Gather around for some storytime with Ram Dass as he recounts his first journey to India, the long road that led to finding his guru, and how touching his guru’s feet was almost like touching the sun.

Part of this episode is featured in Love Serve Remember’s free fall immersion, Gather Around the Fire: Stories of Ram Dass, Maharaj-ji, and a Legacy of Love. Please join us beginning Monday, September 28, for four weeks of storytelling, gathering in community, and basking in the spirit of loving awareness.

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This episode of Here and Now is from a talk Ram Dass gave at the Esalen Institute on June 12, 1969.

• We pick up Ram Dass’s story in 1967, just as he’s realizing that the method of psychedelics will only take him so far on his journey. What does one do at that point? Well, one heads to the East.
• Ram Dass shares tales of his first trip around India, including a visit to a sacred cave and meeting as many “holy men” as possible. But he didn’t find anyone who “really knew” what was going on. Just as a sense of despair truly began to kick in, Ram Dass meets a young Westerner at a restaurant who might have a clue to the way forward.
• Tempting fate, Ram Dass decides to go on a pilgrimage with his new friend. This path leads to him meeting Neem Karoli Baba, a great Indian saint who blows away Ram Dass’s rational mind. With that, Ram Dass had found his guru, a being so full of love that touching his feet was just like touching the sun.

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“So we get into the Land Rover and we go to see Maharajji. And I’m just approaching him, I’m about five yards away. And he yells at me, ‘Got a question?’ Well, I take one look at him, and I don’t have any questions. I just wanna fall out and touch his feet. You dig that? I mean, the thought of touching his feet is too much. It’s like touching the sun. And I just feel all warm and loving. And who has questions? I mean, what a drag to have questions.” – Ram Dass

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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.

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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 Foundation

This 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 Dass

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Ram Dass talks about consciousness, allowing space for individual differences, and letting go of identification with the body and personality, and then taps into the heart of devotional yoga with some chanting to Krishna.

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This episode of Here and Now is the conclusion of a talk Ram Dass gave during a retreat at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island, in June 1976. Be sure to check out the first part of this talk in Episode 310 – The Mainline Reality Trip.

• This portion of the talk begins with Ram Dass exploring consciousness, reality, and reincarnation. He talks about opening to the fourth chakra as a way of allowing space for individual differences.
• As we begin to awaken to being more than just our bodies and personalities, Ram Dass warns us that many people can get trapped in the “phony holy” stage, using himself as an example. “And ultimately,” he says, “you have to find your part to play in your body, in your personality, in your soul, and beyond all of it.”
• Ram Dass wraps things up by tapping into the heart of devotional yoga with some very sweet chanting to the baby form of Lord Krishna, Gopala.

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“So who you are, in effect, from where I’m sitting, are beings who have taken birth on this plane because you still have stuff in your first, second, and third chakras; there’s still energy that pours out of those chakras and defines reality. But, in addition, you have awakened, at least, to the fourth chakra. And some of you to the fifth chakra, so you actually want God. But to the fourth chakra, where you actually want to live in a compassionate universe, not just intellectual liberalism, but real compassion, of acceptance and allowing space for individual differences.” – Ram Dass

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