Ep. 279 – Across the Decades: Ram Dass on Community and Satsang

Speaking through the decades, from the 1960s to the 2010s, Ram Dass shares his thoughts on Satsang, the community of seekers who come together in the pursuit of truth. 

This episode of Here and Now is a compilation of Ram Dass discussing community and Satsang across the decades. 

• We begin in 1969, with Ram Dass exploring the power of the spiritual community, Satsang, as a protective and nurturing presence for those on the path. He shares how Satsang serves as a reference group without a physical form. “The universe that is Satsang,” he says, “is an inner universe, not an outer universe.”
• We move on to 1975, with Ram Dass reflecting on how the cultural despair of the 60s led people to band together out of a sense of spiritual need or purpose. He reflects on how these “spiritual reference groups” exist over time and space in all directions. “One begins to recognize members of one’s group quite independent of geography and quite independent of time.” 
• The next stop is 1986, with Ram Dass noting a growing maturity in the spiritual seekers he gathers with on his lecture tours. He discusses the various paths that bring people together in community and how we reassure each other through our presence for one another. “By reflecting back and forth between our hearts,” he says, “we strengthen our connection.”
• We fast forward to 1994, with Ram Dass discussing how the spiritual community is a mutual space for growth. He cautions that unless we meet in the deeper place of our beings together, the acts we do with one another will involve violence and exacerbate suffering. “Our art form is to cultivate this space and recognize that we are meeting in it, and share the essence of space behind the form.” 
• Finally, we end in 2017, with a conversation between Ram Dass, Raghu Markus, and Rameshwar Das about how the deeply familial nature of Satsang is rooted in love and truth. They share stories about Ram Dass’ guru brother, KK Sah, and the early days of Satsang in the West.

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“It’s just us humans together in the shelter of each other. This is what Satsang, or Sangha, is. This is it. This is the community of beings who are acknowledging that dual intention: You work on yourself as an offering to others, you work on others as a way of working