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/ramdassWant 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 attachmentHearing our dharma in order to hear our part in the game; even Ravana and Richard Nixon were just playing their partsThe impact that coming into contact with so many different teachers and methods had on his spiritual developmentSpiritual transformation and issues of faithListening 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 DassSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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/ramdassIn 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 itHe tells stories of Maharajji, reflecting on the complex nature of his guru and the feelings he experienced while in his presenceRam Dass explores working with the concept of dharmaHe 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.

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 loveRam 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 meditationRam Dass ends by leading the audience in singing “Jubilate Deo” in a six-part roundToday's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdassWant 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 DassSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 ServiceToday's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdassIn this episode, Ram Dass talks about:Moving home to care for his elderly father and how that became a method for himGetting called away from a meditation retreat to help out his cancer-stricken stepmotherLarry Brilliant and the founding of the Seva FoundationHow the Seva Foundation put service into action on a very large scaleThe difference between the Sanskrit words Dharma and SevaThe paradox of sufferingNEW 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/ramdassWant 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 DassSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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/ramdassDo 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.

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/ramdassWant 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 DassSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 DassSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 DassSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 HereSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 LoveToday's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdassWant 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 DassSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.