With humor and wisdom, Duncan Trussell shares how the ego can turn spirituality into another achievement, and why freedom comes from realizing there’s nothing to prove.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Duncan chats about:

• Lessons on spiritual materialism from Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
• Staying connected to everyday life while being spiritual
• Transcendental common sense vs. getting puffed up in the ego
• Staying connected to everyday life while being spiritual
• The trouble with actively ignoring parts of ourselves
• Reconciling higher consciousness with everyday affairs
• Surrendering to all of it and becoming ‘normal’ again
• Hyperfixating on suffering rather than the end of suffering

About Duncan Trussell:

Duncan Trussell is a stand-up comedian, podcaster, and actor. His popular podcast, The Duncan Trussell Family Hour, has been downloaded over 25 million times and is known for its blend of humor, fringe ideas, eclectic guests, and great interviews. The DTFH is the foundation for Duncan’s Netflix animated series, The Midnight Gospel, which he co-created with Pendleton Ward in 2020. To learn more about Duncan’s work, visit his website at duncantrussell.com.

“It’s a very frustrating thing to our ego to imagine that you don’t have to do anything. You don’t have to learn Sanskrit, know about your chakras, have those scars on your arm from frog venom, do 90 ayahuasca retreats, go to the Ram Dass retreats, listen to Alan Watts lectures. You don’t have to do anything because you’re already there.” –Duncan Trussell

About The Host, Jackie Dobrinska:

Jackie Dobrinska is the Director of Education, Community & Inclusion for Ram Dass’ Love, Serve, Remember Foundation and the current host of Ram Dass’ Here & Now podcast. She is also a teacher, coach, and spiritual director with the privilege of marrying two decades of mystical studies with 15 years of expertise in holistic wellness. As an inter-spiritual minister, Jackie was ordained in Creation Spirituality in 2016 and has also studied extensively in several other lineages – the plant-medicine-based Pachakuti Mesa Tradition, Sri Vidya Tantra, Western European Shamanism, Christian Mysticism, the Wise Woman Tradition, and others. Today, in addition to building courses and community for LSRF, she leads workshops and coaches individuals to discover, nourish and live from their most authentic selves.

More Be Here Now Network Podcasts:

Lama Rod Owens covers the dharma of freedom, loving ourselves, ancestral work, and the power of meditation: Dedication to Liberation

JoAnna Hardy shares a guided meditation all around the first foundation of mindfulness – mindfulness of the body: First Foundation Guided Meditation

Through bearing witness, love & service, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee shares how we can collectively heal the crisis of disconnection & ecological devastation: Love & Service

Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh explores how we can joyfully bring mindfulness into everyday activities like phone calls, driving, and walking: The Ojai Foundation Presents: Under the Teaching Tree with Thich Nhat Hanh

Old friends RamDev and Raghu revisit memories of Maharaj-ji as they explore the wisdom of holding both joy and sorrow in the awakened heart.

Coming out on June 16th, preorder RamDev’s newest book: How to Live So You Can Die Without Fear

In this episode, Raghu and RamDev have a conversation on:

• Memories with Maharaj-ji from Allahabad (now Prayagraj), India
• The Tibetan Buddhist concept of Rigpa (the awakened mind)
• K.C. Tewari’s constant mindfulness and advanced yogic state
• Honoring the religion of our roots as we explore spirituality
• Compassion: keeping your heart open when there is suffering
• Tantric Buddhism and empowerment
• Holding both joy and sadness at the same time
• Shifting from the cerebral to embodied mindfulness practice
• ‘Minding the gap’ between thoughts and the breath

“He’s looking at this picture, and the feeling started getting so thick. Some tears started coming down Maharaj-ji’s cheeks. The feeling was that he was remembering the moment when Ram embraced Hanuman. All the people in the front began weeping; there was so much love.”–RamDev

About RamDev:

RamDev Dale Borglum is the founder and Executive Director of The Living/Dying Project. He is a pioneer in the conscious dying movement and has worked directly with thousands of people with life-threatening illness and their families for over 30 years. In 1981, Dale founded the first residential facility for people who wished to die consciously in the United States, The Dying Center. He has taught and lectured extensively on the topics of spiritual support for those with life-threatening illness, on caregiving as a spiritual practice, and on healing at the edge, the edge of illness, of death, of loss, of crisis. Check out RamDev’s podcast, Healing at the Edge, on the Be Here Now Network.

Photo by Galyna_Andrushko

Learn more about The Living/Dying Project at livingdying.org

More Mindrolling Podcasts:

Episode one of Mindrolling with Raghu Markus & David Silver

Using modern tools to support inner transformation, ServiceSpace founder Nipun Mehta offers innovative solutions for turning artificial intelligence into collective heart intelligence.

The Movie of Me to The Movie of We with Duncan Trussell & Raghu Markus

The Teachings of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche with David Silver & Raghu Markus

The Buddha taught a path of awakened living, but how does that manifest in today’s world of constant connectivity and widespread suffering?

How do we keep our hearts open without being defined or hardened by the pain that surrounds us, whether personal, collective, or historical? How do we navigate the paradox of holding both pain and joy without mistaking suffering for punishment or personal failure? Can we infuse our compassion with wisdom and perspective to find the agency to take meaningful action in our communities? In her new series, Engaged Compassion, Sharon delves into these questions and more, engaging in candid conversations with a diverse group of teachers, activists, and changemakers.

For the sixth episode in the series, Sharon’s speaks with teacher and change-maker Reggie Hubbard, marking his third appearance on the Metta Hour. Reggie is an internationally recognized yoga and meditation teacher and the founder and chief serving officer of Active Peace Yoga. Reggie’s yoga and meditation practice have served as a sanctuary of peace and perspective while navigating the stresses of being a Black man in the world. He has been a featured speaker on new consciousness, racial justice, and civic engagement for leading wellness publications. In addition, Reggie has held many senior strategic and logistical roles across a variety of fields, ranging from global marketing to Presidential campaigning. His life’s work sits at the intersection of bringing more peace and balance to activists, guiding the wellness community toward being more engaged, concerned citizens, and enhancing the well-being of all walks of life.

In this conversation, Reggie and Sharon speak about:

• Democracy as call and response

• Re-imagining our current circumstance

• What Reggie learned from his stroke

• The ability to hope is crucial

• Wisdom from Joanna Macy

• External circumstance is not the end of the story

• How spiritual life informs activism

• There is no harvest without planting seeds

• Reggie’s healing retreats for Men of Color

• The challenges men face from patriarchy

• Tending and mending grief

• The importance of not-being-okay

• Compassion versus the rising tides of hatred

• “Love’s in need of love today” – Stevie Wonder

• Why extend goodwill to those who harm us?

• Compassion doesn’t dictate certain actions

• Impermanence as a hope in dark times

• What sphere of influence can you impact?

• Joy as a radical act of self-care

• There must be dancing in the revolution

• Finding peace amidst extreme challenges

Additional Resources

To close out the episode, Reggie leads a gratitude and sound meditation. You can learn more about Reggie’s work right here.

Related Metta Hour Episodes

Episode 210: Reggie’s first appearance on the Metta Hour as part of the Mental Health Series, released in 2023.

Episode 250: Reggie’s second appearance on the Metta Hour, speaking on Election Stress, released in 2024.

Joseph Goldstein, along with Noah & Raghu Markus, discuss how to maintain a balance of compassion and equanimity for a more peaceful life.

This time on Mindrolling, Joseph, Noah, and Raghu explore:

• Buddhist philosophy on relative truth vs. ultimate truth
• Feeling the body as an energy field of changing sensations rather than something solid
• How one can tend the heart in troubled times
• The manifestations of reactivity that make the heart retract
• Seeing our reality as a blip in cosmic time
• Inspiring awe through nature as a way to open and soften the heart
• The book Fall of Civilizations by Paul Cooper
• Balancing the qualities of compassion and equanimity
• Investigating the phenomena of thinking rather than the content of a thought
• Lessons on direct experience from the Bāhiya Sutta

“At those times, you’re stronger on the compassion side and less strong on the equanimity side. When you see that, that can be a good reminder: ‘Oh yeah, this is what’s happening; I need to go out and look at the stars’. We need both. Either one by itself can tend to states that may not be that helpful.” –Joseph Goldstein

About Joseph Goldstein:

Joseph Goldstein has been leading insight and loving-kindness meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. He is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, where he is one of the organization’s guiding teachers. In 1989, together with several other teachers and students of insight meditation, he helped establish the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.

“In meditation, we can begin to feel our bodies not as anything solid but as a dynamic energy field of changing sensations in which the body as we typically perceive it is no longer there.” –Joseph Goldstein

About Noah Markus:

Noah Markus is a content curator & archivist for Love Serve Remember Foundation. He spends his time curating Ram Dass content for podcasts, courses, and much more.

Photo via by Mint_Images

More Mindrolling Podcasts:

Episode one of Mindrolling with Raghu Markus & David Silver

Using modern tools to support inner transformation, ServiceSpace founder Nipun Mehta offers innovative solutions for turning artificial intelligence into collective heart intelligence.

The Movie of Me to The Movie of We with Duncan Trussell & Raghu Markus

The Teachings of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche with David Silver & Raghu Markus

Community organizer Britt Gondolfi joins Anita to explore the impact of knowing your roots, embracing your story, and becoming a force for good.

This time on The Four Sacred Gifts, Anita and Britt explore:

• What it means to understand the self and the shame we carry with us
• The importance of tracing where you come from
• Connecting to our ancestors in dream life and waking life
• Taking responsibility for the care of ecosystems
• The beauty of being in community with people who want to do something good
• Navigating conflict through love
• Going to court on behalf of our environment

About Britt Gondolfi:

Britt Gondolfi, born and raised in Southeast Louisiana, is a children’s book author, community organizer, and mother. Since 2017, Britt has worked with the Bioneers Intercultural Conversation Program, facilitating programming for students from Atlanta, Bogalusa, and Houma. While in law school, Britt supported the Bioneers Rights of Nature initiative by researching the intersection of tribal sovereignty and Federal Indian law, facilitating workshops on the Rights of Nature at the Ho-Chunk and Mashpee Wampanoag nations. She recently took a stand for women’s rights, running a fierce campaign for State Senate in Louisiana. Her first Children’s book, “Look Up! Fontaine the Pigeon Starts a Revolution,” is a hilarious social commentary on digital distraction and Nature’s fight to save us from ourselves.

“I have to recognize that all of that historical memory lives in me, and within this body and lifetime. How do I alchemize the lessons of all of my ancestors? ” – Britt Gondolfi

More Be Here Now Network Podcasts:

Exploring the factors of enlightenment, Vipassana teacher Trudy Goodman offers listeners ‘the good news’ of Buddhist Practice.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Trudy Goodman explores:

• The balancing factor, energizing factors, and calming factors of enlightenment
• Manifesting metta through mindfulness
• Investigation into the truth of the dharma
• Offering compassion to the pain we feel
• The beauty and profound stillness of a unified heart-mind
• Being both the subject and object of experience
• Having faith in the strengthening of our mindfulness skills

This episode was originally published on Dharmaseed

About Trudy Goodman:

Trudy is a Vipassana teacher in the Theravada lineage and the Founding Teacher of InsightLA. For 25 years, in Cambridge, MA, Trudy practiced mindfulness-based psychotherapy with children, teenagers, couples and individuals. Trudy conducts retreats, engages in activism work, and teaches workshops worldwide and online. She is also the voice of Trudy the Love Barbarian in the Netflix series, The Midnight Gospel. You can learn more about Trudy’s flourishing array of wonderful offerings at TrudyGoodman.com

“We can be both the subject and object of experience. We can drop the whole thing and be neither. We have this capacity when we are willing to focus our attention, and, to focus our attention somewhere besides here, we discover a whole world of empathy, love, and intimate connection.” –Trudy Goodman

More Be Here Now Network Podcasts:

Lama Rod Owens covers the dharma of freedom, loving ourselves, ancestral work, and the power of meditation: Dedication to Liberation

JoAnna Hardy shares a guided meditation all around the first foundation of mindfulness – mindfulness of the body: First Foundation Guided Meditation

Through bearing witness, love & service, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee shares how we can collectively heal the crisis of disconnection & ecological devastation: Love & Service

Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh explores how we can joyfully bring mindfulness into everyday activities like phone calls, driving, and walking: The Ojai Foundation Presents: Under the Teaching Tree with Thich Nhat Hanh

Joseph Goldstein investigates the not-so-obvious delight of seeing our own arrogance (Māna), and the balance of knowing ultimate truth while living with a functional sense of “I.”

Today’s episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.

This week on Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein discusses:

• Realizing the truth of non-self while still having an underlying feeling of ‘I am”
• The Buddhist concept of Māna, which can be translated as “pride”, “arrogance”, or “conceit”
• Our tendency to project the past into the future
• Recognizing Māna for what it is and letting the thoughts dissolve
• How the residue of ‘I’ and ‘self’ can fall away during practice
• Engaging the self just enough to live in the relative world

This episode is the 2nd part of a 3-part series. It was originally published on Dharmaseed and recorded at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, a non-profit organization founded by renowned meditation teachers Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg to integrate Buddhist study and practice. To start at the beginning, click HERE.

“These days, I am totally delighted when I see Māna arise in my mind…one of the reasons I am delighted is that I would much rather see it than not see it to recognize ‘that’s Māna’, instead of not recognizing it and being caught up and identified with that pattern. Just the seeing of it is freeing.” –Joseph Goldstein

Photo by Pasanheco

Listen to more from Joseph:

In the search for liberation, we must explore the nature of our existence. Joseph investigates the wisdom of impermanence in Insight Hour Ep. 2.

There are deeper levels of truth about reality. Joseph explores different ways of freeing the mind by understanding the habits of preference and the emptiness of thoughts in Insight Hour Ep. 41.

It’s possible to smile at the antics of one’s own mind. Joseph offers responses to questions about selflessness, shame, cravings, and more in Insight Hour Ep. 111.

Metta practice can penetrate deeply. Joseph explores how love, kindness, gratitude, and friendship can revolutionize our lives in Insight Hour Ep. 117.

In the second half of this powerful wartime talk, Jack Kornfield guides us through the practice of lovingkindness and explores what it means to stay open-hearted in the face of exhaustion, grief, and overwhelm.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/heartwisdom and get on your way to being your best self.

This time on Heart Wisdom, Jack Kornfield chats about:

• Lovingkindness (metta) as a practice of resilience
• Overcoming despair by using our inner resources
• Working with emotional exhaustion and compassion fatigue
• The wisdom of allowing emptiness instead of fixing it
• The power of presence in shaping the future
• Becoming a force of peace in the world

“When we live in the present moment, we can be strong and loving no matter what. We don’t get lost in our fear. The practice of living in the present with mindful, loving awareness is a doorway to your freedom, to your well being.”  –Jack Kornfield

The episode was originally filmed for Mantra Ukraine, you can learn more about them on Instagram

About Jack Kornfield:

Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India, and Burma, studying as a monk under the Buddhist master Ven. Ajahn Chah, as well as the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein and the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies.

Jack is currently offering a wonderful array of transformational online courses diving into crucial topics like Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals, Walking the Eightfold Path, Opening the Heart of Forgiveness, Living Beautifully, Transforming Your Life Through Powerful Stories, and so much more. Sign up for an All Access Pass to explore Jack’s entire course library. If you would like a year’s worth of online meetups with Jack and fellow community, join The Year of Awakening: A Monthly Journey with Jack Kornfield.

Stay up to date with Jack and his stream of fresh dharma offerings by visiting JackKornfield.com and signing up for his email teachings.

“You don’t have to rush your compassion. Just be where you are and hold even the emptiness with great kindness.”  –Jack Kornfield

Photo by Aaaarianne

Krishna Das reflects on Maharaj-ji’s teaching that all names, forms, and journeys lead to the same truth.

This week on Pilgrim Heart, Krishna Das talks about:

• Neem Karoli’s teaching: Sub Ek (all one)
• Following the heart and our own individual path to God
• A dream message that Krishna Das had from Maharaj-ji
• Developing communication skills for improved relationships
• How being hard on ourselves makes it difficult to offer compassion to others
• Putting effort into daily practice
• Living with ease and being with all experiences, good and bad

“Maharaj-ji said one thing to us that was life-changing: sub ek. All one. Many names, many forms, many paths, all one. Different cultures call it by different names, they conceive of it differently, but underneath the thoughts it’s all the same…What Jesus realized is the same thing that the yogis in India realized, that the Zen Buddhists, Sufis, Muslims realized. They don’t get stuck in the difference of the forms. It’s just names; they’re all the names of the same thing which is our own true nature.” –Krishna Das

About Krishna Das:

Layering traditional Hindu kirtan with instantly accessible melodies and modern instrumentation, Grammy nominee Krishna Das has been called yoga’s “rock star.”  With a remarkably soulful voice that touches the deepest chord in even the most casual listener, Krishna Das – known to friends, family, and fans as simply KD – has taken the call-and-response chanting out of yoga centers and into concert halls, becoming a worldwide icon and the best-selling chant artist of all time. His album ‘Live Ananda’ (released January 2012) was nominated for a Grammy in the Best New Age album category.

KD spent the late ’60s traveling across the country as a student of Ram Dass, and in August 1970, he finally made the journey to India, which led him to Ram Dass’ own beloved guru, Neem Karoli Baba, known to most as Maharaj-ji. Krishna Das now travels the world sharing his kirtan practice and wonderful stories of his life, of Maharaji-ji, of his life on the Path and discusses bringing chanting into our lives through retreats and workshops. To date, KD has released 15 well-received albums, most recently Trust in the Heart released in October 2017.

MORE INFORMATION and OFFERINGS VISIT: https://krishnadas.com/ KRISHNA DAS ON SOCIAL: FACEBOOK: facebook.com/KrishnaDasMusic INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/krishnadasmusic YOUTUBE: / krishnadasmusic X: @krishnadas #KrishnaDas

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.

Ram Dass Here & Now is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/ramdass and get on your way to being your best self.

This episode of Here and Now is from a retreat at the Embassy Auditorium in Los Angeles in 1980. Don’t miss the first part of this talk: Ep. 304 – The Wisdom of the Universe.

• Ram Dass begins by talking about how hard it can be to give up the rushes of life; it’s painful when the melodrama isn’t captivating anymore. He dives into his work with death and dying, reading “A Letter to Rachel.”
• Ram Dass transitions into an exploration of using a relationship to awaken. He says that when we want to become who we truly are badly enough, there’s no way not to use everything in our lives as a vehicle for awakening, including our relationships.
• As the talk draws to a close, Ram Dass reminds us that the basic social institution is the human heart. He tells us not to underestimate the power of giving ourselves the space to deepen our beings.

“If you are using a relationship to awaken, everything that your partner does is what they do, and that’s part of the humanness of the situation. And don’t deny the humanness. And don’t get lost in it.” – Ram Dass

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.

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.

Listen to more episodes of the Ram Dass Here and Now Podcast:

Go back to the very beginning of the journey as Ram Dass talks about his early years in life and the psychedelic experience that changed everything in Here and Now Ep. 1.

How does our perception shape our experience of suffering? Ram Dass investigates the many roots of suffering in Here and Now Ep. 132.

We all touch states of transcendence. Ram Dass explores how we can come into contact with the path of awakening in Here and Now Ep. 164.

Ram Dass breaks down the history of psychedelics and helps us understand the risks and rewards of these consciousness-altering chemicals in Here and Now Ep. 183.