Through a mixture of storytelling and conversation, Raghu Markus, Krishna Das, and David Silver all describe their experiences with K.C. Tewari.
“As I recognized that I didn’t need to keep secrets and I didn’t need to pretend to be anybody—I could just be me. It was so liberating.” – Krishna Das
“When I was looking at Tewari in this film, every single time I saw him it had a flashy effect on me. It did something to me just like when I met him.” – David Silver
“With everything else, his incredible deep spiritual nature, his wisdom, but the delight of just hanging out with him. We would look forward to going to India and just hanging out even if he’d be doing his all night puja” – Raghu Markus
In this episode, we learn about:
- Moving from the ‘Movie of Me’ to the ‘Movie of We’
- The making of the K.C. Tewari documentary, Brilliant Disguise
- Krishna Das’ spiritual experience overcoming addiction
- K.C. Tewari and his non-judgemental nature
- Applying the principles of Be Here Now to our lives
- Our own individual paths to meditation
About Raghu Markus:
Raghu Markus spent 18 months in India with Neem Karoli Baba and Ram Dass. He has been involved in music and transformational media since the early 1970s, when he was program director of CKGM-FM in Montreal.
In 1974, he collaborated with Ram Dass on the box set Love Serve Remember. In 1990, he launched Triloka Records, which established itself as a critical leader in the development of world music. For 17 years, Triloka was home to such artists as Krishna Das, Hugh Masekela, Walela, Jai Uttal and transformational media projects that featured Ram Dass, Deepak Chopra, and Les Nubians.
Raghu lives in Ojai, California, and is the Executive Director of the Love Serve Remember Foundation. In 2016, he co-founded the Be Here Now Network, where he hosts the Ram Dass Here & Now podcast, as well as his own Mindrolling podcast. He is the producer of Becoming Nobody, a Ram Dass documentary feature film that was released in 2019.
Raghu’s weekly podcast, Mindrolling, is about coming unstuck and the recent history of awoken awareness. It’s about the intersection of culture, consciousness and realization.
Mindrolling the Word happens to be a Tibetan monastery tradition, the home of “the garden of ripening and liberation.” For Raghu Markus, it is a rock and rolling conversation remembering the sixties, digesting the seventies, paralleling then and now, right now, as we find our way in the 21st century.
About Krishna Das:
Layering traditional Hindu kirtan with instantly accessible melodies and modern instrumentation, Grammy nominee, Krishna Das has been called yoga’s “rock star.” With a remarkably soulful voice that touches the deepest chord in even the most casual listener, Krishna Das – known to friends, family, and fans as simply KD – has taken the call-and-response chanting out of yoga centers and into concert halls, becoming a worldwide icon and the best-selling chant artist of all time. His album ‘Live Ananda’ (released January 2012) was nominated for a Grammy in the Best New Age album category.
KD spent the late ’60s traveling across the country as a student of Ram Dass, and in August 1970, he finally made the journey to India, which led him to Ram Dass’ own beloved guru, Neem Karoli Baba, known to most as Maharaj-ji.
Krishna Das now travels the world sharing his kirtan practice and wonderful stories of his life, of Maharaji-ji, of his life on the Path and discusses bringing chanting into our lives through retreats and workshops.
Krishna Das formed the Kirtan Wallah Foundation in 2014. This 501c3 is dedicated to spreading the teachings of KD’s guru and spiritual teacher, Neem Karoli Baba, Lovingly called Maharajji, his teachings can be summed up by his saying: “Love Everyone. Serve Everyone. Remember God”
For more on Krishna Das events, music, and other offerings visit: KrishnaDas.com
About David Silver:
David Silver is the former co-host of the Mindrolling podcast. He is a filmmaker and director, most recently coming out with Brilliant Disguise. Brilliant Disguise tells the unique story of a group of inspired Western spiritual seekers from the 60s, who in meeting the great American teacher, Ram Dass, followed him to India to meet his Guru, Neem Karoli Baba, familiarly known as Maharaji. Two days before he left his body, Maharaji instructed K.C. Tewari to take care of the Westerners, which he did resolutely until the day he died in 1997.K.C. Tewari—in the guise of a headmaster of a boys school in the foothills of the Himalayas—was secretly a High Yogi, frequently able to go into altered states of trance, known as Samadhi, at any moment.
Featuring Krishna Das, Jai Uttal, Raghu Markus, Radha Baum, and others—including K.C’s two sons, as well as rare archival interviews with K.C. himself—Brilliant Disguise is set in the stunning backdrop of India and is adorned with spectacular and moving footage from the 1989 Maha Kumbha Mela – the largest spiritual gathering in the world, attended by K.C. and the group of Westerners featured throughout this colorful biopic.
This film is the story of a man who represents the intrinsic potential in all human beings to live in direct contact with the Divine Presence. K.C. chose to live within the humble disguise of a husband and school teacher. The brilliance is K.C.’s ability at a moment’s notice to go beyond himself into sublime states of consciousness. Watch Brilliant Disguise Here
Listen to more from David Silver, Krishna Das, and Raghu Markus:
Discover additional mind-blowing stories about spiritual individuals with David Silver in Episode 384 of Mindrolling
Check out another episode of Krishna Das’ Pilgrim Heart to hear more about the inspiration of K.C. Tewari: Lord Shiva & Devotion
If you are enjoying this podcast, consider another episode of Mindrolling: Shifting from Role to Soul with Connie Zweig, PhD
Photo via ramdass.org