Be Here Now Network invites you to listen to this special look back at Dr. Robert Thurman’s many appearances on Mindrolling. We hear about Ram Dass, surfing reality, keeping an open heart, and so much more.

You can help continue Dr. Thurman’s life’s work to preserve Tibetan culture. Visit Tibet House to learn more.

Spanning 10 years of collaboration with the podcast, Dr. Thurman talks about:

• His decades-long friendship with Ram Dass
• Unclamping the heart and seeing our connection with all people
• Clearing out the poison of fear and judgment
• The precious gem of our human embodiment, the waking bardo
• Surfing through reality, rather than trying to control it
• A realistic take on the Eightfold Path and right livelihood
• How releasing selfishness actually benefits us and creates joy
• Lessons on altruism & education from the Dalai Lama
• Cultivating both a clever mind and an open heart

About Dr. Robert Thurman:

Robert Thurman (1941-2026) was an American Buddhist author and academic who wrote, edited, and translated many books on Tibetan Buddhism. He was the Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University before retiring in June 2019. He held the first endowed chair in Buddhist Studies in the West. After education at Philips Exeter and Harvard, he studied Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism for almost thirty years as a personal student of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He wrote both scholarly and popular books and lectured widely all over the world. As President of the American Institute for Buddhist Studies, he convened the First Inner Science Conference with His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Amherst College in 1984. He was also a founding trustee of Tibet House New York. Check out his most recent book Wisdom Is Bliss: Four Friendly Fun Facts That Can Change Your Life.

“When you’re not generous enough, when you’re not open-hearted enough, when you haven’t cultivated opening yourself, then you shoot right past it, just like we shoot through our life. At the moment of death, people report, ‘My life flashed before my eyes in a split second.’ What that means is they didn’t live lucidly. They ran around making money, getting pleasure, doing things, and they have only one split second of quality time when they were there now somewhere” –Dr. Thurman

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Author Phil Goldberg explores the laws of karma as an educational tool for awakening rather than as a system of spiritual judgment.

Help us celebrate 10 years of Be Here Now Network and support the next chapter of Ram Dass Here and Now. Gifts are matched dollar for dollar through June 30. Learn more and give here: BHNN 10th Birthday Fundraiser

This week on Mindrolling, Phil and Raghu discuss:

• The rise of karma in American pop culture
• The Law of Karma by Dr. Robert Svoboda
• Looking to science to understand the laws of karma
• Exploring consciousness through The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown
• How the same action can produce different karmas depending on our states of mind
• Every moment as the result of karma

Grab a copy of Phil's book, Karmic Relief, and explore more about karma and how it can be used.

About Phil Goldberg:

Philip Goldberg is the author or co-author of numerous books, including the award-winning American Veda: From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation, How Indian Spirituality Changed the World (2010); the definitive biography of Paramahansa Yogananda, The Life of Yogananda: The Story of the Yogi Who Became the First Modern Guru (2018); the timeless Spiritual Practice for Crazy Times: Powerful Tools to Cultivate Calm, Clarity, and Courage (2020); and his latest, Karmic Relief: Harnessing the Laws of Cause and Effect for a Joyful, Meaningful Life (2025). His numerous articles have appeared in publications ranging from the Los Angeles Times to Huffington Post to Spirituality & Health. As a public speaker and workshop leader, he has presented at leading venues online and in person. A spiritual counselor, meditation teacher, and ordained Interfaith Minister as well, he hosts the Spirit Matters podcast and writes substantive essays on his Substack, Practical Spirituality with Philip Goldberg. He is also an active board member of the Association for Spiritual Integrity.

“The same action can produce different karma depending on the state of the mind of the person doing it and their intention. Someone can write a big check, but if they’re doing it to get their name on a plaque, it doesn’t have the same karmic impact as a humble person giving what they can without any hope of recognition or any ego.” –Phil Goldberg

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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.

Help us celebrate 10 years of Be Here Now Network and support the next chapter of Ram Dass Here and Now. Gifts are matched dollar for dollar through June 30. Learn more and give here: BHNN 10th Birthday Fundraiser

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

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

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.

“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

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