Ram Dass (Richard Alpert) studied psychology and received an M.A. from Wesleyan and a Ph.D. from Stanford. He served on the psychology faculties at Stanford and the University of California. He was professor in the Department of Social Relations and the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. In 1961, while at Harvard, his explorations of human consciousness led him, in collaboration with Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, Aldous Huxley, Allen Ginsberg, and others, to pursue intensive research with psychedelic chemicals. The controversial nature of this research, led to his dismissal from Harvard.
Travels to India, in 1967, led to meeting his Guru, Neem Karoli Baba (Maharaji), from whom he received the name Ram Dass, which means "servant of God." Author of the best selling book “Be Here Now” the spiritually motivated Ram Dass created the Hanuman Foundation, which developed the “Prison Ashram Project”, designed to help prison inmates grow spiritually during their incarceration, and the “Hospice Project”, conceived as a spiritual support structure for conscious dying. He co-founded and is an Honorary Board Member of the Seva Foundation, an international social action organization.
In 1997, while finishing his book “Still Here”, he experienced a stroke which left him with expressive aphasia and partial paralysis. Despite this he has sustained his commitment of service as a spiritual path and is using the “stroke experience” to explore the spiritual dimensions of suffering and the nature of the aging process. In 2004 he moved to Maui where he "models" joyous aging, participates in community service and teaches on conscious end of life care giving and conscious dying.
Interview
YM: Why are your teachings timeless?
RD: Well, you can trace my teaching back to “Be Here Now”, and “Be Here Now” leads back to the moment, and the moment is timeless. The moment is beyond time and space.
YM: Many find it difficult to begin a meditation practice. What advice can you give to the frustrated meditation student?
RD: I started meditation with Insight Meditation, and started very simply to concentrate on my breath as the primary object, and every time I got a thought, I noted it and then returned to the breath. And that is so easy…it’s so easy.
YM: How has your practice changed with time, and what elements have remained the same?
RD: I think that my practice has become less structured. I think Maharaji is my practice - my Guru is my practice, and I hang out with him now. He
“dropped his body” in 1973, but he’s hanging out with me in almost everything I do. It’s very easy, he’s just hanging out.
YM: What would you say to the people who feel angry with the state of the world right now?
RD: I’d say that they’re too much in their mind and that they should move to their heart and feel Love for all things. That would be the antidote for the anger.
YM: What is the most important thing we can do as individuals to help raise consciousness?
RD: I think that the most important thing is to raise one’s consciousness by working on oneself. That means work on your heart and work on the consciousness in your heart, which is really awareness. Repeat the mantra “I Am Loving Awareness” and keep that thought in your heart until you are, you’re identified with your Awareness, and then you will raise consciousness all around the world.
YM: What do you love?
RD: I love everything......…that’s it.
YM: We are all very blessed that there are still opportunities to study with you in beautiful Hawaii. Please tell us about what these retreats mean to you, Ram Dass.
RD: It’s the beauty of gathering Satsang and the beauty of those gathering who are seeking truth.
YM: Where can we find out more about you?
RD: Visit my website, which is RamDass.org. It has Live Streaming on it, there are videos, audio recordings, we send out “Words of Wisdom”, and it’s just full of great things.
YM: Ram Dass, thank you so much for joining us.
RD: Thank you…Aloha
YM: Why are your teachings timeless?
RD: Well, you can trace my teaching back to “Be Here Now”, and “Be Here Now” leads back to the moment, and the moment is timeless. The moment is beyond time and space.
YM: Many find it difficult to begin a meditation practice. What advice can you give to the frustrated meditation student?
RD: I started meditation with Insight Meditation, and started very simply to concentrate on my breath as the primary object, and every time I got a thought, I noted it and then returned to the breath. And that is so easy…it’s so easy.
YM: How has your practice changed with time, and what elements have remained the same?
RD: I think that my practice has become less structured. I think Maharaji is my practice - my Guru is my practice, and I hang out with him now. He
“dropped his body” in 1973, but he’s hanging out with me in almost everything I do. It’s very easy, he’s just hanging out.
YM: What would you say to the people who feel angry with the state of the world right now?
RD: I’d say that they’re too much in their mind and that they should move to their heart and feel Love for all things. That would be the antidote for the anger.
YM: What is the most important thing we can do as individuals to help raise consciousness?
RD: I think that the most important thing is to raise one’s consciousness by working on oneself. That means work on your heart and work on the consciousness in your heart, which is really awareness. Repeat the mantra “I Am Loving Awareness” and keep that thought in your heart until you are, you’re identified with your Awareness, and then you will raise consciousness all around the world.
YM: What do you love?
RD: I love everything......…that’s it.
YM: We are all very blessed that there are still opportunities to study with you in beautiful Hawaii. Please tell us about what these retreats mean to you, Ram Dass.
RD: It’s the beauty of gathering Satsang and the beauty of those gathering who are seeking truth.
YM: Where can we find out more about you?
RD: Visit my website, which is RamDass.org. It has Live Streaming on it, there are videos, audio recordings, we send out “Words of Wisdom”, and it’s just full of great things.
Dear Ram Dass,
I read "Be here now" when I was 20, and recently at 50. I was shocked at how blown away I was again. Reading your book again was a spiritual experience for me, reminding me that our souls are eternal. We are the same soul at birth as we are when we die. Do you have experiences now like you did when you were writing "Be Here Now"? I also just need to tell you how helpful your "Rachel Letter" has been to me.
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Comments
I read "Be here now" when I was 20, and recently at 50. I was shocked at how blown away I was again. Reading your book again was a spiritual experience for me, reminding me that our souls are eternal. We are the same soul at birth as we are when we die. Do you have experiences now like you did when you were writing "Be Here Now"? I also just need to tell you how helpful your "Rachel Letter" has been to me.
Love you so much,
Sat Bachan Kaur (Karla Becker)