Whether we seek spiritual insight, inner peace, or simply a break from the weight of the world, this gathering offers a space to breathe, to heal, and to remember the deep freedom that is always within reach.
This remote retreat is a unique opportunity for anyone interested in bhakti (Hindu devotion) and Buddhist traditions. The confluence of these two Eastern modalities offers a practical path we can walk in order to become free in this lifetime. Hope to see you there!
Sharon Salzbergvirtually joins Krishna Das, Acharya Shunya, David Nichtern, Nina Rao, Raghu Markus, John Pattern, and friends. The event runs from 8:00 pm, Thursday, August 27, 2026, to 9:00 pm, Monday, August 31, 2026.
Mr. Christopher Walken was born little Ronnie Walken (March 31, 1943) and became a very famous American actor. His work on stage and screen has earned him accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and an Actor Award, as well as nominations for two Tony Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Golden Globe. His films have grossed more than $1.6 billion in the United States... More
(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.
The Love Serve Remember Foundation is dedicated to preserving and continuing the teachings of Ram Dass and his love guru, Neem Karoli Baba.
Find out more at ramdass.org. Social media: Instagram (babaramdass), Facebook (babaramdass), TikTok (ramdassofficial). Patreon: ramdasspodcast.
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or text YouTube to 91999. This is an all-time favorite Ram Dass piece, so enjoy! SUBSCRIBE to channel for more magic Ram Dass moments.
(After Skool) It's all perfect by Ram Dass (formerly Prof. Richard Alpert, Ph.D., Harvard University)
RAM DASS ("God's Servant or Slave") was born Richard Alpert on April 6, 1931 and lived until December 22, 2019) [1]. He became a hippie and is also known as Baba ["Father"] Ram Dass. He was an American spiritual teacher, guru of modern yoga [2], academic psychologist, and writer of Be Here Now, his best-selling [3] 1971 book, which has been described by as "seminal" [4, 5, 6].
With the help of his scandalous but loving sex guru Neem Karoli Baba, he helped popularize Eastern spirituality and yoga in the West [7]. He authored or co-authored a dozen more books on spirituality over the next four decades, including Grist for the Mill (1977), How Can I Help? (1985), and Polishing the Mirror (2013).
Once when he was teaching with his long hair, beard, and linen garments, someone in the crowd asked him why he dressed like a guru from India when he was really a Jew from the U.S. Without missing a beat, his retort was, "I'm only Jewish on my parents' side." Ha ha ha, exactly!
We are born into a faith, and it's usually rammed down our throats before we have a chance to do anything but swallow. And most of us won't question it. But some of us vomit it up, leave or examine, sometimes even come back to it later.
Harvard professors Dr. Timothy Leary and Dr. Richard Alpert (cool squares rounding out)
However, it seems the job and duty of any human to question it, test it, attempt to validate it, argue against it, learn from it, grow from it, reject it all together, or make peace with it. There's a world of spirituality out there to explore. We usually need a floor, a ground, by which to test things. And almost all major religions have a mystic component or sect. That's a place to start.
Parents, what am I to do but follow my heart?
But question we must, and explore we will, and find? That remains to be seen. We are on a spiritual quest. And maybe the whole rest of the world can't be. But if Americans can't, what the F are you calling yourself an "American" for? Life, liberty, and the PURSUIT of happiness is all you were promised -- and you're not even going to pursue it? Truth means nothing? Just taking sides? Just being controlled by your government, schools, and parents, the "powers that be"? Pathetic. Human up, and get searching.
Ram Dass was personally and professionally associated with hippie Dr. Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s. Then known as Richard Alpert, he conducted research with Leary on the therapeutic effects of psychedelic drugs.
In addition, Alpert assisted Harvard Divinity School graduate student Walter Pahnke in his 1962 "Good Friday Experiment" with theology students, the first controlled, double-blind study of drugs and the mystical experience [8, 9].
While legal at the time (and not yet criminalized), their research was controversial and led to Dr. Leary's and Dr. Alpert's firing from Harvard in 1963.
In 1967, Alpert traveled to India and became "Ram Dass," a disciple of Hindu Guru Neem Karoli Baba, who gave him the name Ram Dass, meaning "Servant of Ram," but usually rendered simply as "Servant of God" for Western audiences.
In the following years, he co-founded the charitable organizations Seva Foundation and Hanuman Foundation. From the 1970s to the 1990s, he traveled extensively, giving talks and retreats and holding fundraisers for charitable causes.
In 1997, he had a stroke, which left him with paralysis and expressive aphasia which would be better characterized as "fluent, anomic-like with hesitations and word finding difficulties at the conversational level with grossly intact auditory comprehension for high level, low-context information" [10, 11].
He eventually grew to interpret this event as an act of grace, learning to speak again and continuing to teach and write books. After becoming seriously ill during a trip to India in 2004, he gave up traveling and moved to Maui, Hawaii, where he hosted annual retreats with other spiritual teachers until his death in 2019. More
*Acid was called "LSD-25," referring to a standard dosage of 25 micrograms (mcg, μg) because it is very potent per tab or tablet (blot, dot, drop, etc.). This would make three double tabs about 150 mcg. But ask Riley or see Sidney Cohen (1959), "The therapeutic potential of LSD-25," A Pharmacologic Approach to the Study of the Mind, p. 251–258.
Dr. Gabor Mate distinguishes "drugs" that obtund(like alcohol) and substances that elevate consciousness; yet, we call both of these opposite experiences getting "high"
In the city-states that gave birth to Western civilization, drugs were an everyday element of a free society.
Often, they were not just available but vitally necessary for use in medicine, spiritual-religious ceremonies, and war campaigns.
Their proponents and users existed in all classes, from common soldiers to emperors. Citing examples in myths, medicine, and literature, Dr. Hillman, Ph.D., shows how drugs have influenced and inspired the artists, philosophers, and even politicians whose ideas have formed the basis for civilization as we know it.
Many of these ancient texts may seem well-known, but Dr. Hillman shows how timid, prudish translations have left scholars and readers in the dark about the reality of drug use in the Classical world.
Dr. Hillman's argument is not simply "pro-drug." Instead, he appeals to intellectual honesty to acknowledge the use of drugs in ancient societies despite today's conflicting social mores.
In the modern world, where academia and university life are often politically charged, The Chemical Muse offers a unique and long overdue perspective on the contentious topic of drug use and freedom of thought. More
(The Theory of Samsara) Premiered Nov. 27, 2025: 🧘♂️ Why do we all so easily fall into "spiritual delusion"?
Why do we chase psychedelic highs, promises of supernatural powers, or “special” experiences instead of understanding the ordinary, unchanging nature of consciousness [and related phenomena] itself?
This video dives more deeply into the mechanics of self-deception on the spiritual path —
How craving fuels suffering,
Why Western culture’s addictions make it worse,
Why meditators so often mistake mental fabrications for awakening.
Let's explore the Buddha’s actual teaching:
Craving is the root of suffering
Consciousness is ordinary, not something to be manufactured
Awakening can’t be given to us by a teacher
Psychedelic trips are NOT enlightenment
Pride, jealousy, and other delusions and fabricated identities destroy the Path
True realization begins with a stable, uncontrived mind.
Whether we practice Zen (jhana), Mahamudra ("great seal"), Vipassana(insight meditation), or Dzogchen (choiceless awareness), the message is the same:
Stop looking for the extraordinary.
Instead, recognize the nature of mind as it is:
SUCHNESS, ordinary mind — nothing to adopt, nothing to abandon.
If we want to avoid spiritual self-sabotage and cultivate a genuine path toward awakening, this is for us.
Check out ultimatemeaning.org for more information.
MK-Ultra [a], which stands for "mind control," was a secret, illegal CIA human experimentation program. It was designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) allegedly to develop procedures and identify hallucinogenic drugs that could be used during interrogations to weaken individuals and force confessions through brainwashing and psychological torture [1].
Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron was just doing his human research (without informed consent), using humans like lab rats in a NAZI detention camp.
The term MKUltra is a CIA cryptonym: "MK" is an arbitrary prefix standing for the Office of Technical Service and "Ultra" is an arbitrary word out of a dictionary used to name this project.
The program has been widely condemned as a violation of individual rights and an example of the CIA's abuse of power, with critics highlighting its disregard for consent and its corrosive impact on democratic principles [2]. More
Are human experimentation activities continuing? Of course they are. Caveat emptor.
What really happens at Burning Man? Everything's free, life lived by principles, not a music festival but rather a festival of lights and lifestyle, standup comedy, Orgy Dome, acid (LSD) trip, the afterglow, Buddhist insight: "Desire what you don't have a little less, desire more what you do have." Put the phone away. Ride a bike. Stare at the sky and into different dimensions that are just as far away as the doors of the perception. Mario Adrion explains, concluding, "Namaste, b*tches."
24 hours at Burning Man 2025 – Daily Playa Survival Vlog
(Escaping Normal Life) Aug. 28, 2025: In this daily playa survival vlog, I go inside the heart of Black Rock City – where 70,000 people come together in the Nevada desert to create the most unbelievable temporary city on Earth.
🌵✨ Yes, it's muddy and messy, but that doesn’t stop the fun, the phenomenal art, massive sound camps, live music, free spa treatments, caked mud, no showers, and unbelievable energy all around.
Beyond the parties, Burning Man is also a place for self-growth, spirituality, and community – with religious temples, AA meetings, weddings, families, kids, and powerful moments of togetherness that make this city feel like home.
Too often, people focus only on the negatives, but the truth is Burning Man is a functioning city full of creativity, connection, and human spirit. Join me for 24 hours of survival, dust, mud, art, music, and magic at Burning Man 2025! Venmo: venmo.com/u/escaping_normal_life
Margaret Qualley, "Reality Is Not For Me" t-shirt; Mario Adrion; Double Dusted Podcast, Burning Man Orgy Dome experience, posted March 2025; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly
(Wonderhussy)Taking adventure to a new level by visiting the most hedonistic city in Nevada. Yes, wilder than Pahrump, more lit up than Las Vegas, more secretive than Area 51 (Groom Lake), where there's no money -- and none needed because it has evolved into a gifting culture beyond barter to selfless giving of services, experiences, food, drink, and fun! It takes dana (India's ancient practice of cultural spiritual generosity) to a modern place with an enlightened outlook to how life can be.
[When? Just as soon as the Powers That Be step out of the way and release all of the free energy technology that has been discovered, developed, and attempted to be patented before being disappeared and stored somewhere in the Smithsonian Institution and/or the U.S. Patent Office storage units as it will upset the entire economic model personally grinding us down now as a planet when other planets, even local neighbors have evolved beyond this. Nicola Tesla was downloaded such technology by otherworldly beings interested in helping us with that evolution, but the covert agencies stepped in, weaponized it, and kept it all under wraps. Tesla discovered more and made working models of his visions than we have ever been allowed to yet see. Eventually it will come out.]
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