Mirabai Bush traces her path from a Buffalo PhD program to a silent meditation retreat that delivered her to Neem Karoli Baba in 1971, and explains why almost fifty years on she still treats that lineage as the framing for her later work on contemplative practice in higher education and the Center on Contemplative Mind in Society. The conversation centres on her new book Almost Home and how Maharaj-ji's relational style continues to shape what she means by service.