Sacred Community Podcast
by Sacred Community Project
The Sacred Community Project is an interspiritual collective working to awaken Sacred Community in the world. With the universal teachings of “Love, Service, Remembrance, and Truth” as our guide, we utilize modern technology to promote eternal values. The Sacred Community Podcast is home to SCP interviews, live workshop recordings, dharma talks, and meditations. Learn more at sacredcommunityproject.org
Episodes
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Grief Roundtable: Impermanence and the Art of Loving and Letting Go
In this grief roundtable, SCP facilitators Lakshmi Abrol, Janaki Barbush, and Chelsea Forte sit down with Carly Misenheimer for a tender and enlightening discussion on the nature of grief, death, impermanence, and love. If this episodes inspires a quality of deep rest and nourishment, consider...
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Living Presence: The Love and Teachings of Ram Dass
This Q&A from the 2025 Sacred Community Retreat contains a discussion on the final moments of Ram Dass's life, the events that led to the creation of Hanuman Maui, and ways to apply Ram Dass's teachings of Loving Awareness. Featuring Ram Dass caregivers Pavan Das and Sitaram Dass and joined by...
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Creative Tensions: Sacred Community Retreat 2025 (Q&A #2)
This second Q&A from the 2025 Sacred Community Retreat features a discussion on acting with kindness and the creative tension between acceptance and ambition and how it intersects with our careers, artistic pursuits, and spiritual lives. It ends with a few Ram Dass stories for good measure. It…
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Connor Burns: Just Sitting (Sacred Community Retreat 2025)
Connor Burns leads a 20-minute meditation using the Zen concept of "just sitting" as a doorway into accepting the moment with an open heart and being in "relationship with the vastness of reality." This guided meditation from the 2025 Sacred Community Retreat ends with an invitation to continue...
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Vasu Jon Seskevich: The English Hanuman Chalisa (Sacred Community Retreat 2025)
In this satsang from the 2025 Sacred Community Retreat, Vasu Jon Seskevich teaches the essence of Hanuman, sings the Hanuman Chalisa in English, and shares stories of his time with Ram Dass. This year's retreat is August 13-16th, and Vasu will be joining a "wisdom panel" with Dassima from Hanuman...
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Living Spiritually in Daily Life: Sacred Community Retreat 2025 (Q&A #1)
In this first Q&A from the 2025 Sacred Community Retreat, the facilitation team answers the question, "What does it mean to live spiritually and authentically in everyday life?" This episode features Lakshmi Abrol, Swapnil Abrol, Connor Burns, zander cole, Pavan Das, Sitaram Dass, and Beverly…
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Noah Hoffeld: Listening, Improvisation, and Living the Path
Noah Hoffeld chats with zander about music as a sacred path of listening and explores the intricacies of what it means to play improvisational cello in kirtan. He also discusses time spent with spiritual teachers such as Ram Dass, Krishna Das, and David Nichtern, and he expounds on the essence of...
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Rasa Lila Duet: Sitaram Dass and Swapnil Abrol
"The dance of Krishna with the Gopis is a nectar-enriched tale that sparks delight from each turn of phrase. Every page is an Ambrosia-soaked rag, its absorbent capacity so overwhelmed it sweats honey; the slightest touch and Amrit rains down like a monsoon, watering the imagination and…
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Merging with Love: Visualization Meditation with Sitaram Dass
This recorded audio meditation is from the 2024 Loving Rock Training. Sitaram Dass leads a heart-opening visualization of merging with a being of unconditional love. This meditation was from the module on Dream Logic, and it led to a discussion about how intention and imagination can open us to...
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Dream Logic: Navigating Non-Ordinary Realities with Swapnil Abrol
In this talk from the 2024 Loving Rock Training, Swapnil Abrol (he/him) shares his personal reflections from along the spiritual path. Starting from his first psychedelic experience, exploring different modalities of connection to being trained as a shaman, Swap offers insights on how to navigate...
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Just Love: Birth of a Forest Ashram with Bala and Nivay
Bala Yancey and Nivay Sahaye sit down with zander to chat about the Just Love Forest Ashram. They discuss the journey of its founding and highlight themes of: Listening to the heart, fostering community, reverence, spiritual practice, death, green burials, stewarding, sovereignty, and communing...
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Meditation: Sacred Mindfulness with Connor Burns
Connor Burns leads a short mindfulness meditation at the 2024 Sacred Community Retreat on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia. Connor Burns (he/him) is a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC) and emotional wellness advocate living in Vancouver, BC Canada. Connor's curiosity of the human…
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40-minute Mantra Meditation: Sitaram Dass at Salt Spring Island
After giving a talk on Loving Imperfections, Sitaram Dass leads a 40-minute Loving Awareness mantra meditation. This meditation was recorded on day 3 of the 2024 Sacred Community Retreat on Salt Spring Island. Sitaram Dass (K. Sandin, LCSW) (he/him) spent several years serving his beloved teacher...
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Sitaram Dass: Loving Imperfection (2024 SCP Retreat)
Sitaram Dass discusses how to love imperfections without having to "jump through cognitive hoops" to do so. This talk was recorded on day 3 of the 2024 Sacred Community Retreat on Salt Spring Island, and it preceded a 40-minute Loving-Awareness mantra meditation. Sitaram Dass (K. Sandin, LCSW)...
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Sitaram Dass: Talking About Love (2024 SCP Retreat)
In this talk from the 2024 Sacred Community Retreat, Sitaram Dass talks about Love, lessons learned from ram Dass, and mantra meditation as a form of "applied Bhav." Sitaram Dass (K. Sandin, LCSW) (he/him) spent several years serving his beloved teacher Ram Dass on Maui, where he was shown the…
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Infinitely Loved Just as You Are: Swapnil Abrol (2024 SCP Retreat)
Swapnil Abrol discusses the nature of bhakti as unconditional love and asks the question, "What would you do if you really knew that you were infinitely loved just as you are?" Recorded from the 2024 Sacred Community Retreat in British Columbia. Learn more about the 2025 retreat this upcoming...
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Swapnil Abrol: Aarti, Bhakti, and Love (2024 SCP Retreat)
Swapnil Abrol discusses unconditional love, and why we perform the bhakti ritual of aarti. Recorded from the 2024 Sacred Community Retreat in British Columbia. Learn more about this year’s retreat this upcoming August 14-17 2025. Swapnil Abrol (he/him) is an SCP board member and retreat...
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Ram Dass Stories: What did you have to let go of? (Sitaram Dass and Pavan Das)
Sitaram Dass and Pavan Das tell stories about their time with Ram Dass and answer the question, "What did you have to let go of to be with him?" Recorded from the 2024 Sacred Community Retreat. Sitaram Dass and Pavan Das were both caregivers for Ram Dass, and now they continue their spiritual…
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Integration and Grief: Sacred Community Retreat 2024 (Q&A #3)
In this third Q&A from the 2024 Sacred Community Retreat, Sitaram Dass leads a discussion on transitioning from a spiritual retreat into our everyday lives and ends by answering an audience question on the nature of grief. He is also joined in the conversation by Pavan Das, Swapnil Abrol, and...
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Everyday is Sacred: Sacred Community Retreat 2024 (Q&A #2)
In this second Q&A from the 2024 Sacred Community Retreat, the facilitation team continues in the topic of practice and grace, discussing how to "bring the sacred into everyday," Guru Kripa, the steps of aarti, and the role and pitfalls of psychedelics. Lakshmi and Connor share some Ram Dass...
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Practice and Grace: Sacred Community Retreat 2024 (Q&A #1)
The Sacred Community Retreat facilitation team discusses the role of practice and grace on the spiritual path. Recorded from the second day of the 2024 Sacred Community Retreat, this episode features Lakshmi Abrol, Swapnil Abrol, Connor Burns, zander cole, Pavan Das, Sitaram Dass, Beverly Hsu…
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30-minute Loving-Awareness Meditation: Sitaram Dass at Just Love Forest (P3)
This three part series is taken from a lecture and guided meditation that Sitaram Dass gave at the Sacred Community Retreat at Just Love Forest in Poetry, Georgia. In Part 3, he applies the principles from his lecture on mantra and releasing struggle into a guided Loving-Awareness meditation.…
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The Holy Names of God: Sitaram Dass at Just Love Forest (P2)
This three part series is taken from a lecture and guided meditation that Sitaram Dass gave at the Sacred Community Retreat at Just Love Forest in Poetry, Georgia. In Part 2, he gives a lecture on the Holy Names as a doorway to relating to life with a loving stance. Learn more about this year’s...
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Softness, Ease, and Releasing Struggle: Sitaram Dass at Just Love Forest (P1)
This three part series is taken from a lecture and guided meditation that Sitaram Dass gave at the Sacred Community Retreat at Just Love Forest in Poetry, Georgia. In Part 1, he opens with a short meditation and lecture on cultivating a mind of ease that can release inner struggle. Learn more…
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Companioning: Skills for Loving and Tending to Suffering with Anna Le
This is a recorded lecture from the 2024 Loving Rock Karma Yoga Training Program. In this lecture, Anna Le (she/they) shares the "microskills" needed to love and tend to suffering. She discusses how to be a steady and loving companion for others on their spiritual and life journeys, and she…
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The Bhagavad Gita: A Meditation on Grief, Love, and Action for Perilous Times
In this audio recording of an event held shortly after the recent election, Sitaram Dass invokes the central scene of the Bhagavad Gita as a meditation on collective grief to inspire deep feeling, compassion, and right action for this time. He breaks up the discourse with 6-minutes of original...
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Sarah Anderson and Kenneth Robinson: The Constructed Self
Sarah Anderson, LCSW, interviews her previous therapist, Kenneth Robinson, MS, MTS, for a conversation about psychological healing. This is a follow up conversation from their previous conversation: A Healing Relationship, and in this conversation they convey a synthesis between the psychological...
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Ram Dass Caregiver Stories with Hari, Pavan Das, and Sitaram Dass
In this Q&A from the 2024 Sacred Community Retreat at Just Love Forest, retreat facilitators Hari Scott Whitmore, Pavan Das, and Sitaram Dass tell stories about their time caregiving for Ram Dass. Their honest and heartfelt reflections are shared atop of the sound of the Georgia cicadas and...
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Ondrea Levine: Facing Grief with a Merciful Heart
This interview with Ondrea Levine was recorded on October 30th, 2023. Vasu Jon Seskevich and Sitaram Dass traveled to her remote off-the-grid home in the high desert of New Mexico for an intimate conversation about living with an open heart in the face of death and grief. Stephen and Ondrea…
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Ramananda John Welshons: The Eternal Now
Ramananda John Welshons is interviewed by Free Landauer to discuss the path of meditation, grief, releasing guilt, and grace. Ramananda also shares some sweet stories about his lifelong friendship with Ram Dass, and he even shares one about SCP director Sitaram Dass. Ramananda John Welshons is a...
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David Nichtern: Suddenly Free from Fixed Mind
David Nichtern from Dharma Moon sits down with Greg "Aditya Das" Barbush to discuss mindfulness, the path of meditation, the concept of "suddenly free from fixed mind," the guru from the Tibetan Buddhist perspective, and the relationship between Bhakti Yoga and Buddhism. David Nichtern is a…
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Connor Burns: Mindfulness Meditation
Connor Burns leads a short mindfulness meditation at the 2023 Sacred Community Retreat that was held on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia. SCP is hosting two retreats this year- outside of Atlanta from May 24-27 and again on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia from August 22-25th....
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Sitaram Dass: Loving Awareness P2 (partner exercise)
In this second part of Sitaram Dass's Loving-Awareness Meditation, he leads a partner exercise to carry Loving-Awareness into interpersonal relationship and the verbal mind. This was recorded during SCP's first Sacred Community Retreat in the summer of 2023 on Salt Spring Island in British...
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Sitaram Dass: Loving Awareness (lecture and mantra meditation)
Sitaram Dass gives a lecture and leads a mantra meditation on the essence of Loving-Awareness. This was recorded during SCP's first Sacred Community Retreat in the summer of 2023 on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia. SCP is hosting two retreats this year, and registration is live. Learn more...
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Swapnil Abrol: The Play of Love
This audio from Swapnil Abrol was recorded during SCP's first Sacred Community Retreat in the summer of 2023. Swapnil gives a talk on Bhakti Yoga and the the nature of unconditional love, and he follows this with traditional bhajans and English storytelling. SCP is hosting two retreats this year-...
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Pavan Das: Loving-Awareness Meditation (30 minutes)
This video of Pavan Das was recorded during SCP's first Sacred Community Retreat in the summer of 2023 on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia. In this 30-minute meditation, Pavan Das guides a variation of Anapanasati to awaken the heart of Loving-Awareness. SCP is hosting two retreats this…
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Sacred Community Invocation (Sitaram Dass)
This audio from Sitaram Dass was recorded during SCP's first Sacred Community Retreat in the summer of 2023 on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia. In this talk, Sitaram recites a variation of the SCP invocation that opens every single SCP "Satsang Hang," and he discusses its importance and…
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Sitaram Dass: The Journey to Love (Part 2)
In this second half of the interview, Sitaram Dass is interviewed by his good friend Hari Scott Whitmore for an in-depth discussion on the spiritual path. Sitaram Dass (K. Sandin, LCSW) (he/him) spent several years serving his beloved teacher Ram Dass on Maui, where he was shown the path of…
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Sitaram Dass: The Journey to Love (2020)
Sitaram Dass is interviewed by his good friend Hari Scott Whitmore for a discussion on the beginnings of his spiritual path, his time with Ram Dass, and the Bhakti Path. Sitaram Dass (K. Sandin, LCSW) (he/him) spent several years serving his beloved teacher Ram Dass on Maui, where he was shown…
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Hari Scott Whitmore: A Confirmation of Faith
Hari Scott Whitmore gives a sermon at Southport Congregational Church in Connecticut. He discusses what he has learned on his path and beautifully summarizes the teachings of Love, Serve, and Remember that he learned from Ram Dass and Neem Karoli Baba. Hari Scott Whitmore began leading kirtan…
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Priti Durga: It starts at home
Priti Durga joins host Sitaram Dass for a conversation about service, devotion, dharma, family, death, and love. Priti Durga was born and raised in India and moved to the United States at age 27. A devoted student of Ram Dass, she is on the board of Hanuman Maui, and she serves as an “End of…
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Daniel Paul (PT 2): Tabla and the Mood of Devotion
Part two of Hari Scott Whitmore's interview with his tabla teacher and Indian classical legend Daniel Paul. Daniel is a captivating storyteller, and he shares about his time with masters such as Ali akar Khan and Zakir Hussain, the origins and history of Indian Classical music, and the inherent...
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Daniel Paul: Music as a Path - Tabla, Indian Classical, and Tales of the Greats (PT 1)
Host Hari Scott Whitmore interviews his tabla teacher and Indian classical legend Daniel Paul. Daniel is a captivating storyteller, and he shares about his time with masters such as Ali Akbar Khan and Zakir Hussain, the origins and history of Indian Classical music, and the inherent sacredness of...
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Sarah Anderson and Kenneth Robinson: A Healing Relationship- ecstasy, transpersonal therapy, and healing childhood wounds
Sarah Anderson, LCSW, interviews her previous therapist, Kenneth Robinson, MS, MTS, for a conversation about what constitutes a healing relationship. Although a conversation between two therapists, their discussion applies to all healing relationships, including friends, romantic partners, or...
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Chris Beaudry: Refuge Vows
In this audio clip taken from a live-recorded SCP class on Lamrim- a thousand-year old practice from Tibetan Buddhism considered to be a complete path to enlightenment- Chris Beaudry provides teachings on the Refuge Vows. Chris Beaudry is a father, husband and farmer from Saskatchewan, Canada. He...
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RamDev Dale Borglum: Conscious Living Conscious Dying
RamDev Dale Borglum speaks with Sitaram Dass about conscious dying, the death and dying movement that grew from the 60s counterculture, time spent with Neem Karoli Baba, and his lifetime friendship with Ram Dass. RamDev Dale Borglum founded and directed the Hanuman Foundation Dying Center in…
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Sita Lozoff: The Prison Ashram
Sita Lozoff is interviewed by Sitaram Dass for a discussion around her work in prisons, the path of service, her lifelong friendship with Ram Dass, and keeping the heart open in the midst of hell. Sita and Bo Lozoff started the Prison-Ashram Project with Ram Dass in 1973, which has grown into the...
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Stever Dallman, PhD: A Survey of Love
Stever Dallman, PhD joins Sitaram Dass for a discussion on the topic of Love. What does Unconditional Love mean? How do we practice it? What does it look like within an interpersonal relationship? How is Love an active and transformational force? How do we surrender to it? Steven “Stever”…
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Sitaram Dass: Mantra, Devotion, and Grief - A Live Meditation Recording
This is a live meditation recording from Sitaram Dass. In it, he uses the mantra, SitaRam, as an anchor to bring our devotional heart into the presence of grief. In this way, we are reminded that our hearts are capable of holding the entire human experience. More meditations and workshop…
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Laura Johnson, PhD: Eco Grief
Sitaram Dass interviews Laura Johnson, PhD, for a discussion on ecological grief, the importance of “deep and slow” grief work, and whether or not Sitaram is allowed to fly. Show notes at bottom of the page. Laura Johnson, PhD, is the founder of A Restful Space, offering personalized restorative...
About this show
The Sacred Community Project is an interspiritual collective working to awaken Sacred Community in the world. With the universal teachings of “Love, Service, Remembrance, and Truth” as our guide, we utilize modern technology to promote eternal values. The Sacred Community Podcast is home to SCP interviews, live workshop recordings, dharma talks, and meditations. Learn more at sacredcommunityproject.org
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Sacred Community Project
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