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Welcome to Tricycle Day. We’re the psychedelics newsletter that’s humbly at your service. Truly, your wish is our command… as long as your wish is, uh, emails about psychedelics. 🫠

Raghu Markus is proof the acid-to-ashram pipeline is alive and well. In the sixties, he tasted the infinite through psychedelics and followed the trail to India. Decades later, as executive director of the Love Serve Remember Foundation, he's translating Ram Dass and Neem Karoli Baba's teachings for the next generation of seekers.

We asked Raghu how his time in India changed his perspective on psychedelics, what people might not know about Ram Dass and Timothy Leary’s friendship, and how psychedelics fit into a life of service.

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How did your time in India with Neem Karoli Baba shape your relationship with psychedelics and spirituality?

Ram Dass used to say he wouldn’t have fully understood what Neem Karoli Baba was about from just reading a book. What he meant was that he couldn’t have integrated Maharaji’s teachings beyond his rational mind if it hadn’t been for his experiences with psychedelics. There were only a couple hundred of us Westerners there, and we all would've said something similar: that psychedelics helped us not freak out, because there were things going on there that were not rational. We all had paranormal experiences, similar to what can happen with psychedelics.

The funny thing is, after we went to India, we all started doing psychedelics way less. I did a podcast with Rick Doblin, and he made the same observation about those of us who got into meditation and spiritual practice. Many of us really just stopped using psychedelics altogether. Ram Dass said he would check in once in a while. For me, it was even more infrequent, though that’s changed a bit recently with this psychedelic revolution and all the new things to try.

Being in the presence of Maharaji was like being on acid, or “yogi medicine” as he would call it, all the time. By virtue of his being, it was clear that the fabric of the universe was love, interconnecting all of us. After India, we weren't even thinking about psychedelics. We were doing meditation, chanting, breathing, and yoga. All of that became our focus because it seemed to really help transform the little me-me-me's that we had become.

It sounds like Ram Dass’s perspective on psychedelics evolved a lot from his Harvard days to his later years. What changed in how he talked about them, and what stayed the same?

Well, he talked a lot less about psychedelics as he got older. He still spoke to the efficacy and the promises and pitfalls, but he was far more interested in how we could use what would later be known as “mindfulness.” He used the term "witness," which came from George Gurdjieff, an Eastern European philosopher and mystic. Gurdjieff talked a lot about self-remembering, which was effectively another way of describing mindfulness. Ram Dass’s greatest interest was helping people develop the perspective to work on themselves and transform their beings. He wanted us to let go of the things we cling to that make us unhappy.

In his later years, Ram Dass was totally behind the research MAPS was doing. A couple years before he died, he even had scientists come out to Maui. He was happy the arc of history had taken psychedelics to this place where it would help humanity, as long as it was done with respect and reverence for the entheogens and their origins.

Representing the Love Serve Remember Foundation, we started engaging with Ram Dass's perspective on psychedelics, spirituality, and science. We care most about preparation and integration. We’re not so focused on the therapeutic aspect, but rather on the “normal” human being—whatever that means—interested in self-discovery. The person who wants to go inside and find the part that's not reacting to all the vicissitudes of life. The person curious enough to look inside and see the truth. That was Ram Dass's perspective.

The foundation’s latest book, Dying to Know, explores Ram Dass and Timothy Leary's friendship. What's the most surprising thing people might not know about how these two shaped the psychedelic movement?

They were completely opposite personalities. Leary was more of a rationalist and scientist, and Ram Dass was more heart based. He was the love part of the equation. They had many disagreements, particularly at Millbrook. For a long time their relationship was really complicated.

When we were with Ram Dass in India, we believed from how he talked about it that there was some estrangement, especially after Richard Alpert became Ram Dass. But I found a letter Ram Dass wrote to a close friend that was the most revealing thing I ever saw about them. After they had a meeting in the seventies, Ram Dass said for the first time he really got it. He realized how they were complementary rather than just opposites. You can feel their relationship at the end of Leary's life in the book. Leary even said, "We love each other."

Their friendship went through many cycles from Harvard through Millbrook, with Ram Dass going to India and Leary going his own way. But it ended beautifully with Leary's death when Ram Dass went to visit him and they had a tête-à-tête that was absolutely beautiful to watch. They reminisced and pointed to each other's differences. The book, and the movie before it, really highlighted their wonderful relationship.

How do psychedelics fit into a life of service? What did Ram Dass say about balancing the inward journey with showing up for others?

Psychedelics allow you to see the interconnection of everything. They can help you realize a deeper sense of self that's inherently connected to others and the environment. That part can naturally lead to a life of service if we foster it. But to get there, the next step is integration. How do you actually integrate an insight like that?

Ram Dass got to a great point before he died. Maharaji would tell him, "Love everyone and tell the truth." Back then, Ram Dass said the truth was, he didn't love everyone. But by the end of his life, he got to a place where he told the truth and loved everyone to a great extent—more than I’ve seen in any other person. Integration, for me, comes down to all the methodologies one can use to stay present to the moment in day-to-day life. It’s the practice of not reacting.

Psychedelics can certainly break down the walls of ignorance. But they can also be a trap. The experiential part is so powerful that there’s sometimes a tendency toward addiction. Not a pharmacological addiction, but an attachment to the novelty and wonder of the experience. I have friends who I can't tell you how many ayahuasca trips they've done. That starts to look like spiritual bypassing.

If you think psychedelics are only for your personal benefit, you have to rethink that. Ram Dass said in Becoming Nobody, "When is it enough of what you want? When is it enough of what I need? It's much more interesting to serve people." That's what we brought back from India. Love, serve, remember.

What's on the horizon at the Love Serve Remember Foundation that people curious about psychedelics and consciousness should be excited about?

Next year, we want to bring people together in person in several different cities. That's probably the most important thing we can do. We already host beautiful retreats in North Carolina and Maui, but we're also preparing to roll out one-day events all over. At Psychedelic Science this year, we presented at the PORTAL Dome and showed some wonderful films that were projected on the 360-degree screen. We're taking that concept and working with Brandon from PORTAL to take the dome around the country.

We have all this great material from Ram Dass that we'll share, of course. But we’ll also be bringing in incredible people locally who can speak to spirituality and science from different perspectives. These events will be interactive with attendees sharing their own experiences. The whole initiative is oriented around how we as an organization feel we can help people with psychedelics, in relation to the inner journey of finding one's true nature.

We're also working on a new documentary about Ram Dass because there’s still more to the story to tell. All these years later, new people are still discovering his work and connecting to his message every day. We'd like to offer a meeting place to get together and investigate these ideas, individually and collectively. It can’t just be about improving our own lives. As Ram Dass would ask, how can we help people and contribute to the world around us, even in the smallest ways?

Want more from Raghu?

Check out Love Serve Remember Foundation’s upcoming events, or enroll in their free course on building a daily practice of peace, presence, and spaciousness.

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DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. The use, possession, and distribution of psychedelic drugs are illegal in most countries and may result in criminal prosecution.