Ep. 236 – The Relationship Between Karma and Grace

Ep. 236 – The Relationship Between Karma and Grace

Author: Ram Dass / Love Serve Remember October 9, 2023 Duration: 43:41

In this Q&A session, Ram Dass answers questions about how to love without emotional attachment, the relationship between karma and grace, and how he defines responsibility.

Today's podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/ramdass

In this recording from 1976, Ram Dass answers questions from a lively Los Angeles audience:

  • How to love without emotional attachment? Ram Dass explores the various levels of love, dealing with attachment, and working with the karma that exists in our life space.
  • What is the relationship of karma and grace? Ram Dass talks about how he perceives grace and the ways it intersects with our karma.
  • What’s his view on vegetarianism? And who is God? Somehow, those questions are connected.
  • How does Ram Dass define responsibility? A responsible being lives in the Tao. 

“And what grace turns out to be is all the forces that exist in the universe that are free agents, that are available to support the process of your going back into the source. All the gurus, all the beings on astral planes, all of the elements, all of the forces in the universe.” – Ram Dass

Discover the transformative practice of teaching mindfulness in a new FREE 30-page ebook by Senior Buddhist teacher and Emmy award-winning musician, David Nichtern

With its blend of humor, wisdom, and accessible approach, The Art of Teaching Mindfulness ebook is a must-read for anyone interested in sharing the life-changing practices of mindfulness with others.

Already downloaded by over 15k people, visit dharmamoon.com/ebook to get YOUR free copy of The Art of Teaching Mindfulness!


See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.


The voice of Ram Dass carries a unique and enduring warmth, a blend of profound spiritual insight and grounded, often humorous, humanity. Ram Dass Here And Now is a curated archive of this wisdom, drawing from a rich tapestry of lectures recorded over four decades. Each episode is a focused journey into themes of consciousness, love, service, and the intricate paths of awakening, all filtered through Ram Dass's distinctive heart-centered perspective. The podcast is presented by the Love Serve Remember Foundation, with longtime friend and director Raghu Markus providing contextual introductions that connect these timeless talks to our contemporary moment. Listeners will find themselves immersed in conversations that weave together Eastern philosophy, particularly from the Hindu and Bhakti traditions, with practical Western psychology, exploring how spiritual principles manifest in everyday life, relationships, and societal challenges. It’s less a formal lecture and more an intimate, meandering dialogue with a wise elder, offering reflections that feel both ancient and immediately relevant. This isn't about dogma, but about the shared, often messy, human experience of seeking meaning and connection. To spend time with this podcast is to encounter a gentle guide, one who points persistently toward the present moment, toward compassion, and toward the recognition of our shared essence.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 307

Ram Dass Here And Now
Podcast Episodes
Ep. 56 - Orgasm and Transcendence [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:00
At the moment of orgasm, you transcend your separateness and there is a moment when you merge together. For most people that is the direct route to a spiritually transcendent state. What you learn to do in a lot of yoga…
Ep. 55 - Sex and Spirituality [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:40
The more evolved you become spiritually, the less boundaries there are between my energy and THE energy. When your energy is used in a way that is destructive, meaning that it creates suffering to you and other people an…
Ep. 54 - Invite not the Future [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:03
Can we take anticipated future suffering and turn it into something that enriches the present moment? For those of us who want to approach future suffering with some degree of equanimity, mindfulness and open heartedness…
Ep. 53 - Devotion and the Guru [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:40
The Guru as a separate entity only exists within the illusion of separateness - the minute “it" has worked to awaken you - “it" ceases to be anything. It’s a self destruct mechanism. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.c…
Ep. 52 - Transcending Individual Differences [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:14
When you are no longer laying trips on anyone, not judging, or discriminating individual differences, you become the environment in which the optimum growth is available to all human beings you come into contact with. Se…
Ep. 51 - Greed & Consciousness [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:17
Most people in society are pushing away experiences that indicate that they have an identity on other planes of reality, in order to hold tightly to the plane of reality that they are comfortable with. A liberated being…
Ep. 50 - Sharon Salzberg Pt. 2: Loving Kindness [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:41
"Loving kindness is the spirit of friendship toward yourself." - Sharon Salzberg "Interdependence is not romantic, but it's the truth of things - that our lives have something to do with one another." - Sharon Salzberg S…
Ep. 49 - Sharon Salzberg [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:51
There are tools and techniques that one can make use of to have a happier life - and these tools do not require a belief system. It’s about the possibility of re-training the condition of the mind in a way so that old pa…
Ep. 48 - Living the Mystery [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:10:07
The process is realizing that you and I exist on more than one plane of awareness simultaneously and on one plane suffering stinks, and on another plane suffering is grace. And the question is, "Can you balance those two…
Ep. 47 - Universal Energy and Miracles [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:18
What's awesome is the amount of energy that is available to a human being. The paradox is, as long as you are a somebody you are dealing with a finite amount of energy that is able to function through somebody-ness. Only…