Love, Service, Devotion & The Ultimate Surrender (CD Set)

Ram Dass on the Bhagavad Gita

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A Heart-Centered Spiritual Classic for Your Ever-Changing Life 

The Bhagavad Gita is a gem so precious in India's spiritual treasury that many regard it not as a volume of sacred verse, but as a living manifestation of the Divine. In the summer of 1974, inside a balmy Boulder, Colorado, warehouse that served as the main hall of the fledgling Naropa Institute, some say that a minor miracle occurred: the reawakening of the Gita's living presence, as it unfolded in a series of wisdom teachings led by Ram Dass. With Love, Service, Devotion, and the Ultimate Surrender, you are invited to experience these legendary gatherings.

  • CONTENTS: 10 CDs
  • RUNNING TIME: 12 Hour
  • ISBN: 9781604074345
  • DIMENSIONS: 6.38" x 6.69 x 1
  • WEIGHT: 13.3
  • Spirituality, Eastern
  • © 2011 Ram Dass ℗ Sounds True
  • Music by Stevin McNamara
  • Sunset cover image © Masterlife

The tale of the warrior Arjuna and his divine friend Krishna serves as metaphor for the recurring dilemmas that we encounter as we spiral into the depths of our spiritual journey. In these sessions, Ram Dass illuminates the Gita’s essential verses with insights spanning many traditions, from Rumi's ecstatic poetry to Basho's koans, from devotional chant to monastic silence, from Sri Ramana's self-inquiry to Saint Paul's devotion to Christ. The destination? A new perspective on the crucial moments of contradiction and questioning that all spiritual seekers must face again and again:

If it's all Divine perfection, why bother with the search at all? Is it possible to awaken without a teacher or guru? Why am I experiencing these strange spiritual "gifts”? Will I get lost in their power? If I'm conscious and kind, why not indulge in all of life's pleasures? Since everyone suffers and dies, will my compassion ultimately matter?

With irrepressible love and intellect (and a good dose of skillful mischief), this epic meeting with Ram Dass yields new answers with every revisit, like a lifelong friend that comes to meet us at each turning of our journey.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • An archival quality restoration of Ram Dass' "Yogas of the Bhagavad Gita" sessions
  • Karma yoga––on reincarnation, dharma, service
  • Jnana yoga––inquiry and the critical mind
  • Mind, illusion and Brahman
  • Mantra Yoa––the skillful use of ritual and form
  • Purification––renunciation, kundalini, ashtanga yoga, sexual desire
  • Devotion and the guru––on surrender, siddhis(powers), and much more.

SESSION 1 (77:04)

Context and Conflict
  1. Introduction
  2. Ritual
  3. States in the awakening process
  4. Science vs. inner experience
  5. The context of the Bhagavad Gita
  6. The story of Krishna
  7. The Gita's conflict
  8. The awakened one

SESSION 2 (78:34)

Karma, Reincarnation and Karma Yoga
  1. Introduction
  2. Giving up the image of yourself
  3. Reincarnation and the Western tradition
  4. The eternal in man cannot die
  5. The seeds of higher wisdom
  6. the concept of dharma
  7. Karma yoga
  8. Be where you are

SESSION 3 (68:11)

Karma and Jnana Yoga
  1. Introduction
  2. Works and sadhana
  3. Three aspects of development
  4. The beginning of wisdom
  5. Starting from where you're at
  6. Shedding the veils
  7. Who am I?
  8. The uninvited guest
  9. The koan

SESSION 4 (79:51)

Mind, Illusion and Brahman
  1. Introduction
  2. Telling the truth
  3. Methods for using the mind
  4. A deeper way of knowing
  5. What is Brahman?
  6. Atman and Brahman
  7. The cessation of the turnings of the mind
  8. The one mind
  9. Crazy wisdom

SESSION 5 (78:12)

Sacrifice and Mantra
  1. Introduction
  2. Beyond formlessness and form
  3. The process of sacrifice
  4. Sacrifice in the Vedas
  5. The fire of purification
  6. The use of mantra
  7. How mantra works
  8. Sacrificing form into spirit
  9. Places of higher wisdom
  10. Renunciation and gratification

SESSION 6 (79:08)

Renunciation and Purification
  1. Introduction
  2. Your own unique predicament
  3. Kundalini and the chakras
  4. Understanding sacrifice
  5. Purification through ashtanga yoga
  6. Renunciation and non-violence
  7. The middle way
  8. Anger and truth
  9. Working with sexual energy
  10. Desire and the witness

SESSION 7 (78:40)

Devotion and the Guru
  1. Introduction
  2. The quality of bhakti
  3. All methods are traps
  4. Yoga of love
  5. The method of the guru
  6. The use of powers
  7. Stories of Maharaji

SESSION 8 (61:22)

Social Aspects of Sadhana
  1. Introduction
  2. Negative core ego concepts
  3. Relationships and identity
  4. One lies behind it all
  5. Loneliness and aloneness
  6. All of it becoomes the teaching
  7. Maharaji and Hanuman
  8. Soma and hallucinogens

SESSION 9 (54:52)

DEATH & DYING
  1. Introduction
  2. Ritual
  3. States in the awakening process
  4. Science vs. inner experience
  5. The context of the Bhagavad Gita
  6. The story of Krishna
  7. The Gita's conflict
  8. The awakened one

SESSION 10 (68:08)

Conclusion
  1. Introduction
  2. A teaching, not a teacher
  3. The paradox
  4. Renounce your renouncing
  5. The witness
  6. Trusting your heart
  7. The guru issues
  8. Responsibility and the use of powers
  9. Become the dharma

Ram Dass is a cofounder of the Prison Ashram Project and the Love Serve Remember Foundation, and the author of many books, including Be Love Now. That's the bio, anyway. You'll learn much more about him inside, as he uses his own life stories to illustrate the relevance of the Gita for all of us today.