Ep. 293 – Where Souls Meet, With Kirtan by Jai Uttal

Ep. 293 – Where Souls Meet, With Kirtan by Jai Uttal

Author: Ram Dass / Love Serve Remember December 15, 2025 Duration: 58:14
In this special December treat, featuring kirtan from Jai Uttal, Ram Dass speaks about opening to change and merging with the Beloved.The Ram Dass community gathers regularly to engage in meaningful discussions about the podcast. We invite you to join us and share your curiosities, insights, and wisdom. Sign up for the General Fellowship to receive event invitations directly in your inbox.This episode of Here and Now comes from an event at Spirit Rock Meditation Center on July 31, 2000. Ram Dass begins by exploring how Shiva is the aspect of God that rules over change. He talks about changing our self-concept from identification with our egos to identification with our souls. Devotional chanting, or kirtan, is one way to work on transforming ourselves. Speaking about merging with the Beloved, Ram Dass shares how his relationship with his guru evolved after Neem Karoli Baba left his body. He talks about the place of joy that exists inside all of us. That’s the yum-yum place.Jai Uttal takes over and leads a rousing kirtan to connect us all to that yum-yum place. He begins by explaining the chant: “Sita Ram, Sita Ram, Sita Ram, Jai Sita Ram. Sita, the infinite Goddess. Ram, the infinite God. Jai or Jaya, praise or victory.”About Jai Uttal:Jai Uttal is a Grammy-nominated sacred music composer, recording artist, multi-instrumentalist, and ecstatic vocalist. Having traveled extensively in India, he met many great saints and singers, and Bhakti Yoga became his personal path. Jai has been leading, teaching, and performing kirtan around the world for nearly 50 years. He creates a safe environment for people to open their hearts and voices. Kirtan Camp with Jai Uttal starts on January 25, 2026. Nurture the seeds of love and take a journey into the healing power of sound. Sign up now.About Ram Dass:Ram Dass’s spirit has been a guiding light for generations, carrying millions along on the journey. Ram Dass teaches that through the Bhakti practice of unconditional love, we can all connect with our true nature. Through these teachings, Ram Dass has shared a little piece of his guru, Maharaj-ji, with all who have listened to him. Learn more at ramdass.org.“You know those cherries, chocolate-covered cherries? They’re like hard on the outside, but they’re soft and yum, yum, yum inside. We are just chocolate-covered cherries. That’s all we are. And that yum, yum, yum, yum, that’s the joy, that’s the bhakti. Yum, yum, yum, yum. Because we meet each other in the yum-yum place.” – Ram Dass 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: 50

Ram Dass Here And Now
Podcast Episodes
Ep. 313 – Touching the Sun [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:20
Gather around for some storytime with Ram Dass as he recounts his first journey to India, the long road that led to finding his guru, and how touching his guru’s feet was almost like touching the sun. Part of this episod…
Ep. 312 – Soul Perception [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:03
In this unique talk given in New York just weeks after the events of 9/11, Ram Dass speaks about his stroke, the fierce grace of suffering, and getting in touch with our soul perception. The Ram Dass community gathers re…
Ep. 311 – Allowing Space for Individual Differences [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:59
Ram Dass talks about consciousness, allowing space for individual differences, and letting go of identification with the body and personality, and then taps into the heart of devotional yoga with some chanting to Krishna…
Ep. 310 – The Mainline Reality Trip [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:44
Take a trip up and down the subway stairs with Ram Dass as he explores the seven chakras, why this moment in history is ripe for fourth chakra work, and how he escaped the mainline reality trip.Ram Dass Here & Now is bro…
Ep. 309 – Playing Your Part [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:15
Ram Dass explores playing your part on all of the stages that life presents, then answers questions about the significance of dreams, preventing detachment from turning into laziness, dealing with burnout in institutiona…
Ep. 308 – You Are Love [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:06
In this exploration of relationships and awakening from the illusion of separateness, Ram Dass talks about looking behind the veil of individual differences and coming to a place where you are love itself.Ram Dass Here &…
Ep. 307 – Being in Other Planes of Reality [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:35
You can help us celebrate 10 years of Be Here Now Network and support the next chapter of Ram Dass Here and Now by donating to our 10th anniversary fundraiser. Exciting news! Dollar-for-dollar gift matching has been exte…
Ep. 306 – Our Place in the Dance [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:14
Listen to the original Here and Now radio show! Ram Dass takes to the airwaves in 1996 to try his hand at a medium he hopes will bring us together and help us hear our place in the dance.Help us celebrate 10 years of Be…
Ep. 305 – Using A Relationship to Awaken [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:10
In the conclusion of this classic talk, Ram Dass explores giving up our rushes, working with death, not judging the trip, using a relationship to awaken, and much more.Help us celebrate 10 years of Be Here Now Network an…
Ep. 304 – The Wisdom of the Universe [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:02
In this 1980 talk, Ram Dass explores how we aren’t who we think we are and leads a meditative experience to help us quiet down enough to become statements of the universe's wisdom. The Ram Dass community gathers regularl…