Speaking across the decades from the 1960s through the 1990s, Ram Dass shares his thoughts on expanding the boundaries of consciousness through the use of psychedelic chemicals.
In this interview from 1977, Ram Dass shares his views on psychedelics and how they can provide a free slate to experience the innocence of consciousness once again. This episode
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
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. If you haven’t done
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. This
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. “Everybody doesn’t have
Ram Dass explores how we can have perspectives and models about the universe without being attached to them, as long as we cultivate the state of no mind and trust
In this radio interview from 1977, Ram Dass explores the power of psychedelics and the importance of a guru, plus he leads a guided meditation that connects us to a
In this Q&A session from 1993, Ram Dass explores an array of topics, including psychedelics as a method, assisted suicide, dealing with suffering, and awareness without identification. “The term attachment
Ram Dass explores how his psychedelic awakening and quest to always stay high started him on a path to take the curriculum of being human and use service as a
In this dharma talk from the 1990s, Ram Dass explores the nature of the spiritual journey, getting free with the practice of karma yoga, and formulas for liberation. The Nature
In this recording from 1994, Ram Dass joins Duncan Campell on the radio show “Connections” for a conversation about truth, cultural change, and what happens when acid meets beer. Truth
In this dharma talk from 1975, Ram Dass talks about how a taste of awakening makes it possible for us to tune into the continuity of consciousness that builds through
In this lively Q&A session filled with laughter and love, Ram Dass reflects on psychedelic lessons, what cyberspace means for consciousness and so much more. Psychedelic Lessons This Q&A
On this episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass breaks down the history of psychedelics and helps us in understanding the risks and the rewards of these consciousness-altering chemicals.
Mapping the physical, causal, and astral planes of existence, Ram Dass reconciles time within the paradox of ‘being here now,’ inviting us into the freedom of limitless awareness. Illuminating the
This is a classic talk from 1986 that captures one of Ram Dass’s core teachings around identity and the different planes of consciousness. In this talk, Ram Dass offers a
In this talk from 1989, Ram Dass shares his thoughts on how innocence is very much a part of the spiritual journey, the importance of humor and lightness on the
In this talk from 1987, Ram Dass illuminates the path of awakening that is waiting for each of us. The Path of Awakening On some level, we all touch states
Written by David Ulrich / Header photograph by David Ulrich This article was originally published by PARABOLA magazine. Having been born and raised a Catholic, I was taught that I
Listen to Dr. Rick Hansen on the latest podcast episode of Mindrolling with Raghu Markus The Buddha didn’t use an MRI to become enlightened. Many other people have also gone
In this blast from the past, Ram Dass is the ringmaster for some astral fun and games as he takes on miracles, psychedelic powers, and connecting across different planes of
There was a major shift that occurred in the 60’s, the shift from what you call absolute reality; thinking that what you saw and what your thinking mind thought it understood
In this continuing talk from 1992, Ram Dass explores questions about how we can best navigate anger and our incarnation here on Earth. Show Notes Who is Running Who? How
In this early talk, from 1970, Ram Dass talks about the methods of purification necessary for waking up in this lifetime. He illuminates the traps that lie within these methods.
There are big changes that are happening to our consciousness in terms of the information age, with travel, with movements in psychology. You are a member of a large number
In this talk from 1991, Ram Dass discusses encountering fear and working through difficult moments along the journey of awakening. Show Notes Honoring Our Fear (Opening) – There is
Daniel Goleman and Raghu Markus join Ram Dass to talk about the power of meditation that they were exposed to in the East and what Western science has begun to
People ask me now, “Are you happy these days?” and I say, “Yes, I am. I’m very happy,” and they say, “Oh, that’s good.” Somebody else says, “Are you sad
On this episode of Here and Now, Ram Dass explores how our spiritual practice affects our sense of change and how we respond to an impermanent reality. Show Notes A
In this interview, Ram Dass talks with Unity Magazine editor Katy Koontz about aging, living, dying, and who we really, really are. Katy Koontz: How are you feeling these days?
On this episode of Here & Now, Ram Dass asks us to honor our incarnation and live on this plane as if “we” are all “us.” Ram Dass talks about
I experience quietness as an incredible condition. Within the quietness of mind you hear a kind of deeper process, a deeper wisdom. I remember at Harvard the rational mind was
When you look back at your own life, you see that with the suffering you went through, you would have avoided it each time if you possibly could, yet when
You are creating a structure to be able to support the fullness of our humanity. And different people have different unique opportunities to play in that. The art is to
Live Awake; this is a special talk given at the 1994 Psychedelics Symposium at Chapman College that follows Ram Dass’ history and thoughts surrounding psychedelics. Psychedelics have guided the course
Healing quotes and inspirational quotes can be helpful ways of coping with a range of life experiences. People can pull from a well of resources available online. There is no
In this rare talk, Ram Dass reports on the geography of the journey of awakening. Ram Dass gives this talk not long after returning from India where he began to
I think all of us are learning how to listen. We’re training ourselves to listen more and more deeply. When you listen more and more deeply you hear the totality
In this talk from 1976, Ram Dass talks about what we are beyond this lifetime and asks, “who are you?” Time after time we have experienced a cycle of
This week, I’m going to visit a prison and a mental hospital, and I’m going to hang out, and I’m going to practice just being, “Okay, here we are. Now
What role has our technology played for us? Why have we gone as far as we’ve gone with our rational minds? Built roads? Gone to the moon? Developed LSD? It’s
One system through which you can look at it all, is that there are a set of vibrations or frequencies, you can call them the physical plane, the astral plane,
Surrendering isn’t about saying, “I think today I’ll surrender.” That’s not what surrender is about. That’s all just another ego trip. Surrender is when you get put in an absolutely impossible
Thoughts at the Center The exquisite thing about evolution is that it works; it really happens. C.S.Lewis says in Perelandra, “You don’t see the plan, because it’s all the plan. You
In this talk from 1995, Ram Dass discusses spiritual practices and poses the question, “Why do we practice?” Show Notes “I Ought to Do…” (Opening) – We all should meditate
At any moment, you are consciousness involved in a nature package. The nature package includes your heredity, your environment, all of your personality characteristics, all of the opportunities that exist
Profound change is in the eye of the beholder… To see through the veil of what our senses and thinking-minds make real, to the true self, feels often like the
We’re living in a culture that focuses on the psychological very, very strongly, and in that sense we tend to see psychological problems as things that need to be given
On this episode of Here and Now, Raghu and Ram Dass do a live hang out on Skype. Ram Dass talks about intuition and imagination as a method to connect
Ram Dass talks about the value and limits of psychedelics – when they can enhance the spiritual path, helping us plumb the depths of the mystery, and when there
Awareness is like a flashlight and it flashes on things. So your knee itches, it flashes. You think about the death in Bosnia, it flashes. You’re aware of that light
In India there was a very beautiful saint, Sathya Sai Baba, where you could go twice a day everyday and stand in his courtyard. He was a very high spiritual
It’s so graceful to share the journey with you and we’ve gone through a lot of stages together. As in any journey, some people have dropped along the way, have
We are manifest through the vehicle of the mother. The entire Universe is manifest or given birth through the vehicle of Mother. The Mother is the instrument for converting spirit
Ram Dass talks about being socialized out of any recognition of who we were. Everyone wants to believe they are who they think they are. Through the use of psychedelics
Often it seems like your desires get in the way of the light, and yet the only reason those desires are around is because they are old habits that you
When you finally begin to become free, you’re not interested in having your consciousness constantly captured by the telephone, television, or radio. I used to be so stimulated all the
Ram Dass takes a number of questions on how to navigate our paths in life. He talks about how to deal with fear and sit with it, watching our reactivity,
Ram Dass takes questions from the audience on a variety of topics including letting go of boundaries, “What is the Guru?”, psychedelics, methods as traps and the human agenda
I often find tremendous difficulty in making decisions…how do I know if it’s my head talking or my intuition or heart? Ram Dass: If you were a completely enlightened being,
We keep closing off the door of entry to a higher state of consciousness because of the fear of the implications of a true spiritual journey. We have embarked on
“If you want perfection in your spiritual journey you must honor your incarnation and become totally free of it” The goal is not to realize God and forget humanity, but
There are many planes of reality that my consciousness can be at when I look at another person. I can look at you and I can see men and women,
What do you think God is? Well, I’ll tell you what I think God is. I’ve been thinking about it. Ram Kir, the Indian mystic, says “A God defined is
The process is realizing that you and I exist on more than one plane of awareness simultaneously and on one plane suffering stinks, and on another plane suffering is grace.
Ram Dass responds to a question about the potential role of psychedelics as a vehicle for enlightenment in 1976. Header Photo by Chris Arock on Unsplash
“The teaching which is written on paper is not the true teaching. Written teaching is a kind of food for your brain. Of course, it is necessary to take some
Ram Dass explains that the root of all suffering lies in attachment. When we cut out external stimulation and begin to sever the ties in our mind, we quickly see
Ram Dass explores where “the gift of expanding consciousness” is taking us in terms of the way we actually lead our lives. He explains what it might look like, in
Ram Dass quotes are inspirational quotes meant to deliver us back into our souls. These profound inspirational quotes from Ram Dass will make you think and go deep within yourself.
We live in the midst of great change – whether social dislocations or the aging of our bodies – which confront our egos with fear. How we work with our
Wherever there is attachment Associated with it Brings endless misery. – Gampopa, The Jewel Ornament of Liberation Your ego is a set of thoughts that define your universe. It’s like
The past has flown away. The coming month and year do not exist; Ours only is the present’s tiny point. -Mahmud Shabistari There have been moments in your life when
Ram Dass describes the levels the Western mind has to go through to move beyond rational thought, and accept that other planes of reality are just as real as the
Part 1: Ram Dass responds to questions from talk show hosts Arthur Alpert and Eve Kaufmann on the topics of karma yoga, fame, consciousness, attachment, and truth.
“Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under,
The whole design of your incarnation is like an incredible computer program that sets you into the exact life situations to move you forward towards true awareness. It’s all perfect.
Recorded at the Conscious Aging conference sponsored by the Omega Institute in 1992 on the nature of change and facing death with Ram Dass. This conscious aging conference was the
One difficulty most of us have is interpreting our suffering, and our doubts, and our confusion, and our loss of faith as part of the process of awakening. We keep
Psychedelics Raghu Markus introduces a talk given by Ram Dass, “Promises & Pitfalls.” Ram Dass talks about the promises and the pitfalls of the spiritual path, and the shift of reality that happened
Shakti, or Prana, is the universal stuff from which it all comes. Everything here is shakti; it’s all just shakti, patterns of shakti. It’s the stuff of the universe, finer
Spiritual Materialism – Ram Dass talks about the promises and the pitfalls of the spiritual path, and the shift of reality that happened in the sixties that was predicated by
“One does nothing and nothing is left undone.” This mystical injunction points to one of the key components of the path of action: nonidentification with being the actor. I had
Quoting Meister Eckhart, Ram Dass leads into a discourse about purification and the evolution of consciousness. We are encouraged to find our own personal paths to God, eventually letting go
A rare and early recording from a 1966 LSD Conference at the University of California – Prior to his travels in India, Ram Dass talks about exploring various uses of
Ram Dass talks to Antoinette Lilly about his experience while swimming with dolphins. A three part video series.
Ram Dass shares the three phases of his transformation. Phase one, being the unfulfilled psychologist. Phase two began after discovering LSD. In the LSD phase, he felt subtle despair from
At the moment of orgasm, you transcend your separateness and there is a moment when you merge together. For most people that is the direct route to a spiritually
Ram Dass and Allen Ginsberg in the 1980’s talk about Kerouac, polarization of the 60’s, and breaking away from the social norms. One doesn’t need to have the external trappings
When I was born I donned a spacesuit for living on this plane, it was this body, my space suit, and it had a steering mechanism which is my pre-frontal
Most people in society are pushing away experiences that indicate that they have an identity on other planes of reality, in order to hold tightly to the plane of reality
In this excerpt from The Only Dance There Is, Ram Dass writes about increasing our consciousness and working on ourselves through social action. Now does working on yourself have anything
Si alguien es un problema para ti, no es que ellos deban cambiar, sino que tú necesitas cambiar. Si son un problema para ellos mismos es su karma, si te
Artwork by Sam Brown It turns out that the universe is lawful – not in a logical law, by the way. The law I’m talking about is what would be
Image Credit: Patricia Ariel – http://patriciaariel.tumblr.com/ Ram Dass talks about the process of using your life experiences as a vehicle for awakening. You sit with the process in yourself so that you see
Question: If a Westerner were to become totally enlightened, what would happen to other people and to their feelings, especially lovers? Ram Dass: Let me start with the word “love”
How can we look at our life experience in a way that liberates us from suffering and liberates those who we come into contact with from suffering? We
My interest in aging came from a personal direction: I was getting older — and so were the baby boomers, who were fast approaching fifty. In this youth-oriented culture, aging
Ram Dass talks about his relationship with the great Tibetan Lama, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Includes detailed moments with Trungpa and Ram Dass at different events and venues in the early 70’s
As our roles shift in older age, so does our sense of community, and feelings of isolation often accompany elder life. When I spoke about this to Thich Nhat Hanh,
Ask yourself: Where am I? Answer: Here. Ask yourself: What time is it? Answer: Now. Say it until you can hear it. Set alarm clocks or design your day or
Aldous Huxley preceded Ram Dass and Tim Leary in explorations of the remote frontiers of the mind and unmapped areas of human consciousness. In Doors of Perception, Huxley studied the
Ram Dass talks about the promises and the pitfalls of the spiritual path, and the shift of reality that happened in the sixties that was predicated by psychedelics. This
If you think in terms of chakras, or energy systems in the body or connected with the body, there is the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh, which
Generally, I think that the first level of fears are concerned with the part of us which is in nature. The unconscious impulses that Freud talks about. And I think
What I experienced at that time of meeting Maharaji, in fact, within those first few minutes of meeting him was the experience of surrender which was no surrender. In other
Now the reason that my life may be useful, although from most other standpoints it seems, even to me, quite trivial, is that I have led three lives. I have
Raghu reveals an interesting confession about an LSD experience he had involving the death of his ego and the birth of a very specific concern. Ram Dass discusses the art
A funny thing about me is that I never get to talking about the body. I write beautiful notes on it, but I never talk about it because I don’t
In this dharma talk Ram Dass discusses Shiva’s dance of life, reflecting on methods for centering ourselves, serving others, and tending to the part of us that isolates ourselves from
Chidakash is the place where consciousness and love merge, where they become the same thing. It’s where the pure aspects of all qualities come together; a timeless and nameless space
The following story took place after Maharaji left his body (Mahasamadhi). People who were with him while he was in…
In this dharma talk from the late 1960’s Ram Dass, just coming back from recent psychedelic explorations, shares his insights on embracing it all, non-attachment, and his namesake of service,
Ram Dass tells stories of his experiences in India that expanded his consciousness and allowed him to see the true potential of human beings. The miraculous events that happened with
Ram Dass talks about the somebody training we all go through in life, and how he turned his big, frightening neuroses into friendly, little Shmoos. The Burning Ghats Raghu Markus
This article is from a Ram Dass lecture that took place in 1976. It can be argued that much of the “upleveling” of spiritual consciousness described here is still taking
I think people awaken originally to a spiritual dimension in their life in an incredibly wide variety of ways. Some people seem to open up to it through traumatic experiences,
In this talk from 1969, Ram Dass shares several meditation methods to help go behind the rational mind to the next state of consciousness. Step on to the path with
This time on the Here and Now Podcast, Ram Dass examines the evolution of consciousness and explores the many dimensions of consciousness available to us through practice. Click here to read
On this episode of the Here and Now Podcast, Ram Dass talks about seeing through illusions of the ego while still carrying the burden of one’s personality through life. Click
Ram Dass teaches a heavy curriculum If somebody is a problem for you. It’s not that they should change. It’s that you need to change. If they’re a problem for
My Jewish trip was primarily political Judaism, I mean I was never Bar Mitzvahed, confirmed, and so on. My father was a very visible jew. He started Brandeis University and
Now, with his guru found, Ram Dass continues on with the most difficult part of his journey for truth – the journey within. Click here to read the transcription of this
On this episode of the Here and Now Podcast, Ram Dass talks about being in limbo in India in his search for the answers he came for. We hear about
Ram Dass talks about the trials he experienced before traveling to India after he was fired from Harvard and describes his journey to the East to find his Guru. We
If you tune in to the BBC or read newspapers from around the world, you will realize that we in the U.S. are seen as an economically exploitive and not
Welcome to the Here and Now Podcast with Ram Dass! Never heard of Ram Dass? Picked up a copy of Be Here Now and want to explore deeper practices for cultivating
How do we heal our emotional bodies and how do you see the role of psychotherapy in all this? As you quiet your mind, you begin to see the different
Many years ago I spent time with a Tibetan teacher, Trungpa Rinpoche. In an interview he suggested a meditation technique in which one expands one’s awareness outward. He suggested we
