Brilliant Disguise Shares How K.C. Tewari Influenced a Generation

Brilliant Disguise is a feature-length documentary that tells the life story of a humble Indian man, K.C. Tewari. K.C. Tewari was not a household name, but he helped influence the spiritual paths of multiple generations as well as the influx of Eastern spirituality in the West today.

The film gently unfolds as the viewer is shown the stories of Westerners who visited with K.C. Tewari in India in the 1970s. During the counter-culture revolution of that time, Ram Dass and other Westerners made their way to India and met a handful of exceptional beings who changed their lives forever. One of those was the famous Indian guru, Neem Karoli Baba. What many people don’t know is that before Neem Karoli Baba (Maharaji) left his body, he instructed K.C. Tewari to take care of those Western seekers.

The Power of Acceptance and Truth on the Spiritual Journey

Brilliant Disguise is a meditation as well as a roadmap of consciousness through the perspective of a unique man. Whether you believe in consciousness, the Divine, G-d or some other energetic source, once you see the film, your belief may expand or be validated. This is because of this moving story of K.C. Tewari, who exhibited a non-judgmental energy and acceptance that was remarkable to the Western seekers.

The story of this extraordinary man in the film is told through recounting personal experiences from a variety of noteworthy musicians, writers, and seekers of truth. These intimate accounts are interwoven with archival footage of K.C. and his family. Together, we bear witness to the story of an extraordinary person. When first met, Tewari may have appeared to be an ordinary family man and the headmaster of a school; but he was far from ordinary.

Personal Stories of An Extraordinary Teacher

Kirtan artist Jai Uttal described K.C. Tewari with his white head of hair, acting like an antenna channeling the unseen energy of devotion, his beak-like peaceful face, and warmth of heart. He exuded the vibration of truth. The devotees described him again and again as a conduit to the Divine embodiment of unconditional love that it is everywhere; readily available to anyone who believes.

If you are open to the belief that there is a benevolent force, the messages of proof are found throughout Brilliant Disguise. From the wind blowing the foliage behind Krishna Das and Raghu Markus as they recounted tales of Tewari as if on cue, invoking to the story of Radha explaining his ninja-like tendencies, blending into the woodwork and the unconditional loving support of a child who was ill.

If the stories weren’t enough, the film has actual footage of Tewari entering the transcendent state of consciousness known as samadhi. One way to consider samadhi is that it is like a spiritual coma.  In this state of samadhi, he spent time on another plane of existence. Through the film, we have the blessing to see how his centered, deeply devoted, concentrated energy and love of the Divine transcended his way of living and impacted everyone around him. In addition, Tewari understood and honored the power of women in the spiritual life. This is seen through his beloved wife, who was as much a saint as he was. K.C. Tewari was a “be here now” instructor of the most genuine kind.

Experience the Magic in Daily Life

I highly recommended this film to anyone who needs a dose of magic. For that’s what this film exudes – magic through stories from people who witnessed the extraordinary within the ordinary. Brilliant Disguise honors the profound love of K.C. Tewari, whose faith was so deep, who devoted his life service to others and now his vibration will live on forever. By the end of the film, you will have felt like you had a deep meditative experience with a sense of hope and a vibration of love.

Isn’t that what life is about, after all? Love, faith, mixed in with some magic.

See Brilliant Disguise in Theaters

Brilliant Disguise will be playing at select theaters, including the Laemmle Monica Film Center.

Join Director Raghu Markus and guests for a Q & A on Friday, September 30.

Rent or Buy Brilliant Disguise to Watch at Home

The film is available on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and on Vimeo On Demand.

You can visit ramdass.org/brilliantdisguise to learn more.

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/kctewari

Shelley Karpaty

Shelley Karpaty is a yogi living in the Bay Area where she brings her spirit into writing, recruiting and career coaching. Medium: medium.com/@skarpaty and Instagram @shelleykarpaty

www.medium.com/@skarpaty 

The post The Documentary Brilliant Disguise Shares A Powerful Spiritual Story appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Kara Love Project Raises Funds for Wellness

Love, music, community and a whole lot of dancing marked the heartfelt and harmonious tenor of The Kara Love Project’s third annual Backyard Music Fundraiser. The event was held at the home of Lily and David Dulan. Lily Dulan, founder of The Kara Love Project (KLP), Maggie Lin, event coordinator, and volunteers orchestrated a beautiful evening of artists, musicians, and community to celebrate life and improve the lives of others. In October, 2019, more than 200 people from New York to Los Angeles gathered to support KLP as it raised awareness and support of its new Wellness Initiative — health and wellness programming that nurtures community and connection for children, adults, seniors and marginalized individuals locally and globally. As guests came together to show support for KLP, they also grooved to the legendary Ace of Cups, 1960’s all-female rock band along with other notable musicians, setting the stage for an evening of love, hope and positivity.

Background of the Backyard Music Fundraisers

In 2007, Lily and David lost their two-month-old daughter Kara Meyer Dulan to SIDS. Lily founded The Kara Love Project (KLP) in Kara’s memory, honoring her life with a foundation that promotes conscious giving and positive action for underserved and marginalized individuals and communities locally and around the globe. Over the past few years, the KLP Backyard Music Fundraiser has supported organizations such as The Unatti Foundation for Girls, The Dillon Henry Foundation’s Congo Peace School, Venice Arts, and Camp Brave Tails.

Supporting Music, Movement, and Meditation for Seniors

KLP teamed up with Spring Gross to help her give her Music, Movement, and Meditation program (Y.U.M.M.Y. Time) to communities that need it the most. Through KLP’s support, Spring and a team of qualified and charismatic facilitators deliver a weekly dose of musical medicine, meditation, yoga, and community to senior and adult residents of underserved nursing home facilities in Los Angeles. Over the past six months, this engaging, full-sensory program has enriched the lives of more than 150 seniors and adults in LA county.

According to gerontology expert Dr. Connie Corley, “the KLP Wellness Initiative is a landmark program that is changing the paradigm of senior care.” Lily said, “Seniors can be a forgotten audience and yet have so much to contribute to the fabric of our society. KLP wanted to find a way to have a healthy, lasting impact on seniors who are marginalized for whatever reason.”

The evening ushered in KLP’s Wellness Initiative with a video showcasing Spring Gross’ Music, Movement and Meditation program, followed by stellar musical performances by Joey Lugassy, Spring Gross, and the legendary Ace of Cups all-women rock group from the late 60s Haight-Ashbury. Denise Kaufman from Ace of Cups has been a personal mentor to Lily and a source of inspiration to many by the way she leads her life and work as a community leader and yoga teacher.

With a further nod to the past and focus on the present, the crowd was honored with a special guest appearance by Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills & Nash who, along with his wife Kristen and son Chris Stills, presented a service award to Ace of Cups for their generations of community good works. friendship and action.

Joey Lugassy, Lily Dulan, and Spring Groove

In fact, their backyard is where artist and musician Joey Lugassy and Micheline Berry wed and where Lily and Denise Kaufman’s (Ace of Cups) friendship took root nearly a decade ago. Lily is so grateful for Denise’s ongoing support and KLP was thrilled to partner with her and the Ace of Cups on their fundraiser.

Kara Love Project and the Wellness Initiatives

The brightly colored posters at the event featured those of all ages and cultures — images of smiling children and older adults tell the story of happiness, healing and hope. “We’re honored The Kara Love Project is touching a wide range of people young and old,” says Lily. “The aim of our Wellness Initiative is to make accessible the universal healing tools that help so many of us on the conscious path move through life with more, soul grace and dignity.”

Lily Dulan and the Name Work

Lily, an MFT Psychotherapist and Heart of Yoga Teacher, is looking forward to integrating additional Wellness Initiatives into the KLP fold over the next year.  The Name Work is a method Lily developed to uncover the powerful qualities in a name to help people move through grief, loss, pain and suffering of all kinds. Lily has delivered her Name Work program to KLP’s community partners Venice Arts and Camp Brave Trails and has presented her work at professional conferences and on a variety of podcasts and radio shows in the field of healing. Also on the horizon, KLP has partnered with Maggie Lin, founder of the national non-profit Foster Nation. Plans are forthcoming to bring wellness and healing tools to foster youth who are matriculating out of the system. Lily is also working on a book about her Name Work method which is contracted to launch in early 2021.

Because of the generosity of their supporters, KLP will be expanding their Music, Movement, and Mediation program to three additional low-income senior facilities in 2020 and will acquire more instruments so that all of the participants can join if desired.

Learn More about Kara Love Project and Spring Groove

Learn more at: thekaraloveproject.org.

Learn more about Spring Groove and Y.U.M.M.Y Time: Your Ultimate Music Meditation Yoga Time, a Music, Movement, and Meditation Program at: springgroove.com/y-u-m-m-y-time.

Julie Lear contributed to the writing of this article with Shelley Karpaty

Photos by The Kara Love Project & Spring Groove

Shelley Karpaty

Shelley Karpaty is a yogi living in the Bay Area where she brings her spirit into writing, recruiting and career coaching. Medium: medium.com/@skarpaty and Instagram @shelleykarpaty

www.medium.com/@skarpaty 

The post Kara Love Project Supports Music-Based Wellness Programs for Seniors appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

A film exploring enlightenment with humor and self-acceptance

Becoming Nobody is a feature-length documentary that dives into American spiritual teacher Ram Dass’ quintessential wisdom through authenticity, humor, and pure humanness. This film is a collaboration between director Jamie Catto, producer Raghu Markus (who is also the Director of Love Serve Remember Foundation), and Google Empathy Labs. The viewer is given access to perspectives that can change their life through the story of Ram Dass’ own evolution from “somebody” into “nobody.”

Being “somebody” can be analogous to wearing a suit that doesn’t quite fit, that is a bit tight and naggingly uncomfortable. But we wear it nonetheless. When Ram Dass was “somebody” he achieved the expected societal accomplishments: impressive college degrees, a high-profile job, status symbol cars, and more. Then he took that first psilocybin trip, which started the process of the diminishment of ego. Becoming Nobody is about taking off the suit in order to discover and transform to our true selves. When we strive for authenticity, others will feel safe to do so as well.

Maintaining an Attitude of Openness

The lessons shared in Becoming Nobody do not suggest that we must become completely ‘nobody’ or abandon our human-ness. Rather it is a process that includes remaining open and curious, and developing the Witness that observes the drama. Part of this process is to remain open and curious and to witness yourself in your drama. We all wear different masks for the dramas of life. As we learn to strip away the masks, we find our hearts and minds becoming open to every part of the play of life. For Ram Dass, practicing and maintaining an attitude of openness to it all remains an essential element of the lesson for us in shedding our masks and becoming ‘nobody.’

Powerful Conversations in Becoming Nobody

One of the most striking moments in Becoming Nobody takes place during a conversation between Ram Dass and Jamie Catto. While Jamie shares his struggles with his own masks, Ram Dass’ soft blue eyes see right into Jamie. We are immediately drawn into that intimate connection. This beautiful exchange visually illustrates how seeing beyond the masks can unite us. It takes us outside of the self-centered “me” and into the communal “we.”

Jamie Catto and Ram Dass

Our Journey of Becoming Nobody

Ram Dass’ timeless teachings offer welcome shifts in perspective that cultivate curiosity and desire for this path to discovery. With loving humor, compassion and kindness, Ram Dass guides us away from our self-judging minds to show where our ego is hiding us from our deeper, truer selves. Ultimately, we are encouraged to explore our own journey from ‘somebody’ to ‘nobody.’

See the Film Becoming Nobody

Becoming Nobody opens on September 6. Look for it in theaters in NYC, LA, and San Francisco. Learn more at: becomingnobody.com

For more information about Ram Dass’ teachings: https://www.ramdass.org

Shelley Karpaty

Shelley Karpaty is a yogi living in the Bay Area where she brings her spirit into writing, recruiting and career coaching. Medium: medium.com/@skarpaty and Instagram @shelleykarpaty

www.medium.com/@skarpaty 

The post Ram Dass on Becoming Nobody appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Zoë Kors photo by Emily Sandifer

Photos of Zoë Kors by Emily Sandifer

Relationship is the bootcamp of self-realization

I saw her across the tent in the middle of the desert in Joshua Tree at Bhakti Fest, and the oppressive dry heat was farthest from my mind. She radiated warmth, aglow with her welcoming smile to every woman who came up to her expressing some form of gratitude. Donning a flowy white top and pants, with platinum short hair and blue eyes, Zoë Kors wore a silver ring in the shape of a clitoris.

I immediately thought of The Red Tent by Anita Diamont, a book I had read so long ago about the significance and purpose of women in Biblical times. During a woman’s moon cycle, and during and after childbirth, she would stay in the Red Tent with only other women, where they were their own authorities.

It was no coincidence I found Zoë; as a fellow explorer seeking out new paths of expression, I had covered some ground but never explored womanhood through the lens of sexuality in a group setting. A suburban mom and professional, I longed for a more spiritual context for my sexuality. I had subscribed to Zoë’s free emails “Daily Notes from Your Pussy” which delivers wisdom daily to your inbox in the voice of your vagina. So I was excited to attend her workshop. I became eager for the session to begin.

Changing Conversation. Cultivating Consciousness

Zoë Kors is a sex and intimacy coach. She is on a mission to revolutionize the way we think about, talk about, and experience sexuality. She delivers her work through online programs, private coaching, personal and couples intensives and retreats, and at Bhakti Fest workshops both co-ed and for women only.

A sought-after “sexpert,” she is widely published and is currently consulting and creating content for Coral, a new sexuality app. Zoë is also a featured sex expert on Residence11.com, a new website focusing on sex and lifestyle.

In the space of Sacred Sexuality, Zoë’s voice is unique. A native New Yorker, she maintains a no-nonsense edge, while throwing down deeply spiritual ideas about sexuality that lean into her extensive training and initiation in her tantra lineage. She’s part intellectual, part hippie. The result is a unique style of applied mysticism.

Sexuality Nourishes the Soul

In the workshop for women I attended, she described women’s sexuality as something that exists for ourselves—separate from partners—as a means of nourishing our souls. She spoke of the need for having a practiced method of connecting to our essential sensual nature through sensation and pleasure, and taught that it’s through the formlessness of arousal that the sacred feminine rises.

She says, “So much of my work is giving women permission to express themselves from a place of deep and wild truth. In order to do that we have to unravel the trauma of being raised a woman in a culture that devalues the very energy we were born to embody.”

Zoë goes on, “We are the great manifestors, we create life. And we do so by leveraging our capacity to channel creative life force energy. Shakti is expansive, chaotic, non-linear, unpredictable. This kind of energy scares the daylights out of the patriarchy. Our superpower is the very thing that we are told make us simultaneously “not enough” and “too much.”

Licking Honey from the Razor’s Edge

It’s the juxtaposition of our sacred and human selves that Zoë’s work addresses so beautifully.
Life in general, and sex specifically, can be experienced from two different perspectives at the same time. We can relate person-to-person, and also soul-to-soul.

Zoë’s own varied life experiences have brought her to where she is now. Her original Zen seeds were planted by Alan Watts as she lay in bed late at night listening to his dharma talks on the radio. Watts called himself a Zennist and offered Buddhism as an alternative to psychotherapy.

A few years later while studying Art History at University of Pennsylvania, she leaned heavily on those teachings when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. As Zoë’ says, “There is something inherently spiritual about having (and surviving) cancer at the age of 20. It was a very powerful lesson in non-attachment. The inevitability of death is a beautiful teacher.”

Her interest in Zen expanded to other spiritual disciplines. These days, Zoë is back to her Zen beginnings as a member of Prajna Heart Zen Center in the DTLA Arts District.

Yoga is something she began practicing  in a tiny studio above a used bookstore, long before it became the industry it is today. Many years later it was through her yoga practice that she discovered Kirtan (call-and-response devotional chanting) and finally Tantra through an immersion with the late Psalm Isadora, which permanently transformed her life.

“There is a lot I could say about Psalm,” Zoë reflects. “For me, she completely shredded the veil of illusion and exposed me to a world, a reality, a paradigm that was so profoundly real, it replaced my entire idea of what my life was all about. She was brilliant and mesmerizing and magical and infuriating—in all the best ways. It was through working with Psalm that I learned life is like licking honey from the razor’s edge, tasting the sweetness as it cuts you.”

Photo of Zoë Kors by Emily Sandifer

Radical Intimacy

It is not surprising that Zoë’s work with women has led her to coaching couples. In fact, couples currently make up 50% of her client roster. She will tell you that her passion for relational work is a direct reflection of the arrival of her soon-to-be husband, Andrew Thomas Roth, a Zen practitioner and coach in his own right who co-facilitates her couples programs and workshops.

Zoë’s couples work has inspired her own model which she calls “Radical Intimacy.” She has a couples program, workshop, and a forthcoming book under that name. Her methodology includes the balanced and skillful weaving of the three kinds of intimacy (physical, emotional, and what she calls energetic) with the three levels of intimacy (self, other, and the universe).

“One of the questions I am asked most often by women — as well as men – is, ‘How do we have a more deeply connected, intimate experience inside and outside the bedroom?’ ” Zoë says. “There is a simple truth about relationship. We can meet each other only to the extent that we can meet ourselves. If you want to feel more connected, you must be more connected to yourself. A necessary component of relational work is individual work. I often say that relationship is the bootcamp of self-realization. Fortunately, I’ve got some hacks to make it more pleasurable!”

At the end of the workshop, we became a tribe of women, seeing each other for our heartache and beauty. Tears and smiles were abundant as we hugged one another, sharing an intimate moment in time with our hearts open. How does one go back into the world with a heart wide open? By leaning into our collective womanhood, by allowing our innate, wild, feeling-nature, and by tending the flame within. Walking away, I realized this is the sisterhood that will break the patriarchy.

More Radical Intimacy

To learn more about Zoë Kors, visit zoekors.com. Follow her on Instagram @zoekors.

Zoë Kors at Bhakti Fest

Zoë Kors will be leading workshops at Bhakti Fest at 29 Palms in September. For more information, check out the schedule at: bhaktifest.com.

Shelley Karpaty

Shelley Karpaty is a yogi living in the Bay Area where she brings her spirit into writing, recruiting and career coaching. Medium: medium.com/@skarpaty and Instagram @shelleykarpaty

www.medium.com/@skarpaty 

The post Radical Intimacy, Sex, and Consciousness with Zoë Kors appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Catalysts for Service

The Kara Love Project is a heartfelt example of how our heartbreak and grief can become catalysts for deepening our service in the world. Sometimes how we can cope with and even transform sorrow can be found in community, particularly if we’ve been cultivating throughout life. For Lily and Dave Dulan, this is part of the story of the creation of the Kara Love Project.

This story began in Venice 13 years ago when Lily and Dave Dulan turned their home into a local temple. Their living room became a space for yoga and devotional music where kirtan wallahs, teachers, and artists like Joey Lugassy, Mark Whitwell, and Spring Groove shared their gifts. The couple brought people together to teach, commune, and chant the names of the Divine.

Lily and Dave moved out of their small home in Venice to begin a family through a challenging series of fertility treatments. Lily was hospitalized for two months during her pregnancy due to complications. Their community came to support. There were even kirtan sessions played bedside in the hospital.

In a long-awaited moment, Lily and Dave welcomed their baby Kara Meyer Dulan on May 22, 2009, while surrounded by their community.  Kara passed of SIDS on July 29, 2009, only two months after she entered the world. It was devastating. The same people who surrounded them in Venice were there, singing, speaking, and grieving alongside them at home.

From Grief to Philanthropy

After much growth and healing, Lily and Dave adopted two baby girls, Marcelle and Sally, who are thriving. Lily felt called to honor Kara’s brief life and her philanthropic nature gave birth to the Kara Love Project.

Dulan Family

The mission of the Kara Love Project is to promote conscious giving and positive action for underserved and marginalized individuals and communities worldwide. The Dulan’s Westside backyard has become a venue to support this mission through gathering community.

Kara Love Project Collaborations

In 2017, the Kara Love Project’s first annual backyard benefit supported the Unatti Foundation, an organization with which the Kara Love Project has an ongoing relationship. Unatti is dedicated to raising funds to provide food, shelter, and education for orphaned and underprivileged children living at the Unatti Group Home in Bhaktapur, Nepal.

Kara Love also collaborates with Venice Arts, a program that provides free classes in the arts to local youth. This cause is one of the first to inspire the Kara Love Project. The Dulans have been sending children to Venice Arts Camp each summer since Kara passed away.

In October 2018, the Kara Love Project raised funds and awareness for the Congo Peace School. Lily connected with Harriet Zaretsky and Steve Henry, who also lost a child suddenly. Harriet and Steve founded The Dillon Henry Foundation whose mission is similar to the Kara Love Project. They wish to create a worldwide community of individuals who show compassion and are compelled to take personal responsibility to change the world for the better. The Dillon Henry Foundation connected Lily to their passion for the Congo Peace School. A school with a curriculum based on peace and nonviolence.

Kara Love Project Backyard Music Events

Lily and her team, including Kelly Mickel and numerous volunteers, orchestrated an evening of bringing together artists, musicians, and community to support these interconnected missions. Musicians C.C. White, Joey Lugassy and band along with headliner Macy Gray filled the backyard with music. Supporters feasted, bid on a silent auction of art, and had their tarot cards read by Nadine Kljner.

Lily Dulan and Kelly Mickel

Attendees were moved by the video showcasing the Congo Peace School students. Then people bid on the live auction led by beloved bhakti teacher Shiva Baum. Reverend Michael Bernard Beckwith, Rabbi Neil Comess Daniels, basketball icon and mental health activist Metta World Peace, Micheline Berry, Dearbhla Kelley, Dave Stringer, and Denise Kaufman were just a few of the 300 change-makers in attendance supporting Kara Love.

Breaking Down the Walls

Lily spoke about taking down the walls that we build around our hearts. “If we can’t look each other in the eye and give a hug instead of a handshake in my backyard then what are we here for? We need to break down the walls and help one another to make the world a better place!”

In addition to her work as a community leader, Lily touches others through her work as an MFT psychotherapist, writer, and Heart of Yoga teacher. Her personal mission is to help people release the fears that separates us. As a hostess she embodies her beliefs.

She hosted an evening filled with love, generosity and community during which Macy Gray led us in singing, “Everything’s gonna be alright” into the night air for the whole neighborhood to hear.

Macy Gray Sharing the Love at the Kara Love Project Backyard Benefit

Here’s to the ripple effects that are created through the inspiration that lead us all to smile at a stranger—and do whatever we can to experience our own sorrow while also deepening our service in the world.

For more information on the Kara Love Project, visit: thekaraloveproject.org

 

Shelley Karpaty

Shelley Karpaty is a yogi living in the Bay Area where she brings her spirit into writing, recruiting and career coaching. Medium: medium.com/@skarpaty and Instagram @shelleykarpaty

www.medium.com/@skarpaty 

The post The Kara Love Project appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.

Ram Dass is a pivotal influence on a culture that has reverberated with the words “Be Here Now” ever since the seminal book was published in 1971. His spirit has been a guiding light for three generations. Ram Dass’ words have carried millions on their spiritual journeys. He has helped others become free from their bonds as he worked through his own. Ram Dass’ practice of karma yoga (spiritual service) has opened millions of other souls to their own deep, yet individuated, spiritual practice and path.

Ram Dass continues to uphold the boddhisatva ideal for others through his compassionate sharing of true knowledge and vision. His unique skill in getting people to cut through and feel divine love without dogma continues to be a positive influence worldwide.

Director Derek Peck has toured the nation showing his latest documentary 30-minute short titled Ram Dass, Going Home. The film is now available to watching streaming on Netflix. This documentary is an homage to Ram Dass as he lives out the remainder of his time on earth in his body. It poignantly captures the essence of Ram Dass’ teachings.

Director Derek Peck and his Spiritual Path

Derek has been a storyteller for over 20 years, as a journalist and more recently in film. He has produced and directed short films on artists such as Peter Beard and Marina Abramovi, in which he tells their singular stories. Derek’s own spiritual path studying Eastern religions and being influenced by teachers such as Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung led him to read the book Be Here Now when he was in his 20s.

Fast forward a few years. Derek asked himself, “What would Ram Dass’ teaching be now that he is in the last chapter of his life?” There are other noteworthy films exploring Ram Dass’s life (such as Fierce Grace and Dying to Know). Derek wanted to know more specifically whether Ram Dass’ stroke more than 20 years ago has changed his outlook or path.

I viewed Going Home in San Francisco’s Dolby Theatre. This was an experience in of itself. The theatre’s high tech, state-of-the-art design did justice to the film’s visuals and sounds. I was captivated by Maui’s lush foliage as well as the sounds of the birds, wind, and ocean. It was as though I could feel the warm trade winds blowing through the palm trees; the waterfalls, streams and ocean flowed, inviting me to hear Ram Dass’s words like a lullaby speaking to my very soul.

Ram Dass Narrates the Process of Going Home

There is synchronicity in the visits of elements of nature as when Ram Dass is sitting at the Hanuman Garden statue, a lizard climbs up the statute for a brief visit as if to say “Hello, I see you and you see me.” And the moment Ram Dass exhales deeply the sun shines bright over his head as if spirit is surrounding him and his own light. In some people’s eyes, these instances would be considered to be a little nod from his guru Maharajji, an acknowledgement that he knows your heart is open enough to feel the energy.

Ram Dass is the film’s narrator. He leads us from his time using psychedelics to his trips to India and meeting his guru, and later to his stroke. Interspersed with the tale is his wisdom. He reminds us, “Make friends with change. Death is just another change. Identifying with soul and death is a snap. Death is like taking off a tight shoe.” Overall, it feels like a personal guided meditation.

In the process of making Going Home, Derek says he spent a period of months with Ram Dass talking and simply being with him. He describes the experience as a mixture of love, awe and presence.

Ram Dass’ incredibly open and receptive spirit is at peace, which comes across instantaneously. Because he doesn’t speak as fluently as he did before the strokes, when he does it is beautiful, profound and poetic.

“There are really no words to justify the feelings of being with Ram Dass, his energy permeates through his teaching and his very presence opens your heart,” Derek explained.

The Film as a Teaching

As the film came together, Derek realized that it would become a teaching and has found that it has an impact when people watch it. Even those who are closest to Ram Dass feel the teachings in a new way. Perhaps one of the most down-to-earth and real lessons of the film is that, although Ram Dass is an iconic teacher for over 50 years and has written dozens of books, he admits that he is merely a human on the path. He says he is still working to the connection of his own soul.

Derek sensed that Ram Dass had come even deeper on his path of self-realization since the most recent documentary. This film is pure and powerful, an introspective of life and the desire to live with as much grace as humanly possible. Ram Dass says he wishes everyone could experience the grace his stroke has offered him. He encourages all to find grace within the time we have on earth. “We are all walking each other home.”

Ram Dass: Going Home is alive with dignity and grace. It has brought me back to seeing others as souls more than people. Watch it more than once, since something new will be seen each time. This film will become a reference point for all on the path of walking each other home.

Shelley Karpaty

Shelley Karpaty is a yogi living in the Bay Area where she brings her spirit into writing, recruiting and career coaching. Medium: medium.com/@skarpaty and Instagram @shelleykarpaty

www.medium.com/@skarpaty 

The post Ram Dass, Going Home appeared first on LA Yoga Magazine - Ayurveda & Health.