Remarkable Encounters with Ram Dass

157 Pages·01.793 MB·English

by  John Taylor

Copyright © 2011 Love Serve Remember Foundation

All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
or by any electronic or mechanical means including
information storage and retrieval systems, without
permission in writing from the author. The only
exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short
excerpts in a review.

ISBN 978-0-615-54873-9
D���������

This book is dedicated to the devotees of Neem Karoli Baba.

It is said that those who are dear to the one who is dear to you,
become dear to you also. This is true, and we realized this in those
early days when we gathered together as Babaji’s devotees… We
were all included in Babaji’s family and we were entitled to have our
share in everything. He played his game so skillfully that most of us
felt we were his near and dear ones, and he could not do without
us… The great lesson we learned was that happiness would come
only if we learned not to shut anyone out as a stranger, or deny
anyone his share and place in the family.
From The Near and the Dear by Dada Mukerjee

The editors would also like to acknowledge and dedicate the spirit of this
book to Thomas Spiritoso, who, when the Be Here Now social network
was created on RamDass.org, became one of the first people to share
his stories, pictures and letters about his meeting with Ram Dass. Soon
after he posted this content he died suddenly in Philadelphia in 2009.
His contributions inspired other to share their stories and love through
this book.
Remarkable Encounters

with Ram Dass

Compiled by Raghu Markus on behalf of the Love
Serve Remember Foundation
Introduction

1960s

Video: "Now is Then"

Rameshwar Das

Murari (Thomas Spiritoso)

Jai Hanuman

Krishna Das

Raghu Markus

Parvati Markus

Paul Singer

Mirabai Bush

1970s

Video: “Love Power Truth”

David Silver

Jon Seskevich

Judith Sookne

Joe Cicero

Christine Truhe

Hanuman (Ed Fissinger)

Shava Nerad

Dr. E. Stone

Mark Ekwall

Melissa Copeland

Bob Skutelsky

Eric Lang

Video: “No Clinging, No Suffering”

Pat & Dianne DeLapp

Lynda Tanaka

Thomas Hoffman
Joyce Lively

Wendy Moore

Renee Davenport

Jai Ram Ransom

Jessie Senibaldi

Sandy Janaki Gaal

Robyn Tom (Shaw)

1980s/1990s

Video: “Being Human”

Cat Anderson

Antonio

Jo Clarkson

Beverly Morgan (Uma Mayan)

Tony Kadikoff

Elaine Tognazzini

Dana

Carrie Adler

Video: “Conceptual Mind”

David Whittaker (Arjuna)

Siward Mullens

Joseph

Video: “Understanding Coming Together”

Rick

Julianne

2000s

Video: “A Fellow Soul”

Kevin Light

Brent Field

Sharon Roll

Nancy Eckert

Janette Holland

John Miller

Cheryl Lynn Krunkoski (Ramachandra)

Holly Cedar
Video: “Blanket Story”

Ken Sandin

Chris

Jack van Maas

Sean Collins

Jessica Slade

Elizabeth Severino

Durga

Denise Coates

Maria C Salomone Gabelberger

Tracy Peng

Shanti (Stephanie Reiter)

Carla Lockwood

Christa Melde

Saraswati Markus

Video: “Maharajji’s Heart Turned on my Heart”

Visit ramdass.org/epub to view videos from Remarkable Encounters
with Ram Dass.
Introduction

In the late Sixties, when Ram Dass first returned from India, he
began to share with American audiences his personal transformation
from Richard Alpert to Ram Dass. After hearing Ram Dass’s words
of his direct experience with Neem Karoli Baba, or Maharajji as we
came to call him, we were deeply affected and drawn to the
experience of “hanging out” with Ram Dass either on his lecture
tours or at his father’s farm in New Hampshire.

As we started meeting each other and sharing our stories of how
we met Ram Dass, we realized that there was a common theme or
understanding - a connection through Ram Dass to unconditional
love, to an honest direct awareness of the foibles of being human,
and to having a sense of humor about it all.

The sharing of our stories became a way of recognizing our
interconnection, that we are all in this together. It foretold what we
were to feel upon meeting Maharajji, which Larry Brilliant described
this way: “The miracle was not that Maharajji loved me; it was that I
loved everyone around me when I was with Maharajji.” That
experience is the essence of how Ram Dass transmitted Maharajji’s
love.

So, to continue what Ram Dass started with the publication of Be
Here Now, we decided to publish an e-book in celebration of the
fortieth anniversary of his first sharing his story in print. And it is even
more fitting that these new stories are from people who are part of
Ram Dass’s online satsang, also called Be Here Now. They are very
similar to the stories we shared in the late Sixties, but also unique to
each person within the collective heart. It is indeed awe-inspiring that
the power of the unconditional love can connect us all over this wide
expanse of time and bring us into the collective spiritual heart that
Ram Dass has represented over the last four decades.

Please accept this small offering as a tribute to the willingness of
Ram Dass to share what he learned in India in 1967 from Maharajji.
May that willingness to share compassion and love continue to light
our path and others for generations to come.

-Raghu Markus