Ram Dass
Ram Dass
Ram Dassis an American spiritual teacher and the author of the seminal 1971 book Be Here Now. He is known for his personal and professional associations with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s, 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 via his website...
ProfessionYoung Adult Author
Date of Birth6 April 1931
CityBoston, MA
heart mind easier
When the heart is open, it's easier for the mind to be turned toward God.
opposites unity consciousness
Across planes of consciousness, we have to live with the paradox that opposite things can be simultaneously true.
sunshine thinking tree
We're sitting under the tree of our thinking minds, wondering why we're not getting any sunshine!
spiritual journey essence
This is the pathless path - returning to where you were initially before you got lost. The deepest truth in you is where the journey leads - shedding, like taking off layers of an onion, until you come to your essence. The key to the spiritual journey is not acquiring something outside of yourself. Rather it is shedding the veils to come back to the deepest truth of your being.
pain heart caring
The pain of the world will sear and break our hearts because we can no longer keep them closed. We've seen too much now. To some degree or other, we have surrendered into service and are willing to pay the price of compassion. But with it comes the joy of a single, caring act. With it comes the honor of participating in a generous process in which one rises each day and does what one can. With it comes the simple, singular grace of being an instrument of Love, in whatever form, to whatever end.
journey compassion judging
The sooner one develops compassion in this journey, the better. Compassion lets us appreciate that each individual is doing what he or she must do, and that there is no reason to judge another person or oneself. You merely do what you can to further your own awakening.
self-esteem esteem shortcomings
You are loved just for being who you are, just for existing.
letting-go mean meditation
Meditation means to be constantly extricating yourself from the clinging of mind. By letting go of even the thought 'I,' and 'me' what is left? There is nowhere to stand and no one to stand there. No separation anywhere. Pure awareness. Neither this, nor that. Just clarity and being.
live-in-the-moment needs next
The next message you need is always right where you are.
rip butterfly done
It's only when caterpillarness is done that one becomes a butterfly. That again is part of this paradox. You cannot rip away caterpillarness. The whole trip occurs in an unfolding process of which we have no control.
offers persons
The gift you offer another person is just your being.
levels evolution be-here-now
What you meet in another being is the projection of your own level of evolution.
drama knowing watches
Learn to watch your drama unfold while at the same time knowing you are more than your drama.
spiritual moving practice
Spiritual practices help us move from identifying with the ego to identifying with the soul. Old age does that for you too. It spiritualizes people naturally.