Bhagavan Das
Encyclopedia
Bhagavan Das (born Kermit Michael Riggs in Laguna Beach, California
on May 17, 1945) and also known by the name Anagorika Dharma Sara within the Buddhist community, is a Western yogi
who lived for six years in India
, Nepal
, and Sri Lanka
. He is a singer and teacher.
yogi
, a shakta tantra
adept, and teacher of Nada Yoga
. As a young man he was one of the first Western initiates/devotees of the late Hindu
holy man Neem Karoli Baba
, as well as the first American
to meet Kalu Rinpoche
of the Shangpa Kargyupas lineage. He has received Vajra Yogini initiation
from His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa
Rangjung Rigpe Dorje
of the Karma Kagyu
lineage and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the 11th Trungpa Tulku. During the almost seven years he spent as a wandering ascetic in India
, Nepal
and Sri Lanka
he received numerous initiations and teachings from living saints and sages including A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
, Swami Chaitanya Prakashananda Tirtha, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
, Sri Anandamoyi Ma
, and Tarthang Tulku
of the Dudjom Rinpoche
lineage.
In 1972 in California he married his pregnant girlfriend, Bhavani; subsequently their daughter, Soma, was born in New York. In 1974 in Berkeley, California
, he met Usha, who eventually became his common-law wife and bore him a son, Mikyo, and a daughter, Lalita.
Bhagavan Das is perhaps most widely known for having guided spiritual teacher Ram Dass
, at the time known as Dr. Richard Alpert, throughout India, eventually introducing him to Neem Karoli Baba. Bhagavan Das gained fame after being featured in Ram Dass' book Be Here Now
, which described Bhagavan Das' role in his spiritual journeys in India. Bhagavan Das travels widely throughout the world as a performer of traditional and non-traditional Indian bhajan
s and kirtan
s, and is the author of an autobiography, It's Here Now (Are You?).
Laguna Beach, California
Laguna Beach is a seaside resort city and artist community located in southern Orange County, California, United States, approximately southwest of the county seat of Santa Ana...
on May 17, 1945) and also known by the name Anagorika Dharma Sara within the Buddhist community, is a Western yogi
Yogi
A Yogi is a practitioner of Yoga. The word is also used to refer to ascetic practitioners of meditation in a number of South Asian Religions including Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.-Etymology:...
who lived for six years in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, and Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
. He is a singer and teacher.
Biography
Bhagavan Das is a bhaktiBhakti
In Hinduism Bhakti is religious devotion in the form of active involvement of a devotee in worship of the divine.Within monotheistic Hinduism, it is the love felt by the worshipper towards the personal God, a concept expressed in Hindu theology as Svayam Bhagavan.Bhakti can be used of either...
yogi
Yogi
A Yogi is a practitioner of Yoga. The word is also used to refer to ascetic practitioners of meditation in a number of South Asian Religions including Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.-Etymology:...
, a shakta tantra
Tantra
Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....
adept, and teacher of Nada Yoga
Nada yoga
Nāda yoga is an ancient Indian metaphysical system. It is both a philosophical system , a medicine, and as the name suggests a form of yoga. The system's theoretical and practical aspects are based on the premise that the entire cosmos and all that exists in the cosmos, including human beings,...
. As a young man he was one of the first Western initiates/devotees of the late Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
holy man Neem Karoli Baba
Neem Karoli Baba
Shri Neem Karoli Baba or Shri Neeb Karori Baba , also known to followers as Maharaj-ji, was a Hindu guru and devotee of the Hindu deity Hanuman...
, as well as the first American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to meet Kalu Rinpoche
Kalu Rinpoche
Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche was a Buddhist meditation master, scholar and teacher. He was one of the first Tibetan masters to teach in the West.-Early life and teachers:...
of the Shangpa Kargyupas lineage. He has received Vajra Yogini initiation
Initiation
Initiation is a rite of passage ceremony marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components...
from His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa
Karmapa
The Karmapa is the head of the Karma Kagyu, the largest sub-school of the Kagyupa , itself one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism....
Rangjung Rigpe Dorje
Rangjung Rigpe Dorje
The sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje was spiritual leader of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism...
of the Karma Kagyu
Karma Kagyu
Karma Kagyu , or Kamtsang Kagyu, is probably the largest and certainly the most widely practiced lineage within the Kagyu school, one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The lineage has long-standing monasteries in Tibet, China, Russia, Mongolia, India, Nepal, and Bhutan, and current...
lineage and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the 11th Trungpa Tulku. During the almost seven years he spent as a wandering ascetic in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
and Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
he received numerous initiations and teachings from living saints and sages including A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was a Gaudiya Vaishnava teacher and the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, commonly known as the "Hare Krishna Movement"...
, Swami Chaitanya Prakashananda Tirtha, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi , born Mahesh Prasad Varma , developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and was the leader and guru of the TM movement, characterised as a new religious movement and also as non-religious...
, Sri Anandamoyi Ma
Sri Anandamoyi Ma
Sri Anandamayi Ma was a Hindu spiritual teacher and guru from Bengal, considered a saint by many and hailed as one of the prominent mystics of the 20th century. Anandamayi means "bliss-permeated mother", a name given by her disciples in the 1920s to describe what they saw as her habitual state of...
, and Tarthang Tulku
Tarthang Tulku
Tarthang Tulku is a Tibetan teacher in the Nyingma tradition who lives in America, where he works to preserve the art and culture of Tibet. He oversees various projects including Dharma Publishing, Yeshe-De, Tibetan Aid Project, and the construction of the Odiyan Copper Mountain Mandala...
of the Dudjom Rinpoche
Dudjom Rinpoche
Dudjom Rinpoche is the title of a prominent line of tulkus of the Nyingmapa order of Tibetan Buddhism. Dudjom Rinpoche was born in 1904 on the tenth day of the sixth month in the year of the wood dragon in Southern Tibet in a region called the "hidden land" of Pema Ko. He died on January 17, 1987...
lineage.
In 1972 in California he married his pregnant girlfriend, Bhavani; subsequently their daughter, Soma, was born in New York. In 1974 in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, he met Usha, who eventually became his common-law wife and bore him a son, Mikyo, and a daughter, Lalita.
Bhagavan Das is perhaps most widely known for having guided spiritual teacher Ram Dass
Ram Dass
Ram Dass is an American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the seminal 1971 book Be Here Now. He is known for his personal and professional associations with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s, for his travels to India and his relationship with the Hindu guru Neem...
, at the time known as Dr. Richard Alpert, throughout India, eventually introducing him to Neem Karoli Baba. Bhagavan Das gained fame after being featured in Ram Dass' book Be Here Now
Be Here Now (book)
Be Here Now is a seminal 1971 book on spirituality, yoga and meditation by the Western born yogi and spiritual teacher Ram Dass. The title comes from a statement his guide, Bhagavan Das, made during Ram Dass's journeys in India...
, which described Bhagavan Das' role in his spiritual journeys in India. Bhagavan Das travels widely throughout the world as a performer of traditional and non-traditional Indian bhajan
Bhajan
A Bhajan is any type of Indian devotional song. It has no fixed form: it may be as simple as a mantra or kirtan or as sophisticated as the dhrupad or kriti with music based on classical ragas and talas. It is normally lyrical, expressing love for the Divine...
s and kirtan
Kirtan
Kirtan or Kirtana is call-and-response chanting or "responsory" performed in India's devotional traditions. A person performing kirtan is known as a kirtankar. Kirtan practice involves chanting hymns or mantras to the accompaniment of instruments such as the harmonium, tablas, the two-headed...
s, and is the author of an autobiography, It's Here Now (Are You?).
Music
- AH, 1972
- Love Serve Remember, 1973, a 6-disc Ram DassRam DassRam Dass is an American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the seminal 1971 book Be Here Now. He is known for his personal and professional associations with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s, for his travels to India and his relationship with the Hindu guru Neem...
set, one disc of music and song. - Swaha, Bhagavan Das and Amazing Grace (Krishna Das, Jai UttalJai UttalJai Uttal is an American musician and singer-songwriter born in New York City. Often performing with his "Pagan Love Orchestra," Jai's music is influenced by his R&B roots of the 1960s and '70s and by traditional Indian music, which he first became familiar with at age 19.When he was 19, Jai moved...
, Ram DassRam DassRam Dass is an American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the seminal 1971 book Be Here Now. He is known for his personal and professional associations with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s, for his travels to India and his relationship with the Hindu guru Neem...
et al.) - Bhagavan Das - Kailash Kirtan (Starchild Productions)
- Bhagavan Das - Harbin Kirtan (Starchild Productions)
- Bhagavan Das - Kumari Puja (Starchild Productions)
- The Sunset Kirtan Concert - Volumes One, Two & Three (Recorded Live, NYC)
- Now (Produced by Mike D. of the Beastie BoysBeastie BoysBeastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
) - Mt. Vision - Journey to the Inner Temple (with Jay Yarnall)
- Holy Ghost Sessions (with Richard Sales)
- Kali Puja Live 1&2 (with Krishna Das, Jai UttalJai UttalJai Uttal is an American musician and singer-songwriter born in New York City. Often performing with his "Pagan Love Orchestra," Jai's music is influenced by his R&B roots of the 1960s and '70s and by traditional Indian music, which he first became familiar with at age 19.When he was 19, Jai moved...
et al.) - Churning the Night Sea, 2007
- Love Songs to the Dark Lord, 2009
- The Howler at Dawn, 2009
Radio Plays
- The Fourth Tower of InvernessThe Fourth Tower of InvernessThe Fourth Tower of Inverness is a 1972 radio drama, produced by the ZBS Foundation. It is the first of the Jack Flanders adventure series, and combines elements of Americana and Old-time radio with metaphysical concepts such as past life regression, Sufi wisdom, Tibetan Buddhism and shamanistic...
, Bhagavan Das's singing is the voice of the Bodhisattva Jukebox.
Video
- Eclipse Puja (with Jay Yarnall)
- What is Yoga? (with David Life, Sharon Ganon, and Willem DafoeWillem DafoeWillem Dafoe is an American film, stage, and voice actor, and a founding member of the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group...
) - In Search of the Divine (3 Part TV/Video Series from "A Better World' with Mitchell Jay Rabin)
- Woodstock Now featuring Bhagavan Das (VHS video, directed by Meil J. Colligan) 2002 Ganesha Films
Interviews/Talks
- In the Spirit, 1975 (with Lex HixonLex HixonLex Hixon was an accomplished author, poet, and spiritual teacher. He practiced and held membership in several of the world's major great religious traditions, and documented his spiritual explorations in nine books and many articles and teachings given to various groups...
) - Global Voices Radio, 1994 (with Paul Nelson)
- Shakti, The Breath and the Word, 1994 Dharmaware (Lecture Recorded Live, Woodstock NY)
- New Realities 1996 Manhattan Neighborhood Network (with Alan Steinfeld)
- Live with Swami Virato, 2005, Virato Radio (with Swami Virato)
- Down the Rabbit Hole, 2006, Concordia Foundation (with Paula Gloria)
- Nardwuar Radio, 2006, 101.9 CITR FM (with NardwaurNardwuar the Human ServietteNardwuar the Human Serviette is a Canadian celebrity interviewer and musician from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He is the lead singer and keyboardist for The Evaporators and plays in Thee Goblins....
)
External links
- Bhagavan Das Official Website
- Bhagavan Das International Archive (Archivist, Ganapathi Das)(Bhagavan_Das_Archive@yahoo.com
- Sri Baba Neem Karoli Maharaj
- Starchild Productions: 3 Bhagavan Das Live Kirtan CDs from the Harbin years.
- Bhagavan Das' Myspace page
- The Dharma and Cult of Bhagavan Das: an extended interview of Bhagavan Das
- Love Serve Remember Foundation Ram Dass official site, foundation to preserve and continue the work of Neem Karoli BabaNeem Karoli BabaShri Neem Karoli Baba or Shri Neeb Karori Baba , also known to followers as Maharaj-ji, was a Hindu guru and devotee of the Hindu deity Hanuman...
and Ram Dass