Best Selling Books by Ram Dass

Beloved guru Ram Dass tells the story of his spiritual awakening and gives you the tools to take control of your life in this “counterculture bible” (The New York Times) featuring powerful guidance on yoga, meditation, and finding your true self. When Be Here Now was first published in 1971, it filled a deep spiritual emptiness, launched the ongoing mindfulness revolution, and established Ram Dass as perhaps the preeminent seeker of the twentieth century. Just ten years earlier, he was known as Professor Richard Alpert. He held appointments in four departments at Harvard University. He published books, drove a Mercedes and regularly vacationed in the Caribbean. By most societal standards, he had achieved great success. . . . And yet he couldn’t escape the feeling that something was missing. Psilocybin and LSD changed that. During a period of experimentation, Alpert peeled away each layer of his identity, disassociating from himself as a professor, a social cosmopolite, and lastly, as a physical being. Fear turned into exaltation upon the realization that at his truest, he was just his inner-self: a luminous being that he could trust indefinitely and love infinitely. And thus, a spiritual journey commenced. Alpert headed to India where his guru renamed him Baba Ram Dass—“servant of God.” He was introduced to mindful breathing exercises, hatha yoga, and Eastern philosophy. If he found himself reminiscing or planning, he was reminded to “Be Here Now.” He started upon the path of enlightenment, and has been journeying along it ever since. Be Here Now is a vehicle for sharing the true message, and a guide to self-determination.

“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.

Words of Wisdom is a distillation of the last five decades of Ram Dass’s life containing the most powerful quotes from his most resonant core teachings. Ram Dass always had a knack for heart-to-heart transmission. Far before he had a vocabulary to describe his spiritual experiences, he was Richard Alpert, a Harvard professor and early experimenter with psychedelics. After these early soul-expanding journeys, he spoke and wrote about his transcendent experiences with the innate, intuitive understanding of a true inner-voyager. Even before Alpert realized that psychedelics weren''t the final answer to enlightenment, he was more interested in cultivating a shared heart space with his patients and friends than he was in the clinical, scientific side of psychedelia. Words of Wisdom is a distillation of hundreds of lectures and many hours of audio and video recordings from the last five decades—his core essential teachings. This anthology celebrates the spark that helped to ignite the flame of grace and Loving Awareness in so many hearts. By the end of his life, Ram Dass was a true conduit for soul connection. This anthology celebrates the spark that helped to ignite the flame of grace and Loving Awareness in so many hearts. By the end of his life, Ram Dass was a true conduit for soul connection. Through five decades of teaching in both the institutional and public realms, Dass has served as a leader in spirituality, psychology, and psychedelia, fusing these elements to embody a purposeful intention of love and joy.

For centuries, readers have turned to the Bhagavad Gita for inspiration and guidance as they chart their own spiritual paths. As profound and powerful as this classic text has been for generations of seekers, integrating its lessons into the ordinary patterns of our lives can ultimately seem beyond our reach. Now, in a fascinating series of reflections, anecdotes, stories, and exercises, Ram Dass gives us a unique and accessible road map for experiencing divinity in everyday life. In the engaging, conversational style that has made his teachings so popular for decades, Ram Dass traces our journey of consciousness as it is reflected in one of Hinduism’s most sacred texts. The Gita teaches a system of yogas, or “paths for coming to union with God.” In Paths to God, Ram Dass brings the heart of that system to light for a Western audience and translates the Gita’s principles into the manual for living the yoga of contemporary life. While being a guide to the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita, Paths to God is also a template for expanding our definition of ourselves and allowing us to appreciate a new level of meaning in our lives.

Discover how giving of yourself can lead to some of the most joyous moments in your life—in a book that “deserves a special place on that shelf reserved for truly practical wisdom" (Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People). Not a day goes by without our being called upon to help one another--at home, at work, on the street, on the phone…. We do what we can. Yet so much comes up to complicate this natural response: "Will I have what it takes?" "How much is enough?" "How can I deal with suffering?" "And what really helps, anyway?" In this practical helper''s companion, the authors explore a path through these confusions, and provide support and inspiration for us in our efforts as members of the helping professions, as volunteers, as community activists, or simply as friends and family trying to meet each other''s needs. Here too are deeply moving personal accounts: A housewife brings zoo animals to lift the spirits of nursing home residents; a nun tends the wounded on the first night of the Nicaraguan revolution; a police officer talks a desperate father out of leaping from a roof with his child; a nurse allows an infant to spend its last moments of life in her arms rather than on a hospital machine. From many such stories and the authors'' reflections, we can find strength, clarity, and wisdom for those times when we are called on to care for one another.

This book is based on talks by Ram Dass at the Menninger Foundation in 1970 and at the Spring Grove Hospital in Maryland in 1972. The text grew out of the interaction between Ram Dass and the spiritual seekers in attendance at these talks. The result of this unique exchange is a useful guide for understanding the nature of consciousness--useful both to other spiritual seekers and to formally trained psychologists. It is also a celebration of the Dance of Life--which, in the words of Ram Dass, is the "only dance there is."

More than thirty years ago, an entire generation sought a new way of life, looking for fulfillment and meaning in a way no one had before. Leaving his teaching job at Harvard, Ram Dass embodied the role of spiritual seeker, showing others how to find peace within themselves in one of the greatest spiritual classics of the twentieth century, the two-million-copy bestseller Be Here Now. As many of that generation enter the autumn of their years, the big questions of peace and of purpose have returned demanding answers. And once again, Ram Dass blazes a new trail, inviting all to join him on the next stage of the journey.

Featuring an eye-catching new cover, this classic guide is for those ready to commit time and energy to relieving suffering in the world. No two people are better qualified to help us along this path than Ram Dass, who has spent more than 25 years teaching and writing on the subject of living consciously, and Mirabi Bush, who succeeded him as chairperson of the Seva Foundation.

Ram Dass, one of America''s most beloved spiritual teachers, sparked a revolution forty years ago with the publication of Be Here Now. This landmark classic inspired an entire generation to see the world in a different light. Over the past four decades Ram Dass has been a beacon for seekers worldwide, challenging us to find new sources of meaning and purpose in our lives. Be Love Now is the third book in a trilogy that began with Be Here Now and was followed by Still Here, Ram Dass''s acclaimed work on aging, changing, and dying. In Be Love Now, Ram Dass shares what he has learned in his remarkable four-decade-long spiritual journey. Through timeless teaching stories, compelling and often humorous personal anecdotes, and soul-stirring insights, Ram Dass tracks the stages of his own awakening in his trademark down-to-earth style. Starting with his days as Harvard psychologist and psychedelic inventurer, continuing through his profound encounters with his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, and moving beyond the reawakening brought on by his near-fatal stroke, Ram Dass shares his life experiences while offering a timeless teaching on love and the path of the heart. Guiding us through the pitfalls and perils of our own spiritual path, Be Love Now is both a deeply personal and wonderfully universal exploration that will open hearts and minds. Ram Dass once again blazes a new trail, inviting all to join him on this next stage of the journey.

From the bestselling author of Be Here Now. “A challenging and enlightening collection of speeches and lectures by Ram Dass on his spiritual journey.” —Spirituality & Practice From Ram Dass, one of America’s most beloved spiritual figures and bestselling author of Be Here Now and Be Love Now, comes this timeless classic about the experience of being and the risks and rewards of our spiritual path. Originally published in 1976, Grist for the Mill offers a deep spiritual journey of self-discovery, and a universal understanding of what it means to “be” and to grow as human beings. The book is fully revised with a new introduction. As Ram Dass puts it, “When the faith is strong enough it is sufficient just to be. It’s a journey towards simplicity, towards quietness, towards a kind of joy that is not in time. It’s a journey that has taken us from primary identification with our body and our psyche, on to an identification with God, and ultimately beyond identification.” Praise for Ram Dass “One of our greatest teachers.” —Deepak Chopra “There’s no way to overestimate the role of Ram Dass.” —Marianne Willliamson “May Ram Dass inspire others to find their own path of true love, compassion, and joyful service.” —Thich Nhat Hanh

Ram Dass has always been a master of the one-liner. Here is the nitty-gritty by the author of Be Here Now—more than 200 penetrating observations and pithy spiritual instructions on such topics as How It All Is, Love and Devotion, Suffering, Aging, Planes of Consciousness, Death and Dying, Service and Compassion, Psychedelics, Social Awareness, and Liberation. “This book is a kind of spiritual brandy, a distillation of the lectures I’ve given over the course of the past decade or so. These quotes are the little “aha!” moments, the cameos that have been served up out of our collective consciousness from time to time that seem to summarize something about our human journey. I think of this book as something you might have next to the coffeepot to pick up in the morning, or as something you might tuck into your backpack to pull out during your bus ride to work, in order to reframe the way you look at your day.” —Ram Dass

A Ram Dass-themed journal for contemplation and reflection, featuring inspiring quotes from Ram Dass that offer writers and seekers a tool for cultivating honesty, compassion and love. Reflections on the Journey is a Ram Dass-inspired journal containing 12 contemplative quotes by Ram Dass and 190 lined pages for writing and reflection. The quotes are carefully curated to inspire readers and writers to search deeper within themselves to witness the truth of their being. Each quote contains loving and heartening Ram Dass wisdom, offering readers and writers a resonant tool to help them follow their life path with honesty, compassion and love.

The material in this volume is culled from over two thousand stories about Maharajji gathered during five years from more than one hundred devotees. To these devotees who shared their treasured memou0002 ries, I wish to express my deep love and appreciation. Some of them felt that no book could or should be written about a being with qualities as vast, formless, and subtle as Maharajji’s, and yet they contributed their stories nevertheless. I honor them for this kindness and I hope that in my zeal to share experiences of Maharajji with others who were not fortuu0002 nate enough to have met him, I have not misused their trust. Some devotees tell me that stories told by other devotees are not facu0002 tually accurate. I have no way of ascertaining the authenticity of any single story. All I can report is that those o f us who gathered the stories were impressed by the credibility of those of us who told the stories. Though the responsibility for this manuscript lies solely with me, I am delighted to acknowledge a lot o f loving help from my friends:

A year before Ram Dass''s passing, he engaged in an intimate dialogue with his dear friend, Mirabai Bush. Walking Each Other Home presents their extraordinary discussion about loving and dying, sharing their stories, favorite practices, and deep wisdom about the most important, final step on our spiritual journey through this lifetime.

Sometimes illumination occurs spontaneously or, as Ram Dass experienced, in a heart-wrenching moment of opening. More commonly, it happens when we polish the mirror of the heart with daily practice—and see beyond the illusion of our transient thoughts and emotions to the vast and luminous landscape of our true nature. For five decades, Ram Dass has explored the depths of consciousness and love and brought them to life as service to others. With Polishing the Mirror, he gathers together his essential teachings for living in the eternal present, here and now. Readers will find within these pages a rich combination of perennial wisdom, humor, teaching stories, and detailed guidance on Ram Dass'' own spiritual practices, including: Bhakti Yoga—opening our hearts to unconditional lovePractices for living, aging, dying, and embracing the natural flow of lifeKarma Yoga—how selfless service can profoundly transform usWorking with fear and suffering as a path to grace and freedomStep-by-step guidance in devotional chant, meditation and mantra practice, and much more For those new to Ram Dass'' teachings, and for those to whom they are old friends, here is this vanguard spiritual explorer''s complete guide to discovering who we are and why we are here, and how to become beacons of unconditional love.

The talks presented in this volume, first published in 1977, were originally delivered during a retreat in New York, in which speakers from a variety of spiritual traditions were represented. It aims to show the value of yoga in everyday life, and its relation to many other religions and philosophies.

The enhanced edition of Be Here Now includes: Two guided video meditations, 30 minutes in length * Twenty minute video retrospective of Ram Dass'' spiritual journey *The first chapter of Ram Dass'' new book, Be Love Now

No understanding of the history of the sixties could be complete without a grasp of the work of Leary, Alpert, and Metzner, the cultural resistance to their experiments, and the way in which psychoactive drug use became a part of contemporary society. Next Generation Independent Book Awards Finalist,Birth of a Psychedelic Culture explores these experiments and their cultural milieu through never before seen photographs, personal accounts of authors Ralph Metzner and Ram Dass, and conversations with luminaries such as Aldous Huxley, Charles Mingus, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and others that appeared on the scene.

Il arrive parfois que l’illumination jaillisse spontanément ou, comme l’a vécue Ram Dass, lors d’un moment d’ouverture déchirant. Elle se manifeste plus souvent lorsqu’on polit le miroir du coeur en pratiquant quotidiennement – et quand on voit au-delà de l’illusion créée par nos pensées et nos émotions transitoires du vaste et lumineux paysage qu’est notre vraie nature. Pendant cinq décennies, Ram Dass a exploré les profondeurs de la conscience et de l’amour, et il leur a donné vie en les mettant au service des autres. Avec Polir le miroir, l’auteur rassemble ses enseignements essentiels pour vivre le présent éternel, ici et maintenant.

Since Bhakti Fest''s inception, Ram Dass has made an annual appearance through exclusive interviews with founder, Sridhar Silberfein, who travels to Maui each year and films their conversations. Known for their humor, inspiration, and unmasked devotional attitude, these videos have been a highlight of the festival for the past six years. Transcribed for print and edited by Amy V. Dewhurst, author of Heartbreak Yoga, with a forward by notable kirtan artist Krishna Das, these illuminating conversations are presented in ways that are relatable to the Western yogi, no matter their level of practice or experience with yoga and Eastern spirituality.

En Occident, où prévaut le mythe de la jeunesse éternelle, vieillir est une source de souffrance, un sujet presque tabou. Dans cet ouvrage, Ram Dass - alias Richard Alpert, ancien professeur de psychologie à Harvard et figure culte de ce qu''on a appelé la "Génération Woodstock" - nous aide à explorer la douleur, mais aussi les joies et les opportunités que nous offre l''automne de notre vie. À son humour si caractéristique et à sa grande sagesse se mêlent des anecdotes autobiographiques qui nous livrent un regard neuf sur ce qui nous attend de façon inéluctable, ainsi que l''énoncé d''exercices de méditation qui nous permettent d''intégrer une sagesse au quotidien. Ram Dass nous montre dans cet ouvrage que les épreuves de la maladie et les désagréments liés à l''âge peuvent contribuer à notre guérison spirituelle, à condition que nous acceptions d''apprendre à voir autrement la vie, la souffrance et la mort.