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Overview
“Ram Dass lived a full life and then some. His final statement is thorough and, yes, enlightening.” —Kirkus Reviews
Perhaps no other teacher has sparked the fires of as many spiritual seekers in the West as Ram Dass. If you’ve ever embraced the phrase “be here now,” practiced meditation or yoga, tried psychedelics, or supported anyone in a hospice, prison, or homeless center—then the story of Ram Dass is also part of your story.
From his birth in 1931 to his luminous later years, Ram Dass saw his life as just one incarnation of many. This memoir puts us in the passenger seat with the one-time Harvard psychologist and lifelong risk-taker Richard Alpert, who loved to take friends on wild rides on his Harley and test nearly every boundary—inner or outer—that came his way.
Being Ram Dass shares his life’s odyssey in intimate detail: how he struggled with issues of self-identity and sexuality in his youth, pioneered psychedelic research, and opened the doorways to Eastern spiritual practices. In 1967 he trekked to India and met his guru, Neem Karoli Baba. He returned with a perspective on spirituality and psychology that changed millions.
Featuring 64 pages of color photographs, this intimate memoir chronicles the cultural and spiritual transformations Ram Dass experienced that resonate with us to this day, a journey from the mind to the heart, from the ego to the soul.
Before, after, and along these waypoints, readers will encounter many other adventures and revelations—each ringing with the potential to awaken the universal, loving divine that links us to this beloved teacher and all of us to each other.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781683646297 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Sounds True, Incorporated |
Publication date: | 01/12/2021 |
Sold by: | Macmillan |
Format: | eBook |
Pages: | 488 |
Sales rank: | 278,078 |
File size: | 20 MB |
Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
Ram Dass
Ram Dass (1931–2019)first went to India in 1967. He was still Dr. Richard Alpert, an already eminent Harvard psychologist and psychedelic pioneer with Dr. Timothy Leary. He continued his psychedelic research until his journey to the East in 1967, driving overland to India, where he met his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, affectionately known as Maharaj-ji. Maharaj-ji gave him the name, Ram Dass, which means "servant of God." Everything changed then—his intense dharmic life started, and he became a pivotal influence on a culture that has reverberated with the words “be here now” ever since.
Be Here Now, Ram Dass's monumentally influential and seminal book, still stands as the highly readable centerpiece of the Western articulation of Eastern philosophy and practicing to live joyously in the present moment, be it luminous or mundane. From a backpackers’ bible in the 1970s, Be Here Now continues to be the instruction manual of choice for generations of spiritual seekers. Fifty years later, it's still part of the timeless present. Being here now is still being here now. Ram Dass's work continues to be a path of teaching and inspiration to so many. His loving spirit has been a guiding light for three generations, carrying millions along on the journey, helping free them from their bonds as he has worked through his own. For more about Ram Dass’s teachings, visit ramdass.org.
Ram Dass (1931–2019) first went to India in 1967. He was still Dr. Richard Alpert, an already eminent Harvard psychologist and psychedelic pioneer with Dr. Timothy Leary. He continued his psychedelic research until his journey to the East in 1967, driving overland to India, where he met his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, affectionately known as Maharaj-ji. Maharaj-ji gave him the name, Ram Dass, which means "servant of God." Everything changed then—his intense dharmic life started, and he became a pivotal influence on a culture that has reverberated with the words “be here now” ever since.
Be Here Now, Ram Dass's monumentally influential and seminal book, still stands as the highly readable centerpiece of the Western articulation of Eastern philosophy and practicing to live joyously in the present moment, be it luminous or mundane. From a backpackers’ bible in the 1970s, Be Here Now continues to be the instruction manual of choice for generations of spiritual seekers. Fifty years later, it's still part of the timeless present. Being here now is still being here now. Ram Dass's work continues to be a path of teaching and inspiration to so many. His loving spirit has been a guiding light for three generations, carrying millions along on the journey, helping free them from their bonds as he has worked through his own. For more about Ram Dass’s teachings, visit ramdass.org.
Rameshwar Das is a writer and photographer who met Ram Dass in 1968. Ramesh has collaborated with Ram Dass on many projects, most recently as coauthor of Be Love Now and Polishing the Mirror.
Anne Lamott is the acclaimed writer of more than a dozen books of fiction, nonfiction, and collected essays. Her most recent book was Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace. Known for her honest, humorous approach to subjects such as faith and loss, Anne has received the Guggenheim Fellowship, taught writing at UC Davis, and was the subject of an Academy Award-winning documentary.
Table of Contents
Foreword Anne Lamott ix
Introduction 1
Part I Learning and Unlearning 7
1 Fired-and Free 9
2 Power and Love 17
3 Mind Fields 33
4 Working on the Railroad 47
5 Harvard Yard 53
6 Becoming No Body 63
7 The Harvard Psilocybin Project 73
8 Acidification 83
9 Hotel Nirvana 93
10 Newton Commune 99
11 The Center Does Not Hold 107
12 Millbrook Morphs 119
13 East Versus West 131
14 Mother 143
Part II Pilgrim of the Heart 153
15 Journey to the East 155
16 The Mapmaker 167
17 Instant Yogi 175
18 Quick, Get in the Car 193
19 From Bindu to Ojas 207
20 A World Tour 217
21 Power Plays 231
22 Be Here Now 249
Part III Service Center 259
23 All Doing Time 261
24 Brooklyn Detour 271
25 Dying Project 279
26 How Can I Help? 291
27 It's Only Love 303
28 Looking Inward, Reaching Out 313
Part IV The Wheel Turns 321
29 The New Old Age 323
30 Stroked 335
31 Long Road Back 345
32 Marooned on Maui 353
33 Only Son 363
Part V Ocean View 371
34 Heart 2 Heart 373
35 Maharaj-ji's Lila 381
36 Closer to Home 389
The Next Chapter Ram Dass: Here/Not Here 397
Acknowledgments 403
Photography Credits 407
Index 409
About Love Serve Remember Foundation 439