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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.
Kevin Kwan uses footnotes to provide us with insider details. What were the most fascinating tidbits you discovered? How would you answer the question he asks at the bottom of page 70: "Where do you rank and what sort of feelings does this bring up?"
Even though I went to a fancy uni and belonged to a fancy sorority, that 'where do you rank' question rankles. By asking it, Kwan is showing us that everyone is made to feel 'less than' by someone. This makes me sympathize with Eden all the more. It reminds me of a saying involving sled dogs, "If...
-Ann_Beman
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This information about Be Here Now was first featured
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Ram Dass served on the faculty at Stanford and Harvard Universities. In the 1960s, he traveled to India, where he met his guru, and over the course of his life pursued a variety of spiritual practices, including guru kripa, devotional yoga, karma yoga, many forms of meditation, and Sufi and Jewish studies. Many of his books, including Be Here Now, are international bestsellers and classics of their kind. He died in December 2019.
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