Episodes
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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Missing episodes?
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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In this 1981 Q&A session, Ram Dass addresses surrender, astrology, dharmic anger, the illusion of separateness, relative reality, love, hallucinogens, and more.
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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
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“Once you are without anger, then you can get really angry. I mean, there’s nothing more beautiful than dharmic anger.” – Ram Dass
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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
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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.
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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
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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?’
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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