Be Love Now

January 1, 2011

Feted and derided, Dass (born Richard Alpert), one-time friend and associate of Timothy Leary, with whom he was turned out of Harvard for their experiments in the use of LSD, added a phrase to the language with the title of his first major book, Be Here Now. This book continues Dass's story where it left off in Still Here, which includes an account of his life-threatening stroke, and is as much memoir as spiritual counsel. VERDICT Essential for Dass fans, this book is also of interest to students of contemporary Hinduism.

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November 15, 2010
Ram Dass first told the story of how he met his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, known as Maharaj-ji, in the now-legendary Be Here Now (1972). Ram Dass has been a spiritual teacher ever since, ceaselessly reflecting on his profound transformation in India four decades ago, especially in the wake of his debilitating stroke in 1997. In this vivid, often mind-blowing blend of spiritual memoir and teaching stories, written with his fellow devotee, Rameshwar Das, Ram Dass remembers his gurus baffling powers; candidly describes the tensions within the satsang, or community of seekers, surrounding Maharaj-ji; and explains his arduous inner work as he practiced yoga, chanted mantras that work on both vibrational and conceptual planes, and opened his mind to the presence of realized beings, including the Indian saints whose life stories he tells. Beneath the esoteric complexity is the spiritual essence, the unconditional love that Maharaj-ji channeled, the love that Ram Dass seeks to share with others. Love that is like sunshine, a natural force, a completion of what is, a bliss that permeates every particle of existence.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)