Reggie Watts, musicians TYCHO & Jim James, and many more! Listeners get 15% off tickets to the 5-day event with our promo code LSRF15 at PsychedelicScience.org This episode of Here and Now is from an interview with Ram Dass conducted by New Dimensions Radio in 1977, shortly after Ram Dass participated in a conference called “LSD – A Generation Later.” The interview begins with Ram Dass discussing the happenings at the conference and his interactions with other psychedelic luminaries, including Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, and Albert Hofmann. Ram Dass explores the culture surrounding LSD in 1977, and how he has no desire to legislate how other people live their lives. He shares his guru’s instructions for using the “yogi medicine” and talks about whether or not it’s important to have a guide for psychedelic experiences. Finally, Ram Dass cautions that “getting high and seeing” is only one part of the process of change, and there are inner processes necessary to bring about change in life. He discusses the cultural evolution brought about by psychedelics and the shifts in consciousness he sees taking place. The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. Sponsors of this Episode: This show is sponsored by Magic Mind , a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Check out their new Maxx & Free energy shots and get 60% off your subscription with our code RAMDASS60 at magicmind.com/ramdassmf Ram Dass Here & Now is also brought to you by BetterHelp . Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. Reunion is offering $250 off any stay to the Love, Serve, Remember community. Simply use the code BeHere250 when booking. Disconnect from the world so you can reconnect with yourself at Reunion. Hotel | www.reunionhotelandwellness.com Retreats | www.reunionexperience.org “If you have a guide, you’re calm, and you really want to explore your inner being, I still see LSD as an incredible vehicle for overriding your habitual response patterns, your habits of thought, and giving you a free slate to experience your innocence of consciousness once again.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 21

Speaking across the decades, from the 1960s to the 2010s, Ram Dass shares his insights into responding to suffering, the meaning of service, and the confluence of social action and spiritual work. The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. This episode of Here and Now is a compilation of Ram Dass talking about service and social action across the decades. We begin in 1969, during a time of significant cultural change. A time where the people of the United States found themselves in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-war protests, and the rise of Women’s Liberation. Ram Dass explores the concept of social responsibility and talks about why protesting should come from a place not of anger, but of love. Next, we move to 1983. The media landscape has transformed in the wake of the Iran hostage crisis, political paradigms shift as Ronald Reagan makes his way to power, and communities all over the world begin to feel the impact of the growing AIDS epidemic. Ram Dass talks about learning to trust one’s intuitive inner voice when it comes to responding to suffering, and how we can bring together social action and spiritual work. Two years later, it is 1985 and the world has rapidly evolved. The Soviet Union has become a global threat. The nightly news shows the Apartheid regime in South Africa violently cracking down on Civil Rights activists, while the Reagan administration stands by, focused instead on rolling back civil liberties at home in the United States. Ram Dass offers perspective on navigating these challenges with an open heart. He explores the difference between dharma and seva, and why service requires us to embrace paradox in our lives. It is 1993, technology is transforming the world and how we engage with it. Ram Dass explores how being too attached to the fruits of our actions can be detrimental to social action work, leading activists to burn out quickly. We end our journey across the decades in 2018, in the middle of the first Trump administration in America. Wars rage on, and civil liberty is at risk across the globe. How do we oppose this skillfully and with an open heart? Ram Dass talks about how karma yoga is the key to finding the right balance between working on yourself and taking action for the benefit of others. Sponsors of this Episode: Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp . Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind , a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. You have a limited offer you can use now, that gets you up to 48% off your first subscription or 20% off one-time purchases with the code RAMDASS at www.magicmind.com/ramdass. Reunion is offering $250 off any stay to the Love, Serve, Remember community. Simply use the code “ BeHere250 ” when booking. Disconnect from the world so you can reconnect with yourself at Reunion. Hotel | www.reunionhotelandwellness.com Retreats | www.reunionexperience.org “So it really requires, it seems to me, staying open from moment to moment when you’re doing social action. And if you’re too obsessed with the goal, you lose it. If you’re too obsessed with the goal, since in much action you don’t get what you want, you’ll burn out much sooner. And so, the injunction of the Bhagavad Gita, which says be not identified with being the actor, be not attached to the fruits of the action, and yet, the action happens.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 5

In this exploration of the fear of suffering as we get older, Ram Dass talks about approaching the mystery of aging and death in the same adventurous manner as his friend Timothy Leary. For more on the relationship between Ram Dass and Timothy Leary, please check out Dying to Know , a book that details their epic friendship and Timothy’s process of dying. The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. This talk from June 1996 is part of an aging study group Ram Dass conducted to help guide his book on aging, Still Here . Fear of future suffering is a major issue for all us, but especially when it comes to aging. Ram Dass explores how we tend to respond to that fear with massive denial, and how we can work on coming to terms with those fears through a shift in perspective. Ram Dass talks about how his work with people who are severely ill or in the process of dying has helped prepare him for his own death. He talks about the fear of losing one’s analytic, linear mind, which is so valued in this culture, and how we can open ourselves up to the value of non-linear thinking. Finally, Ram Dass details the time he spent with his old friend Timothy Leary as he approached his death. For Timothy, death was another glorious adventure. Ram Dass wonders if we shouldn’t all add a touch of the “Leary Method” as a way to approach the mystery of aging and dying. Sponsors of this Episode: Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp . Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind , a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. You have a limited offer you can use now, that gets you up to 48% off your first subscription or 20% off one-time purchases with the code RAMDASS at www.magicmind.com/ramdass. Reunion is offering $250 off any stay to the Love, Serve, Remember community. Simply use the code “ BeHere250 ” when booking. Disconnect from the world so you can reconnect with yourself at Reunion. Hotel | www.reunionhotelandwellness.com Retreats | www.reunionexperience.org “What Timothy added was the fun of it, the adventure as you approach the mystery. When you’re approaching a mystery, what space do you want to be in in your head? Getting free of guilt? I mean, is that the one you want? Which one do you want? Which one opens to the possibilities? And Timothy was an adventurer, I mean, as I can tell you from being in the backwash for years. Timothy took me fighting and screaming into adventure. He opened up the whole image of dying into the possibility that it was a celebratory, adventurous, exciting part of life.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Apr 22

In this special bonus episode, Ram Dass offers his viewpoint on how we can dance in the ocean of change as the structure of our culture shapeshifts before our very eyes. This episode of Here and Now is from a talk Ram Dass gave at a bookstore in Sebastopol, CA, on April 15, 1992. How do you learn to live with change? Where do you stand? Ram Dass offers his viewpoint on our culture as he saw it in the early 1990s, talking about the rapid changes taking place in the ecological, economic, social, political, and spiritual realms. Ram Dass explores the massive denial in the culture about what all these changes mean and how that denial leads to uncertainty and fear. He talks about his work with death and dying, and how we can work with the death of our culture in a similar manner. Finally, Ram Dass shares how we can begin to find some balance amidst the chaos of change. It is possible to feel equanimity and even joy in a world that is filled with suffering. He says, “So you and I are driven to work on ourselves to rest in the place in ourselves where we are not vulnerable to the winds of changing time and space. And then to dance in the ocean of change, and to be a great dancer.” The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. Sponsors of this Episode: Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp . Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. Reunion is offering $250 off any stay to the Love, Serve, Remember community. Simply use the code “ BeHere250 ” when booking. Disconnect from the world so you can reconnect with yourself at Reunion. Hotel | www.reunionhotelandwellness.com Retreats | www.reunionexperience.org “Here we are dealing with perhaps the death of the whole structure, the way we know it. This is a massive death process. Now, this sounds like a gloomy lecture, except it isn’t. It all depends on whether you expect change always leads to bad things.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Apr 14

In this classic Q&A session from the 1980s, Ram Dass talks about soul mates, marriage and open relationships, working with truth in relationships, and much more. In this episode of Here and Now: Ram Dass begins with questions about soul mates and the difference between marriage and cohabitation. “I’m not sure,” he says, “I understand the term ‘soul mate’ other than people have work to do together, at times. Then, they may come together in many different forms.” Ram Dass converses with an audience member about being on the spiritual path while having a partner who is not. Next comes a question about open relationships, which leads him to talk about the importance of working with truth in relationships. Finally, Ram Dass answers a question about the different challenges men and women face in awakening through relationships. He talks about a quality of androgyny that can manifest in spiritual identity. The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. Sponsors of this Episode: Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp . Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind , a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Get 45% off the Magic Mind bundle with our link: magicmind.com/ramdass Reunion is offering $250 off any stay to the Love, Serve, Remember community. Simply use the code “ BeHere250 ” when booking. Disconnect from the world so you can reconnect with yourself at Reunion. Hotel | www.reunionhotelandwellness.com Retreats | www.reunionexperience.org “It is certainly possible to work with truth in a relationship, to get to the point where, more and more, you are safe in expressing what your impulses are and your truth of your moment. Truth is one of the vehicles for deepening spiritual awareness through another human being and if there is a license for that in any relationship – with guru, with friend, with lover, whatever it is – it is an absolutely optimum way of coming into a liquid spiritual relationship with another person.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Mar 31

In this Q&A session from 1993, Ram Dass talks about his passions, the balance of separateness and unity, dealing with turmoil, the creative force of the universe, and more. The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. This episode of Here and Now is from a Q&A session at an event in Boise, Idaho in April 1993. Ram Dass begins with questions about dealing with people who might not like you, what his current passions in life are, and the art of staying in the present moment. Ram Dass moves on to inquiries about hesitating when action feels needed, making the transition from somebody to nobody, and the limits of Carl Jung’s work with mythic archetypes. Finally, Ram Dass answers questions about dealing with polarization and turmoil in the world, offers his personal feelings about organized religion, and explores the creative force of the universe. He ends with a brief guided meditation centered around awareness and compassion for those who are suffering. Join renowned meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg for a free live conversation and interactive Q&A exploring the power of real connection—with ourselves, each other, and the world around us. Throughout the discussion, Sharon , Jackie Dobrinska , and Raghu Markus will weave in the wisdom of Ram Dass , reflecting on how intimacy can be a profound path to awakening. Join this free live call on April 7th : Click Here To Learn More Sponsors of this Episode: Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp . Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind . Try their new Mental Performance Gummies–a caffeine-free way to stay sharp, providing calm, sustained clarity without the side effects of traditional stimulants. Get 25% off with our link: magicmind.com/RAMDASSGM or use code RAMDASS25 at checkout. Reunion is offering $250 off any stay to the Love, Serve, Remember community. Simply use the code “BeHere250” when booking. Disconnect from the world so you can reconnect with yourself at Reunion. Hotel | www.reunionhotelandwellness.com Retreats | www.reunionexperience.org “There is a process where, when you get out of the way, the whole creative force of the universe keeps expressing itself through the way you walk, talk, dance, paint, write, whatever your thing is.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Mar 18

In this talk from 1970, Ram Dass explores the transformation from ignorance to wisdom, going up and coming down, living in the spirit, and different techniques of centering. The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. Listen to the Ram Dass Podcast ad-free and support this show at the same time! You can listen to the full podcast archive with hosts Raghu Markus and Jackie Dobrinska or listen to Ram Dass' talks from each episode by themselves. All that with regular guided practices from Ram Dass & friends. Sign up fore a 7-day free trial here: patreon.com/RamDassPodcast This episode of Here and Now is the second half of a talk Ram Dass gave at the Arlington Street Church in Boston on March 24, 1970. Don’t miss part one of this talk: Tuning Up & Tuning In . In this episode: Ram Dass explores the transformation from ignorance to wisdom. “The really fierce problem that most of us are realizing at this moment,” he says, “is how to alter our ways of thinking about who we are and how it all is, to be in tune with something inside that already knows.” Ram Dass talks about the roller coaster of going up and coming down. But that’s all ultimately a game. The real work is to center ourselves so we can be at the vibrational rate where we are living in the spirit. Ram Dass shares different techniques of centering oneself, including vipasana meditation, pranayama breathing, and bhakti yoga. “As far as I can see,” he says, “every form of yoga is based on one-pointedness of mind. Take bhakti yoga, singing a love song to Ram. It only works when you can make your mind so one-pointed on Ram that you and Ram become one.” Sponsors of this Episode: Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind. Try their new Mental Performance Gummies–a caffeine-free way to stay sharp, providing calm, sustained clarity without the side effects of traditional stimulants. Get 25% off with our link: magicmind.com/RAMDASSGM or use code RAMDASS25 at checkout. Reunion is offering $250 off any stay to the Love, Serve, Remember community. Simply use the code “BeHere250” when booking. Disconnect from the world so you can reconnect with yourself at Reunion. Hotel | www.reunionhotelandwellness.com Retreats | www.reunionexperience.org “Living in the spirit is a vibrational rate. It’s a take of it all. It’s a vibrational take. In order for it to work, you’ve got to get your head so centered. You’ve just got to calm down and center. And it’s really fierce to do it in the marketplace. And sometimes it’s cool to go off and do it in cycles. So at those times you sort of go off by yourself to cool out and center.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Mar 3

In this unique talk from 1970, Ram Dass explores the confluence of dualism and nondualism, how the One and the many exist simultaneously, and why all of life is about tuning up. This episode of Here and Now is the first half of a talk Ram Dass gave at the Arlington Street Church in Boston on March 24, 1970. In this talk: Ram Dass begins by talking about why all of life is about tuning up. “We’re tuning out of dualism into nondualism,” he says. “Tuning into being here and now.” Guided by wisdom from the likes of John the Baptist and Lao Tzu, Ram Dass digs deeper into his exploration of how dualism and nondualism come together. The One and the many can exist simultaneously. Ram Dass talks about Shiva’s dance, the mind-trip of holiness, and taking a night off from his Sadhana to go bowling. He ends with a classic story about not being able to keep his consciousness at the right level during a Q&A session. The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. Sponsors of this Episode: Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp . Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. Reunion is offering $250 off any stay to the Love, Serve, Remember community. Simply use the code “ BeHere250 ” when booking. Disconnect from the world so you can reconnect with yourself at Reunion. Hotel | www.reunionhotelandwellness.com Retreats | www.reunionexperience.org This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind , a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Get 45% off the Magic Mind bundle with our link: magicmind.com/ramdassjan “The tuning up is complicated, you see, because we’re not tuning out, we’re tuning up. We’re changing our vibrational rate.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Feb 17

Ram Dass shares stories of social action and explores how we can plug into our sense of intuitive rightness so that our every act is in the way of things and in tune with the universe. This episode of Here and Now is from a dharma talk given at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, on March 9, 1983. Ram Dass begins by talking about some of the anti-nuclear protests going on and how he feels tired of being “should upon.” He shares a story about how he wound up marching for peace across the Golden Gate Bridge. For Ram Dass, taking part in social action must come from a sense of intuitive rightness within ourselves, not from models of who we think we are and what we think we should be doing. We must listen our way into the harmony of things and resonate intuitively with the deepest parts of our beings. Ram Dass talks about quieting the screaming trumpets of the judging mind in order to hear what our next act should be. He shares the story of a protest he attended in New York where everyone simply felt privileged to be present in the moment. “You and I are environments for each other,” he says. “We’re the soil in which the flowers around us grow.” The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. Sponsors of this Episode: Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp . Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. Reunion is offering $250 off any stay to the Love, Serve, Remember community. Simply use the code “ BeHere250 ” when booking. Disconnect from the world so you can reconnect with yourself at Reunion. Hotel | www.reunionhotelandwellness.com Retreats | www.reunionexperience.org This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind , a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Get 45% off the Magic Mind bundle with our link: magicmind.com/ramdassjan “It was in the way of things. It had an intuitive sense of rightness. It was the meditative space of listening. Of hearing, not even listening. Of being so in tune with the universe that you can sense how your every act, your walking meditation, is interwoven with every other form. And the quality of the way in which you walk is your participation in the totality.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Feb 3

Ram Dass and Stephen Levine take questions from the audience and talk about dealing with fear, appreciating your own unique incarnation, transforming negative energy, and more. This episode of Here and Now is the final part of a talk given by Ram Dass and Stephen Levine in San Francisco in the 1980s during the AIDS crisis. Don’t miss Part 1 and Part 2 of this talk. In this recording: Ram Dass and Stephen answer questions about dealing with fear in someone who is ill and how to be with a person who is caught in their fear. They discuss the function of fear and how there’s no way we can really take away another person’s fear, but we can be an environment in which they can let go of it if they choose. Responding to a question about viewing AIDS as a death sentence, Stephen says, “No one has to die your death for you, and you don’t have to die your death for anyone else.” Ram Dass brings up the issue of time and talks about not getting attached to a model of what you think life experience should look like. Ultimately, it’s best to appreciate the uniqueness of your own incarnation. Finally, Ram Dass and Stephen are asked to reflect on society’s reaction to the AIDS crisis. Stephen explores how difficult it is to keep your heart open around people whose hearts have closed, while Ram Dass talks about the art form of transforming negative energy. The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox. About Stephen Levine: Stephen Levine was an American poet, author and Buddhist teacher best known for his work on death and dying. He was a friend and colleague to many Be Here Now Network Teachers. Along with Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg, Stephen is responsible for making the teachings of Theravada Buddhism more widely available to students in the West. Find more talks and writings from Stephen at levinetalks.com . Sponsors of this Episode: Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp . Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. Reunion is offering $250 off any stay to the Love, Serve, Remember community. Simply use the code “ BeHere250 ” when booking. Disconnect from the world so you can reconnect with yourself at Reunion. Hotel | www.reunionhotelandwellness.com Retreats | www.reunionexperience.org This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind , a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Get 45% off the Magic Mind bundle with our link: magicmind.com/ramdassjan “I mean, there’s an art form to learning how to flip negative energy, and there’s plenty of it in the game you and I are all involved in at this moment. And it’s inside ourselves and it’s in each other. And the question is how quickly we can identify it. The minute you can notice it you start to get space. The minute you get space, you can start to transform it. And you can transform that negative energy into something through which you can grow.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jan 20

Ram Dass and Stephen Levine explore how all the experiences in our lives, including the process of dying, can be an opportunity to grow and awaken out of the illusion of separateness. This episode of Here and Now is part two of a talk by Ram Dass and Stephen Levine in San Francisco in the 1980s during the AIDS crisis. You can listen to part one on Ep. 268 of the Here & Now podcast: The Heart of Healing. Ram Dass talks about how we are being healed out of our separateness through our shared caring and our shared heart. Everything in our lives, including the process of dying, is an opportunity to grow. He explores how we need to shift our perspectives to touch the possibility that we are more than our bodies. Stephen addresses the AIDS crisis and the sense of anger and self-hatred that gathers around the pain people experience as they come closer to death. He shares the powerful story of one AIDS patient he was working with who started to meet his pain with loving kindness instead of with hatred. Ram Dass talks about opening not just to physical pain but to psychological pain as well. He shares some of the heavy learning he’s had to do in order to allow himself to need help from others. To do the work he really wanted to do, Ram Dass needed to acknowledge the fullness of his own humanity first. About Stephen Levine: Stephen Levine was an American poet, author and Buddhist teacher best known for his work on death and dying. He was a friend and colleague to many Be Here Now Network Teachers. Along with Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg, Stephen is responsible for making the teachings of Theravada Buddhism more widely available to students in the West. Find more talks and writings from Stephen at levinetalks.com . The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Visit Ramdass.org/fellowship to sign up for the General Fellowship, and you'll receive event invitations directly in your inbox. “And at the simplest level, I’d say the statement is the antidote to burnout is the perspective that you are a growing being and that everything, including your own life and your own death, and approaching death, is an opportunity to grow.” – Ram Dass Sponsors of this Episode: Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp . Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. Reunion is offering $250 off any stay to the Love, Serve, Remember community. Simply use the code “ BeHere250 ” when booking. Disconnect from the world so you can reconnect with yourself at Reunion. Hotel | www.reunionhotelandwellness.com Retreats | www.reunionexperience.org This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind , a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Get 45% off the Magic Mind bundle with our link: magicmind.com/ramdassjan See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jan 7

In this talk from the 1980s, Ram Dass and Stephen Levine come together to explore the heart of healing and encourage us to look with clarity and compassion at the issues of pain and death. Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Get 45% off the Magic Mind bundle with our link: magicmind.com/ramdassjan This episode of Here and Now is part one of a talk Ram Dass and his good friend Stephen Levine gave in San Francisco in the 1980s. Check back soon for more of this recording. Stephen begins by talking about how this event came to be. He explores the heart of healing and how it can occur on more than just the physical level. The body might not always reflect the healing, but the healing is happening nonetheless. Ram Dass wants this to be a gathering that can reach for truth. Feeling touched by his stepmother’s recent passing, he shares the beauty of the process they just went through together. He tells the story about being on LSD during his mother’s funeral and explores some of the issues of burnout that are commonplace for people who are caregivers. Stephen talks about teaching with Elisabeth Küblar-Ross and how he learned to let go of his roles when sharing space with people who are facing pain and death. He tells the story of a woman who used her pain to push past her separateness and into a place of collective being. Healing doesn’t have to do with life and death, it has to do with the heart of the moment. About Stephen Levine: Stephen Levine was an American poet, author and Buddhist teacher best known for his work on death and dying. He was a friend and colleague to many Be Here Now Network Teachers. Along with Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg, Stephen is responsible for making the teachings of Theravada Buddhism more widely available to students in the West. Find more talks and writings from Stephen at levinetalks.com . “Those people we know who are working with healing the body often seem to come to the place where they recognize that there is no such thing as just healing ‘my’ body, it is healing the body we all share. Entering the shared heart to experience the shared pain in the body we all share.” – Stephen Levine See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Dec 23, 2024

In this unique recording from 1995, Ram Dass talks to the Shivas Irons Society about the mystical nature of golf and how he’s using the game as a practice to become more conscious. Today's show is sponsored by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind This episode of Here and Now is from a talk Ram Dass gave to the Shivas Irons Society at Stanford University in August 1995. Ram Dass shares why he decided to take up the game of golf and how it helped him work out some old anxieties around the process of learning a new skill. Ram Dass talks about how his concentration practices and cultivation of the Witness allow him to connect to the mystical nature of golf. He explores not being attached to being the actor or to the fruits of an action. Are you being the golfer or are you playing golf? Finally, Ram Dass shares how he’s using the game of golf as a practice to become more conscious and develop qualities such as equanimity and joy in the moment. We can live our storylines, which means picking the right club for the next shot, while simultaneously having a free awareness that delights in the timelessness of each moment. About Ram Dass: Ram Dass’s spirit has been a guiding light for generations, carrying millions along on the journey. Ram Dass teaches that through the Bhakti practice of unconditional love, we can all connect with our true nature. Through these teachings, Ram Dass has shared a little piece of his guru, Maharaj-ji, with all who have listened to him. “What I’m saying is the game of golf is an exquisite practice for cultivating the qualities of mind that, in the long run, relieve suffering for you and other people. So I’m saying to you that you have the attraction to and the skills in and the involvement with something that is basically a vehicle for liberation. And to see it as less than that is interesting, but it’s not the full ballgame at all. And it doesn’t diminish the beauty of the game of golf. In fact, it seems to me it enhances it because you’re just appreciating the whole process, including the humor of your own mind.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Dec 9, 2024

At this rowdy Q&A session from their 20-year reunion event at Harvard, Ram Dass and Timothy Leary answer questions and banter about the scenarios and myths surrounding our lives. Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind This episode is part three of the Ram Dass and Timothy Leary reunion event at Harvard University on April 23, 1983. Be sure to check out part one, The Explorer’s Club , and part two, No Signposts . In this recording: Ram Dass and Timothy begin with a little banter about their relationship and how it has evolved over the years. Dealing with a slightly rowdy audience, they take questions about where we go from here, emptiness and form, the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, and Ken Kesey. Ram Dass and Timothy both share their thoughts on collaboration and writing as a team, what the future might hold for the use of psychedelics, and whether or not psychedelics cause brain damage. They have a lively debate about Gandhi versus ET. Ram Dass explores some of the myths and scenarios surrounding our lives. Timothy talks about his Revelations per Minute meter and some of the future possibilities he’s most excited about. They quibble over Ram Dass’ use of the word “God” and make some predictions about the remainder of the 1980s. The event wraps up with some extended banter about voting, righteousness, and breaking bread with old enemies. This talk was chosen in celebration of the new book, Dying To Know , which chronicles the epic friendship between Ram Dass and Timothy Leary that shaped generations of seekers. Get your copy today ! “My feeling is that we see through scenarios and myths so much that all we can do from here is be true to our self from moment to moment. Because every time we say, ‘Well, where we go from here is…’ We are already sending a whole structural thing forward.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Nov 26, 2024

In this talk from their 20-year reunion at Harvard, Timothy Leary reflects on the journey he and Ram Dass shared as they explored the boundaries of consciousness with no signposts to guide them. Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Get Magic Mind at 50% off with the Black Friday offer, available only through our link until December 6th: https://www.magicmind.com/ramdassbf This episode is part two of the Ram Dass and Timothy Leary reunion event at Harvard University on April 24, 1983. Don’t miss part one: The Explorer’s Club . In this recording: Timothy Leary takes center stage to share his perspective on the journey he and Ram Dass took when they came together at Harvard. He begins with a brief history of the tradition of transcendental thinking at Harvard which began with Ralph Waldo Emerson. Timothy talks about the simplicity of their work in those early days as he and Ram Dass explored the boundaries of human consciousness with no signposts to guide them. He shares some thoughts on the notorious Good Friday Experiment and discusses the important insights into psychopharmacology they discovered, including the concept of set and setting. Shifting topics to their post-Harvard lives, Timothy talks about the “happiness hotels” he and Ram Dass were running. They share some laughs about the Harvard Crimson, being tracked by the CIA, and Timothy’s description of Ram Dass in his autobiography. Finally, they discuss the mileage they got out of various myths over the years and what their post-Harvard voyages of discovery were like for each of them. Today's talk was chosen in celebration of the new book, Dying To Know , which chronicles the epic friendship between Ram Dass and Timothy Leary that shaped generations of seekers. Get your copy today ! “In those days, it did seem almost miraculously simple. We gave, we shared; we took these drugs as novices, as amateurs, hesitantly moving into a field that had no signposts or guidelines. There was simply no language in Western psychology to describe altered states of consciousness or ecstasies or visions or terrors. A psychiatrist said these were psychotomimetic experiences, but that didn’t seem to tell us too much. We were smart enough, and I give us this credit, to know how little we knew.” – Timothy Leary See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Nov 11, 2024

In this talk from his 20-year reunion with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in 1983, Ram Dass shares some reflections about psychedelics and being part of the old Explorer’s Club. Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind This episode is the first part of the Ram Dass and Timothy Leary reunion event at Harvard University on April 24, 1983. Check back soon for parts two and three. In this recording: Ram Dass shares some reflections about psychedelics and why he’s still a part of the old Explorer’s Club. Detailing an extremely powerful trip he took at a hotel in Kansas, Ram Dass talks about how he was able to find peace in the space between the thoughts arising in his mind. Ram Dass explores psychedelics as a method and how it helped him connect to the place of unity that lies behind the diversity of human beings. Finally, Ram Dass talks about how using psychedelics has informed his stance on social action. It’s better for our actions to come out of a sense of joy and love rather than fear and hate. This talk was chosen in celebration of the new book, Dying To Know , which chronicles the epic friendship between Ram Dass and Timothy Leary that shaped generations of seekers. Get your copy today ! “Now, I suspect that I’ve taken LSD once every two years since I first ingested [it] with Timothy. I’ve taken it many, many more times during the first five or six years. But I don’t think I’ve missed a two-year period. I always assume that I’m going to start from a different launching pad because all the things that happened to me in those two years will put me in a different space from which to take off. I’ll explore a new unchanneled kind of plane of reality. And then I also feel like I’m a member of an old Explorer’s Club that has a loyalty to have reunions.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Oct 28, 2024

Ram Dass leads a guided meditation centered on compassion and then conducts a fast-paced Q&A session on topics such as world peace, reincarnation, and dealing with teenagers. Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind This episode of Here and Now is from a Ram Dass event in Eugene, Oregon in March of 1987. Ram Dass begins with a meditation centered on awareness and compassion. He guides us through a visualization where we become a being of infinite size and infinite compassion. Offering us his truth, Ram Dass conducts a spirited, fast-paced Q&A session with a lively audience. He shares his thoughts on topics such as world peace, humor, relationships, reincarnation, and dealing with teenagers (which can be like when worlds collide). Finally, Ram Dass conducts a rousing rendition of one of his favorite songs, Jubilate Deo , breaking the audience up into a six-part round. Part of this recording is featured in Centered in the Storm , a free course from Love Serve Remember foundation featuring the wisdom of Ram Dass and many of the great teachers here at Be Here Now Network. The course is running right now – sign for free up today . “I mean, when somebody’s on their way to becoming somebody and they meet somebody who’s on their way to becoming nobody, it’s when worlds collide, like Velikovsky said. And that’s usually what happens between spiritually, relatively conscious adults and their teenage kids who are busy getting into stuff and getting through their stuff world. And what you have to do is use that as an exercise to work on yourself to get to the point where your mind is such where you can do what needs to be done to keep that act together, to keep the kid from blowing themselves apart if you can, and at the same moment keep spacious.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Oct 14, 2024

Ram Dass shares stories of miracles and talks about truth, relationships, and how some dualistic methods can help us straddle the thin line between chaos and cosmos. Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind This episode of Here and Now is from a 1980s talk in Sydney, Australia. Sharing stories from Miracle of Love about Dr. Larry Brilliant’s experiences with Maharajji, Ram Dass takes on the subject of miracles. He says the value of these mind-boggling stories is in helping us break the attachment to our thinking minds. Ram Dass tells the story of Maharajji demanding changes to Be Here Now and keys in on the statement, “Money and truth have nothing to do with one another.” He talks about truth, secrets, and how hard it is to be truthful around other human beings. Ram Dass explores the power and trials of relationships based on truth. “The truth is scary,” he says. “Truth keeps shattering your models of how you think it ought to be.” He explains how dualistic methods such as relationships and devotional yoga can help bring us into non-dualism and straddle the thin line between chaos and cosmos. Want to participate in the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join us for the SoulPod Meet-Up on October 22nd at 8 p.m. EDT. “Well, the problem with truth is that we are all these kinds of animal/human/unconscious – we all have all this kind of stuff going back and forth. You might look at your partner and suddenly they look like a skeleton. ‘Good morning dear, you look absolutely ghastly.’ Can you handle that in a relationship? A relationship based on truth follows the very fine line between chaos and cosmos.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Oct 1, 2024

In this Q&A session from 1994, Ram Dass talks about the importance of honoring lineage, the potential of the rave scene, how to bring a heart quality to academia, and much more. Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind This episode of Here and Now is from a question and answer session Ram Dass conducted at a talk in Boulder, Colorado, in June of 1994. Ram Dass begins by answering questions about self-destructing methods, lineage versus eclecticism, and advising people on what methods are best suited to them. He talks about the importance of honoring lineage and respecting each other’s journeys. Next up is a dose of psychedelics and politics. Ram Dass answers a question about the burgeoning rave scene in 1994 and includes his thoughts on the state of psychedelics at that moment. He then takes on a question about fundamentalism, which prompts him to talk about the Clinton administration. Ram Dass wraps things up with questions about bringing a heart quality into academia, his view on open marriages, and the importance of honoring our teachers. He talks about being able to respond to the presence of uncertainty and chaos in a reflective way, rather than a reactive way. Want to participate in the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join us for the SoulPod Meet-Up on October 8th at 3 p.m. EDT. “In the story of lineages, the transmission is passed from individual to individual through specific teachings. I think we should honor and appreciate and treasure the fact that human consciousness has valued and transmitted ways to become free. I think that’s what honoring a lineage means. I think that we’ve got to separate the practice of honoring a lineage from the result of honoring the lineage, which is to be free. And that means free of lineage. You can’t be free of all form, you’re free within form. And within form, you can be in the lineage.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Sep 16, 2024

In this continuation of his address to the American Psychological Association, Ram Dass talks about integrating different planes of reality and offers 10 recommendations for psychologists. Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind If you haven’t done so already, listen to Here and Now Ep. 259 to hear the first part of this talk. This episode is a continuation of Ram Dass’ address to the American Psychological Association in Montreal, Canada, on September 3rd, 1980. Ram Dass examines the paradoxes that we must incorporate into our beings as we start to play with different planes of reality, including issues of free will and determinism. He talks about embracing his humanity and taking the curriculum that’s offered to him in this life. Ram Dass explores systems that exist in other cultures that are usable by psychology, including the Chakra systems. He reads a story about an Eastern doctor as an example of someone who has integrated different planes of reality into his work. Using his clock analogy, Ram Dass details the process of awakening from identification with our separateness and how we evolve from seeking pleasure to seeking freedom. He ends the address by offering 10 recommendations for psychologists that he’s gleaned through his life experiences. “You and I met here today in a way that our hearts touched. You can’t convert what I said into any simple psychological stuff right away. But you and I are meeting in a way that we know we are touching something that is real for both of us. We may not be able to say what it is that’s just happening to us, but we know it’s happening. We can point at the moon, a little bit.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Sep 2, 2024

Presenting his unique life as a case study, Ram Dass offers insights into the human mind and altered states of consciousness to a gathering of the American Psychological Association. Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind This episode of Here and Now is from the first part of Ram Dass’ address to the Meeting of the American Psychological Association in Montreal, Canada, on September 3rd, 1980. Ram Dass presents his case to the American Psychological Association, talking about a set of experiences and shifting perceptions that confronted him with the issue of what reality truly is. He explores his time as a professor at Harvard, meeting Tim Leary, and the power of his first psychedelic experience. That experience propelled Ram Dass to years of research with these consciousness-altering chemicals and a deep exploration of the human mind. Having become a master of getting high, Ram Dass talks about the horrors of coming down. But these studies with psychedelics helped him to empty his mind, become more of a witness to his experiences, and be less associated with his emotional states. Finally, Ram Dass shares what led to him going to India, his experience of giving his guru psychedelics, and how his concept of time started to change. He closes by talking about the different planes of consciousness. “I found myself becoming less identified with my emotional states and my psychological qualities and characteristics, and perplexedly enough, at the same moment, more involved with them. I seemed to be living more fully in the moment of the feelings, and yet, at the same moment, being more spacious around them.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 19, 2024

In this half-hour guided meditation, Ram Dass uses concentration and mindfulness techniques to help us sit on the river bank of the mind and watch the thoughts, sensations, and feelings flow by. Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind Take a seat on the river bank of your mind with this guided meditation Ram Dass conducted during a retreat in Vancouver, Canada, in February 1992. Ram Dass begins the guided meditation with a Samadhi, or concentration, practice. “Every time the mind wanders to any sensation or thought,” he says, “the minute you notice that it has wandered away from the breath, just very gently, non-judgmentally, draw the awareness back to the next breath.” The meditation shifts to a mindfulness practice. “Now just open up into mindfulness,” says Ram Dass, “just being aware of what is. Let the mind be drawn to whatever primary object it is drawn to. If it’s drawn to a feeling in your back or in your legs, notice that. If it’s drawn to a memory or a plan or an emotion, a listening, tasting, whatever sensation or thought, let it flicker to that, let it sit with it, don’t hold onto the thought or sensation, and then watch it be replaced by another one.” For the last part of the meditation, Ram Dass tells us to focus on the thought of “I.” He says, “Look and see if you can find out where that is. Where is the thought of I? Who is this I? In the ocean of awareness, where is I?” Listen to this podcast ad-free and support these great talks from the Ram Dass Archive. 7-day free trial: patreon.com/RamDassPodcast “It’s as if you were sitting on a river bank watching the mind’s stuff go by. Here comes a floating sensation from the knee. Here comes a thought about the whole process. Here comes the listening to a sound. They just come, and they go.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 5, 2024

How can we learn to live by changing our relationship to death? Ram Dass addresses the staff at a hospital and shares his vast perspectives on death, not getting caught in the drama of dying, and dealing with burnout. Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This show is also sponsored by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind Today’s episode is from a lecture Ram Dass gave to the staff of Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, New York, on November 26, 1986. Ram Dass begins by exploring different perspectives on death. He talks about how the Western perspective on dying can often frame death as the enemy, then shares how the Eastern perspective contains a lot more lightness about death. Ram Dass touches on the hospice movement and then discusses his work with the Living Dying Center. He talks about how death is often the biggest drama in town, but the process of dying can be used to awaken rather than keep people identified with their separateness. Finally, Ram Dass addresses the issue of burnout in the medical community. How can one function in the role of being a healer without emotionally being attached to whether or not the patient lives or dies? But we can approach pain and suffering in a way where we don’t get lost in it. Listen to this podcast ad-free and support these great talks from the Ram Dass Archive. 7-day free trial: patreon.com/RamDassPodcast “I must just encourage you to explore the possibility that you use the adventure of service as a vehicle for opening up the exploration of who you are in relation to what you’re doing. Because I think if you were less a nurse and less a doctor, and more an awareness who was being a nurse and doctor, your payoff would be improved considerably, and death would become an interesting part of nature rather than an error or a failure. And you could still do your work, in fact, perhaps even more impeccably.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jul 22, 2024

In this Q&A session from 1990, Ram Dass talks about service, karma, alcoholism, the concept of eternity, cultivating the intuitive heart, experiencing the feeling of coming home, and more. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. Today’s podcast is also sponsored by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind This episode of Here and Now is from a Q&A session during a talk in Oklahoma City in May of 1990. Ram Dass begins by addressing questions about Hatha yoga, the concept of eternity, and where we can start when it comes to service. He talks about listening inwardly to hear the unique part we can play. Next up, Ram Dass explores dealing with alcoholism, cultivating qualities such as compassion and sympathetic joy, the concept of karma and our unique karmic predicaments, and experiencing the feeling of coming home into the harmony of all things. Finally, Ram Dass talks about some of the figures he admires, cultivating the intuitive heart, and how to deal with the seductive appeal of intensity. What we can do is cultivate the quality of the Witness within ourselves that notices when we get taken and lost in the drama of life. Want to participate in the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join us for the SoulPod Meet-Up on July 30th at 8 p.m. EDT. “I’ll tell you, I experience that as I keep opening my heart and accept my part in the sea of humanity, in the process of it, and start to allow that quality of compassion to come forth, I experience the feeling of coming home. I feel like I come home into family, I come home into place, I come home into the harmony of things. I think that the conditions are available for us to feel that feeling. I think as each individual feels it, then they become an instrument through which others feel it. I think it is a heart-to-heart process of coming home into that feeling of being at home.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jul 8, 2024

Ram Dass explores the paradox of suffering a spiritual person lives with, the perfection of it all, better living through chemistry, how we’re touched by grace, and the path of service and love. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. Today’s podcast is also sponsored by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind This episode of Here and Now continues the talk from Here and Now Ep. 254— The Up-Level . It was recorded at a meeting of the San Francisco Christian Community in 1978. Ram Dass begins by explaining the paradox a spiritual person lives with when it comes to suffering and the perfection of all things. He touches on karma and righteousness. Ram Dass talks about how he came into spirituality through his experimentation with psychedelics and better living through chemistry. He explores the power of the mystical experience, motivations for service in the face of suffering, and the limits we place on ourselves by defining who we are. Ram Dass touches on our attachment to our methods, and how we’re all touched by grace. We can fight it all we want, but we can’t fall out of grace. He tells the story of how he began to give up his anger and ends the talk with an exploration of love. For Ram Dass, his path was simply one of service and of love. “We have been touched. We have been touched by grace. That’s what we’re doing here. That’s why we’re in this room rather than at movies or out getting more and more sensual gratification at a punk rock concert or whatever. The reason we are here is because we’ve touched something. That is the grace, that is the thing. It has happened.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 24, 2024

In a talk from 1978, Ram Dass explores stepping onto the spiritual path, different planes of consciousness, the process of awakening, and the spiritual up-level game we can get caught in. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. Today’s podcast is also brought to you by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind This episode of Here and Now comes from a 1978 recording of a talk Ram Dass gave at a meeting of the Christian Community of San Francisco. Ram Dass begins by speaking about the ups and downs of stepping onto the spiritual path, and how the nature of his personal journey had to do with the relationship of thought forms to the universe. There are more ways to know the universe beyond the rational, analytic mind, including intuition. Using meditation as an example, Ram Dass explores how we can lessen our identification with our thinking mind and start identifying more with our awareness. He talks about the different planes of consciousness on which we exist, from the physical and psychological planes to the plane where we’re all one. Ram Dass describes the process of awakening as a process of extricating ourselves from attachment to any of these planes. He talks about the confusion people encounter as they jump from plane to plane and the spiritual up-level game that people can get caught in. Ultimately, what we have to realize is that there’s no place to stand. We’ve got to allow it all, all of the time. “‘Peter, it’s your turn to do the dishes.’ Peter answers, ‘We’re all one.’ Now, it is true we are all one, and it’s also true that it’s your turn to do the dishes. That’s what would be called a confusion of levels, you see. That’s what was known as the up-level in the original jargon of the consciousness movement. That was the up-level. You up-level everybody. Whatever they said, you just jumped one level up. Then you get the penultimate where somebody is saying, ‘It’s all nothing, it’s all empty, there is nothing, there’s nowhere.’ Then you’d say, ‘Yes, but do the dishes.’ And that would be your new up-level, that would be the twist.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 10, 2024

In this 1981 Q&A session, Ram Dass addresses surrender, astrology, dharmic anger, the illusion of separateness, relative reality, love, hallucinogens, and more. Participate in the discussion about this episode of Here and Now! Join us for the SoulPod Meet-Up on June 4th at 8 p.m. EDT. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This episode of Here and Now is taken from a talk given in Melbourne, Australia in 1981. Ram Dass begins the Q&A by taking questions about dealing with disturbances in meditation, the relationship between concept and perception, and letting go of our identification with different roles and stances. In response to a question about the role of the guru in the unfolding of his spiritual journey, Ram Dass talks about how his relationship with his guru is like that of a child with an imaginary playmate. He cautions us about getting too caught up in the concept of the guru, saying that there are no rules to this game. After answering a question about free will, Ram Dass takes on an inquiry about being too formless and feeling disconnected from the physical. He talks about the importance of being grounded and getting your act together. Ram Dass ends this part of the session with a question about responsibility, especially as it pertains to social action. Today’s podcast is also brought to you by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind Want to listen to this podcast AD-FREE? Not interested in the commentary before each talk from Ram Dass? We hear you! Join our Patreon for all this, plus weekly guided meditations from Ram Dass and friends. Try free for 7 days by signing up at patreon.com/RamDassPodcast “Once you are without anger, then you can get really angry. I mean, there’s nothing more beautiful than dharmic anger.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 27, 2024

In this Q&A session, Ram Dass talks about dealing with disturbances in meditation, letting go of identifications, seeing the guru as an imaginary playmate, being too formless, and more. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. Today’s podcast is also brought to you by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind Want to listen to this podcast AD-FREE? Not interested in the commentary before each talk from Ram Dass? We hear you! Join our Patreon for all this, plus weekly guided meditations from Ram Dass and friends. Try free for 7 days by signing up at patreon.com/RamDassPodcast This episode of Here and Now is taken from a talk given in Melbourne, Australia in 1981. Ram Dass begins the Q&A by taking questions about dealing with disturbances in meditation, the relationship between concept and perception, and letting go of our identification with different roles and stances. In response to a question about the role of the guru in the unfolding of his spiritual journey, Ram Dass talks about how his relationship with his guru is like that of a child with an imaginary playmate. He cautions us about getting too caught up in the concept of the guru, saying that there are no rules to this game. After answering a question about free will, Ram Dass takes on an inquiry about being too formless and feeling disconnected from the physical. He talks about the importance of being grounded and getting your act together. Ram Dass ends this part of the session with a question about responsibility, especially as it pertains to social action. Would you like to participate in the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join us for the SoulPod Meet-Up on June 4th at 8 p.m. EDT. “It’s like having an imaginary playmate as a child, but then as you grow up you realize that the playmate was real and you were imaginary. It’s sort of that way with the guru. I mean, you realize that who you thought you were that was following the guru, that was the hype in the first place. And that it all just is. So Maharaj-ji and I are buddies, lovers; I hate him because every time I try to sneak something by, there he is. And I can’t even describe how much I love him.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 13, 2024

In this classic talk, Ram Dass explores resting in ‘I am,’ a place where we can see the perfection of all things, including suffering, and how we can balance that place with an open heart. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. Today’s episode is also brought to you by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind This episode is a continuation of the talk from Here and Now Ep. 250 – Eat It Like It Is , which was given in Austin, Texas, in the early 1990s. Continuing to take his cue from Swami Ram Tirth’s words, “I am without form, without limit,” Ram Dass dives into the notion of “I am” and talks about how resting in that place makes the world look different than if we are busy being somebody doing something. From this place, we can see the perfection of it all, even with the suffering inherent in form. The predicament is that we are not just the “I am,” we are also human beings with bodies and personalities and human hearts that cannot bear the suffering around us. Ram Dass talks about finding a balance between these two places and keeping our hearts open to the unbearable. Ram Dass explores all the demands to respond to the suffering of the world and how it’s easy to get tired of being “should upon.” Ultimately, we can rely on our intuitive heart-minds to know what is the right action to take for ourselves. The quieter we get and the less attached we are to our roles, the more we will gravitate towards the things that relieve the suffering of all sentient beings. Want to participate in the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join us for the SoulPod Meet-Up on May 21st at 3 p.m. EDT. “If you were resting in your ‘I am,’ you would look and you would see only the perfection of it all. And you would see that what we did in the ’60s is what created Ronald Reagan in the ’80s. You would see the way polarities work; you’d see the way forces polarize… You’d just see it as law unfolding right before you.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Apr 29, 2024

Who are you? What are you doing here? In this classic talk about identity and attachment, Ram Dass asks where you could possibly stand in a world filled with pain and suffering to ‘eat it like it is?’ This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self. This episode is also brought to you by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind In this talk from Austin, Texas, in the early 1990’s: Ram Dass recalls a family saying from his youth, “Eat it like it is,” and asks how we can possibly apply it to the current world filled with pain and suffering. Exploring the nature of identity, Ram Dass talks about how we have to become somebody in order to become nobody. He discusses his experiences with expanded states of mind and how the game shifted from how to get high to wondering why he came down. Ram Dass talks about how the impeccable warrior is someone who exists on all planes simultaneously. He explores the nature of attachment and reads from Swami Ram Tirth, who helps us understand there is a place we can stand where we can see everything as the unfolding of law. This is the place where we can ‘eat it like it is.’ Want to participate in the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join us for the SoulPod Meet-Up on May 7th at 8 p.m. EDT. Subscribe to the General Fellowship Group for more information. “The signs point to Armageddon. It looks like it’s really hit the fan. Where could you stand that you could ‘eat is like it is?’ Or you could love it as it is? Where could you possibly stand? Where could you allow that to be what it is? What perspective, what vector view would you need to have? Who would you be if you were seeing it that way?” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Apr 16, 2024

In this exploration of suffering, death, and love, Ram Dass talks about resting in change and handling the balance and tension of inhabiting multiple planes of reality simultaneously. Want to participate in the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join us for the SoulPod Meet-Up on April 23rd at 3 p.m. EDT. Subscribe to the General Fellowship Group for more information. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass This episode is also brought to you by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind This episode of Here and Now is from a 1992 lecture in Edgartown, MA. It continues the talk started in Here and Now Ep. 248 - Patterns of Interdependency . Exploring his work with death and people who are dying, Ram Dass talks about how he’s learning to live simultaneously on multiple planes of reality and consciousness. To him, the art form of being human is the ability to open our hearts to suffering and acknowledge that it hurts like hell, while also appreciating the awesome nature of the mystery, which includes suffering and death. Ram Dass addresses aging and the nature of change. He talks about resting in change and handling the balance and tension of inhabiting multiple planes of consciousness simultaneously. Ram Dass opens up about the trouble he has keeping his heart open to certain people. He talks about the collaborative nature of creating environments where people won’t get trapped in their roles. Ram Dass ends the talk with some reflections about love and not living out of a deprivation model. He shares his classic story about the state trooper who just might have been Krishna in drag as an example of living on more than one level at one time. “When you are able to simultaneously live on those planes of consciousness and handle that tension and that balance, then your every act towards other human beings brings to bear with it equanimity, spaciousness, and joy.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Apr 2, 2024

Speaking to issues of ecology, politics, and social action, Ram Dass shares stories of compassionate action and explores patterns of interdependency we can recognize in the world. Want to participate in the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join us for the SoulPod Meet-Up on April 9th at 8 p.m. EDT. Subscribe to the General Fellowship Group for more information. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass This episode is also brought to you by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind This episode of Here and Now is from a 1992 talk in Edgartown, MA. Ram Dass discusses our looming ecological crisis, politics, and living in the age of the Kali Yuga. There is change happening all around us. For Ram Dass, what’s interesting is where one stands in relation to change. How do we respond in an appropriate way to all the suffering in the world around us? Ram Dass shares classic stories of compassionate action and talks about the constant dialogue between the mind and the heart. Ram Dass explores how moving through different planes of reality can help us recognize the incredible patterns of interdependency in this world. By acknowledging that these other planes exist, we can find a way to be fully in the world and simultaneously not be trapped by it. In this way, we’re able to keep our hearts open in hell. Take part in a 4-week Sliding-Scale Course - Reimagined: The Life & Teachings of Ram Dass. Beginning April 8th, click here to learn more ! “When you experience the plane of reality where everything is interdependent, it includes you, you’re part of it all. If you flip the dial and go to another plane of reality, you see that behind all of the forms, which are like cloud patterns, there’s only one of it. There’s one stuff. There’s one stuff that keeps going into these incredible patterns.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Mar 18, 2024

In this Q&A session, Ram Dass talks about transcending dualism, the significance of clairvoyance, how reincarnation is part of our dreams within dreams within dreams, and more. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join us for the SoulPod Meet-Up on March 26th at 3 pm EDT. Subscribe to the General Fellowship Group for more information. This episode is also brought to you by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind This week’s episode of Here and Now is taken from a Q&A session in 1987. Ram Dass begins by answering questions about his Mala beads, his spiritual lineage, and psychedelics. He shares stories about giving his guru the “yogi medicine.” Taking on a question about struggling with the polarities of positive and negative, light and dark, and good and evil, Ram Dass explores transcending dualism. He talks about how before he’d experienced transcendence, he had a lot of trouble with the idea of good and evil. What’s the significance of clairvoyance? Ram Dass talks about the very rigid set of rules we base on what our senses tell us, and how he loves sharing stories of miracles because they push everybody’s buttons. Ram Dass answers questions about cultivating the Witness, why there is so much blind suffering, and connections that span multiple lifetimes. He talks about how reincarnation is as real as anything on this plane of awareness because it’s all just dreams within dreams within dreams. “Everybody doesn’t have a guru or a physical plane guide, many people have inner guides that they experience as their inner voice, which could be their inner voice or it could be another being helping them. There are many levels of this game. Each person gets their ‘karmuppance.’ They get just what they need, just when they need it.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Mar 6, 2024

In this classic talk from 1987, Ram Dass explores working with suffering, keeping our hearts open, finding the intuitive heart space, and being responsive rather than reactive. This episode is a continuation of the talk started in Here and Now Ep. 245 – Taking Off Our Spacesuit . Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join us for the SoulPod Meet-Up on March 12 at 8 pm EST. Subscribe to the General Fellowship Group for more information. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass This episode is also brought to you by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind In this week’s episode: Using his stepmother’s death as an example, Ram Dass explores how pain and suffering can become a curriculum through which one awakens. Ram Dass discusses how he has begun to fall in love with everyone, and how his guru opened him up to the possibility of unconditional love. If we’re caught in our separateness, it’s hard to keep our hearts open. Ram Dass shares classic stories of how other beings, including a dolphin, have helped him escape the trap of his own mind and find the intuitive heart space. He talks about taking care of his aging father and learning how to just be present with him. Finally, Ram Dass explores the difference between being reactive and being responsive, reading a story from ‘How Can I Help?’ to illustrate his point. He talks about how, when we are quiet enough on the inside, we can begin to hear how to awaken through the journey of the spirit. “As you quiet your mind just a little bit, you get so that you’re not automatically reacting to everything. You become what’s called responsive rather than reactive. In other words, something happens and there’s a moment when it’s just happening, you’re just with it. As your awareness expands to include more than your separate self, it’s as if you’re part of the gestalt of it all, and you experience the totality of it. And then, out of that quietness comes an act that is appropriate to that moment.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Feb 19, 2024

In this essential talk from 1987, Ram Dass uses his life experience to guide us through the process of taking off our spacesuit of identity and embracing the curriculum our lives offer us. Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join us for the SoulPod Meet-Up on February 27th at 3 pm EST. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass This episode is also brought to you by Magic Mind, a matcha-based energy shot infused with nootropics and adaptogens designed to crush procrastination, brain fog, & fatigue. Use the code RAMDASS at checkout to get up to 50% off your subscription: Magic Mind This episode of Here and Now is from a classic talk given in April 1987. Using his journey as a guide for this talk, Ram Dass explores the spacesuits of ego and identity we wear in our lives. He tells us how ill-fitting this spacesuit felt for him, and the feeling of freedom he found when he was first able to take it off. Ram Dass describes how he began to chase the high of not wearing the spacesuit through the use of mind-altering chemicals and spiritual practices. Eventually, though, those things became a different kind of suit he was wearing. Through the advice of a wise friend, he realized he needed to take the curriculum that everyday life has to offer and not just live with his head in the clouds. Once the object of the game shifted from getting high to getting free, Ram Dass chose to stop pushing away all of the things that brought him down. Instead, he embraced the many forms of suffering in the world, working with prisoners, AIDS patients, and people going through the process of dying. To get free, we need to embrace it all, the good and the bad. “ As I took off the suit, I felt at home, I felt present. It felt extremely familiar to me, even though as an adult in society I didn’t remember having been in this space before. I was always constantly checking everybody to see if I was enough ‘somebody’ so that I would be allowed to exist.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Feb 5, 2024

In this deeply meditative recording from 1976, Ram Dass talks about going beyond form and intellect and then is joined by Krishna Das to chant a love song between formless and form. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join us for the SoulPod Meet-Up on February 13th at 8 pm EST. In this episode of Here and Now: In a highly meditative fashion, Ram Dass speaks about the spiritual journey and how it is a journey of the heart. The intellect, while an exquisitely powerful tool, cannot know ultimate truth. Ram Dass explores the forms we must use to get beyond the intellect, including meditative practices and chanting. He talks about the identities we create with our minds and how we were born into the illusion of separateness. But the way the dance works best is that we keep shifting forms and understand that all these forms will take us to that which has no form. Ram Dass is joined by Krishna Das to chant “Jai Radha.” Ram Dass explains how it is like a love song between formless and form. “This is like a love song between formless and form, between Father and Mother, between the cow herdsmen and the Gopi, between Radha and Govinda.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jan 23, 2024

In this essential talk, Ram Dass leans on the wisdom of the Tao Te Ching, Ramana Maharshi, and Groucho Marx to explore identity, change, and how incarnation is the blueprint for liberation. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass Want to be a part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Register now for the SoulPod Meet-Up on January 23rd at 3 pm EST. This episode of Here and Now is taken from a workshop in Los Angeles in May of 1991. Ram Dass dives into the concept of identity and how we’ve lost the balance between our identity as individuals and our identity as part of the unity of all things. We begin by being too attached to the somebody-ness that’s drilled into us from birth and then, as we awaken spiritually, we go in the other direction and cling too tightly to the unity. The ultimate goal is to be in the world, but not of the world. Offering the wisdom of Groucho Marx, Ram Dass talks about learning to play with reality and how part of what we’re awakening to is that there are many planes of reality. He references Ramana Maharshi and describes how the spiritual journey is ultimately about extricating yourself from your definitions of yourself. Part of the predicament of being so attached to these definitions of self is that all things change, including our bodies. Ram Dass addresses the very nature of change and reads from the Tao Te Ching to offer us a clue to the Way. Ultimately, as we awaken, we can begin to see how our unique incarnations are actually the blueprint for our liberation. There are no errors in this game. “It’s too beautiful. It’s too beautiful that your incarnation turns out to be the blueprint for your liberation. Who would’ve expected that?” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jan 3, 2024

Ram Dass explores how we can have perspectives and models about the universe without being attached to them, as long as we cultivate the state of no mind and trust our intuitive validity. Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on January 9th at 5 pm PST. Sign up for the General Fellowship group here to receive more information. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass This episode of Here and Now is taken from a Ram Dass talk at Colby College in April of 1970. In this talk: Ram Dass explores how it’s healthy to have perspectives and models about the universe and how things are, but it’s crucial that we don’t become attached to or stuck in that perspective. Telling stories of his time in far-out places like India, Los Angeles, and heroin treatment centers, Ram Dass shares how it’s all perspective. Having a perspective is harmonious with the Tao, with the way of things, but we can’t get addicted to it and have it become our “reality.” He talks about how things like school and television are designed to keep us stuck in our roles, models, and perspectives. Ultimately, we can learn to trust our intuitive validity and cultivate the Buddhist state of no mind, where we have finished with our models. We can know the difference between being wise and being knowledgeable. “As long as you are attached to any model of the universe, to any level of definition of who you are or how it works, you are closed off from the rest of it. And the state of no mind, the Buddhist state of no mind, is where you have finished with models. You don’t even be enlightened, you don’t be anything, there’s just no mind.” – Ram Dass About Ram Dass: Ram Dass’ spirit has been a guiding light for generations, carrying along millions on the journey. Ram Dass teaches that through the Bhakti practice of unconditional love, we can all connect with our true nature. Through these teachings, Ram Dass has shared a little piece of his guru, Maharaj-ji, with all who have listened to him. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Dec 19, 2023

In this radio interview from 1977, Ram Dass explores the power of psychedelics and the importance of a guru, plus he leads a guided meditation that connects us to a place of no place. Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on December 28th at 3 pm EST . Sign up for the General Fellowship group here to receive more information. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass This episode of Here and Now is taken from an interview with Ram Dass at the local college radio station in Santa Cruz. The interview is from October of 1977, right after Ram Dass had taken part in a conference that featured Albert Hoffmann, Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, and other luminaries of the early psychedelics scene: Ram Dass begins by sharing some of his personal history, especially as it pertains to the university audience and psychedelics He and the host discuss the profound experiences that can occur with psychedelics versus using them as a recreational vehicle They explore the importance of having a guru on the spiritual path, but Ram Dass talks about how the process of awakening is ultimately a journey that must be taken alone Ram Dass leads a beautiful guided meditation that aims to connect us to a place of no place and help us see that the true guru lives within us “Any thoughts which come to your mind, let them go, breathe them out along with the out-breath. Any feelings, sensations, memories, plans… This is only going to take five minutes, you can set aside five minutes out of your busy life just to connect with a place of no place. To get behind your melodrama. Just keep the focus in the middle of the chest. Breathing in; breathing out.” – Ram Dass ---- In a world that often feels like it's teetering on the edge, it's not surprising that so many of us grapple with feelings of instability and overwhelm. On Tuesday, December 19th , join acclaimed Buddhist meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Ethan Nichtern for a free online conversation on staying grounded, available, and engaged, even when the world is on fire. Sharon and Ethan will also discuss the upcoming Dharma Moon Yearlong Buddhist Studies program and offer their insights on how studying Buddhism can help us show up more fully for ourselves and others during these challenging times. Visit dharmamoon.com/event for more info and to reserve your free spot! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Dec 4, 2023

Ram Dass explores the art of how to bring the past into the present as we age, leads a powerful exercise centered around the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and talks about working with grief. Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on December 19th. Sign up for the General Fellowship group here to receive more information. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass This episode of Here and Now is from a recording of a study group on aging hosted by Ram Dass in 1995. In the face of aging and death, part of the spiritual work we should consider doing is what Ram Dass calls the art of how to bring the past into the present. Using the example of his mother’s death, he shares the importance of processing events from our past with the perspective we hold in the present. We can also bring the past into the present in a cultural and historical context. Ram Dass leads an exercise centered around the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, having us contemplate and recognize that we are part of a culture that has models of reality that would legitimize the dropping of that bomb. Ram Dass explores the issue of grieving, especially as it relates to aging and loss. He reads a letter he had written to a family who lost their young daughter, and he talks about the importance of moving from the realm of ego to the realm of the soul. “There is a tendency that we do in our mind to romanticize our own existence. We become the center of ‘As the World Turns,’ we are the leading actor, we have been cast. We keep milking our history to justify our existence, to give our existence meaning. I want to suggest to you that there is a cost to that.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Nov 21, 2023

In this recording from 1995, Ram Dass explores the nature of time, especially as it relates to aging, and shares how his guru helped him see that being in the present moment is all there is. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass This episode of Here and Now is from a recording of a study group on aging hosted by Ram Dass in 1995. Ram Dass begins his exploration of time and aging by looking at the nature of time from both the domain of the ego and the domain of the soul He examines the perspectives on time we hold throughout our lives in this culture, from being fully in the moment as babies, reaching for the future as kids and young adults, thinking of time as money in middle age, and finally clinging to the past in our older years Ram Dass reads from a book on aging that he’s in the middle of writing, sharing a tale of why time seems to work differently in India and how his guru helped him see that being in the present moment is all there is Finally, he talks about working on letting go of his personal history and the struggles he had with boxes of memorabilia he’d collected over the years “And they talk about gaining awareness is like snatching the pearl of awareness from the dragon time. That’s one of the mystical ways of talking about what awakening and enlightenment are. It’s freeing your awareness from being entrapped within time. Not that you don’t use time, but you’re not used by it.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Nov 6, 2023

Speaking to us from 1983, a time of widespread fear about nuclear war, Ram Dass explores how spiritual work equals social action, and yet, we can’t just wait until we are free to take action. Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on November 21st at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. Sign up for the General Fellowship group here to receive more information. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass This episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass speaks about: How spiritual work equals social action The two ways that the game of awakening is playing out How Gandhi molded his social action movement, bringing together social action and spiritual work How the path of social action and the spiritual journey comes down to karma yoga and using the stuff of our life to get free, but we can’t wait until we are free to take action “And when we are strong enough to look at ourselves, then we will be strong enough to demand truth. But most of us do not have integrity in our own lives. We are all full of righteousness and good here, and right over here we have deception, we have hoarding, we have all kinds of stuff. And to me, in my life, that isn’t good enough, it stinks. I can’t have any room any longer for guilt and self-deprecation about it. I have to appreciate that’s my evolving humanity, but I see where the path of real social action comes. I see what Gandhi’s talking about when he says make yourself into zero and your power is invincible.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Oct 23, 2023

In this wild Q&A session from 1976 that is teeming with frenetic energy from the audience, Ram Dass really just wants to talk about three things: God, sex, and dope. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on November 7th, sign up for the General Fellowship group here to receive more information. In this episode of Here and Now: Dealing with a slightly wild audience, Ram Dass answers questions about how our actions can influence other people’s journey of awakening, what commitment truly is, and how to look at our predicament from different levels. But what Ram Dass really wants to talk about is three things: God, sex, and dope. He talks about moving beyond the desire for drugs, how people become attached to their sexual expression and what tantra truly is, and defines God to the best of his ability. Ram Dass ends the evening by singing, “Rejoice in the Lord.” Again, I say, rejoice. “ Beyond all of the patterns of energy – physical, astral, causal – lies God, that which is beyond form. You aim for that, and in the course of it, if you are pure in your aim, you can do nothing which is adharmic, going against the dharma. And if you stay in the flow, in the Tao, in the dharma, then whatever needs to be for you and your fellow human being will be done, even though you may not understand what it is that’s happening to you. Your intellectual awareness of what is going on is not necessary for this journey. It can speed it up and help it, but it’s not necessary.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Oct 9, 2023

In this Q&A session, Ram Dass answers questions about how to love without emotional attachment, the relationship between karma and grace, and how he defines responsibility. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass In this recording from 1976, Ram Dass answers questions from a lively Los Angeles audience: How to love without emotional attachment? Ram Dass explores the various levels of love, dealing with attachment, and working with the karma that exists in our life space. What is the relationship of karma and grace? Ram Dass talks about how he perceives grace and the ways it intersects with our karma. What’s his view on vegetarianism? And who is God? Somehow, those questions are connected. How does Ram Dass define responsibility? A responsible being lives in the Tao. “And what grace turns out to be is all the forces that exist in the universe that are free agents, that are available to support the process of your going back into the source. All the gurus, all the beings on astral planes, all of the elements, all of the forces in the universe.” – Ram Dass Discover the transformative practice of teaching mindfulness in a new FREE 30-page ebook by Senior Buddhist teacher and Emmy award-winning musician, David Nichtern . With its blend of humor, wisdom, and accessible approach, The Art of Teaching Mindfulness ebook is a must-read for anyone interested in sharing the life-changing practices of mindfulness with others. Already downloaded by over 15k people, visit dharmamoon.com/ebook to get YOUR free copy of The Art of Teaching Mindfulness! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Sep 25, 2023

In this recording from 1976, Ram Dass explores the process of awakening and becoming enlightened. Featuring a musical interlude from Krishna Das and an introduction from Raghu Markus. This episode is a continuation of the dharma talk from Here and Now Ep. 234 – The Awakening of the Soul Ram Dass' Love Serve Remember Foundation and the Alan Watts Organization invite you to open your mind, open your heart, and tap into the living truth of Alan Watts and Ram Dass. Click to learn more about this special 4-week Virtual Course: The Presence of the Way: The Dharma of Alan Watts and Ram Dass Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass In this episode: Ram Dass, in a very meditative fashion, explores the place of the Mother in the lineage of devotional tantra, talking about taking each experience in your life and redefining it as a form of the Mother Krishna Das takes center stage to invoke the Mother through music, inviting the Goddess to come down and bless us all Ram Dass gives a detailed breakdown of the process of awakening and becoming enlightened, from purification and opening the heart to quieting the mind and getting the energy to flow Are you interested in contributing to the wildfire recovery efforts in Maui and in the most impacted areas of Canada? Check out these resources below to find out how you can help: H awaii Community Foundation Canadian Red Cross “ The only thing that I am involved in is the game of perfection. And because of that, when I work with people, or even this teaching, I see the game as a game of moving up and then bringing up the ground with you. It’s like an inverted ’T,’ where you go up the center and then you pull the two bottom lines up with you. So that every new level of consciousness we get into, we then reassess the whole dance of life and keep it together on the physical plane.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Sep 12, 2023

In this potent talk from 1976, Ram Dass explores the channels of perception of individual differences and how every experience in life is grist for the mill of the awakening of the soul. Two cultural icons. Two unique perspectives... One understanding of the presence of the way. Ram Dass' Love Serve Remember Foundation and the Alan Watts Organization invite you to open your mind, open your heart, and tap into the living truth of Alan Watts and Ram Dass. Learn more about this special 4-week Virtual Course: " The Presence of the Way: The Dharma of Alan Watts and Ram Dass" Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass Straight from 1976 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, Ram Dass explores: The journey of awakening and the predicament of how we perceive ourselves and others The different channels of perception of individual differences, from the physical level to the astral planes and beyond How everything in our lives, including all the joy and all the suffering, can be used for the awakening of the souls How a truly conscious being experiences all the different channels of perception simultaneously Are you interested in contributing to the wildfire recovery efforts in Maui and in the most impacted areas of Canada? Check out these resources below to find out how you can help: Hawaii Community Foundation Canadian Red Cross “ But what we are meeting as are these entities, or souls, or essences, that are passing through a set of experiences. And we are sharing consciousness as to the nature of these experiences and what their significance is to us as souls. And from that point of view, everything in your life is grist for the mill of the awakening of your soul out of its attachments to either the body or the personality or the astrological identity.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 28, 2023

In this radio interview from 1985, Ram Dass touches on identity, the purpose of meditation on the path to enlightenment, working with death as a path to spiritual growth, and much more. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass In this 1985 interview from “The Questline” radio show, Ram Dass explores: Not clinging to identity and how to deal with shifts in consciousness The role and purpose of meditation on the path to enlightenment Astral planes, psychedelic drugs, and the spiritual heart Working with death and dying, and why he found the 1980s to be a much more optimum time for spiritual growth than the 1960s Different levels of awakening, and walking the path of service Are you interested in contributing to the wildfire recovery efforts in Maui and in the most impacted areas of Canada? Check out these resources below to find out how you can help: Hawaii Community Foundation Canadian Red Cross “In a way, I’m finding it much more interesting to remain spiritually conscious in the 80s… Like we’re much closer to facing in the daily news the issue of our potential death. And that is a major cultural vehicle for awakening. The confrontation with death is one of the – as Castaneda says, keeping death on your left shoulder – it is the vehicle that helps you awaken the most. And that’s what we’re confronted with much more now. So it seems like the optimum time for spiritual growth to me.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 14, 2023

In this radio interview from 1985, Ram Dass discusses the journey of awakening, how reincarnation is within the dance of forms, dysfunctional societal myths, and much more. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass In this 1985 interview from “The Questline” radio show, Ram Dass explores: Enlightenment and the journey of awakening Attachment to emptiness How reincarnation is within the dance of forms Merging the Western lifestyle with the path of Eastern traditions Using psychedelic drugs and the rise of cocaine use in the 1980s The dying societal myth that more is better and will make us happy Fear and suffering Are you interested in contributing to the wildfire recovery efforts in Maui and in the most impacted areas of Canada? Check out these resources below to find out how you can help: Hawaii Community Foundation Canadian Red Cross “Reincarnation is within the dance of forms… Some systems focus on reincarnation to help relieve you of your exclusive identification with this incarnation.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 1, 2023

Ram Dass answers a wide range of questions on topics such as free will, working with fear, and falling in love – plus, he leads a Metta meditation to help us tap into the universe of compassion. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass In this Q&A session from 1992, Ram Dass explores: Conscious dying, free will, and the grieving process Communication after death, relaxing about enlightenment, and working with fear Developing faith, feeling vulnerable while falling in love, and why we can’t afford to armor our hearts The practice of Metta meditation and how it can help us tap into the universe of compassion This podcast is also sponsored by Pengwee's Breath, a tender-hearted story of a young penguin who learns that his own breath gives him the power to calm his fears. Enjoy the book on its own or with a companion Teaching Guide for parents and teachers that can be downloaded for free from the author's website. Get your copy today: Pengwee's Breath “And as this practice deepens and you recognize that you are one of the beings in that circle, as well as the heart that is sending light forth, you enter more and more deeply into the universe of compassion. And in that universe, the heart is freed to love as it must love.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jul 17, 2023

Ram Dass explores how to find the balance between emptiness and compassion in the face of immense suffering and tap into the truth of your deepest being to hear your unique dharma. This episode is a continuation of the talk from Here and Now Ep. 229 – The Sword of Discrimination Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass This podcast is also sponsored by Apollo Neuro. Developed by neuroscientists and physicians, the Apollo™ wearable uses touch therapy to rebalance your nervous system and support your circadian rhythm, allowing you to sleep better, focus more efficiently, and even meditate with ease. Get $40 off your purchase today using code BEHERENOW and tap into a calmer, better rested, more focused version of you. In this powerful talk from 1992, Ram Dass explores: Boundaries and the nature of love Belief systems and faith How his work with death and dying has prepared him for dealing with a dying culture and the looming ecological disaster His work with the Seva Foundation and the power of community Tapping into the truth of your deepest being to hear your unique dharma Finding the balance between emptiness and compassion in the face of immense suffering “If you and I are to be instruments of the healing of the world, it is that we are quiet enough to hear our dharma, our way, and that we live our way as a statement. As Gandhi said, ‘My life is my message.’ We live our lives in such a way that the way you are in the supermarket, the way you are with your loved ones, the way you are when you’re facing pain, it is all part of the deepest wisdom statement you are able to make. It is the truth of your deepest being. For that, you have to listen inward very quietly as your offering to all beings.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jul 3, 2023

Ram Dass explores how his work with death and dying keeps him at his own leading edge of consciousness and talks about why compassion is truly the sword of discrimination. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass This podcast is also brought to you by Magic Mind. Magic Mind contains a magical combination of 13 active ingredients, scientifically designed to improve energy, focus, and mood while decreasing stress — all things that, combined, improve your productivity. For 50% off your subscription to Magic Mind, visit magicmind.co/ramdass In this powerful talk from 1992, Ram Dass explores: Working with death and dying as a spiritual practice, and how it helps keep him at his own leading edge of consciousness How the process of learning to live simultaneously on more than one plane of consciousness is the path to dealing with death, dying, and suffering in a more spacious manner How two levels of love – conscious love and relational love – come into play when dealing with death, and why compassion is truly the sword of discrimination How we can honor diversity by sharing our pain together and grieving our way into unity “It’s taken me a long time to learn the way in which compassion is not fuzzy-wuzzy stuff, compassion is the sword of discrimination.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 29, 2023

Raghu Markus returns to Here and Now to present this bonus excerpt from a talk titled “Behind the Clinging,” which features Ram Dass discussing how to deal with neuroses, fear, and family. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass In this portion of his talk about going “Behind the Clinging,” Ram Dass explores: Dealing with depression and sadness, and making friends with all of your neuroses instead of trying to get rid of them Coming to the edge of fear and embracing it in a soft way without pushing against it Dealing with family members who really know how to push your buttons and using those experiences as a way to grow “Is there a way of extricating the awareness? Not by trying to be happy where you were sad, which is feeding the whole reality of that polarity, but just pulling the awareness back. So I would say if you came to me and said, ‘I’m feeling this deep, deep feeling of unworthiness and loneliness and sadness and I’ve always felt it. What should I do?’ I would say, ‘Go back and sit down and follow your breath.’” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 19, 2023

In this episode of the Here and Now Podcast, Ram Dass talks about practice in daily life and answers questions about polarization and fundamentalism, integrating psychodynamic and spiritual techniques, dealing with addiction, and more. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass This podcast is also brought to you by Magic Mind. Magic Mind contains a magical combination of 13 active ingredients, scientifically designed to improve energy, focus, and mood while decreasing stress — all things that, combined, improve your productivity. For 50% off your subscription to Magic Mind, visit magicmind.co/ramdass In this episode of Here and Now: Ram Dass talks about letting methods of practice such as mantras and kirtan permeate your daily life Ram Dass gives a detailed response to a question about the rise of fundamentalism in the world, exploring polarization and why you can’t have an “us” and “them” Ram Dass takes on more questions about integrating psychodynamic and spiritual techniques, the importance of rituals, and dealing with addiction “And I said I’m not going to get discouraged because I can see that a centrist position, this is a hard one, a centrist position… That at this point in the way the world game is a falling, either everybody goes or nobody goes. You can’t polarize it again. You can’t have an ‘us’ and ‘them.’ It’s got to keep embracing people, embracing people. And I saw that would demand much more centrism than I was used to or wanted from a Democratic president and so on.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 5, 2023

In this Q&A session from 1993, Ram Dass explores an array of topics, including psychedelics as a method, assisted suicide, dealing with suffering, and awareness without identification. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass In this episode, Ram Dass answers questions about: - Psychedelics as a method - Assisted suicide - Emptiness and form - Dealing with suffering - The relationship between the One and the many - Liberation and service - Awareness without identification and attachment - The concept of criticism - Pushing against form and separateness This podcast is also sponsored by Apollo Neuro. Developed by neuroscientists and physicians, the Apollo™ wearable uses touch therapy to rebalance your nervous system and support your circadian rhythm, allowing you to sleep better, focus more efficiently, and even meditate with ease. Get $40 off your purchase today using code BEHERENOW and tap into a calmer, better rested, more focused version of you. “The term attachment has to do with where the awareness is, what it’s identified with. Like, at this moment, your heart is beating, but you’re not beating your heart; your awareness isn’t connected with your heart beating, it’s just going on. And as your awareness draws back, and you find a way to start to remain in awareness without identification, then the phenomena of the universe continue to happen, but the awareness is no longer identified with the act. It’s what the Gita calls breaking the identification with being the actor. It doesn’t mean that the actions aren’t happening.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 22, 2023

In this potent recording from 1994, Ram Dass talks about the nature of suffering and how we can escape the prison of separateness created by our cultural infatuation with individualism. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass In this episode, Ram Dass explores: The nature of suffering and how we create more suffering even as we try to address it His own journey of somebody-ness and becoming a separate entity The connection between emptiness and compassion when it comes to dealing with suffering The predicament of the personality and how individualism became a cultural infatuation in the Western world How we can ultimately escape from the prison of separateness This podcast is also brought to you by Magic Mind. Magic Mind contains a magical combination of 13 active ingredients, scientifically designed to improve energy, focus, and mood while decreasing stress — all things that, combined, improve your productivity. For 50% off your subscription to Magic Mind, visit magicmind.co/ramdass “ The exercises are to cultivate awareness that is not trapped by the identification with experiences. The exercise is, to the extent that you are dancing in form, to play the most fun game, that is, dancing with the beloved.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 8, 2023

In this epic conclusion to the story of the Ramayana, Ram Dass recounts the heroic actions of Hanuman as he helps Ram rescue Sita and defeat the demon king, Ravana. Before you begin this episode, be sure to listen to Here and Now Ep. 224 : The Story of Hanuman and the Ramayana, Part 1 Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on May 16th at 8 pm EDT, sign up for the General Fellowship group here to receive more information. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass In this episode of Here and Now: We continue the story of the Ramayana with Hanuman landing in Sri Lanka, where he lets Sita know that Ram is coming for her and gives Ravana more than he bargained for We learn how Hanuman returns to Ram, and then a great bridge to Sri Lanka is built for Ram’s army of monkeys and bears to confront Ravana and his demons in a final battle We hear the epic conclusion of the story, and Ram Dass offers us Ravana’s perspective on why he needed to be killed by Ram in order to complete his yoga Ram Dass shares the story of how he had a Hanuman statue built and shipped to the Hanuman Temple in Taos, New Mexico “Now think of Sita as the devotee. Hanuman is the messenger from God that comes to the devotee to reassure the devotee that God has not forgotten. In other words, Hanuman is the grace. Can you hear that? So now she’s tasted the grace, like many of you have tasted grace, and then Hanuman says, ‘I’ve got to leave you.’ Imagine how that must feel. It’s like coming down. I just want you to feel it.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 5, 2023

In this bonus episode, Ram Dass explores methods available for seeing through our conditioning and navigating life on more than one plane of awareness. Raghu Markus returns to share a special excerpt from Ram Dass around dealing with suffering and the traps of the ego by seeing with a "Soul View". Ram Dass discusses: The way we get caught when experiencing suffering Learning to be with suffering , instead of running from it Soul View and what it means to live on two planes of awareness This teaching is part of a 4-week long Yoga of Heartfulness online course featuring teachings from Ram Dass and friends. Learn more about this 10 hour course: Ram Dass' Yoga of Heartfulness "So at that point, I turned my efforts around and I looked at life - and realized that I had to embrace my humanity into my being to be free." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Apr 24, 2023

Settle in for a treat as Ram Dass shares the first part of the story of the Ramayana, which features the monkey god, Hanuman, as he serves lord Ram on the journey to defeat Ravana. Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on May 2nd at 3pm EDT, sign up for the General Fellowship group here to receive more information. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass In this episode: Ram Dass introduces the story of the Ramayana and sets up the villain, the 10-headed demon, Ravana Ram Dass describes how Brahma took birth as Ram in order to defeat Ravana He shares how Ram grew up a noble prince, but was ultimately banished from his kingdom and sent to live in the forest with his wife, Sita, and his brother, Laxman Ram Dass talks about Ravana’s obsession with Sita and how he kidnaps her away from Ram He introduces the great monkey god, Hanuman, who is eager to serve Ram Ram Dass reads to us about Hanuman’s quest to find Sita and his leap of faith across an ocean – the greatest leap ever taken Stay tuned for the conclusion of this epic story, premiering May 8th 2023! “And he’s very dedicated. Hanuman has come to Earth just to serve Ram. Hanuman is so devoted to Ram that he is like your breath is to your body. He is known as the breath of Ram. He lives so close that he is an example of the way in which, when you’ve totally dedicated yourself to God, you have all the powers to serve, to do everything you need to do, as you will see in a minute.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Apr 11, 2023

In this recording from 1982, Ram Dass answers a wide range of questions, including how we can find freedom from fear, plus leads a meditation on how to tune into our intuition. Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on April 18th at 8pm EDT, sign up for the General Fellowship group here to receive more information. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass In this episode, Ram Dass answers questions about: What it’s like to be on stage Detachment and compassion The individuality of the soul The issue of rebirth Freedom from fear How to tune into one’s intuition and follow one’s heart “Fear comes out of your identification with your separateness. As long you are separate, you are identified with that which is in time and space. And that which is in time and space is changing. You are identified with something which is changing all the time, and that has inherent within it fear. So inherent within your identification with separateness is fear. The freedom from fear comes from the identification with that in you which is not the separate forms, which is not stuff, but lies behind stuff. And the minute you identify with that, you are no longer afraid.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Apr 7, 2023

Raghu Markus is back to introduce us to something exciting happening on Youtube - Ram Dass Lofi Radio! Listen to classic talks from Ram Dass, set to soothing lo-fi tracks - always live, 24/7, on the Ram Dass Youtube Channel: youtube.com/@BabaRamDassChannel See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Mar 27, 2023

In this Q&A session from 1982, Ram Dass answers questions about astral melodramas, therapy, the dance of sexual energy, the story of Hanuman, and more. Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on April 4th at 3pm EDT, sign up for the General Fellowship group here to receive more information. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass In this episode, Ram Dass explores: Astral melodramas, such as predictions from Nostradamus and conspiracy theories involving the Illuminati, and why he doesn’t put much stock in them His recent experiences with therapy and why he thinks it can be helpful Desire systems, relationships, and the dance of sexual energy Death and working with people who are dying “So, finally, sexuality that comes out of a deeper part of your being, that’s what’s called tantra. Because then the sexual energies keep liberating and moving energy and opening up and tuning you to greater and greater energies, and bringing you deeper into the Oneness. The One involves its dance of the two, and through this process of magnetism and the two, it keeps liberating energy back into the One. So it’s the dance of two to One to two to One to two to One, and that’s this dance of sexual energy.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Mar 13, 2023

In this recording from the 1980s, Ram Dass explores the concept of merging with God, leads a visualization meditation for opening the heart, and talks about bringing spirit into form. Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on March 21st at 8pm EST, sign up for the General Fellowship group here to receive more information. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass In this episode of Here and Now: Ram Dass answers a question about how we merge with God, using Anandamayi Ma as the perfect example of love for God Ram Dass leads a guided visualization meditation that serves as a technique for opening the heart and is part of Bhakti yoga Ram Dass talks about accepting our responsibility as a spiritual entity for enlightening the world and how we are all conversion vehicles for bringing spirit into form “If there’s a great sadness in you, just let it go. Breathe it out, you don’t need it. If there’s anger, if you’ve been hurt, if you have pain. Don’t demand that it go away, you might breathe it out and you’ll still feel sadness, it may be such a deep reservoir of sadness. But just what you can let go of, let go of. And then fill with this very fine healing mist.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Feb 27, 2023

Ram Dass talks about what it means to hear our dharma and our part in the dance and why we need to listen to our hearts to hear which spiritual method is the right one for us. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on March 7th at 3pm EST, sign up for the General Fellowship group here to receive more information. In this episode, Ram Dass explores: The intensity of the melodrama of life, and why the game only gets interesting when we have total involvement with no attachment Hearing our dharma in order to hear our part in the game; even Ravana and Richard Nixon were just playing their parts The impact that coming into contact with so many different teachers and methods had on his spiritual development Spiritual transformation and issues of faith Listening to the heart to hear which spiritual method is the right one for your personal journey “To look at the universe and see all of the forces – the heavy ones, the light ones, the destructive ones, the creative ones – to find what your part is in it. And if your part is that of the Bodhisattva, that of reducing the suffering of all human beings, and that’s all your work is, you just do it and do it and do it until there is no you in there, there is merely this instrument for the relieving of suffering of all beings. And that is one of the parts of the dance, of which another and equally important [part] of the dance is that which creates all the suffering in the universe. That’s what’s so far out about it.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Feb 13, 2023

In this powerful recording from 1974, Ram Dass talks about dealing with the death of his guru, working with the concept of dharma, and connecting to our inner wisdom and intuition. Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on February 21st at 8pm EST, sign up for the General Fellowship group here to receive more information. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass In this episode of Here and Now: Ram Dass talks about receiving the news of the death of his guru, Maharajji, and how he reacted to it He tells stories of Maharajji, reflecting on the complex nature of his guru and the feelings he experienced while in his presence Ram Dass explores working with the concept of dharma He talks about the importance of trusting our hearts and connecting to our inner wisdom and intuition, or the guru within Help others improve their mental and emotional well-being, reduce stress, improve focus, increase self-awareness and self-regulation — all while deepening your own practice and understanding. Join Buddhist teacher David Nichtern and special guest Professor Robert Thurman for a free online program on Tuesday, February 14th at 6:00pm ET. Visit dharmamoon.com/beherenow for more info and to reserve your spot for the free info session! “And every now and then, my mind would float away to, ‘Far out, Maharajji died.’ And I’d experience him saying to me, ‘Just attend to your business. Cut out all that melodramatic crap. Just do your thing.’ I was looking to get into a little self-pity place, you know, ‘Oh, God, Maharajji!’” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jan 31, 2023

In this recording from 1985, Ram Dass leads a meditation on the qualities of awareness, answers questions from the audience, and leads a rousing round of Jubilate Deo. In this episode of Here and Now: Ram Dass begins with a guided meditation focusing on the qualities of awareness, which include spaciousness, equanimity, and love Ram Dass answers questions from the audience on a variety of topics, including reconciling suffering and grace, the crossroads of spirituality and politics, the process of learning to love yourself, assisted suicide, homophobia, and encountering sadness during meditation Ram Dass ends by leading the audience in singing “Jubilate Deo” in a six-part round Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on February 7th at 8pm EST, sign up for the General Fellowship group here to receive more information. “May each of us become such clear and pure instruments of light, of love, of presence, of clarity, of equanimity, that the light of spirit pours through our every cell and everybody we meet is touched by living spirit, no matter how we meet them, in whatever role in life. Then, where we are, everywhere we look we will see flowers blooming. It’s what the sun sees when it looks down from above. What grace. What incredible grace.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jan 16, 2023

In this moving and humorous talk about using the stuff of life to get free, Ram Dass shares how we can celebrate spirit through service by merging our divinity with our humanity. This episode of Here and Now is a continuation of the talk started in Episode 216 – From Psychedelics to Service Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass In this episode, Ram Dass talks about: Moving home to care for his elderly father and how that became a method for him Getting called away from a meditation retreat to help out his cancer-stricken stepmother Larry Brilliant and the founding of the Seva Foundation How the Seva Foundation put service into action on a very large scale The difference between the Sanskrit words Dharma and Seva The paradox of suffering NEW Meditation Series: Pause, Breathe, Be Here Now with Ram Dass, Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, Tara Brach, Joseph Goldstein, John Lockley, Ram Dev, Trudy Goodman, Lama Tsultrim Allione—FREE January 16 to 25. Sit in true peace, love, and tranquility. Join thousands of people around the world for this collective meditation experience: onecommune.com/ramdass Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup, sign up for the General Fellowship group here to receive more information. “So you end up understanding that you serve in order to work on yourself, and you work on yourself in order to be a better instrument of service. And you can feel the circle work, you can just feel that circle work.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Dec 30, 2022

Raghu Markus returns to lead us into the new year with a talk from Ram Dass that reminds us of our interconnectedness and the need to keep our hearts turned toward the spirit of generosity. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass Do you want to share what you learned from the most recent episode of the Here and Now podcast with a like-minded community? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on January 3rd at 8 pm EST. Sign up for the General Fellowship group to receive more information. "You and I came out of an undifferentiated identity with all things, then we learned we were separate. But you have had many experiences in your life, one way or another, where you have felt that kind of connection with all things. Maybe it is lying under the stars. Maybe it occurred in church. Maybe it occurred whenever you transcended your separateness. It could have occurred in a traumatic experience. It could have occurred when you lost someone you loved. It could have occurred chemically. It could have occurred through meditation or a thousand ways it could occur. You see the predicament is, once you have experienced that connection with all things - and that is part of your humanity too - then you don't know what to do with that. So you end up denying it to go back into your separateness. You live with this predicament, this tension that is created by the statement, 'We are all one, but it's my television set." - Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Dec 26, 2022

Ram Dass explores how his psychedelic awakening and quest to always stay high started him on a path to take the curriculum of being human and use service as a means to get free. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on January 3rd at 8 pm EST. Sign up for the General Fellowship group to receive more information. “You have to work with your attractions as well as your aversions. Many of you are good at working with attractions; you get a little weak on the aversions...Don’t rush, it’s all right. There’s lots of time, and we’re human and it’s not an error.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Dec 14, 2022

This episode is the second of a two-part extended release of Here and Now's first episode. In this mind-bending and perspective-altering conclusion to one of his most famous early talks, Ram Dass explores some of the different methods available to us on this spiritual journey. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass “The final place one gets to is that one has a dial that is completely flexible and you can bring in all levels at all times and you see how it is at every level all the time. Because what in fact is going on is you are living at a certain vibrational rate, and that’s what makes it all seem real to you. And you change that vibrational rate just a tiny bit and all of this is gone and something else is here.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Nov 29, 2022

This episode is the first of a two-part extended release of Here and Now's first episode. In part one of this classic talk from 1969, Ram Dass shares the experiences of his journey to that point in time, from Harvard professor to psychedelic explorer to finding his guru in India. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass “I now knew what it was that I was reaching for; I understood the possibility, but I didn’t know how to get there.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Nov 23, 2022

David Silver joins Raghu to discuss ‘Brilliant Disguise,’ the new documentary exploring K.C. Tewari and his relationship to Maharaj-ji. In this special bonus episode of the Here and Now Podcast, Raghu and David share teachings from Ram Dass that further explore the film’s themes of grace, devotion and love. Brilliant Disguise tells the unique story of a group of inspired Western spiritual seekers from the 60s, who in meeting the great American teacher, Ram Dass, followed him to India to meet his Guru, Neem Karoli Baba, familiarly known as Maharaji. Two days before he left his body, Maharaji instructed K.C. Tewari to take care of the Westerners, which he did resolutely until the day he died in 1997.K.C. Tewari—in the guise of a headmaster of a boys school in the foothills of the Himalayas—was secretly a High Yogi, frequently able to go into altered states of trance, known as Samadhi, at any moment. Featuring Krishna Das, Jai Uttal, Raghu Markus, Radha Baum, and others—including K.C’s two sons, as well as rare archival interviews with K.C. himself— Brilliant Disguise is set in the stunning backdrop of India and is adorned with spectacular and moving footage from the 1989 Maha Kumbha Mela – the largest spiritual gathering in the world, attended by K.C. and the group of Westerners featured throughout this colorful biopic. This film is the story of a man who represents the intrinsic potential in all human beings to live in direct contact with the Divine Presence. K.C. chose to live within the humble disguise of a husband and school teacher. The brilliance is K.C.’s ability at a moment’s notice to go beyond himself into sublime states of consciousness. Watch Brilliant Disguise Here See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Nov 15, 2022

Continuing his conversation with Mirabai Bush and Sharon Salzberg from our previous episode, Ram Dass explores the path from suffering to grace and talks about the lessons he learned from his stroke. This recording was made at the 2012 Open Your Heart in Paradise retreat in Maui. Check out the first half of this conversation: Bhakti and The Path of Love Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on November 22nd at 8 pm EST. Sign up for the General Fellowship group to receive more information. “I remember the moment I got there. I was in the hospital, but all of the people around me were like, ‘Oh, terrible, terrible stroke, terrible.’ I looked up at Maharajji and he was smiling and smiling, in a picture. And I said to him, ‘You always gave me grace in my life. What happened to you? I was stroked. Did you go out for lunch or something?’ And the positive radiations continue to come from him. So that was fierce grace.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Nov 2, 2022

From the 2012 Open Your Heart in Paradise retreat in Maui, Ram Dass is joined by Mirabai Bush and Sharon Salzberg for a freeform jam session dedicated to the path of love. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass "I was meditating on loving everything. I looked at the wall, and I loved the wall. Well, I said, ‘It’s God’s manifestation. I love it for that reason. People created it. It’s made of cells… each one has God in it.’ But I couldn’t rationalize it, I just loved it. I love it. Just this, just this.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Oct 18, 2022

In this dharma talk from the 1980s, Ram Dass talks about hearing what our part in the dance is, opening to form to find the emptiness, and tapping into the higher connections of our intuitive minds. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass This episode is also sponsored by Pengwee’s Breath by Debbie Nutley, an award-winning children’s picture book designed for 4-7 year-olds. A great tool for teaching mindfulness to children. Order your copy today: Pengwee's Breath Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on October 25th at 8 pm EDT. Sign up for the General Fellowship group to receive more information. “But first, if you’re going to hear the message, the unique message of your incarnation, the unique message of your manifestation, the unique message in which you will find the emptiness, the form in which you will find the emptiness, you must open to the form. You must allow the form.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Oct 4, 2022

In the Q&A session from the 1990s, Ram Dass takes on questions about eating animals and inner work, psychedelics, burnout in service, and dealing with the death of a child. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on October 11th at 3 pm EDT. Sign up for the General Fellowship group to receive more information. “There’s a part of the love that (exists) that is invulnerable to the winds of change, of coming and going. And it’s very hard when you’re missing the form so much to hear that other reality that exists between the two of you. And yet, that’s there.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Sep 20, 2022

In this talk from 1987, Ram Dass explores the cusp between form and formless, how he learned to love all the faces of the Beloved, and how our work on ourselves is a vehicle to liberation. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on September 27th at 8 pm EDT. Sign up for the General Fellowship group to receive more information. “Just what’s on your plate, that’s your vehicle to liberation. If you’re turning away from anything, it’s got you. As you cultivate the emptiness and start to feel safe in the formless, you will be able to dive more deeply into the form. Most people are afraid of the form that are on the spiritual journey, for fear they’ll get lost in it. When you really want truth and want freedom, you need have no fear. You’ll go under for a moment, but you’ll come up.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Sep 9, 2022

In this Q&A session from 1990, Ram Dass responds to questions about suicide, immortality, abortion, how to deal with evil, population growth, and how to play the game impeccably. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on September 13th at 3 pm EDT. Sign up for the General Fellowship group to receive more information. “I do this because I do this. You’re here because you’re here. What happens is what happens. That’s where impeccability lies.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 23, 2022

In this dharma talk from the 1990s, Ram Dass explores the nature of the spiritual journey, getting free with the practice of karma yoga, and formulas for liberation. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on August 30th at 8 pm EDT. Sign up for the General Fellowship group to receive more information. Production Note: In this episode, it is stated that this is part one of a two-part episode. This episode actually contains both parts one and two combined. ---- Learn more about how you can support Be Here Now Network shows like Ram Dass' Here and Now podcast through our 6th-Anniversary Fundraiser Drive - win tickets to the Ram Dass Legacy retreat in Maui, shop limited edition BHNNxBrunofsky merch and more: https://beherenownetwork.com/fundraiser See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 9, 2022

In this dharma talk from the 1990s, Ram Dass speaks about shifting contexts to shift consciousness, cultivating the Witness to curb our reactivity and entering the state known as choiceless awareness. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on August 16th at 3 pm EDT. Sign up for the General Fellowship group to receive more information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jul 26, 2022

In this Q&A session from 1987, Ram Dass answers questions about meditation, service, and his relationship with his guru, plus he talks about the way we help each other get free. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass Want to be part of the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on August 2nd at 8 pm EDT. Sign up for the General Fellowship group to receive more information. "So, this part is where we do that and we just keep reaching for the truth together because that’s really the highest thing we can offer each other, that’s the way we help each other get free.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jul 12, 2022

In this recording from 1991, Ram Dass explores the components of meditation and how the thinking mind keeps trapping awareness, plus leads a guided meditation focused on the breath. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass Want to join the discussion about this episode of Here and Now? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship virtual meetup on July 19 at 8 pm EDT. Sign up for the General Fellowship group to receive more information. “There are a number of components to meditation. As you begin to understand more clearly the way in which the mind, the thinking mind, keeps trapping the awareness, more and more you yearn to draw your awareness back from thought. Because the thoughts are like a river of thoughts coming forth and each one saying, ‘Think me, think me, I’m real.’” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 29, 2022

Sending out good vibes on the radio waves once again, Ram Dass takes calls from a live radio audience and answers questions about how he keeps his head straight, the dharmic potential of virtual reality and telecommunications, and more! Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass “I think that alternative communities are potential role models for the game. And I think that they are great experimental situations for us to examine a lot of our ideals when they’re made manifest.” – Ram Dass Celebrate Ram Dass and explore the intersection of Buddhism & Bhakti with Be Here Now Network teachers and guests at the inaugural Love Serve Remember Summer Mountain Retreat August 25th – 29th in Boone, NC! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 15, 2022

In this recording from 1994, Ram Dass joins Duncan Campell on the radio show “Connections” for a conversation about truth, cultural change, and what happens when acid meets beer. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass “This time around either everybody goes or nobody goes. It’s not enough to polarize again, that’s what we did in the ‘60s. We were the good guys with truth and love, and they were the bad people with fear and contraction. And that’s not good enough anymore, really.” – Ram Dass Celebrate Ram Dass and explore the intersection of Buddhism & Bhakti with Be Here Now Network teachers and guests at the inaugural Love Serve Remember Summer Mountain Retreat August 25th – 29th in Boone, NC! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 31, 2022

In this talk from 1993, Ram Dass explores how spiritual practice helps us escape the prison of our egos, then leads a 20-minute practice with the breath as the primary object of meditation. “Any model of whether this is hard or easy is just another thought. All the metaphors I suggest are just more thoughts. Let them arise, notice them, go back to the breath.” – Ram Dass Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass Want to Discuss this Podcast with Others? Join the Ram Dass Fellowship meetup on June 7th at 8 pm EDT. Sign up HERE to receive the zoom link. Explore the intersection of Buddhism & Bhakti with Be Here Now Network teachers and guests at the inaugural Love Serve Remember Summer Mountain Retreat August 25th – 29th in Boone, NC! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 18, 2022

Ram Dass is back with another session of Talk Radio From the Heart to sing us the Heart Song, plus answer questions about abortion, attachment to a group identity, and the struggle of death. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass “So if you keep your heart open with love towards all people, even though you might say to somebody, ‘That’s wrong and I’m going to stop you from doing it,’ do it without closing your heart. At least you are offering to all human beings at all times a heart-to-heart resuscitation; you’re offering something of your own being. You’re being with other people in love. And that to me is a gift that you then bring that is the best you can do to heal the situation.” – Ram Dass Explore the intersection of Buddhism & Bhakti with Be Here Now Network teachers and guests at the inaugural Love Serve Remember Summer Mountain Retreat August 25th – 29th in Boone, NC! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 4, 2022

In this dharma talk from 1975, Ram Dass talks about how a taste of awakening makes it possible for us to tune into the continuity of consciousness that builds through our incarnations. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass “And now you have started to tune into the continuity of consciousness that exists behind the dips into incarnations and back again. And as you get more evolved in an evolutionary sense you get to the point where you are helping to program your own incarnations. And you say, ‘Well, let’s see what I need to do this time.’” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Apr 21, 2022

Ram Dass is back with more Talk Radio From the Heart, answering questions about grief, how love transcends death, bringing spirituality into daily life, Right Livelihood, and more. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass “What happens is, when the grief runs its natural course… you come to the point where you realize that you’ve tasted something with that person that was such a living moment that that moment still exists independent of death. There’s a moment when we recognize that love transcends death. And that has to happen experientially, and it has to happen when grief runs its natural course.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Apr 5, 2022

In this mellow dharma talk from 1977, Ram Dass shares stories from a trip to Thailand to visit a couple of monasteries, providing an enchanting look at a deep, quiet, dharmic existence. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass “One could feel the yearning inside all of us, I think, for this kind of simple, deep, quiet, dharmic existence.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Mar 23, 2022

In this 1996 broadcast from KPFK Los Angeles, Ram Dass takes over Talk Radio From the Heart and answers questions about romantic relationships, racism, finding a guru, and more. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass “When you meet another person and it moves into such an intense presence, a minute is a lifetime. There’s no time, there’s no measure any longer.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Mar 8, 2022

In this special episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass and Alan Watts offer their thoughts on some of the essential teachings from the Bhagavad Gita and how we can apply them to everyday life. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass “At a symbolic level, what the Gita is, is a dialogue between God and the seeker. And the battlefield turns out to be the inner battlefield, the battlefield of our own evolutionary being.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Feb 24, 2022

In this Q&A session from his legendary 1974 Naropa University course, Ram Dass answers questions about the Bhagavad Gita, the trap of meditation, dealing with loneliness, and more. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass “And I began to realize that it was inevitable, that as long as I thought I was anybody, I was gonna die.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Feb 11, 2022

In the conclusion of this Ram Dass Q&A from 1992, he answers questions and offers wisdom about how life is our practice, how to deal with the anxiety of being in the void, and much more. Don’t miss the first part of this Ram Dass Q&A session in Here and Now Ep. 192 Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jan 28, 2022

In this Q&A session from 1992, Ram Dass answers questions about synchronicity, purification, fear, compassion, how his guru showed him the possibility of unconditional love, and more. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass Check out the new YesAnd x Ram Dass collection inspired by Ram Dass’ spiritual teachings See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jan 7, 2022

Offering spiritual perspective on the paradox of life, Ram Dass illuminates how we can get free by embracing our incarnation. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass In this dharma talk stemming from Evanston, IL on March 20, 1993, Ram Dass sheds light on how we can play with our perspective to be able to hold paradox from a place of truth and equanimity. Relaying wisdom from Anandamayi Ma, Neem Karoli Baba, and the Tao Te Ching , he explores how we can honor the social responsibility of our incarnation without getting caught in the paradoxes of change and freedom, suffering and perfection, and fear and love. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Dec 17, 2021

In this dharma talk from 1969, Ram Dass plays the hollow bamboo game, which is an exercise to help us enter into a place within ourselves where we are one with everything and everyone. Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Nov 26, 2021

In this lively Q&A session filled with laughter and love, Ram Dass explores psychedelic lessons, meditating on antidepressants, what cyberspace means for consciousness, and so much more. This podcast is brought to you by Eaton Hemp – go to eatonhemp.com/beherenow for an exclusive discount! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Nov 5, 2021

In this unique recording from 1975, Ram Dass explores the concept of reference groups, how they can affect our identity, and what it means when we enter into the community of the spirit. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Oct 12, 2021

This time on the Here and Now podcast, Ram Dass helps us better understand the mechanics of the mind. Recorded in the summer of 1989, Ram Dass offers us some very useful methods for recognizing and avoiding the entrapments of our minds. Join Love Serve Remember Foundation to Honor Ram Dass and Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of 'Be Here Now' with an Immersive Experience and Concert at WISDOME LA on October 24! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Sep 17, 2021

In this Q&A session from 1989, Ram Dass answers questions about addiction, greed, and lust, and talks about the chain of reactivity that fuels our deepest attachments. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 26, 2021

In this episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass tells a series of stories about how his guru, Maharajji, was fond of playing with reality and adding a feeling of whimsy to the universe. This episode of Ram Dass’ Here & Now Podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. BetterHelp is a professional counseling service done securely online. A convenient and affordable way to find the particular expertise you need – wherever you are worldwide. BetterHelp will assess your needs and match you with your own licensed professional therapist. As a listener, you’ll get 10% off your first month by visiting our sponsor at BetterHelp.com/ramdass Join over 1 million people who have taken charge of their mental health. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 5, 2021

In this episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass explores our obsession with personality, the possibilities of a compassionate society, and how we can all become tools of balance. This episode of Ram Dass’ Here & Now Podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. BetterHelp is a professional counseling service done securely online. A convenient and affordable way to find the particular expertise you need – wherever you are worldwide. BetterHelp will assess your needs and match you with your own licensed professional therapist. As a listener, you’ll get 10% off your first month by visiting our sponsor at BetterHelp.com/ramdass Join over 1 million people who have taken charge of their mental health. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jul 15, 2021

On this episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass breaks down the history of psychedelic use and helps us in understanding the risks and the rewards of these consciousness-altering chemicals. This episode of Ram Dass’ Here & Now Podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. BetterHelp is a professional counseling service done securely online. A convenient and affordable way to find the particular expertise you need – wherever you are worldwide. BetterHelp will assess your needs and match you with your own licensed professional therapist. As a listener, you’ll get 10% off your first month by visiting our sponsor at BetterHelp.com/ramdass Join over 1 million people who have taken charge of their mental health. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jul 3, 2021

In this dharma talk from 1969, Ram Dass explores social responsibility, protesting, and the money trip, plus he details the origins of Be Here Now and gets us drunk on the love of God. This podcast is brought to you by Eaton Hemp – go to eatonhemp.com/beherenow for an exclusive discount! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 10, 2021

In this episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass explores love, letting go of our models, and giving space to the universe, plus leads a guided meditation and chants “We All Come From God.” Don’t miss Alan Watts – Being in the Way , a new podcast from Be Here Now Network. Hosted by Alan’s son, Mark Watts, Being in the Way takes a deep dive into the collected recordings of Alan Watts. Listen to Episode 1 – Following the Taoist Way . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 19, 2021

In this vintage 1969 dharma talk, a ‘fresh from India’ Ram Dass relays how to live our ‘karmic trip’ in the Tao – the Way of Harmony – before sharing stories of the spiritual scene at his father’s farm. In this dharma talk from October 18th, 1969 at Yale University, Ram Dass, freshly returned from his metamorphic first trip to India, outlines his spiritual transformation and answers audience questions digging into reconciling the natural negative forces of the universe. Inviting us to perceive our ‘karmic trip’ through the lens of the Tao , Ram Dass welcomes us to live in the Way of Harmony, sharing rare stories of the hippie/spiritual satsang that gathered on his father’s small farm in New Hampshire. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Apr 29, 2021

Mapping the physical, causal, and astral planes of existence, Ram Dass reconciles time within the paradox of ‘being here now,’ inviting us into the freedom of limitless awareness. Illuminating the interconnected nature of the various planes of existence we inhabit throughout our journey of awakening, Ram Dass draws a roadmap of consciousness through responding to a well-structured, organic build of audience questions. Contemplating the notion of time in relation to his famous statement and book, ‘ Be Here Now ,’ Ram Dass shares Maharajji stories to tie together paradox, welcoming us into the freedom of living within the illusion, but without being caught by it. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Apr 8, 2021

Walking the path of the Heart, Ram Dass shares the hungry ghost pitfalls veiling the unity behind our separateness and invites us into the proverbial 'hot tub' of Maharajji's unconditional love. In this unique dharma talk floating from deep, dreamy inquiry, to rich, humorous, and lively stories of darshans with Maharajji in India, Ram Dass illuminates the nuanced path of love, highlighting the addictive pitfalls in our habitual relationships with it, and inviting us into the unconditional unity behind our separateness. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Mar 18, 2021

In this recording from 1989, Ram Dass talks about looking through the veil of role and personality in the business world, and offers his unique perspectives on work and money. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Feb 25, 2021

In this collection of clips from his core teachings on death and dying, Ram Dass explores love, loss, and soul, elucidates the art of grief, and encourages us all to make peace with death. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Feb 3, 2021

In this exceptional and unique offering, the Be Here Now Network along with our friends at the Alan Watts Organization , have specially curated a podcast featuring words of wisdom from Ram Dass, and legendary, contemporary spiritual teacher, Alan Watts. In this a Be Here Now Network first, Alan Watts offers his far-reaching Buddhist, Taoist, and meditative wisdom; playing off of and complementing Ram Dass’ deep inquiry and presence on topics pertaining to identity and separate self, unity and interdependence, surrender and trust, intuition and grace, faith and freedom, and meditation and the eternal now. Brought to you by LSRF and AlanWatts.org See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jan 15, 2021

On this special episode of Here and Now, Raghu Markus and Rameshwar Das celebrate the release of Being Ram Dass by reflecting on some of Ram Dass’s most important teachings. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Dec 24, 2020

In this dharma talk from 1982, Ram Dass tackles the problem with personality, exploring how we need to honor the power of our personality without identifying and being attached to it. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Dec 5, 2020

In this dharma talk from 1983, Ram Dass looks at the context of reality from the perspectives of both the social and political domain, and the domain of spiritual awakening. Being Ram Dass is now available to pre-order – read the story of awakening toward living in oneness and love. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Nov 12, 2020

In this late 1970’s Dharma talk from New Lebanon, NY, Ram Dass explores the innate power of reducing ourselves to Zero in order to be truly effective individuals in our practice, service, and being. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Oct 22, 2020

Looking at life as a series of lawfully unfolding events, Ram Dass shares rare stories and Eastern wisdom that elucidate the concepts of karma and reincarnation. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Oct 1, 2020

Exploring the various forms of Yoga, Ram Dass shares methods for coming into the One. Links from this episode: Ram Dass Soul Land Live Music Series | The Yoga of Service: 4 Week Online Course See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Sep 10, 2020

Ram Dass explores how spiritual practice helps us find a home in the domain of spirit and root ourselves in presence, even amidst all the suffering and pain of this world. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 20, 2020

In this 1992 session, Ram Dass explores patriarchy and the Ramayana, dharmic roles, planes of consciousness, and being a good adversary. In this question and answer session from July 17th, 1992 in Rhinebeck, NY at the Omega Institute, Ram Dass answers questions surrounding the topics of patriarchy in religion, dharmic roles, relationships, the value of extended family, karma, planes of consciousness, self-love, mindfulness, personality, politics, and being a good adversary in social justice. Links from this episode: ‘ Cultivating Wise Hope’ Virtual Retreat | Soul Land Music Series See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jul 31, 2020

Be Here Now Network presents a classic talk from 1986 that captures one of Ram Dass’ core teachings around identity and the different planes of consciousness. In this talk, Ram Dass offers a method for envisioning the different planes of consciousness as TV channels, guidance on understanding ineffable spiritual experiences, and shares a personal account of how these experiences allow us to see our differences while also seeing our oneness. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jul 8, 2020

In this talk from 1989, Ram Dass shares his thoughts on how innocence is very much a part of the spiritual journey, the importance of humor and lightness on the path, and much more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 19, 2020

In this talk from 1987, Ram Dass illuminates the path of awakening that is waiting for each of us. “Once you have recognized that there are other realities, other than the one you have been familiar with, your life starts to change. I don’t care whether you got it from a joint; whether you got it from trauma; whether you got it from surfing; whether you got it from temple or church. Whatever thing you did that took you beyond yourself. Whatever it was, if you acknowledged it as real as what you have started from, you are on the way. That is what is known as awakening.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 28, 2020

In this talk from 1989, Ram Dass leads an exploration into what it takes to be present with our hearts, present with the moment, and to have compassion for the suffering in the world. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 8, 2020

In this riveting Q&A session from a 1989 retreat, Ram Dass answers questions around making the transition from somebody to nobody, right effort, doubt versus faith, and much more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Apr 15, 2020

In this talk from 1976, Ram Dass reflects on how we can get to God by embracing our Dharmic path in life. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Mar 25, 2020

In this interview from 1980, Ram Dass shares a mind-bending conversation with physicist Amit Goswami about the intersection of science and spirituality. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Mar 7, 2020

In this dharma talk from 1993, Ram Dass looks at how each of us can get stuck in our transition between the fear-driven social institutions that we were born into and the love-driven paths of the heart that we are re-discovering for ourselves. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Feb 13, 2020

In this dharma talk from 1978, Ram Dass looks to the example set by The Shakertown Pledge as a model for committing ourselves to inner and outer social action. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jan 23, 2020

In this dharma talk from 1982, Ram Dass illuminates how happiness, boredom, suffering, past and future, life and death, it’s all right here in every moment we experience. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Dec 31, 2019

In this dharma talk from 1981, Ram Dass looks at how we can let go of our fears about change and dying by understanding our true nature. This episode of the Here and Now Podcast is the first since Ram Dass recently left his body on December 22, 2019. It features a special message from Raghu Markus, long-time presenter of the show and dear friend to Ram Dass. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Dec 13, 2019

Ram Dass shares a dharma talk exploring the complex relationships we form through devotional yoga that become doorways leading to inner liberation. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Nov 21, 2019

In this blast from the past, Ram Dass is the ringmaster for some astral fun and games as he takes on miracles, psychedelic powers, and connecting across different planes of existence. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Oct 31, 2019

In this unique dharma talk from 1976, Ram Dass explores the practice of devotional tantra, which is about seeing the world as the Divine Mother Kali and feeding her with your impurities. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Oct 10, 2019

In this dharma talk from 1975, Ram Dass speaks of the still small voice within that serves as a constant reminder of our true nature and relationship with God. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Sep 18, 2019

In this dharma talk from 1993, Ram Dass answers questions about navigating our spiritual path and working with practices that can bring us into union with the One. With the floor open to his live audience, Ram Dass touches on topics such as his own spiritual practice, methods for bringing us closer with the One, losing faith, working with a guru and more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 28, 2019

Celebrate the theatrical release of Becoming Nobody, the quintessential portal into Ram Dass’ life and teachings, with this collection of teachings featured in the film. Becoming Nobody, from director Jamie Cato, represents the core arc of Ram Dass’ teachings and life. Through historic clips balanced with engaging conversation, Ram Dass shares the tools available to get free from our old roles and disguises. Find screenings in a city near you beginning September 6th, including special events featuring Q&A with Jamie Cato and special guests like Sharon Salzberg, Mirabai Starr, Producer Raghu Markus and more at becomingnobody.com See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 8, 2019

In this talk from 1986, Ram Dass reflects on how we relate karmically within our family as we grow and our roles evolve. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jul 22, 2019

Ram Dass invokes lord Krishna as he discusses divine love versus worldly love, then leads a guided meditation where the seeker and guru become one. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 26, 2019

In this talk from 1976, Ram Dass reflects on the motives for spiritual practice that can liberate us or keep us stuck in our own egos. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 12, 2019

In this talk from 1983, Ram Dass reflects on the journey into innocence and uninhibited loving compassion that we all share. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 16, 2019

In this continuing talk from 1992, Ram Dass explores how we can best navigate the situation of this incarnation here on Earth that we find ourselves in. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Apr 25, 2019

In this talk from 1992, Ram Dass looks at how quieting the mind allows us to accept life how it is, including all of the love, suffering, joy, and discomfort that comes with it. It is all happening as it should in our lives so that we can grow to become free. Ram Dass shows us how cultivating spaciousness and trust allows us to sit comfortably with all life has to offer and connect with the inner truth that guides us. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Apr 3, 2019

Buckle in for a classic talk from Ram Dass that dives deep into the concept of awareness, and the disruptive phenomena of the attractions and aversions born from karma. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Mar 14, 2019

In this talk, Ram Dass shares a lesson on the liberating practice of service and how we can turn everything in our life into a practice of yoga. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Feb 21, 2019

Ram Dass shares a reflection on the different kinds of spiritual practice available to us and looks at how they each offer the potential to liberate or keep us trapped in our egos. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jan 31, 2019

In this talk from 1993, Ram Dass reflects on our ever-evolving cultural myths and how we can shift our awareness beyond these narratives. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jan 10, 2019

In this early talk, from 1970, Ram Dass talks about the methods of purification necessary for waking up in this lifetime, illuminates the traps that lie within these methods and explores what is waiting for us in the ever-present moment. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Dec 21, 2018

Ram Dass is joined live on stage by Krishna Das and Raghu Markus for a conversation that explores generosity as a path of practice and the value of being part of a community that supports each other on their spiritual paths. Find links, show notes and the video version of this podcast at https://beherenownetwork.com/ram-dass-here-and-now-ep-138-were-all-just-saving-each-others-asses/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Nov 29, 2018

Ram Dass is joined by Noah and Raghu Markus for a conversation about meeting injustice with compassion and the importance of inner social action. Find show notes and links here: https://beherenownetwork.com/ram-dass-here-and-now-ep-137-the-importance-of-inner-social-action See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Nov 10, 2018

In this talk from 1995, Ram Dass looks at how we can fully inhabit our roles with joy and emptiness instead of taking ourselves so seriously. Find show notes and resources here: https://beherenownetwork.com/ram-dass-here-and-now-ep-136-how-to-inhabit-roles-lightly-with-joy-and-emptiness/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Oct 18, 2018

Ram Dass explores one of the most difficult teachings he was given by Maharaj-ji, accepting the perfection of the unfolding all things, and explores the curriculum of life that unfolds when our attachment to ego begins to dissolve. Find show notes and resources here: https://beherenownetwork.com/here-and-now-ep-135-creation-creativity-and-spirituality/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Sep 26, 2018

In this talk from 1981, Ram Dass explores the fierce but liberating path of relationships that bring us to a place where we can become one with another person. Find show notes and resources here: https://beherenownetwork.com/ram-dass-now-ep-134-relationships/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Sep 4, 2018

Mirabai Bush and Raghu Markus join Ram Dass to celebrate the release of Ram Dass and Mirabai’s new book, Walking Each Other Home, and share a conversation about how embracing death can allow us to live more fully. Pick up your hardcover copy of Walking Each Other Home and learn to embrace the mystery of death with compassion and love: Walking Each Other Home See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 9, 2018

In this talk from 1994, Ram Dass investigates the many roots of suffering and how our perception shapes our experience of that suffering. Find show notes and links here: https://beherenownetwork.com/here-and-now-ep-132-roots-of-suffering/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jul 18, 2018

On this episode of the Here and Now Podcast, Ram Dass and Raghu answer questions from members of the community around some of the difficulties and roadblocks we encounter while navigating our journey of awakening. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 29, 2018

In this talk from 1976, Ram Dass takes an honest look at the cycles of liberation experienced on the spiritual path. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 7, 2018

Ram Dass sits down for a conversation with Raghu Markus around generosity and sharing the gifts of spiritual life. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 17, 2018

In this talk from 1989, Ram Dass explores what is needed to become impeccable with whatever we are handed karmically in our lives. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Apr 26, 2018

This time on the Here and Now Podcast, Ram Dass explores the question of what survives after death. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Apr 5, 2018

Ram Dass is joined by Larry Brilliant for a conversation about the miracle that was Maharaj-ji and how we can bring the love and compassion that he radiated into the world. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Mar 8, 2018

In this 1993 talk from the Omega Institute, Ram Dass explores methods of embracing the mystery of life through selflessness and service. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Feb 16, 2018

In this talk from 1980, Ram Dass invites us to bring all aspects of our lives into harmony by integrating the different planes of our awareness. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jan 25, 2018

In this talk from 1991, Ram Dass discusses encountering fear and working through difficult moments along the journey of awakening. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jan 4, 2018

Daniel Goleman and Raghu Markus join Ram Dass to talk about the power of meditation that they were exposed to in the East and what Western science has begun to understand about consciousness and meditation practice. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Dec 15, 2017

In this talk from 1970, Ram Dass talks about what it means to share darshan from both the perspective of the devotee and the guru. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Nov 21, 2017

Ram Dass has a discussion with Raghu Markus about the fine line between efforts driven by ego and the dharmic efforts that, with faith, bring us closer towards merging into the spacious love that exists beyond duality. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Nov 1, 2017

On this episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass continues his discussion on how our spiritual practice affects our sense of change and how we respond to an impermanent reality. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Oct 11, 2017

On this episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass explores how our spiritual practice affects our sense of change and how we respond to an impermanent reality. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Sep 20, 2017

On this episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass reflects on the fundamentals of spiritual practice and being mindful. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 29, 2017

On this episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass explores a deeper source of psychological neuroses and touches on some of the most crucial aspects of the spiritual path. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 9, 2017

Ram Dass is joined by Rameshwar Das and Raghu Markus for a conversation around Satsang and taking risks. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jul 20, 2017

On this episode of Here & Now, Ram Dass asks us to honor our incarnation and live on this plane as if “we” are all “us.” Ram Dass talks about integrating a sense of oneness into all planes of consciousness, challenges us to honor our incarnation and explores Eastern systems of practice through the lens of science. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 28, 2017

Ram Dass is joined by Raghu Markus for a conversation around wrestling with difficulties and uncertainty. From dogma to physical suffering to our own Dharma, Ram Dass and Raghu talk about wrestling with our difficulties and overcoming them through practice. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 7, 2017

Recorded at Naropa University in 1974, Ram Dass joins Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, John Baker, Jim Green and Duncan Campbell for a conversation around the notion of ego and personal identification. In this panel discussion, the group explores the concepts of ego in both Western psychology and Eastern traditions. Exploring what the notion of ego really is, and isn't. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

May 17, 2017

Ram Dass gives a moving talk on the Guru's grace and the story of how he received a true secret teaching from his own Guru. Recorded in June 1973, Ram Dass leads a discussion around the concept of Dharma, or one's path in life, and how he discovered his own Dharma through secret teachings from his Guru. We may go to great lengths to avoid our path, but our inner voice continues to bring us back. Ram Dass also explains the role of karma yoga and what it means to 'die into service.' We learn to work with our desires and move right into the fire. Through this work, we free ourselves from attachment and find a deeper connection with God. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Apr 27, 2017

Live Awake; this special talk given at the 1994 Psychedelics Symposium at Chapman College follows Ram Dass's history and thoughts around psychedelics. Psychedelics have guided the course of Ram Dass's life. Ram Dass shares the history of his relationship with the experience, its possibilities and limitations. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Apr 5, 2017

Ram Dass is joined by Roshi Joan Halifax, Raghu Markus and the author of “The Five Invitations,” Frank Ostaseski, to talk about his book and how death offers a path to radical transformation. Frank Ostaseski is a leader in contemplative end-of-life care. His book, "The Five Invitations," gives practices for anyone navigating any sort of loss and shows us how to wake up fully to our lives. Frank leads the group in a discussion about death and dying in the context of these Five Invitations. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mar 15, 2017

In this rare talk, Ram Dass reports on the geography of the journey of awakening. Ram Dass gives this talk not long after returning from India where he began to learn the geography of the journey. He describes the cycles of the journey and the tools used along the way to access higher states of being. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Feb 22, 2017

On this unique episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass discusses seeing God in all things and how the true revolution is found through the evolution of consciousness. In both parts of this episode, Ram Dass imparts wisdom on transformation. We look at transforming our world by transforming our worldview. Ram Dass shows us that the true revolution starts by changing our inner world. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jan 30, 2017

In this talk from 1976, Ram Dass talks about what we are beyond this lifetime and asks, "Who are you?" Time after time we have experienced a cycle of birth and death. Each time we are born into a new identity and cling to that incarnation as if it was all we had, until the moment we get a glimpse of something more. Ram Dass explores our journey of awakening and returning to the one. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jan 20, 2017

Ram Dass and Raghu have a conversation around social action and keeping our quietness and love in 2017. Ram Dass talks about balancing ourselves, social responsibility, why he puts President Trump on his puja (prayer) table, and cultivating love for everyone no matter their beliefs. Ram Dass leaves us with perspective and insight on keeping our quietness and love in the coming year. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dec 28, 2016

Ram Dass is joined by a young Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield for a meaningful talk about mindfulness and food. This discussion is part of the Naropa University Bhagavad Gita Sessions of 1974. We are shown a new perception of what it is that we are eating. Ram Dass, Joseph, and Jack help us to understand that there is a connection between what sustains us and who we are. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dec 13, 2016

In this lecture from 1974 at Naropa University, Ram Dass talks about our unhealthy preoccupation with our individual differences. We grow up with the identity of a separate self, building an entire character around that separate self. From this, we begin identifying others based around our character development. In this episode, Ram Dass gives insight on how our practice helps us move beyond our patterns and perception of individual differences. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nov 9, 2016

On this episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass has a Sunday hangout session with Raghu Markus. The two chat about the concept of the 'soul-complex', how Ram Dass manages his suffering, as well as duality and devotion. Ram Dass and Raghu discuss the 'soul-complex' and the transition process between lives. They also consider the similarities between duel and non-duel systems. Explaining how the limitations of one are complimented by the other, and how the two have different means to the same end. "In life, the 'soul-complex' is never for two consecutive moments the same, but is, like the body, in constant change. There is thus a series of successive, and, in one sense, different states, which are in themselves but momentary. There is still a unifying bond in that each momentary state is a present representative of all those which are past, as it will be the generation of all future transformations potentially involved in it. This process is not interrupted by death." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Oct 19, 2016

How would you answer the question of, "Who do you think YOU are?" You probably believe that you are somebody, but that somebody is the ego. On this episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass talks about our separation from the One, getting back to God, and what we must do to make it happen. "We can be righteous, but we cannot be righteous and be one with God." -Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sep 28, 2016

On this special 100th episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass and Raghu Markus talk about imagination, faith, and gratitude. Ram Dass teaches us to see through our own delusions that mislead us and weigh us down with fear. Ram Dass brings insight to several important questions. How can we learn to trust our intuition without fooling ourselves? Where does gratitude come from? Explore these questions and more on this episode of Here and Now. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sep 12, 2016

Raghu introduces a new outstanding essential teachings course from Ram Dass entitled – Being Here Now: An Odyssey into the Essential Teachings of Ram Dass. After a deep dive into the Ram Dass audio archives, Raghu gives us a preview of the never before published Ram Dass content. Being Here Now is an eight-week audio course with a companion guide written by Rameshwar Das. The course also features a big bonus current video of Ram Dass. Raghu gives us a taste of each week, and shares wisdom on some of the topics featured in the course. This course is brought to you in partnership with Tami Simon and Sounds True. Being Here Now: An Odyssey into the Essential Teachings of Ram Dass Identifying with Our True Self From the moment we incarnate as a human being we are identified with our body, feelings and thoughts. Yet, beyond our thinking mind and sensory perceptions, there is a vast realm of the soul which is pure consciousness, love, joy and peace. Our individual soul is part of that unitary consciousness, whether we call it God, Buddhahood, or the One. It is our origin and where we shall return. Sometimes just a subtle shift in perspective or point of view can remind us of this true nature of our being. Witness and Awareness The gateway to our true Self is our own awareness. Becoming an impartial observer of each instant of our incarnation allows us to be present in the moment and at the same time to extricate from our desires, thoughts, attachments and the time-binding of regrets about the past and worry about the future. Awareness and love, loving ourselves with full awareness of each thought and feeling, even of negative emotions, begins to dissolve our identification with the ego and allows us to live in our soul. Methods and Purifying the Mind Meditation means going within to bring the mind to one point in order to quiet the cacophony of thoughts, emotions, and desires. Patanjali, the sage who wrote the Yoga Sutra, starts with, “Citta vritti nirodha,” or, consciousness arises when thoughts dissolve. Our guru, Maharaj-ji, said, “Bring your mind to one point and wait for Grace.” There are many methods of meditation. Find one that works for you and develop a regular practice. Suffering and Disturbing Emotions Physical, emotional, and mental suffering is a reality of life. Thoughts, emotions, and sensations come up constantly to disturb the essential peace of the heart and mind. While we cannot avoid the difficult challenges of life, how we deal with and experience them can magnify or reduce their impact. We can find a spaciousness in our encounters with suffering- we can actually make friends with our suffering. Cultivating Love and Compassion Love is the emotion of merging, or becoming one. Compassion is being with another’s suffering, experiencing our inter-relatedness in the most direct way by opening our hearts to one another. The Buddhist practice of metta or the Hindu devotional practices of Bhakti yoga can help with that heart opening. Ram Dass teaches Loving Awareness meditation that brings together love and awareness. We have to start from where we are. Only when we truly love ourselves can we become beacons of love to others. Relationships and the Spiritual Path Transforming the karma of relationships into grist for the mill of the spiritual path is a challenge. Discriminating between love and attachment, personal desire and unconditional love, is part of everyone’s spiritual evolution. Karma Yoga Transforming everyday work and activity into spiritual practice is karma yoga, often expressed through seva, or selfless service. The Bhagavad Gita is one of the great wisdom sources for karma yoga. As it says, ultimately we bring our lives into harmony by surrendering the fruits of our actions to God. Love and Death Our ego fears annihilation because of the identification with our body. Living in faith that we are truly a soul helps transform fear. The grief of losing a loved one yields to the certainty that though bodies pass away, love does not die. If we live fully in the present moment, death is just another moment. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Aug 26, 2016

When it comes to Spiritual Practices, Ram Dass poses the question, “why do we practice?” Raghu reads a passage from The Wisdom Teachings and Good Wishes of the Adi-Buddha Samanta-Bhadra which poses that the reality which is “the foundation of all is uncreated, uncompounded, independent beyond mental concept and verbal definition.” Not knowing this we humans get overwhelmed by the darkness of unconsciousness, from which comes ignorance and error, of course what arises is us and them, together, or I and others. Which spawns an unbroken current of samsaric (illusion) evolution, so the root source of error among sentient beings is thus unconscious ignorance Raghu suggests this is pretty good motivation for spiritual practice. Ram Dass gives another motivation, which is, change generates fear. Fear generates contraction, contraction then generates prejudice and bigotry, and ultimately violence. What’s the antidote for this? It’s consciousness that does not respond to change with fear. So how do we get that consciousness? It takes spiritual practice. Once you start to practice, the journey to awakening starts to dominate the terrain. “Everything in your life becomes grist for the mill of awakening. You learn to trust the deepest inner message you can hear.” Ram Dass also says: “if you’re thinking you should meditate, don’t bother, go out and lust some more. You need an honest approach to the path, you can’t be phony holy.” Raghu talks about his own experience on sitting on a regular basis, even if he’s tired or cranky. The beauty of a true spiritual journey is that it keeps unfolding from inside yourself. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jul 28, 2016

Ram Dass talks about disturbing emotions that may arise is potential wisdom the moment you relax into your natural mind. Look directly into it, don’t deliberately reject it, regard it as a fault, or indulge in it concretely or, regard it as a virtue. Ram Dass talks about experiencing his life as a dance of balance of cultivating the qualities of spaciousness, of equanimity, of peace, of happiness, we fear the passions of life because they take us away from that balance. We have to find a balance between intuitive heart and thinking mind. Because the tendency in the spiritual journey is to denigrate the thinking mind into it and we shouldn’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. In this talk, Ram Dass speaks on making human relationships our yoga. Let us help each other awaken. Ram Dass tells us an exquisite story about Ramana Maharashi that exemplifies the possibility Of a being who is not trapped, but are always living in that spacious awareness-- of compassion or emptiness. Miracles remind you that what you think is reality is not truth. That frees you to think about what is true reality. When you wonder how it is, you’re hooked. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jul 5, 2016

Raghu and Ram Dass do a live hang out on Skype. Raghu reminds Ram Dass of the first moment they met in Montreal and how that moment defined a trust for him that led to meeting the Guru. Ram Dass talks about his first encounters with trust through the sacred mushroom and Tim Leary. For the first time Ram Dass tells the real story of how he came to coin Be Here Now while searching for the Guru in India. Ram Dass talks about intuition and imagination as a method to connect with the Guru- and Raghu quotes from Ram Dass' book Journey of Awakening in relation to meeting the Guru- " When needed the Guru appears. It's a benign conspiracy". Finally Ram Dass talks about contentment and the fact that he has been living in a "stroked" body has not deterred him from being in the moment and being content. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jun 2, 2016

Ram Dass talks about the value and limits of psychedelics – when they can enhance the spiritual path and when there can be risks. From ancient times there has been the idea of an elixir sometimes called Soma and the use of natural herbs to effect spiritual transformation. The experience that humans have is the ability to see the universe from a different vantage point- now we could experience the deeper part of our beings that lie behind the thinking mind. Our monitoring system gets turned off so we can have a completely fresh view. When the boundries break down we begin to see the inter-relatedness of everything. We see the way in which it’s all connected- the mystery that lies behind the apparent phenomena. These psychedelics give us an inner validity to our intuitive voice. Ram Dass talks about the original playbook laid out in the early days on set and setting when taking ethneogens. “When I broke through, what I saw was the reality I thought was real was only relatively real- not absolutely real. What happened to my mind was a shift in consciousness.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Apr 8, 2016

In tracing our spiritual journey, we have gone from a psychological, economic and political universe into a spiritual universe. And in the course of that transition, we have rejected the psychological, economic and political aspects of our lives. We have to finally honor our incarnations, god manifests through form and we have to love the form that we were incarnated into, and give that form space to be what it has to be. We need to stop taking a stance to protect ourselves from the supposed contamination of the world on our so-called ‘spiritual purity’. What we are should be able to play in all of the fields of our lives. As long as we have the desire to be ‘special’ we are pushing life away out of fear. Afraid of dying into the universe for fear it will contaminate us. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mar 7, 2016

Ram Dass illuminates the trap that many of us fall into as we grow up - which is the idea that we are our thoughts. The more accurate view would be, "I am and I think.” Thinking is a power that we have - “Intellect is a great servant but a lousy master.” Most of us live almost entirely within the projections of our thinking mind. Intellect is only one way of knowing the world, but the intuitive mind and heart is a more profound way of "knowing" the universe than the analytic intellectual linear mind. The more you think inwardly and self reflect, the more you become an object to yourself until the whole universe is made up of objects. We need to change the relative power positions of "intellect" and “intuition" so that we develop greater balance and freedom to grow on the spiritual path. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Feb 8, 2016

Ram Dass brings up a meeting he had with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche during which Rinpoche said to him, "We have to accept responsibility,” to which Ram Dass replied, "God has all the responsibility,” and Rinpoche replied, "Ram Dass, you are copping out.” Ram Dass explores the way in which we experience everything as a free choice but in some way it's part of a determined law: You have a choice of identifying with your incarnate creation (your body, personality, social entity) or You as the creator (God that resides within each one of us) of that creation. The creative spark - that's what is responsible. We accept that we are part of the One, and that we are in fact creating our universe. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jan 15, 2016

Ram Dass tells the story of Maharaji arranging the reunion of a barber and his son by appearing in two places at one time and says, "More profound than miracles is the quality of His presence - His unconditional love was so intense that it cut through cynicism, doubt and separation. Imagine a place where someone is living in that presence of unconditional love all the time with everyone - and everyone you see is their Beloved. A fully conscious and realized being is that - there are no conditions and no attachments.” On the other hand we all live within limits which prevent us from loving freely - we are conditional lovers. How do we transform? Not by destroying our bodies, thoughts or emotions but by getting beyond the attachments that prevent us from being free and unconditional lovers. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dec 18, 2015

The Bhagavad Gita says, “The greatest birth is in a family of Yogis.” That would reflect people who are not caught so much in the illusion of separateness. Small children, when in the presence of parents who are spacious and aware, allow the child to develop a “somebody-ness” but not at the level that it entraps them. Rather, it becomes a functional “somebody-ness” not an entrapping “somebody-ness”. As parents, we should cultivate with our children as quickly as possible the notion that we are fellow travelers, that I am in a role of caretaker and you as child, and slowly we are going to emerge as two friends. Then you become a Dharmic parent. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dec 5, 2015

Ram Dass talks about being socialized out of any recognition of who we were. Everyone wants to believe they are who they think they are. Through the use of psychedelics we recognized we'd been had. Where your mind is in relation to the game is what creates or relieves suffering-your's and everyone else. Ram Dass also leads a short three breath mindfulness meditation for practice anytime during the day. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nov 20, 2015

On this special Here and Now podcast, we feature our new book ‘Love Everyone’, stories of the Westerners who heard about Neem Karoli Baba through Ram Dass and went to meet him. The author, Parvati Markus, introduces some of the stories from the book from her interviews that form the backbone of ‘Love Everyone’. Raghu introduces a very special Ram Dass talk from a radio interview after he just got back from India in 1972, and described for the first time what it was like being with Neem Karoli Baba in extraordinary detail. As a bonus, Raghu introduces a never before told story of Maharajji saving someone from drowning, and the family never knew it was him until 60 years after the incident. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Oct 31, 2015

Everybody that has asked to be free has called down upon themselves Grace; that is through their Guru, Guide, Guardian Angel or Spiritual Friend. That being, whomever it may be, is your guide to liberation. This is called forth by your genuine asking- if you don't ask they don't even notice you. But the minute you do ask to be free- you call down Grace and your whole life becomes a dialogue with that being. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Oct 16, 2015

It takes but a flick of a look in a person's eyes to see who it is you are to them. Which level of reality you exist upon. A conscious being has no attachment to any level, neither busy denying nor affirming, neither saying "I am this" nor "I am not this" - neither protecting nor justifying. Once you get a peek at the reality of who you really are, you cannot go back to your former identity, try and try as much as you will. When the pursuit of your true nature is the only game, everything in your life becomes an instrument for getting free. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sep 25, 2015

Ram Dass’s precise enquiry into the real nature of purification and liberation – jumping into your own individuated Dharmic fire, not ignoring your weaknesses and neuroses. The bliss is one part, the reality of life on Earth at this moment is another – he firmly suggests embracing all of it. There is “no irrelevancy in the whole system” he says and this includes suffering and loss and major difficulties. Ram Dass’s expliqué of the long, incarnational progression is particularly exquisite in this talk – detailing the gradually emergent, awakened embodiment and then the ineffable potential of the bodhisattva manifestation. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sep 16, 2015

Ram Dass takes a number of questions on how to navigate our paths in life. He talks about how to deal with fear and sit with it, watching our reactivity, wanting to create resistance against what we are afraid of. Allow yourself to notice the resistance and keep softening, embrace it into yourself. The resistance against something makes the fear more intense. See the fear as a process that comes out of conditioning and identification. Ram Dass talks about “out of body” experiences and suggests that one does not preoccupy oneself with what the experience is. It’s more about what the experience is offering in terms of a deeper understanding that one can use in personal growth. Remember, the intellect wants to know it knows. Intuitively, one can feel the validity of the experience and that validity colors our future life. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sep 1, 2015

When we have any kind of mystical or ineffable experience, it upsets our apple cart. It upsets the security of our separateness. We get attached to our separateness and become afraid of losing it. And out of that comes greed, lust, anxiety and fear. The main quality of that separateness is suffering, which is why it’s called “the vale of tears.” This birth, which looks to you as a kind of chaotic, random, somewhat morbid humor of God, has an absolute exquisite perfection of the unfolding of your being in an evolutionary direction towards you becoming fully conscious of who you are, which turns out to be God. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 14, 2015

Ram Dass takes questions from the audience on a variety of topics including letting go of boundaries, "What is the Guru?", psychedelics, methods as traps and the human agenda to name a few. “Trust your intuitive heart - everyone has an inner guide. Maharaji is my inner imaginary playmate - I talk to him all the time - He turns out to be real and I’m the imaginary one.” “We move in and out of our roles in life. And finally as we get true detachment we are free to play the roles without being trapped in them.” “It’s up to the most conscious person in a relationship dynamic to let go the soonest.” “As Gandhi said, My life is my message." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jul 31, 2015

We keep closing off the door of entry to a higher state of consciousness because of the fear of the implications of a true spiritual journey. We have embarked on a game that is much more profound than we usually think we are in - we’re ready to slip by and make everybody feel good. As in the metaphor for the Bhagavad Gita - Arjun fights an army of attachments - attachment to family, to a secure and comfortable life, to the prestige of habit and comfort, to shine in society - they may have served as guides and teachers in the past but they have been part of what has kept us from God. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jul 17, 2015

The soil into which spirituality from the East was planted was not so rich in the early days. In India, everyone believes in re-incarnation and sees life from that perspective. In the West words like "Guru", "devotion" and "surrender" have a hard time being digested. Most of the people who are Saints in India would be hospitalized in the West. Now there seems to be a shift where we can honor these traditions in a way that does not water them down. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jul 3, 2015

In this episode Ram Dass' satsang family Mirabai Bush, Raghu Markus and Danny Goleman hang out and talk about Danny's new book with HH Dalai Lama- A Force For Good- which coincides with HH's birthday. Also remember the days they spent together in India with Neem Karoli Baba and what transmission they brought back to the West and how that has affected their individual offering in their work and lives. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jun 19, 2015

When you begin to awaken, you are not coming from such a needy place when you enter into a relationship, not looking to “lock in” so quickly. Your need is still there as a human incarnation - but you are not so identified with that need and because you are already resting in a place of love, and you can experience the sharing of love and oneness without fear. You don’t need a person to get into that space, you are already in it. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jun 5, 2015

"Renunciation is internal dropout, not external dropout" This is often in direct contrast to the Western model of achievement oriented success. But we are not required to move off into a cave in order to find enlightenment. Through complete devotion to our work and our love for that process, we can absolutely move in the direction of realization. "By letting go, everything gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try, the world is beyond the winning" Through cultivation of the witness we move out of the melodrama and into the place of pure perspective and peaceful awareness See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

May 24, 2015

Ram Dass answers questions from the audience on the predicament of Grace and Karma- the predicament of judging- the predicament of social responsibility. Also same sex relationships and the relation to divinity. “Only when you are honoring the plane on which it is all totally perfect just the way it is, can you assume on the other plane the responsibility to change it; recognizing that the desire in you to change it is part of the perfection of it all." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

May 11, 2015

Dan Ellsberg tries scare tactics to get Ram Dass to take social action. Ram Dass says –“In fact nuclear weaponry are out of balance with the way of things - The Dao - so you don’t have to cajole or coerce people into acting. You can’t milk it through fear. You can just trust people’s gut. They will react through their own intuitive sense of being in tune with the way.” “Quiet mind-open heart- we do what we can to relieve suffering” - Ram Dass “It’s the freedom of consciousness that hears the impeccable act that brings about the healing of the planet and all it’s people so that you are an instrument for the relief of suffering; Even though at another level you can see that suffering is part of the nature of things. And the perfection is that we act to relieve the suffering while acknowledging that both the act and the suffering are part of one mosaic.” - Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Apr 27, 2015

In this wide ranging interview by Radio For Peace, Ram Dass talks about satsang/community and how it can uplift us as well as become a trap. “The possibility is there in spiritual community to die into the truth. But people die very hard and as a result fall back on structures that can enhance separateness.” There is pressure in satsang to conform to the median and that pressure to conform can get individuals calcified. Institutions that are optimum for the spirit are totallt creative and imaginative. We are in the process of dissolving and being creative every moment.” Ram Dass also talks about belief and faith- “Faith is an aspect of the nature of being. Belief won’t help you when you are facing death.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Apr 13, 2015

In this podcast, Mickey Lemle, filmmaker and director of the Ram Dass documentary Fierce Grace, talks with Ram Dass about the power of storytelling. Writing sometimes doesn’t allow spiritual concepts to come across fully. Storytelling can convey the direct human experience of spirituality in a more personal and immediate way. Join Ram Dass and Mickey Lemle as they relive their stories together. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mar 31, 2015

Surya Das joins Ram Dass for a puja side chat at Ram Dass' home on Maui. Surya Das is a bhakta as well as an American Lama. They explore questions like, "What is our true sadhana (spiritual practice)?" - "Are we egos or dharma masters? Or are we simply two brothers on the path to the Guru's feet?" Ram Dass talks about doing practices consciously, giving the example of yoga, where each pose is "shaking hands with God." Surya Das asks, "What keeps us from remembering God in each moment of our lives?" See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mar 17, 2015

How far do you have to go to get through the layers of psychology, of defenses, of personalities in order to get to the root of a being, behind those veils where the spark is - the overriding faith in reality beyond the senses. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mar 5, 2015

We are both separate and one. Creator and created. The question is, “Can we allow for free will and at the same time acknowledge that everything is determined?” The trick is to neither identify nor deny either of them. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Feb 19, 2015

The confusion of the paradox you find yourself in is that you are in an incarnation that’s totally dedicated to the preservation of it’s own separateness, and at the same time you are awakening to the realization that the entire domain of separateness is but another illusion. So you find yourself marching in the opposite direction of everything you've learned, against everything your body is telling you, against all of the deepest structures of the ego. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jan 31, 2015

Forms are created and exist and disappear into the formless. Methods are the ship crossing the ocean of existence. You entrap yourself in them in order to burn out karma that keeps you from being free. You know that the method works when it self-destructs. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jan 14, 2015

As long as you perceive love as a verb, you are thinking of another person as a separate object to give love to. When we are truly in love, we are in a simple state of “being” love. As an incarnation, you have to understand what it means to live outside of time and space. You have to understand what it means to see a continuing process of which a human birth is but one very minor segment… See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dec 22, 2014

We can be the biggest somebody in the world when we have no attachment, but we have to start from somewhere, we can’t start out being nobody. The force of “somebody-ness” that develops the survival mechanisms (social, physical, etc.) is our starting point. It is in the freedom of non-clinging to models about self and other that you begin to tune to and hear the way of things, called the Dao or the Divine Law. When you respect that tuning in yourself, actions that flow from you start to become dharmic. They are acts that release beings from suffering and do not perpetuate the illusion of separate self. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nov 25, 2014

Each of us has in us a psychic DNA memory of the quality of life in the Sat Yuga (the age of truth and purity), where people generally and naturally help each other. This represents an organic flowing of a healthy human heart. Episode Outline: - We are living in the Kali Yuga (Age of Destruction) not the Sat Yuga, where truth does not abound, but isolation, fear and separateness is prevalent. Still there are moments and times when there is a natural expression of helping each other. - The ultimate alienation is thinking about yourself all the time so you become an object to yourself, you can’t even help yourself. - Getting over the barrier of “us” and “them” is very tricky. - If you want to live in a peaceful world, you better be peaceful. If you are full of anger, you won’t bring about much peace. The qualities in yourself determine what qualities manifest in the world. - When you pit yourself against the way of things, you better expect that it’s going to cost you. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nov 10, 2014

Change is an opportunity for growth, but it requires consciousness that holds an inner quality of equanimity and openness to the unknown. A certain way in which the chaos of the moment doesn't undercut you because you are not dependent on the external for your equanimity. You and I are in training to be instruments in a society where we can be stable in the presence of change, not holding onto the old system, but being able to move into the unknown without fear. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Oct 22, 2014

Ram Dass hosts his long time Buddhist friends- Jack Kornfield, Catherine Ingram and Wes Nisker at his home in Maui for an intimate chat on their first meetings - the gathering of the "soul pod" - In the early 70's these westerners took in the essence of Hinduism and Buddhism from the East, deepening their understanding of true nature, and brought it back to the West. The group also discusses "spiritual bypassing", the meaning of suffering and Ultimate Reality. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sep 29, 2014

The whole design of your incarnation is like an incredible computer program that sets you into the exact life situations to move you forward towards true awareness. It’s all perfect. Every part of the birth you are taking is part of the unfolding of the karma you need to burn through. There is not one experience you are having or could have or have had that is not part of that process. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sep 9, 2014

The meaning of honoring Shiva is to give space to ALL of the forces of the universe. To recognize them all, to allow them to be, to not try to shove anything under the rug. It's all Grace: sickness, fatigue, pleasure, pain, there's nothing left in my life other than the teachings that bring me into union with the Divine. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Aug 14, 2014

All spiritual practice ultimately becomes the preparation of your body, your heart, and your mind to receive God. The path of going into God, in truth, is not an easy path. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jul 25, 2014

Desire is a trap; desirelessness is liberation. Desire is the creator; desire is the destroyer. Desire is the universe. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jun 27, 2014

Our Journey is towards simplicity and quietness - to a kind of joy that is beyond time - a journey where we leave behind all our models of who we are. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jun 9, 2014

You build your life so that every moment is the moment of death and rebirth. Because life and death become so intimately involved with one another and finally they merge, it's the eternal present. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

May 16, 2014

At the moment of orgasm, you transcend your separateness and there is a moment when you merge together. For most people that is the direct route to a spiritually transcendent state. What you learn to do in a lot of yoga forms is awakening the sexual energy, not to the point of orgasm - but just to the point where you draw the energy up the spine into the upper chakras, and you use your partnership to keep awakening that energy. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Apr 23, 2014

The more evolved you become spiritually, the less boundaries there are between my energy and THE energy. When your energy is used in a way that is destructive, meaning that it creates suffering to you and other people and creates pain of separation, you want to keep working to move that energy in other ways, to create a more compassionate environment. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mar 17, 2014

Can we take anticipated future suffering and turn it into something that enriches the present moment? For those of us who want to approach future suffering with some degree of equanimity, mindfulness and open heartedness, the earlier we start, the better. The more we come into the presence of these phenomena, working with these struggles even though they are not ours yet, the more we will have eaten what we have to eat and digested our reactivity to be able to keep our hearts open. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Feb 26, 2014

The Guru as a separate entity only exists within the illusion of separateness - the minute “it" has worked to awaken you - “it" ceases to be anything. It’s a self destruct mechanism. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jan 31, 2014

When you are no longer laying trips on anyone, not judging, or discriminating individual differences, you become the environment in which the optimum growth is available to all human beings you come into contact with. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jan 16, 2014

Most people in society are pushing away experiences that indicate that they have an identity on other planes of reality, in order to hold tightly to the plane of reality that they are comfortable with. A liberated being is someone who has moved out of the reality that they initially thought was the absolute reality in their life, into subsequent realities. They are then liberated from being stuck in any single reality... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dec 16, 2013

"Loving kindness is the spirit of friendship toward yourself." - Sharon Salzberg "Interdependence is not romantic, but it's the truth of things - that our lives have something to do with one another." - Sharon Salzberg See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nov 27, 2013

There are tools and techniques that one can make use of to have a happier life - and these tools do not require a belief system. It’s about the possibility of re-training the condition of the mind in a way so that old patterns of pushing away or holding on can be challenged and relinquished into a whole new way of relating to our experience. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nov 8, 2013

The process is realizing that you and I exist on more than one plane of awareness simultaneously and on one plane suffering stinks, and on another plane suffering is grace. And the question is, "Can you balance those two things in your consciousness?" See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Oct 25, 2013

What's awesome is the amount of energy that is available to a human being. The paradox is, as long as you are a somebody you are dealing with a finite amount of energy that is able to function through somebody-ness. Only when you become nobody can you be one with universal energy. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sep 30, 2013

Our journey is about totally embracing life, but doing it with non-attachment. By embracing the ten thousand horrible visions and the ten thousand beautiful visions, you go through the doorway of nature to go beyond nature at the same time as being fully in it. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Aug 27, 2013

How do we bring spirituality and business together? How do we bring sustainability and justice into business? We must fulfill our roles to use them as vehicles to become free. Ram Dass uses the Social Venture Network and their honest social action as examples of conscious business practices. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Aug 14, 2013

How can we look at our life experience in a way that liberates us from suffering and liberates those who we come into contact with from suffering? We begin to see our life experiences as Grace - as a set of opportunities through which we can become free. The predicament is that as you awaken you realize you have been the perpetrator of the conspiracy you got caught in. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jul 18, 2013

We have built such a habitual structure of self definition on this plane of reality. That is the model you impose with your self definition of separateness. What does it take to bring about the full transformation so that you dance in your separateness without being entrapped by it. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jul 2, 2013

Community is when human beings come together in the shelter of each other. We are a community of beings acknowledging the dual intention of working on ourselves as an offering to others, and working with others as a way of working on ourselves. Our lives are training sessions to turn ourselves into instruments of true kindness and compassion. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jun 11, 2013

Ram Dass realized that the Western religious traditions weren't profound enough to connect people to their inner selves, they didn't provide man with the wisdom necessary to know inner peace and fulfillment - so he traveled to the East and connected with yoga (union with God). After encountering yoga he was able to come back into the Western traditions and hear the inner message. For instance, the prayer "Here O Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord is One." Isn't it strange to go to the East to break the barrier of cynicism around Western religions... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jun 11, 2013

Ram Dass interviews Trungpa Rinpoche at the Dharma Festival in 1973. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

May 28, 2013

Ram Dass talks about his relationship with the great Tibetan Lama, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Includes detailed moments with Trungpa and Ram Dass at different events and venues in the early 70’s where Trungpa was teaching- the methods he used with his students and the dismay of many who were offended by his unusual behavior and teachings that were enigmatic to say the least. Ram Dass delves into a substantial issue around teachers in the West that are unconventional and sometimes divisive yet can provide students with a path that allows for real growth. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Apr 24, 2013

Swimming with the dolphins connected me immediately to my intuitive heart space. They were a mirror of non-judgmental awareness that reminded me of being with Maharaji. Being with him felt like being with someone who was human but not human, like a wild animal. I was removed from my conceptual conspiracy of relating to the world through attachment, greed and anger. -Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Apr 9, 2013

Alduous Huxley preceded Ram Dass and Tim Leary in explorations of the remote frontiers of the mind and unmapped areas of human consciousness. In doors of perception, Huxley studied the profound effects of mind-expanding drugs. In the book "Island" he described an ideal society that flourished on a remote South Sea island. An outsider is shipwrecked on the island and is shown the values of this ideal society, and learns about hope. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mar 25, 2013

The spiritual journey is a different path than what you thought you were on. It's very hard to make the transition to that path because we tend to take the power from the spiritual work we do to make our lives "nice" - but that's not what the path offers. The path offers freedom, but freedom demands complete surrender. The dialogue between the mind and the heart has become out of balance in our culture. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mar 8, 2013

The quality of a really good teacher is rascalism. All you need to know is this: If you want to be free, use the teacher to the fullest extent. Their karmic problems are their karmic problems. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Feb 22, 2013

Ram Dass talks about the promises and the pitfalls of the spiritual path, and the shift of reality that happened in the sixties that was predicated by psychedelics. This shift blew apart the traditional religious systems that were in place at the time, and the psychedelics gave people a connection that they had never experienced before: a feeling that they were interconnected with the universe. When we see how much of our behavior is a defense mechanism to alleviate the pain of separateness, we begin to realize the importance of healthy intuitive and compassionate hearts. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Feb 14, 2013

Being in the presence of dying people keeps me close to the edge of my own awakening. Love touches time and turns it to dust. Love is beyond the reach of time. -Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jan 28, 2013

There's another way of being in the universe. The Chinese call it "the heart mind" or as we may call it "the intuitive mind." Rather than knowing through dualistic means or thinking about it, one subjectively merges with it, becomes one with it. It's like the difference between wisdom and knowledge. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jan 18, 2013

The nature of aging is change. We are fascinated by watching that which changes. When change starts to happen to who we think we are, the fascination turns into fear. We are living in a system that is out of balance; the zeal for independence and individuality has left us alienated from the structures of family, community and nature. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jan 5, 2013

What we offer each other is our truth, which includes all of our "stuff." We have to allow ourselves to be human. The way to the truth is through acknowledging the fullness of where we find ourselves to be, which is through our humanity and our divinity. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dec 21, 2012

One cultivates spaciousness or awareness which allows you to acknowledge the emotions and see them as part of the human condition. Emotions are like subtle thought forms and they all arise in response to something outside yourself. They are all reactions. You cultivate a quietness in yourself that watches these emotions rising and falling and passing away. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nov 30, 2012

Media can destroy the message in the way it delivers it, similarly, as long as I have a price I am transmitting fear, because I have something to lose. The minute I have no price, I can transmit perfect joy of presence and freedom. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nov 24, 2012

The world is a reflection of our internal state; if we dwell on turmoil, anger and confusion then that's how the world will be perceived to the individual. You have to work on yourself first before you can effectively take any social or political action. A quiet mind and and an open heart are important attributes to project into the world. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nov 8, 2012

Raghu reveals an interesting confession about an LSD experience he had involving the death of his ego and the birth of a very specific concern. Ram Dass discusses the art of dying and suffering. Suffering only happens to a "somebody" - if you are not attached to your "somebodyness" you don't suffer because there's nothing for that suffering to cling to and manifest within you. The suffering that has occured in your life is part of what allows you to be here today - the way that suffering burns into you and deepens you makes you less superficial. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Oct 29, 2012

Ram Dass offers his reflections on suffering, including how we can come to see the way in which suffering is grace, and how the clinging of mind creates suffering. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Oct 19, 2012

In this recording from 1969, Ram Dass talks about watching the drama unfold, the pure light of the guru, and sings the beautiful Rama Rama . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Oct 10, 2012

In this dharma talk Ram Dass discusses Shiva’s dance of life, reflecting on methods for centering ourselves, serving others, and tending to the part of us that isolates ourselves from the world.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Oct 3, 2012

On this episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass talks about what service really means, moving beyond ego and time, and why his mantra is the question, “How may I serve you?” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Sep 19, 2012

In this dharma talk from 1969, Ram Dass shares on the concept of energy. Using the examples of Hanuman and Maharajji, he explains that through surrender, renunciation, and service, that you can get it all, but only when there is no ‘you’ to have it. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Sep 12, 2012

In this dharma talk from the late 1960’s Ram Dass, just coming back from recent psychedelic explorations, shares his insights on embracing it all, non-attachment, and his namesake of service, Hanuman. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Sep 4, 2012

In this radio interview from the mid 1970s, Ram Dass talks about what makes him a karma yogi, and how every experience in our lives is grist for the mill. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 28, 2012

Ram Dass shares some of his Indian stories about his guru, Maharajji, that are meant to help us stretch our consciousness and investigate how the laws of the universe truly work. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 23, 2012

Ram Dass talks about cultivating loving truth in intimate relationships, and how the yoga of relationships is perhaps the hardest yoga to practice. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 15, 2012

Ram Dass talks about the somebody training we all go through in life, and how he turned his big, frightening neuroses into friendly, little Shmoos. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 9, 2012

Ram Dass takes us on a journey outside of time and space as he explores the trance-like state known as Samadhi and what it might be like to be the guru. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Aug 1, 2012

In this talk from 1969, Ram Dass shares several meditation methods to help go behind the rational mind to the next state of consciousness. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jul 24, 2012

Fast forward from 1974 to the present-day – though the year has changed, the questions asked of Ram Dass during this recording of the 'Love Serve Remember’ box set are as relevant as ever. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jul 18, 2012

Buckle in for a journey with Ram Dass to a place behind it all, beyond the grand illusions, beyond the groovy trips of the mind, and beyond desire and attachment. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jul 10, 2012

This time on the Here and Now Podcast, Ram Dass examines the evolution of consciousness and explores the many dimensions of consciousness available to us through practice. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jul 3, 2012

On this episode of the Here and Now Podcast, Ram Dass talks about seeing through illusions of the ego while still carrying the burden of one’s personality through life. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 19, 2012

This time on the Here and Now Podcast, Ram Dass discusses the seductiveness of the rational mind and explores another option we have for interacting with the world. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 12, 2012

Ram Dass examines the interconnection between faiths and breaks down one of Maharaj-ji’s most essential teachings: ‘Sub Ek’ – it’s all one. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jun 5, 2012

On this episode of the Here and Now Podcast, Ram Dass examines our perception of identity and asks us to look beyond the veil of illusion between our true selves and who we think we are. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 29, 2012

On this episode of the Here and Now Podcast, Ram Dass teaches the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths and shares the lessons he was taught about overcoming desire while in India. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 22, 2012

Ram Dass relays some of the teachings around darshan, renunciation, shakti, violence, and truthfulness that he received in his many months of study while in India. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 15, 2012

Now, with his guru found, Ram Dass continues on with the most difficult part of his journey for truth – the journey within. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 8, 2012

On this episode of the Here and Now Podcast, Ram Dass talks about being in limbo in India in his search for the answers he came for. We hear about the transformative lessons Ram Dass learned from one of the last people in India he might have expected – a twenty-year-old Westerner. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 1, 2012

Ram Dass talks about the mental and physical trials he experienced before traveling to India after he was fired from Harvard, and about embarking on his journey to the East to find his Guru. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Apr 11, 2012

Welcome to the First Meeting of the Here and Now Podcast with Ram Dass! Never heard of Ram Dass? Picked up a copy of Be Here Now and want to explore deeper practices for cultivating love, non-attachment and awareness? This episode will introduce you to Ram Dass and his work. Ram Dass takes you through his early days as a psychologist to his life-changing psilocybin trip with psychedelic pioneer and colleague, Timothy Leary. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .