(Baba Ram Dass) June 8, 2026: Ram Dass' full lecture interview from "The Congress of Planetary Initiative for the World We Choose" in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1983.
Who is "God," Ram Dass? The Monad (Gnosticism), Brahman (Vedas), Maha Brahma (Buddhism), Brahma (Hinduism)? We need to make a distinction between the lesser personality many call "God" (the Demiurge or "Fabricator") and that all-encompassing reality behind the illusion (Brahman), which in the West may be called the Monad (One).
Remember: Be Here Now (Ram Dass)
In this interview, Ram Dass (formerly Harvard's Dr. Richard Alpert) presents his viewpoints regarding the state of the world and what we can do. He skillfully weaves his way through his perspectives on personal responsibility, American media, and spiritual practice.
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I was trying to read the Heart Sutra to chant it in Sanskrit. But it doesn't make any sense translated into English. At least it didn't until Wisdom Quarterly's Dharma editor explained it.* Now it's clear. Now I know why "enlightenment" eludes me. Now I know what to study and put into practice to know-and-see. Thanks, WQ!
one is called a noble disciple who is a stream-winner, no longer liable to ever fall into subhuman states of woe [1], assured of full and final enlightenment."
NOTE: 1.
The "stream-winner" (sotapanna) is sure to become fully enlightened (an arahant) within seven rebirths and will not be reborn more than seven more times, and such a person will never again be reborn in any state lower than the human plane.
the one "with seven rebirths at the utmost" (sattakkhattu-parama) ["one with only seven further rebirths at the utmost," is one of the three kinds of stream-winners (sotāpannas).
the one "passing from one noble family to another" (kolankola),
the one "germinating only once more" (eka-bījī, lit. "one seed" or perhaps "at most once more seeded").]
(1) "If a person, after the disappearance of the three lower fetters (personality-belief, skeptical doubt, attachment to rites and rituals), see samyojana), has entered the stream [that leads inevitably to nirvana], that person is no longer subject to any rebirth in the lower worlds [anywhere below the human plane], is firmly established, destined to reach full enlightenment. After having passed among celestial beings (deva) and human beings (manussya) only at most seven times more through the Round of Rebirths, one puts an end to all suffering. Such a person is called "one with seven rebirths at the utmost" (sattakkhattu-parama).
I continued to practice to make an end of all ill.
(2) "If a person, after the disappearance of the three fetters.... is destined to reach full enlightenment, that person, after having passed among noble families two or three times through the round of rebirths, makes an end of all suffering. Such a person is called "one passing from one noble family to another" (kolankola).
(3) "If a person, after the disappearance of the three fetters...is destined to full enlightenment, one, after having only once more returned to the human plane, makes an end of all suffering. Such a person is called "one germinating only once more" (eka-bījī).
7. This is an encouraging message for many! Compare it to the end of MN 22 and also the charming image of the newborn calf in MN 34. The Commentary (MA) to MN 22 says such people are termed "lesser stream-winners" (cula-sota-panna). This term is discussed in The Path of Purification (VM XIX, 27). [This term is more fully explained in The Path of Freedom (Vimuttimagga).] The stress laid here on the importance of faith (actually saddha, "confidence," "conviction," the trust sufficient to investigate that precedes personal verification) is interesting in view of later developments such as the Pure Land schools (e.g., Jodo-Shinshu or "Shin-Buddhism" in Japan).
(SN 22.109 PTS: S iii 160 CDB i 9650)
Maurice O'Connell Walshe (trans.), Sotapanno Sutta: The Sotapanna, "The Stream-Winner" Pali title based on PTS (Feer) edition; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly
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