Ram Dass, Emblem of the Consciousness Revolution, Has Died

RIP

He's not here now

88 = infinity

Reaching Ram, so long and thanks for all the fish.

Regardless of your religious or world view he was one of the good guys. Despite my own orthodox beliefs, I admire him greatly. I know people who know him - he was that rare person of sincerest humility and of pure heart. Philosophically ever striving for the perfection of goodness in himself and the brotherhood of man.

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RIP


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Was he the same one they called "Baba Ram Dass"?

I remember those days turn on tune in drop out
but i did not really follow them

RIP

FOR SOME ITS LIKE WALKING FROM ONE ROOM TO THE NEXT

for others its like pulling hair out of a thick brush


HAPPY TRAILS !

Total fail of how his name was given to him.

Im embarrassed for you, by your extreme ignorance about this.

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OM MANI PADME HUM

Love. There is nothing but love.

Thank you, teacher.

Don’t panic. And be sure to bring a towel.

Ram Dass was one of the good people. He will be missed.

Richard Alpert was deemed Ram Dass by Neem Karoli Baba.
Here's the story of their initial meeting.


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RIP

Here you can come up to speed, who he was.
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It was Leary who famously exhorted American youth to “Turn on, tune in, drop out,” but it was Alpert who became a model of awakening that wasn’t dependent on drugs. Fired from Harvard in 1963 for giving LSD to an undergraduate, Alpert moved to Millbrook, New York, with Leary, who had been fired ostensibly for not showing up for his classes. In Millbrook, the two continued their psychedelic experimentation with an ever-changing cast of psychonauts and acidheads. But in 1967, Alpert, still searching, left for India. There he found his guru, the Hindu sadhu Neem Karoli Baba, known as Maharaj-ji, characteristically wrapped in a blanket and seated on a wooden tucket, a low Indian bed. Curious to see how a spiritual adept would react to LSD, Alpert gave Maharaj-ji a whopping dose. It had zero effect on the holy man. Over the next few years until Maharaj-ji’s death in 1973, Alpert—by then renamed Ram Dass, or Servant of God, by Maharaj-ji—periodically returned to be with his guru. Resettling in America in 1974, he started a new life based on a different kind of turn-on—meditation—and his own synthesis of Buddhist, Hindu, Advaita, and Sufi teachings, and later, Jewish mysticism.

In Be Here Now, Ram Dass‘s first book for the masses, which has sold over 2 million copies since publication in 1971, he offered seekers an engaging, unconventional, slightly zany roadmap for finding a spiritual path and a more enduring connection to higher consciousness than a tab of acid could bring. From then on, in close to a dozen books and countless teachings, retreats, and podcasts, Ram Dass continued to share the wisdom of a journey that had long gone beyond personal transformation to embrace a cosmic worldview and social agenda. 

Much of the compassionate service for which Ram Dass became known was in collaboration with others. He launched the Hanuman Foundation to further practical application of the principles and teachings of Neem Karoli Baba—work that continues today through Ram Dass’s Love Serve Remember Foundation. Through Hanuman he also set up the Prison Ashram Project, offering counseling and spiritual practice to the incarcerated, many of whom had contacted Ram Dass after reading Be Here Now. 

Related: Already Free: A Swim with Ram Dass

Inspired by the humane approach to death and dying he had seen in India, Ram Dass was instrumental in co-creating the Living-Dying Project to support caregivers, healthcare professionals, and individuals dealing with terminal illness, and in establishing a hospice and training center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 1979, with epidemiologist and Hanuman board member Larry Brilliant and others, Ram Dass founded the Seva Foundation, which works to combat blindness in the Himalayas and provides healthcare there and in other underserved areas of Asia and the Americas. He also helped set up the Social Venture Network to explore ways to bring spiritual awareness to business and served on the board of Creating Our Future, an organization for teens who wanted to lead more spiritual lives. On Maui, where he has lived since 2004, Ram Dass co-founded Doorway Into Light, which helps people prepare for dying. “Sitting by the bed of the dying is sadhana [spiritual practice],” he said. For his unwavering commitment to helping others, Ram Dass has been called “a model of selfless service.”  

“My life has been a dance between power and love,” he observed after the massive cerebral hemorrhage in 1997 that left the charismatic, preternaturally articulate teacher groping for words. “First part, till Harvard: power, power, power, power. Up until drugs, I thought power was the end all and be all, because I was a little individual. Then drugs: love, love, love, love. My first mushroom trip was so profound that I saw radiance was inside, and I said, ‘I’m home, I’m home, I’m home.'” 

RIP he was a very happy inspirational man.

I was lucky enough to see him speak three times over the years. He was a great teacher who will live in the hearts of his followers. He changed the lives of many, many people.

Ram Das says:

I was never born
I will never die
Be here now.

It is all about the message
never the messenger.

May he be at the celestial banquet in total joy.

this

Even a crusty old arch-conservative such as myself has a warm spot of sympathy for him.

Despite his countercultural milieu, he was never really political. I can’t remember if it was him or another luminary from those days who said political protest is only acceptable if you make yourself love the people you are protesting against, from a standpoint of transcendental love. Today’s motley crew of leftists would do well to live by those words. He was more interested in the transcendent and the inner, and I respect those qualities in a man of any faith when they are sincere.

Rest In Peace, funny beard-and-beads man.

I'd heard these names for many years, & only just a few years ago did I finally dig into them. I'd heard these people were connected to CIA MK-Ultra & other programs, but dug in all the same. I started with Timothy Leary's "Turn on, Tune in, Drop out" recording. Within 30 seconds I became aware that he was using clinical hypnosis in his speaking. I managed several minutes of it before I pulled the plug.

Combining psychedlic drugs with clinical hypnosis techniques isn't my idea of enlightenment. Just present me the information & I'll decide for myself. If you want insight into Eastern philosophy, go read English translations of the 4 Vedas & the Upanishads. You don't need these schuysters & their mind control parlor tricks to achieve that.

Trust in your own judgement in all things. God endowed you with common sense & it's your sword & shield.

RAMM DASS was a fruit. (((Ginsberg's toy))). Kesey and others kept their distance. For good reason.

Was he even there then?