Be There Now, Hosted by Anasuya Weil and Hanuman Goleman

Stories and firsthand experiences with Neem Karoli Baba, Maharaji, told by people who were there.

Hosted by Anasuya Weil and Hanuman Goleman.

Anasuya Weil travelled overland solo at the age of 19 and was with Maharaji for 9 months in 1971, whom she met just after her first Buddhist meditation retreat. Since then, she has returned to India and Nepal several times continuing her Buddhist practice with Maharaji’s blessing. She has studied with many wonderful teachers, but considers Neem Karoli Baba her Root Guru. Anasuya spent the last half century raising her children, both biological and chosen, as well as her numerous grandchildren. After starting and running the Tibetan Resettlement Project in New Mexico for 3 years, she returned to the East Coast where she finished her graduate degree and later went on to become Menpa (Doctor of Tibetan Medicine). As there is renewed interest in who Maharaji was and what he said, this podcast can serve as a place for people to access as many direct accounts as possible. Many of Maharaji’s original Western devotees are getting old and dying. Anasuya is just one of many Maharaji’s devotees and hopes this podcast will collect, document, and make available these precious stories in order to share Maharaji’s blessings.

Hanuman Goleman is Anasuya’s son. He was born into kirtan and Neem Karoli Baba devotees. Fascinated with the importance of stories, Hanuman began his career recording audio for cultural preservation. He draws on his background in audio and story collecting to assist in the production of this podcast. Over the years, Vipassana meditation practice has been an important guide for Hanuman’s development. He sat his first mindfulness retreat at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts in 1989. In 2004, he co-developed and participated in The Wisdom Preservation Project, recording interviews with Buddhist masters in Myanmar. A graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, Hanuman received his M.A. in Media Arts from Emerson College. He works, records, and lives in Western Massachusetts with his wife and two young kids.