Ram Dass

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For the Sixteenth century Sikh guru, see Guru Ram Das.

Dr. Richard Alpert (born April 5 1931), also known as Baba Ram Dass, is a contemporary spiritual teacher.

1 Youth and college
2 Harvard professor
3 From Dr. Richard Alpert to Baba Ram Dass
4 Back in the West to spread the message
5 Works
- 5.1 Books
- 5.2 Films
6 External links

[edit] Youth and college

Alpert was born to a prominent Jewish family in Newton, Massachusetts. His father, George Alpert, was an influential lawyer in Boston, a railroad executive, and one of the founders of Brandeis University. Richard is the youngest of three boys. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University, his Masters Degree from Wesleyan University, and his doctorate from Stanford University.

Image:Ram Das lecture at the 3 day Nambassa Music & Alternatives festival, New Zealand 1981. Phtographer Michael Bennetts.jpg

[edit] Harvard professor

After returning from a visiting professorship at the University of California, Berkeley, Alpert accepted a permanent position at Harvard, where he worked closely with Dr. Timothy Leary. It was there that the two first conducted experiments on the effects of psilocybin on human subjects. The pair was dismissed from the university in 1963 - Leary for his conduct in general, and Alpert for continuing to fraternize with, and give psilocybin to, undergraduates. They relocated and continued their experiments unsupervised from a private mansion in Millbrook, New York, which was owned by the family of one of their friends. Famous poets, musicians, and intellectuals of the time, like Allen Ginsberg, the Grateful Dead, and Ken Kesey came from across the country to be a part of what was going on there. Although they remained life-long friends, the two eventually began to part ways spiritually and philosophically as Leary continued to spread his seemingly egocentric mantra of "turn on, tune in, drop out", while Alpert increasingly found his purpose in the Hindu idealogy of serving others.

[edit] From Dr. Richard Alpert to Baba Ram Dass

In 1967 Alpert travelled to India, where he met the American spiritual seeker Bhagavan Das, who introduced Alpert to his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, or as he is better known in the West, Maharaj-ji. Maharaj-ji gave Alpert the name Ram Dass, which means "servant of Rama" (God), and guided him to receive teaching from Hari Dass Baba, who taught in silence using only a chalkboard. For a time, Alpert was in correspondence with Meher Baba however he remained focused on the teaching of Hari Dass Baba. Among other things, Hari Dass Baba trained Ram Dass in raja yoga and ahimsa (non-violence). It was these life-changing experiences in India that inspired Ram Dass to write the contemporary spiritual classic Be Here Now, in which he teaches the harmony of all people and religions.

[edit] Back in the West to spread the message

After his return to the United States in 1969, Alpert founded several organizations dedicated to expanding spiritual awareness and promoting spiritual growth. Since then he has embraced a wide variety of spiritual traditions and practices, including guru kripa (grace of the guru); bhakti yoga focused on the Hindu spiritual figure Hanuman; meditation in various schools of Buddhism including Theravada, Mahayana, Tibetan, and Zen; karma yoga; and Sufi and Jewish studies. In February 1997, he suffered a stroke which left him with expressive aphasia, however, he understands his stroke as an act of grace and continues to travel giving lectures, as his health permits. When asked if he could sum up his life's message Ram Dass replied, "I help people as a way to work on myself, and I work on myself to help people. . . To me, that's what the emerging game is all about."

[edit] Works

[edit] Books

Identification and Child Rearing (with R. Sears and L. Rau) (1962) Stanford University Press
The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead (with Timothy Leary and Ralph Metzner) (1964) ISBN 0-8065-1652-6
LSD (with Sidney Cohen) (1966) ISBN 0-453-00120-3
Be Here Now (1971) ISBN 0-517-54305-2
Doing Your Own Being (1973)
The Only Dance There Is (1974) ISBN 0-385-08413-7
Grist for the Mill (with Steven Levine) (1977) ISBN 0-89087-499-9
Journey of Awakening: A Meditator's Guidebook (1978) ISBN 0-553-28572-6
Miracle of Love: Stories about Neem Karoli Baba (1979) ISBN 0-525-47611-3
How Can I Help? Stories and Reflections on Service (with Paul Gorman) (1985) ISBN 0-394-72947-1
Compassion in Action: Setting Out on the Path of Service (with Mirabai Bush) (1991) ISBN 0-517-57635-X
Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing and Dying (2000) ISBN 1-57322-871-0
Paths to God: Living The Bhagavad Gita (2004) ISBN 1-4000-5403-6

[edit] Films

Ram Dass, Fierce Grace (a 2001 biographical documentary about Ram Dass by Lemle Productions)

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME	Dass, Ram
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Dass, Baba Ram (honorific); Alpert, Richard (birth name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION	psychologist and spiritual leader
DATE OF BIRTH	April 6 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH	Boston, Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH	living
PLACE OF DEATH