Ram Dass Here And Now

In this unique talk given in New York just weeks after the events of 9/11, Ram Dass speaks about his stroke, the fierce grace of suffering, and getting in touch with our soul perception. 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.A note from the archivist: Please be warned that this content may be upsetting for some listeners due to the nature of the events of 9/11 and some of the raw emotions expressed in this recording. Our intent with releasing this talk is not to open up old wounds and rehash the trauma of that day, but rather to share Ram Dass’s unique perspective on the nature of suffering and the grace that can come with it. – Noah Markus, Archivist, Love Serve Remember FoundationThis episode of Here and Now is from a talk given in Yonkers, New York, on September 29th, 2001. Ram Dass begins by talking about the trauma of his stroke, the toll it took on his body, and how it was spiritually disappointing at first. But he started to find grace in the stroke, including how it helped him see himself as a soul and get in tune with his soul perception.Ram Dass explores how we are three-plane beings: ego, soul, and the One. He talks about how his trauma helped push him into other planes of consciousness, and wonders whether the events of 9/11 could do the same for our culture.Ram Dass takes questions from the audience. He talks more about identifying with the soul plane, his guru's unconditional love, and the fierce grace of suffering. An audience member wraps things up with a raw, powerful statement on how she’s processing the events of September 11th.   “Soul perception is sort of watching it all happen. So I began to be a watcher. I watched him, who had the stroke. I was watching the stroke melodrama. And I noticed that the stroke had pushed me, my consciousness, to the Witness. That’s pretty graceful.” – Ram DassListen to Ram Dass Here and Now ad-free on our Patreon. Anyone can sign up for a free 7-day trial, but the first 500 people to click this link can get a 3-month free trial membership: 3 Months of Ad-Free Ram Dass PodcastSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Take a trip up and down the subway stairs with Ram Dass as he explores the seven chakras, why this moment in history is ripe for fourth chakra work, and how he escaped the mainline reality trip.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 supported by Omega Institute. Like the Be Here Now Network, Omega believes that personal transformation can change the world—one heart at a time. Discover immersive retreats, workshops, and gatherings in New York's Hudson Valley. Learn more: eomega.orgThis episode of Here and Now is from a retreat at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island, in June 1976. Check back soon for the conclusion of this talk.Ram Dass begins with a story of how a trip to the subway provided him with a useful metaphor for the spiritual path. He explores the seven chakras to help us understand who incarnates on this physical plane.Ram Dass digs into why primarily first, second, and third chakra people incarnate onto this plane. He talks about why the conditions that exist in society at this moment make it appropriate for beings with fourth chakra work to take birth.Ram Dass talks about escaping from the mainline reality trip and how the age of technology impacted people’s perception of reality. He touches on rebellion, revolution, evolution, and the state of the mystical experience in America.  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 Ram Dass Here and Now ad-free on our Patreon. Anyone can sign up for a free 7-day trial, but the first 500 people to click this link can get a 3-month free trial membership: 3 Months of Ad-Free Ram Dass Podcast“My experience was primarily that I was on the mainline of reality, and that there were all these kind of weird trips on either side, but that I, as a super scientist, rational mind, power, control, house full of antiques, my airplane, my motorcycle, gratification, more and more sex, more better food, more power, more intellect, I was doing the mainline reality trip. And I was hired to tell everybody else what reality was, okay, that’s what a Harvard professor does. And there was no doubt in my mind at all that that’s what reality was, alright, until I took psilocybin.” – Ram DassSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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

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

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