Hermeneutics of Engagement
April 22, 2025 Ben Williams
This chapter recovers the contrasting pedagogical approaches of Ram Dass and Agehananda Bharati during Naropa University's first sessions in 1974 to propose a framework for contemplative education. It argues that Ram Dass's perennialism has pedagogical liabilities, while Agehananda Bharati's call for non-eclectic study and practice of South Asian religious traditions offers a corrective. The authors propose a rapprochement that contextualizes India's religious traditions while remaining open to their embodied practices and ways of knowing, and historicizes contemplative education itself. Such a pedagogy recaptures a sense of lineage in pluralistic settings, enabling students to connect to an intergenerational process beyond individual vocational aspirations.