Krishna Das joins David Nichtern for some chanting and chatting about transforming negative karmas, the path of surrender, and the connections between Hinduism and Buddhism.


Transforming Negative Karmas

David welcomes Krishna Das, and they explore how a spoonful of syrupy music helps the medicine of mantra go down. Krishna Das talks about the path not quite taken with his early music career, and how his guru helped him with transforming negative karmas. They touch on how Krishna Das has been dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic and quarantine, and Krishna Das leads some chanting.

“That’s what my guru did, he transformed my negative karmas into positive karmas. He transformed the very things that I wanted that would have killed me into things that I wanted that actually were good for me.” – Krishna Das

The Path of Surrender (29:15)

David and Krishna Das discuss the interesting hybrid of the Buddhist and Bhakti traditions that has emerged, especially from those who were with Neem Karoli Baba. They dive deeply into the subject of the guru, and how a true guru is much different from a teacher. Krishna Das talks about his journey along the path of surrender.

“My job is to let go, my job is not to understand. I don’t care if I understand or not. I want to be able to continually let go of whatever limitations I might feel, whatever negative emotions might be pushing me around. And at the same time, you start to even let go of thinking of yourself as the doer.” – Krishna Das

Many Paths, All One (47:59)

David and Krishna Das answer questions about the similarities between Buddhism and Hinduism, handling money, and how to know if you’re enlightened. Krishna Das tells the story of a special blanket he gave to Neem Karoli Baba, and then ends the show with some chanting to the Mother.

“Business is fine, it’s just greed that’s not great.” – David Nichtern