Professor Richard Alpert's star fell fast. To the dismay of his wealthy Boston family, he got fired from Harvard over experimental use of psychedelics with his psychology students. In 1967, he traveled to India to lick his wounds and find himself. And he did, at Neem Karoli Baba's ashram, in a direct encounter with unconditional, unlimited divine love. He returned to America as Baba Ram Dass, countercultural activist for expanded human consciousness. As a spiritual guide, at the bedside of the dying, and as a stroke survivor, he has always been ahead of his time, pulling the world along behind him. The author of over a dozen books, he now shares for the very first time the full story of how his life of service intersected with an era of profound cultural upheaval. From the details of his groundbreaking research in psychedelics to his bumpy path to becoming a spiritual icon, from his struggles with his sexual identity to what it was like to find out in his late 70s that he was a father and grandfather, Ram Dass traces the pivotal points of his life against the backdrop of a mind opened by drugs, and a heart opened by a guru. Ram Dass brought America yoga, the use of psychedelics in psychotherapy, and a revolution in how we relate to death and dying. He has opened the door to the most important and healthiest conversations about the heart and mind in our culture. With this book, he opens his heart and mind to us.

An intimate dialogue between two friends and luminaries on love, death, and the spiritual path, with guidance for the end-of-life journey We all sit on the edge of a mystery. We have only known this life, so dying scares us--and we are all dying. But what if dying is perfectly safe? What would it look like if you could approach dying with curiosity and love, in service of other beings? What if dying is the ultimate spiritual practice? Ram Dass and Mirabai Bush began their friendship more than four decades ago at the foot of their guru, Neem Karoli Baba, also known as Maharaj-ji. He transmitted to them a simple philosophy: love everyone, tell the truth, and give up attachment to material things. A year before Ram Dass passed, he reunited with Bush for an intimate dialogue--which became Walking Each Other Home. In this extraordinary book, you'll hear from two beloved teachers about the spiritual opportunities within the dying process. They generously share intimate personal experiences and timeless practices with courage, humor, and heart, gently exploring every aspect of this journey. Here you'll learn about guidelines for being a "loving rock" for the dying, how to grieve fully and authentically, how to transform a fear of death, leaving a spiritual legacy, creating a sacred space for dying, and much more. "Everybody you have ever loved is a part of the fabric of your being now," says Ram Dass. The body may die, but the soul remains. Death is an invitation to a new kind of relationship, in the place where we are all One. Join these two lifelong friends and spiritual luminaries as they explore what it means to live and die consciously, remember who we really are, and illuminate the path we walk together.

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 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.

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."

Love is a state of being

One of America's most beloved teachers, Ram Dass guides us through the pitfalls and perils of our own spiritual journey.

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, Be Here Now. 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.

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 love * Practices for living, aging, dying, and embracing the natural flow of life * Karma Yoga-how selfless service can profoundly transform us * Working with fear and suffering as a path to grace and freedom * Step-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.

Sometimes illumination occurs spontaneously or, as Ram Dass experienced, in a cosmic moment of the heart opening. More commonly, it happens when we remove the dust from the mirror of our spiritual heart with daily practice-to 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 back insights as his service to others. With Polishing the Mirror, he gathers together his essential teachings for being and loving, here and now, in the eternal present. For those just starting on the path, this is a primer for living from the spiritual heart. For those already practicing it, is a reference point for daily life in the spirit. In this audiobook, read by coauthor Rameshwar Das, listeners will discover perennial wisdom, humor, teaching stories, and guidance into Ram Dass's own spiritual practices, including: Bhakti Yoga-devotion, opening our hearts to unconditional love * Practices for living, aging, dying, and embracing the natural flow of life * Karma Yoga-transformation through selfless service * Working with fear and suffering as a path to grace and freedom * Step-by-step guidance in devotional chant, meditation, mantra, and more Polishing the Mirror is Ram Dass's invitation to experience who we are and why we are here, and how to become beacons of unconditional love. This unabridged audiobook includes four bonus tracks: Pure Awareness-a guided meditation with Ram Dass * I Am Loving Awareness-a guided meditation with Ram Dass * An Introduction to Vipassana Meditation with Ram Dass * Sita Ram-kirtan chant music with Jai Uttal "This book is a blessing! Simply reading it will open your heart and bring you to mysterious, spacious, loving freedom. Ram Dass is one of the great sages of our time who can make us laugh, cry, and awaken!"-Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart "Ram Dass has been the most influential person in my own spiritual development. I treasure his wisdom as well as his spirit. Let his words in this book enter your soul-for my friend Ram Dass is divine love personified."-Wayne Dyer, author of The Power of Intention

No other teacher has shaped the spiritual landscape of America like Ram Dass. With more than 3 million books sold to date, this legendary author has spent the last half century translating Eastern spirituality in terms that Westerners can understand. Now with Love, Service, Devotion, and the Ultimate Surrender, this luminary shares a captivating lecture series illuminating the central teachings of The Bhagavad Gita. Originally recorded at Naropa University in its founding year, this digitally remastered audio course features a hand-selected group of topics including karma, personal responsibility, the struggles of the human soul, and more.

Featuring essays and interviews with Timothy Leary, Aldous Huxley, Ram Dass, Albert Hofmann, Alexander (Sasha) Shulgin, Daniel Pinchbeck, Tim Robbins, Arne Naess, and electronic musician Simon Posford, as well as groundbreaking research and personal accounts, this anthology is a 'best of' collection of articles and essays published by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).

In this book, Jack Kornfield presents the heart of Buddhist practice as taught by twelve highly respected masters from Southeast Asia. These renowned teachers offer a rich variety of meditation techniques: the practices include traditional instructions for dissolving the solid sense of self, for awakening insight, for realizing Nirvana, and for cultivating compassion for all beings.
Jack Kornfield's first three chapters give an overview of Buddhist philosophy and, specifically, the meditation practices of Burma, Thailand, and Laos. The teachings in this volume are from Achaan Chaa, Mahasi Sayadaw, Sunlun Sayadaw, Achaan Buddhadasa, Achaan Naeb, Achaan Maha Boowa, Tuangpulu Sayadaw, Mohnyin Sayadaw, Mogok Sayadaw, U Ba Khin, Achaan Dhammadaro, and Achaan Jumnien.

Perhaps no other teacher has sparked the fires of as many spiritual seekers in the West as Ram Dass. While many know of his transformation from Harvard psychology professor Richard Alpert to psychedelic and spiritual icon, Ram Dass tells here for the first time the full arc of his remarkable life. Being Ram Dass begins at the moment he was fired from Harvard for giving drugs to an undergraduate. We then circle back to his privileged youth, education, and the path that led him inexorably away from conventional life and ultimately to his guru, Neem Karoli Baba. Populated by a cast of luminaries ranging from Timothy Leary to Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Allen Ginsberg to Jack Kornfield, Aldous Huxley to Charles Mingus-this intimate memoir chronicles Ram Dass's experience of the cultural and spiritual transformations that resonate with us to this day. Ram Dass's life and work prefigured many current trends: the conscious aging and death movement, the healing potential of psychedelics, the use of meditation and yoga in prisons, the ubiquity of those same practices in the wider culture, and more. Here, with his characteristic mix of earthiness and transcendence, Ram Dass finally tells all.

We all sit on the edge of a mystery. We have only known this life, so dying scares us-and we are all dying. But what if dying were perfectly safe? What if you could approach dying with curiosity and love? What if dying were the ultimate spiritual practice? Walking Each Other Home: Conversations on Loving and Dying reunites lifelong friends Ram Dass and Mirabai Bush, who speak on the spiritual opportunities in the dying process. They share intimate personal experiences and timeless practices for every aspect of this journey. In this unabridged audiobook, join these teachers as they explore what it means to live and die consciously, remember who we really are, and illuminate the path we walk together. Narrated by Mirabai Bush, with a preface read by Ram Dass. Archival recording of Ram Dass (c) Love Serve Remember Foundation. Archival recording of John O'Donohue from To Bless the Space Between Us (AW01197D).

Birth of a Psychedelic Culture, an extraordinary book, shines a bright light on the emergence of the sixties culture and the experiments with mind-altering substances undertaken by Professors Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) and then-Harvard graduate student Ralph Metzner. Based on a series of con-versations between Metzner and Ram Dass and recorded by psychiatrist and author Gary Bravo, this book describes their initial experiments at Harvard, the experiments after they were dismissed from Harvard, their journeys to India and their reflections on that transformative era. Birth of a Psychedelic Culture is filled with never before published photographs. Luminaries who appear in this astonishing account include: Aldous Huxley, Allen Ginsberg, R.D. Laing, Charles Mingus, Maynard Ferguson and William Burroughs, as well as many lesser known personalities. These include convicts, graduate students and Vedantist monks In addition to reviewing the experiments, the conversations offer vividly-recalled descriptions of particular "trips," with profound insights into the nature of hallucinogens and the role they can play in transcending social conditioning. Included in Birth of a Psychedelic Culture are personal commentaries from some of the other players integral to the scene: Peggy Hitchcock, the Mellon Foundation heiress; Dr. George Litwin, Harvard professor and author; Dr. Gunther Weil, psychologist and educator; Dr. Michael Kahn, clinical psychologist and Professor Emeritus at USC, Santa Cruz; poet Dr. Elsa von Eckartsberg; Dr. George Litwin, organizational behavior consultant; Dr. Paul Lee, professor of philosopy and religion, UC Santa Cruz; Dorothy Fadiman, award winning filmmaker; Lisa Ferguson, and many others.

"Ram Dass-the teacher and writer who's spent over a quarter of a century translating Eastern spirituality in terms that Westerners can understand. His books have sold over 3 million copies."-Los Angeles Times Beginning with his controversial psychedelic research at Harvard in the sixties, the life of Ram Dass has served as an experiment in truth, encompassing paths from both East and West, and shaping the spiritual landscape of America like no other teacher of our time. After three decades, and despite a life-threatening stroke, Ram Dass continues to move us with his example of compassion in action, and the true joy that comes with living in the present. Now, in a unique audio publishing event, the great moments-and great truths-of this important spiritual elder s long career are preserved together for the first time on The Ram Audio Collection. Join the bestselling author of such spiritual classics as Be Here Now and How Can I Help? for three life-changing sessions including: Conscious Aging-Ram Dass calls for us to move beyond our youth-fixated culture, to see that the final years of life are the culmination of our spiritual journey * The Path of Service-In our era of individualism, Ram Dass teaches, the path to internal freedom still begins with external action, in the service of others * Cultivating the Heart of Compassion-Ram Dass shows how to experience your life as a remarkable spiritual curriculum, through trust in your own loving heart

World-renowned philosopher and spiritual teacher Ram Dass—author of the groundbreaking classic "Be Here Now"—presents the contemporary Western audience with a lively, accessible guide to the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, the classic Hindu text that has been called the ultimate instruction manual for living a spiritual life.