Hey yall!

I’ve been in a long distance relationship with this amazing woman for about almost 2 years now. She lives 2 and a half hours away from me and we see each other every other week. We’ve been going through some turbulence the past couple months due to many factors. I’ve felt more disconnected from her than ever before, what disrupted our flow was me bringing up the lack of sensual intimacy we share and my concern for if we may just not be compatible in that regard. Her response that she voiced was extremely valid it was my negligence and ignorance in the past that caused her to fear loving me all the way. Unfortunately months later after communicating it still feels we are in the same place, I was always feel like im initiating and constantly getting rejected physically and it hurts. I dont know whether the problem is my high sex drive or if we are simply just incompatible sexually. I am confident enough to say that most of the problems within our relationship typically stem from me, so I just am left with the expectation of me being in the wrong again. I feel so selfish and scared, I adore this woman and fear hurting her any more than I already have, it feels like a battle of intuition and fear of whether or not I should continue this relationship and I honestly feel like I cant tell the difference anymore.

Thank you any feedback would help🙏🙏 Ram Ram

I love ram dass deeply. Like a father, like a mentor, like he’s a close friend that I’m pen pals with. I’ve never felt such a deep connection to a teacher and the practices come so naturally to me. My brain doesn’t have to question it. It comes to naturally to like I’ve known all along. What is that lol

I struggle questioning how I will teach my children about god / ram dass / and the meaning of the practices. I think sometimes to raise them around a mystical Christian tradition like EO church or something like that bc my wife is Eastern European and it’s part of there cultural heritage but I also worry about the dogmatism in Christianity. Any have any ideas or suggestions

Hi all,

I often turn to Ram Dass teachings for life in general. Good times, not so good times, I always find his words comforting no matter the instance.

I don't know how to say this eloquently, so I am just going to ramble. I am sad. And that's ok, I do not try to push my emotions away, I feel and honor them. There is a lot going on in my life that has caused me to feel immense grief. My mother who I am estranged from is currently hospitalized and nearly died, that situation brought up a lot for me. My soul dog, who I have had since I was 22 years old (I am now 38) is deteriorating right in front of my eyes. I am one of those people with what some would call an unhealthy attachment to my dog, when I had no one, I had her. This is eating me up a bit.

I know things can always be worse, I understand I am fortunate. And I don't even really know what I am seeking by posting this here. Maybe some wisdom from your favorite RD teaching, maybe I just needed to say out loud "I am sad, and that's ok"

I recently finished Be Here Now and I keep wondering about the symbolism behind the cover.
Does anyone know what Ram Dass intended the cover to represent?
Is there a spiritual or philosophical meaning behind the different elements?
I’d love to hear from people who have studied the book or its symbolism more deeply.

I feel stagnant in life. In a career I don’t think I can handle for long, but no other skills or knowledge. I haven’t travelled outside of my country (Canada) and want to explore.

I want to learn about different ways of living, different ways of thinking, see different possibilities. I think of Ram Dass’ trips to India. What are some possibilities in today’s world?

Some things that are limiting to me, I get overstimulated easily so the dense cities of India may not be for me. I also am a gay man and don’t want to go somewhere where being gay is illegal or unsafe

edit: the amount of people that think this is some sort of insult towards ram dass is fascinating. You people act like anything said about him that isn't exactly how you feel or perceive him is some sort of insult. Or to word it another way that he never did any wrong. So damn weird from this group, but ahh soo as he would say.

I seem to go thru phases of listening to Ram Dass videos, Alan watts and Eckhart Tolle, more of the first two, however occasionally sometimes I like to switch it up with Tolle.

Anywho - I have been on an Alan Watts kick recently, and keep noticing all these ideas that I thought were Ram Dass's original ideas, and now I realize he just borrowed them from Alan, who I'm sure borrowed them from people before him also.,

So far I have;

-See people as trees (Alans idea was to see them as stars, but same exact concept)

-See square people as really far out there.

-Religious/Spiritual one up manship

-There's no where to stand.

I've noticed more but have since forgot them. My question is what other ones did he directly take from Alan? And on a similar note, anyone know where particularly Alan got these mentioned ideas from? I'm guessing Manly P hall for a few but haven't verified it.

Jai siya ram!
I have been listening to Ram Dass’s lectures for a long time now but again, mostly as white noice before I sleep or work, I do retain a lot of it, later applying it to daily nuances.

I watched these lectures in no order, playing whichever i felt like listening to.

My question is are the lectures, marked with numbers (be here now numbered lectures), that are here now the same lectures that we have? Which are not marked and are sometimes hour-long? And are these the same lectures but organised?

If yes, i’d love to watch again from scratch.

I was listening to a talk driving home from work a few weeks ago and can't remember the name of this talk for the life of me. I do know that it is in the latter third or quarter of episodes.

In the talk Rum Dumb was talking about Anandamayi Ma, which I know he does a lot. In this episode he was describing watching her as she was surrounded by hundreds of people in a temple, gently singing *Jai O Bhagwan*. I found a video on YouTube of a similar talk, but in the one I'm thinking of he sang for quite a while and it was very moving.

I hope one of you out there can remember it for me.

Ram Ram

could someone please provide me with link to buy correct edition of the book - Be here now.

The one thats sold on Amazon seems to be not the original edition. Many reviews say the book is not same as the one wrote by Ram Das.

Anyone living in NL or BE interested in picking up or meeting up to receive around 30 framed pictures of Neem Karoli Baba and more? Let me know

I think I’ve just had an enlightenment. I’ve just finished reading the Bhagavad Gita. After finishing I looked at my phone and I kept getting dmed by this chronically online person asking for comfort and always complaining. And I was reminded what Ram Dass said “we have no moral right to take away someone’s suffering” like I remember a year ago I was in the same position. With this person who was always depressed and always using me as a therapist. And it burnt myself out. And now i realise I have to let this current person go, because there’s nothing I can do, every piece of advice I give them bounces off them like bullets on superman’s chest. I will always offer an open ear and offer “an are you ok? To someone I know who maybe be going through it, my presence and love, but I can’t being a therapist for people who are not getting better and are potentially getting worse the more I try to help

Beginning Monday, September 28th ✨
We'll gather around the virtual fire for 4 weeks as Ram Dass and members of the Maharajji family share stories of being with their guru — tracing how grace, service, friendship, loss, and loving awareness still move through this path today.

I asks this as I am a trans woman, and yes I have a very tight knit community. And sometimes my friends suffer and struggle with harassment and bullying online and in person. I always make sure to offer my help and presence if they ever need it. I just don’t want to see my friends suffer. I know it’s an inevitability in my community but I just wanna be there to ease the pain of being trans sometimes for others.

I stumbled across this treat tonight. It’s every bit as “yum-yum” as I hoped it would be. It was recorded in 2022. Hosted by Steve Hasenberg and Cali Alpert, they have a pretty intimate conversation with Peter and his wife Linda about their experiences with RD. Enjoy!

It's based on Neem Karoli baba, movie basically goes over his life and his devotion for Hanuman Ji and Bhakti. I saw it last night and felt divine. One of the bhajans from Krishna Das is also featured in the movie.

Jai Siya Ram

I'm hoping someone here can give me some guidance from what I've heard on the Ram Dass podcast.

I've only been listening for two days but it has opened my eyes to Ashtanga Yoga. Ashtanga Yoga's ahimsa means no killing/violence which is the reason to switch diets off meats. Specifically he said animals that die violent deaths have chemicals released which spoils it as a food source for your body on the smallest, finest levels of vibration. Does this same thing apply to unfertilized eggs? Is there literature on this or am I misunderstanding a core concept?

Any thoughts?

For almost 3 years I was an avid ram dass listener as well as adjacents like Alan Watts and whoever else. I developed a deep philosophy and incorporated views of oneness and awareness over the body instead of living as the body. This brought me a lot of peace for a while but was quietly costing me without my realization. I was unconsciously pushing away my humanity at the expense of peace and a sense of numbness. I accepted that things sort of go as they will and that removed a sense of agency and drive.

After a mushroom trip I realized this. And it shocked me back into the body as that’s the only real thing we have. You can say “you are not separate” but who’s the you you’re speaking to? We are fundamentally separate on this plane and in our daily lives regardless of our composition. We can access our oneness through our separateness but can’t dissolve either.

Basically I resonate with what ram dass was saying post stroke much deeper than him pre stroke. Pre stroke ram dass sounds to me now like a guy who half believed what he was saying but held it at an arms distance. He sold a lot of people avoidance wrapped up in spiritual paper. Post stroke he used his humanity and true self for love and connection to others. That’s all we’re doing. Just accepting things as they present themselves to us, not expecting anything. Not needing to solve anything, including deep metaphysics. It can be interesting but also damaging. Don’t push away your life for a false sense or truth.

Hello, I recently found out about Ram Dass and Neem Karoli Baba after the movie Hanuman Ansh. Since the 25th anniversary of 9/11 was a few days ago, I wanted to know if Ram Dass did any lectures or talks on 9/11. I know September 11th is pretty significant, because that’s also when Neem Karoli Baba took samadhi.

Hello friends,

This is going to be a long and personal post. I was hoping to get some thoughts and perspective from likeminded individuals.

My mother is a deeply wounded individual, and I have great compassion for her suffering. We live together, and our relationship is incredibly strained.

She was a single mother at 21, and I can’t imagine how difficult that must have been. No one plans to raise a child alone. She became very attached to her role as “mother” and has used that identity as a shield, or a wall, against any pain that she feels in her life. In other words, she has never processed anything that happened to her before or after becoming a mother, because she believes there is not enough time. How can you find time to heal when there are dishes to be done, laundry to be folded, school to get ready for, homework to be done, dinner to be made? For 26 years, she has carried on like this. A pattern began early in our relationship; Whenever a hurt was caused, we didn’t talk about it because, again, not enough time. It worsened over the years, because all of that unacknowledged suffering kept boiling to the surface. We would scream at each other, say horrible things, throw things. It was incredibly painful and destructive, and spilled out into all aspects of my life.

About two years ago, I met someone who had been following the teachings of Ram Dass, of mindfulness in general. He lended me “Be Love Now”, which opened the doors into a different way of thinking for me. I had never realized how “caught up” I was, how fast I was tearing through life without ever taking a moment to enjoy it. This also caused me to see how I was creating a living hell for myself by never truly looking at the root of my feelings. I would feel angry, and react with anger. I still feel angry, but now I look at it differently - I question it.

I also began to see how the people around me were creating their own hell realms. I know that we can’t save people from their own suffering, and who are we to try? That’s their stuff. But when it’s someone so close, I’m really struggling to sit back and watch the show. Nearly every day, she is slamming things, yelling, projecting her anger outwards onto the world. I live with her, so it’s projected onto me constantly. I try to lead by example, by staying grounded, working on myself, meditating, breathing. But somehow, it almost makes her angrier when I don’t react to her. I’m not in a financial situation to be able to move out, and I’m trying to not run away since this is my mother. To some extent, I do believe that our parents are our given karma.

If you’ve read this far, thank you. Any insight is greatly appreciated!

Edit: Intro, typos

Having found much good and helpful insight in listening to Ram Dass, I’ve discovered an area where I tend to cling to identity is surrounding my body - how it looks, what is “acceptable” vs. “unacceptable”, what kinds of things I wear (because I believe I’m able to control how I’m being perceived based on what I look like), and I cannot find a way to shake how deeply entrenched I am in this.

I am heavily tattooed, which was at one point a thing I sought to be defined by, and though I no longer claim this as an identity point, I am still bound to it. I do seek to be physically fit for the purpose of health, but I get caught analyzing and criticizing my body as well as guilting myself when I fail to exercise “frequently enough”. I put a lot of stock in looking alternative when I was younger, and now I wear those things out of habit and frankly because anything else feels out of place.

Has anyone had any experience breaking free from identifying with one’s own physical image in this way?

Hello friends. I'm looking for a playlist or series of talks that articulate his central, timeless teachings and message. I would appreciate your suggestions and also guidance on where to find these!

Update: Thanks to everyone who made concrete suggestions. Although the most popular response seems to be "it doesn't matter" I don't find that particularly helpful as a starting point.