Ram Dass Here And Now

Ram Dass explores the process of listening and tuning that takes place on the spiritual journey as we find the practices that align with our unique karmic predicaments.   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 workshop at the Lama Foundation in July of 1982. Outside in the mountains of New Mexico, Ram Dass speaks about the process of listening and tuning to hear the unique predicament of our spiritual journey. The quieter we get, the more we can hear which spiritual practice is the right one for us in the moment.Ram Dass talks about appreciating how all methods are traps. There is an excitement and joy in finding a method that’s harmonious with our being, and a sadness when that method self-ejects. He focuses on the practice of karma yoga and his own pattern of going out into the world, and then retreating for a period of time.To listen and tune, we must be willing to let go of our models. There must be a quietness of mind. To illustrate this point, Ram Dass reads a story about the Dalai Lama’s personal physician, Yeshi Dhonden. He closes the talk by saying, “All of these methods are, indeed, methods of purification, methods to prepare you as an instrument to hear so that your actions are in harmony with the way of things.”Dig even deeper into the world of spiritual practices with Love Serve Remember Foundation’s new course, Many Paths, One Mountain: Practices for Living with Awareness and Heart. Join us for 10 days of meditation, mindfulness, chanting, and devotion beginning on Monday, April 13.  “You can’t grab. You can only listen and tune, and listen and tune, and listen and tune. And in the process of listening and tuning, you keep hearing many, many guides and instructions.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Take flight with Ram Dass as he shares stories about love, power, and the very subtle teachings of his guru, Maharaj-ji.   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 the summer of 1979. Ram Dass begins with a series of brief stories about his guru, Maharaj-ji, and the very subtle ways he transmitted his teachings. Listen for the little levels at play within each story.Ram Dass asks, “Whose karma is it to have intervention by a guru?” He talks about the guru’s grace, the problem with writing a book about Maharaj-ji, and learning to trust the heart.Ram Dass shares more stories from his time in India, including one about a mantra that enabled him to fly on another plane of reality. But Maharaj-ji’s basic teaching was not about power; it was about love and listening to the heart.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 yet, for all the power things that Maharaj-ji did, the basic teaching was not power. The basic teaching was love. There was a quality in which you were bathed in presence, in which all you could feel was love. That’s all there was.” – 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 answers questions about spirituality and money, being indecisive, ego trips, listening for your unique manifestation in life, and 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 episode of Here and Now comes from a Q&A session with the “unique manifestation” group at a retreat in 1989.The first question is about whether it’s possible to grow spiritually and be financially prosperous. Ram Dass talks about playing with our desires and our attachments to worldly things.Next up are questions around listening for your unique manifestation in life, how to tell if you’re on an ego trip, and finding your next stage of purpose. Ram Dass tells a story about his “Eight-Fold Bath of the Upper Middle Way”.The next question is about whether being indecisive can be part of your unique manifestation. We end by revisiting the first question about spirituality and money. In this society, we’re all up to our eyeballs in desire systems.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. “You have to be ready to know that what you hear at one moment about unique manifestation is gonna constantly be changing and changing and changing. And you’ve gotta be listening afresh all the time. You’re listening for a unique manifestation, meaning that form of expression that will be… it’s the confluence between your karma and your dharma.” – 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 living in times of great change, the cost of individuality to our compassionate hearts, and the importance of building and being part of the web of human caring.   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 the conclusion of Ram Dass’ lecture in St. Louis, Missouri, on February 27th, 1992. Listen to Here and Now Ep. 297 for the first part of this talk.  Ram Dass begins by laying out the societal changes taking place from his vantage point in the 90s, and how people get reactive and frightened by change. In order to hear our predicament, we must quiet down enough to be able to listen clearly.Ram Dass talks about the cost of individuality to our compassionate, human hearts. He explores how we can set boundaries and learn to say no without closing our hearts, and how we can take any situation and turn it into karma yoga.Ram Dass speaks to how we can honor individual differences without being trapped by them. Being caught in our separateness cuts us off from the community of fellow beings, but it is possible to build the web of human caring and be part of it. We can be at peace in the midst of great change.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. “To recognize fully that we have cut ourselves off from our spiritual lifeblood by cutting ourselves off from the community of fellow being, because our mind has caught us in our separateness, and therefore, reaching out to create community. Through helping, through loving, through sharing, through acknowledging family, through whatever. Build the network or the web of human caring and be part 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.

Ram Dass explores how the process of karma yoga is about cultivating a spiritual perspective that allows us to see any situation on multiple planes simultaneously.   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 brought to you by Strawberry Moons Media. Strawberry Moons Media is a collection of new YouTube channels that blends dharma-focused education and entertainment for all ages. Be sure to check out and subscribe to Strawberry Moons Media on YouTube. You can also visit their website at strawberrymoonsmedia.com.  This episode of Here and Now is from the first part of a Ram Dass lecture in St. Louis, Missouri, on February 27th, 1992. Check back soon for the conclusion of this talk.  Ram Dass begins by talking about how the primary practice in his life is karma yoga, using the stuff of life as a route to liberation. The process of karma yoga is about cultivating a context, or a spiritual perspective, to see any situation on more than one plane simultaneously.Ram Dass discusses how fear is rooted in getting caught in one plane of reality and how we need to find a balance between separateness and unity. He explores some of the immense changes taking place in the 90s, including ecological destruction and economic disparity. We can either respond to the change and the chaos with fear, or we can respond to it as an opportunity to awaken. Ram Dass talks about the roller coaster ride that is living in the Kali Yuga, and how working with death and dying helps him respond to times of change with great appreciation. 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. “At that point, when you see that your next curriculum is honoring what is in your incarnation, so that you end up honoring it as relatively real. You do your dharma, you do your part, you play your part in it. And yet, at that same moment, there is absolute equanimity in you about it. What is required in the process of karma yoga is cultivating a context. And that's what’s called a spiritual perspective… It’s a context so that you see any situation on more than one plane simultaneously.” – Ram Dass See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.