RAM DASS

Richard Alpert (born April 6, 1931), also known as Baba Ram Dass, and later simply as Ram Dass, is a contemporary spiritual teacher who wrote the 1971 bestseller Remember, Be Here Now.  He was born to a prominent Jewish family in Newton, Massachusetts.  His father, George Alpert, was one of the most influential lawyers in the Boston area and president of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, as well as one of the leading founders of Brandeis University and of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

The youngest of three boys, Richard started out his high school career at the Williston Northampton School, graduating in 1948 as a part of the Cum Laude association.  He then went on to receive a bachelor's degree from Tufts University, a master's degree from Wesleyan University, and a doctorate from Stanford University.  His doctorate was in psychology.

After returning from a visiting professorship at the University of California, Berkeley, Alpert accepted a permanent position at Harvard, where he worked with the Social Relations Department, the Psychology Department, the Graduate School of Education, and the Health Service, where he was a therapist.  Research contracts with Yale and Stanford followed.  Perhaps most notable, however, was the work he was doing with his close friend and associate Dr. Timothy Leary.

Soon after obtaining his pilot's license, Alpert flew his private plane to Cuernavaca, Mexico, where Leary first introduced him to teonanácatl, the "magic" mushrooms of Mexico.  By the time Alpert made it back to America, Leary had already consulted with Aldous Huxley, who was visiting at M.I.T., and through Huxley and a number of graduate students they were able to get in touch with Sandoz, which had produced a synthetic component of ergot rye fungus called LSD.  Alpert and Leary brought a test batch of both substances back to Harvard, where they conducted the Harvard Psilocybin Project, and experimented with LSD relatively privately.

Harvard formally dismissed Leary and Alpert from the university in 1963.  According to Harvard President Nathan M. Pusey, Leary was dismissed for leaving his classes without permission or notice, and Alpert for allegedly giving psilocybin to an undergraduate.  By this time, however, Alpert had already become disillusioned with academia and even described himself as feeling trapped in a meaningless game.  Leary had left the university some weeks earlier.

The two soon relocated and continued their experiments, unsupervised, at a private mansion in Millbrook, New York owned by Billy Hitchcock, an heir to the Mellon fortune.  Famous poets, musicians and intellectuals of the time, such as Allen Ginsberg, Maynard Ferguson, the Grateful Dead, Marshall McLuhan and Ken Kesey, came from across the country to be part of what was going on there.

While they remained life-long friends, Leary and Alpert eventually parted ways, spiritually and philosophically.  Leary continued to spread his mantra of "turn on, tune in, drop out", while Alpert increasingly found his purpose in the Hindu ethic of serving others.

In 1967 Alpert traveled to India, where he met the American spiritual seeker Bhagavan Das.  As he guided Alpert barefoot from temple to temple, Bhagavan Das began teaching him basic mantras and asanas, as well as how to work with meditation beads.  After a few months, Bhagavan Das led Alpert to his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, or as he was better known in the West, Maharaj-ji.

Maharaj-ji soon became Alpert's guru and gave him the name "Ram Dass," which means "servant of Lord Rama."  Under the guidance of Maharaj-ji, Ram Dass was instructed to receive teaching from Hari Dass Baba.  Hari Dass Baba taught in silence using only a chalkboard.  While in India, Ram Dass also corresponded with Meher Baba.  His primary focus, though, was on the teaching of Hari Dass Baba.

Hari Dass Baba trained Ram Dass in raja yoga and ahimsa, among other things.  It was these life-changing experiences in India that inspired Ram Dass to write the aforementioned spiritual classic Remember, Be Here Now, in which he teaches that everyone is a manifestation of God and that every moment is of infinite significance.

In 1969, Alpert decided to return to the United States, where he founded several humanitarian organizations including the Hanuman Foundation and Seva Foundation.  He went on to tour for many years, giving lectures to raise funds for both of these organizations.

His talks inspired conversation about a wide variety of spiritual traditions and practices, including guru kripa, or grace of the guru; bhakti yoga which focused on the Hindu spiritual deva Hanuman; meditation in Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism, including Tibetan and Zen; karma yoga; and Jewish studies.

Ram Dass was awarded the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award in August 1991.

In February 1997, he suffered a stroke which left him with expressive aphasia, difficulty speaking.  However, he interprets his stroke as an act of grace and continues, as his health permits, to travel giving lectures.

When asked if he could sum up his life's message Ram Dass replies, "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."

Ram Dass is a vegetarian, and has also acknowledged his bisexuality.  In the 1990s, he became more forthcoming about sexuality but avoided labels.  He pointed out that who we are "isn't gay, and it's not not-gay, and it's not anything--it's just awareness." 

"Ram Dass Fierce Grace" is a 2002 American biographical film, directed by Micky Lemle.  It tells the story of Ram Dass’ transformation from Harvard psychology professor to spiritual student/devotee and back again to teacher, a spiritual teacher this time, in spite of his debilitating stroke.  It was named by Newsweek as one of the Top Five Non-fiction Films of 2002.