Bhagavan Das (born Kermit Michael Riggs in Laguna Beach, California on May 17, 1945) is a Bhakti Yogi, Shakta Tantra adept, and traveling teacher of Nada Yoga. As a young man he was the first Western initiate/devotee of the late Hindu saint 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 years as a wandering ascetic in India and Nepal he received numerous intiations and teachings from living saints and sages including Swami Chaitanya Prakashananda Tirtha, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Sri Anandamoyi Ma, and Tarthang Tulku of the Dudjom Rinpoche lineage.
Bhagavan Das is perhaps most widely known for being the individual who guided renowned spiritual teacher Ram Dass, also known as Dr. Richard Alpert, throughout India, eventually introducing him to his guru. As a young man Bhagavan Das shot to fame in the west after being featured in Ram Dass' spiritual classic Be Here Now. Now, at age over 60, he travels widely throughout the world as an ecstatic performer of traditional and non-traditional Indian bhajans and kirtans, and is the author of an autobiography, It's Here Now (Are You?)
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