It feels important to emphasise that Ram Dass is not a guru by his own definition:<p><i>Unity of God, guru, and Self is the higher truth, and if your veil of attachment is very thin, you may be able, like Ramana, to penetrate directly to that essence in the heart.</i><p><i>But most of us, to get through our busy human incarnation and the profusion of forms we find in our lives, need guidance and help. Seeing the guru as separate from oneself is a way to approach it in steps of lesser truths. It’s a first step toward becoming the One. The reality of the guru or guide as separate from oneself is a method or vehicle for coming to God. It’s using a relationship with a separate entity, dualism, to get to the One, to the reality that the guru is identical with your inmost being.</i><p>i.e. God=Guru=Self, see: <a href="https://www.ramdass.org/god-guru-self/" rel="nofollow">https://www.ramdass.org/god-guru-self/</a><p>However, of all the things Ram Dass has said and done, the mantra (from the article) is all we really need to remember:<p><i>“So I accomplish the move from head to heart, in part with mantra: I am loving awareness. I am loving awareness. I am loving awareness.” With each repetition of the mantra, Ram Dass slowly begins charting the daily process of moving his consciousness out of his thinking mind and toward his open, present, compassionate heart—from ego land to soul land.</i><p><i>“All the universe is love,” he continues. “And I'm loving all of the universe.… Everything—everything—has love in it.”</i><p><3
I have always enjoyed listening to recordings of Ram Dass at various points during his life (much more than I've enjoyed his writings). I have issues with a lot of his beliefs at various points, but his compassion always shines through and I feel like he is being honest with his listeners about his experience of his spiritual journey, even if sometimes he is seeing things through muddy waters. He is imperfect, and searching, and he is very generous and genuine in sharing his experiences. I don't usually feel like I am getting grand truths from him, other than the insight into one seeker's subjective (and powerful) experiences.
I've always been conflicted by these gurus, so let me play devil's advocate and present some things I found when I researched Ram Dass / Neem Karoli Baba a while ago:<p><a href="http://www.strippingthegurus.com/stgsamplechapters/dass.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.strippingthegurus.com/stgsamplechapters/dass.html</a><p>Some interesting tales by Ram Dass about how Neem Karoli read his mind, ingested ginormous amounts of LSD without any effect, etc; here:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb2BWvRN090" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb2BWvRN090</a><p>The specific story about the Baba reading Ram Dass' mind and informing him that he was thinking about his mother and that she had died of spleen failure stayed with me. Maybe he was informed the previous night that a Professor from the US was arriving whose mother died recently of spleen failure and the rest was about creating an illusion of omniscience?<p>In any case, a large number of these gurus turn out to be sexual predators, and it is absolutely crushing to those who follow them to discover this.<p>UG "masturbation is better than meditation" Krishnamurti was a much needed respite from these masters of bullshit for me, personally.
<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2516424/" rel="nofollow">https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2516424/</a> is an interesting documentary about the complicated, ambivalent relationship between Alpert and Leary, made when Leary was dying. Leary, characteristically, turned his death into a spectacle, but I find Alpert the more interesting of the two.
On a personal level I find detachment and neutrality to be helpful for reducing anxiety and stress, but on a societal level it sounds like a recipe for mass complacency in the face of oppression.
I had his Be Here Now book in University. I didn't know he had a podcast. I'll have to add it.<p>I had a friend I was tripping on acid with, back in grad school, and he picked up the Be Here Now book, read the intro and said, "Wait, did he seriously change his name to 'Rammed ass?!'" .. I've always wondered about his intent after that. :-P
Understanding and living his message (or any other non-dualist teacher) is the #1 to do if you want a successful startup.<p>(Really, it's the recipe for a successful life. In fact, when you've tasted what he's offering, you may find that stock options, sales funnels, and customer acquisition costs no longer excite you.)
The most effective rape drug ever, turning adults into children who can be exploited.<p>“I got dismissed from Harvard because I had given psychedelics to an undergraduate. We had agreed with the dean that we would not give psychedelics to undergraduates.” Ram Dass flashes a mischievous grin. “He was an attractive kid.” So do you suspect, I ask, that Maharajji had a hand in making you attracted to men because it would ultimately lead you to him? “I suspect,” he replies with a nod. “He's a rascal.” “Maharajji?” I ask. “Yeah,” Ram Dass says.<p>There are truths to be seen through the eyes of a child, but there's also the rape-facilitation, too.
Oh, that guy. See this New York Times article from 1977.[1]<p><i>"Over the course of several years, Alpert claimed to have taken some 300 acid trips. Inevitably, the problem became one of facing the blandness of coming down.... Once, he says he and five others locked themselves in a building for three weeks and dropped 400 micrograms of LSD every four hours. Still; when the trip was over, it was over. Finished. Done. In “Be Here Now,” Ram Dass describes the pain: “It was as if you'd come into the kingdom of heaven and seen how it all is, and then you got cast out again.” Looking for a way to get up there and stay up there, maybe even without drugs ... Alpert split for India."</i><p>Today. tuned out, turned off, and dropped out of sight.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/04/archives/confessions-of-an-american-guru-ram-dass.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/04/archives/confessions-of-a...</a>