Ram Dass
(born Richard Alpert on 6 April 1931)
(born Richard Alpert on 6 April 1931)
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Ram Dass is an American contemporary spiritual teacher, and author of the seminal 1971 book Be Here Now. He is well known for his personal and professional associations with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s. He is also known for his travels to India and his relationship with the Hindu guru Neem Karoli Baba, and for founding the charitable organizations Seva Foundation and Hanuman Foundation. He continues to teach currently via his website.
Youth and Education Richard Alpert was born to a Jewish family in Newton, Massachusetts. His father, George Alpert, was a lawyer 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 the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He started his high school career at the Williston Northampton School, graduating in 1948 as part of the Cum Laude association. He then went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University, Master's degree from Wesleyan University and Doctorate (in psychology) from Stanford University. Harvard professorship : Timothy Leary/Richard Alpert research 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. However, perhaps most notable was the work he was doing with his close friend and associate, Timothy Leary. Leary and Alpert were formally dismissed from the university in 1963. According to Harvard President Nathan M. Pusey, Leary was dismissed for leaving Cambridge and his classes without permission or notice, and Alpert for allegedly giving psilocybin to an undergraduate. Name Change In 1967 Alpert travelled to India, where he travelled with the American spiritual seeker yogi Bhagavan Das, and ultimately met the man who would become his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, whom Alpert called "Maharaj-ji." It was Maharaj-ji who gave him the name "Ram Dass," which means "servant of Lord Rama." Later in Life In February 1997, Ram Dass suffered a stroke which left him with expressive aphasia. However, he interprets his stroke as an act of grace and continues to travel, giving lectures, as his health permits. When asked if he could sum up his life's message he replied, "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 was awarded the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award in August 1991. Ram Dass is a vegetarian and has also acknowledged his bisexuality. In the 1990s, he became more forthcoming about sexuality, while avoiding labels and asserting that who we are "isn't gay, and it's not not-gay, and it's not anything - it's just awareness." At the age of 78, Ram Dass learned that he had fathered a son when he was a 24-year-old at Stanford, and that he was now a grandfather. Foundations The Love Serve Remember Foundation (LSR) was organized to preserve and continue the teachings of Neem Karoli Baba and Ram Dass, and to work with Ram Dass on his writings and other future plans. The Hanuman Foundation is a non-profit educational and service organization founded by Ram Dass in 1974, focused on the spiritual well-being of society through education, media and community service programs. The Seva Foundation is an international health organization founded by Ram Dass in 1978 along with public health leader Larry Brilliant and humanitarian activist Wavy Gravy. Books
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Dass |
