In this exploration of relationships and awakening from the illusion of separateness, Ram Dass talks about looking behind the veil of individual differences and coming to a place where you are love itself.

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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.org

This episode of Here and Now is the conclusion of a talk Ram Dass gave at the LA Whole Life Expo on February 18, 1989. Don’t miss the first part of this talk in Episode 307 – Being in Other Planes of Reality.

• Ram Dass explores how settling into other planes of reality helps us deal with the immense suffering on this plane of reality. He talks about awakening out of the illusion of separateness and seeing your life as a curriculum.
• This includes seeing your relationships as part of the curriculum for coming to God. Ram Dass dives into the subject of relationships and how everyone is God in drag. Ultimately, you only meet God. 
• Sharing some classic stories, Ram Dass talks about how relationships are a way to delight in the play of form. He explores moving away from the deprivation model of love into a place where, ultimately, you are love itself.

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“And you shift gears; you no longer try to collect love. You just are in love with everybody. ‘In love’ is the last stop on the train of dualism before you enter into Nibbana, where you become love, and you are no longer experiencing the experience of loving. You are love. And that is inevitable and irrevocable.” – Ram Dass

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With his classic combination of heart and humor, Ram Dass guides us through an exploration of being on other planes of reality and getting comfortable with having nowhere to stand.

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This episode of Here and Now is from the first part of a talk Ram Dass gave at the LA Whole Life Expo on February 18, 1989. Check back soon for the conclusion of this lecture.

• Ram Dass begins with the story of having a kidney stone, and the delight he felt in watching his consciousness flicker. Thus begins an exploration of consciousness and being on other planes of reality.
• With some classic stories and his unique humor, Ram Dass talks about what happens when we awaken and start to recognize these other planes. As we get more comfortable in these other planes of reality, it can be easy to lose our ground on this plane.
• In the end, we can’t push away this plane because it doesn’t feel as good as others. Ram Dass shares how he saw it wasn’t about getting high, it was about getting free and being comfortable with having nowhere to stand. We must embrace our humanity along with our divinity. 

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.

“You’ve had this as your basecamp. You go into these other planes, and then you come back, and you go in, and you come back, and you go in. And you start to get comfortable being in other planes of reality and functioning here.” – Ram Dass

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Listen to the original Here and Now radio show! Ram Dass takes to the airwaves in 1996 to try his hand at a medium he hopes will bring us together and help us hear our place in the dance.

Help us celebrate 10 years of Be Here Now Network and support the next chapter of Ram Dass Here and Now. Gifts are matched dollar for dollar through June 30. Learn more and give at https://beherenownetwork.com/10years.

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To help celebrate BHNN’s 10th Anniversary, we present this recording of the original Here and Now radio show from December 8, 1996. 

• On a quiet Sunday morning, Ram Dass takes to the airwaves on KSRO in Northern California to hang out with people in a compassionate way. He talks about doing this show as a way to help us hear our place in the dance and become free.
• Ram Dass opens up the phone lines to take some calls. He answers questions about keeping our hearts open in the presence of suffering, the fleeting nature of life, polarization, and conscious dying.
• The calls continue to roll in. Ram Dass talks about setting aside judgment, living in hard-hearted times, passing values on to the next generation, right livelihood, and Timothy Leary’s death. He ends the show by answering a question about what advice he would give to children.

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“ I see this as a way in which we can figure out together how to live our lives consciously, with awareness, so that we can have our hearts open to one another, to one another as a species, one another across species, to the Earth itself—in fact, to the entire cosmos—so that we can hear our place in the dance. Our place in the dance.” – Ram Dass

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In the conclusion of this classic talk, Ram Dass explores giving up our rushes, working with death, not judging the trip, using a relationship to awaken, and much more.

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This episode of Here and Now is from a retreat at the Embassy Auditorium in Los Angeles in 1980. Don’t miss the first part of this talk: Ep. 304 – The Wisdom of the Universe.

• Ram Dass begins by talking about how hard it can be to give up the rushes of life; it’s painful when the melodrama isn’t captivating anymore. He dives into his work with death and dying, reading “A Letter to Rachel.” 
• Ram Dass transitions into an exploration of using a relationship to awaken. He says that when we want to become who we truly are badly enough, there’s no way not to use everything in our lives as a vehicle for awakening, including our relationships.
• As the talk draws to a close, Ram Dass reminds us that the basic social institution is the human heart. He tells us not to underestimate the power of giving ourselves the space to deepen our beings.

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“If you are using a relationship to awaken, everything that your partner does is what they do, and that’s part of the humanness of the situation. And don’t deny the humanness. And don’t get lost in it.” – Ram Dass

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In this 1980 talk, Ram Dass explores how we aren’t who we think we are and leads a meditative experience to help us quiet down enough to become statements of the universe's wisdom.  

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This episode of Here and Now is from a retreat at the Embassy Auditorium in Los Angeles in 1980. Check back soon for the second half of this talk.

• In the City of Angels, Ram Dass wonders what he might say to a gathering of angels. He talks about how we aren’t who we think we are and accepting our humanity in order to fully awaken.
• Ram Dass reads a story to help us understand how we can listen clearly to another human being. He explores how our desires color everything we see, and how we can break identification with them. 
• Ram Dass talks about how the guru is like a pure mirror that lets us see who we truly are. He leads a meditative experience to help us quiet down enough to become statements of the wisdom of the universe.

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.

“If everything in your life had come out the way you expected it to, your life wouldn’t be nearly as interesting as it’s turned out to be, would it?” – Ram Dass

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Ram Dass explores how understanding the wheels of birth and death helps us appreciate the preciousness of our incarnation.   

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This episode of Here and Now is from a retreat in Chappell Hill, Texas, in September of 1980. 

• As an introduction to this talk on death, Ram Dass reads from William Buck’s version of the Ramayana. He begins to share what he has learned about death through a combination of his life experiences, study, and his guru. 
• Ram Dass talks about the process of dying and advises us that the best preparation for death is to live in the moment. He says that if we know someone who has died, we can still talk with them and help guide them through any confusion they might have.
• Understanding the wheels of birth and death allows us to appreciate the preciousness of our incarnation. Ram Dass shares stories of his work with dying people and how it’s the highest thing he does in life. He says that death is just another moment of a continuous dance of illusion.

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.

“The most exciting adventure of life is dying. You might as well enjoy it.” – Ram Dass

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In this exploration of the practice of karma yoga, Ram Dass talks about the sweetness of service and how the mystery of the universe is in the precise action of the moment.  

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This episode of Here and Now is from a retreat at the Lama Foundation in July of 1986. 

• After priming us with a quote from the poet Kabir, Ram Dass explores the bhakti component of the yoga of service. It is the practice of seeing the Beloved everywhere. He talks about allowing time in our lives to process what’s going on and come back to center. 
• Ram Dass continues to speak about the nature of karma yoga, saying the mystery of the universe is in the precise action of the moment. He talks about burnout and knowing our limits, and advises us to read about Hanuman.
• Using the example of caring for his aging father, Ram Dass shows us the sweetness of service. Service can be a vehicle for us to lighten, loosen, let go, open, allow, and appreciate.

Love Serve Remember Foundation’s new course, Many Paths, One Mountain: Practices for Living with Awareness and Heart, is running now. Join us to explore a variety of spiritual practices, including karma yoga and service.

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.

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.

“It gets to be so sweet to meet people through service that finally all you can express is your appreciation to them for allowing you to serve them.” – Ram Dass

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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.  

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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

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Take flight with Ram Dass as he shares stories about love, power, and the very subtle teachings of his guru, Maharaj-ji.  

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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.

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“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

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Ram Dass answers questions about spirituality and money, being indecisive, ego trips, listening for your unique manifestation in life, and more. 

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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.

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“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

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