In February 1997, Ram Dass suffered a debilitating stroke that left him struggling to speak again to the generation that he so inspired. For more than 30 years his life has served as a spiritual laboratory, where he has explored many paths from both East and West in his attempt to understand the nature of consciousness. Along the way, Ram Dass has touched thousands of seekers with his personal search for greater truths.
From the beginning, this respected teacher's retreat talks and lectures have been meticulously recorded and archived. Experiments in Truth is a historic collection of Ram Dass's most important recordings, hand-picked and presented here together for the first time.
A Harvard Professor Turns Spiritual Leader
In the early 60s, a young Harvard professor known then as Richard Alpert sought truth and a way to inner consciousness through renegade psychedelic explorations. Disappointed with the short-lived results, Alpert traveled to India where he met his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, who instructed him to love everyone and tell the truth. Richard Alpert returned to America as Ram Dass to share the fruit of his search, teaching that through the practice of love and service, it is possible to awaken to an awareness of what our lives are truly about.
Stepping beyond the Mind through Love and Service
On Experiments in Truth, you will join this pioneer of engaged spirituality in America and master storyteller for eight inspiring lectures, each one a gem of humor, insight, and intelligence about the spiritual journey today. Here is real-life wisdom for people of all faiths and all walks of life.
This spiritual path uses as its vehicle for transformation our actions themselves, Ram Dass has written. That is, we gain internal freedom through external action. With Experiments in Truth, you can start on this path for transformation, while sitting side-by-side with one of America's most beloved spiritual figures of this century. A pioneer of engaged spirituality in America shares eight of his most important teachings.
Ram Dass
Ram Dass (1931–2019)first went to India in 1967. He was still Dr. Richard Alpert, an already eminent Harvard psychologist and psychedelic pioneer with Dr. Timothy Leary. He continued his psychedelic research until his journey to the East in 1967, driving overland to India, where he met his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, affectionately known as Maharaj-ji. Maharaj-ji gave him the name, Ram Dass, which means "servant of God." Everything changed then-his intense dharmic life started, and he became a pivotal influence on a culture that has reverberated with the words "be here now" ever since.
Be Here Now, Ram Dass's monumentally influential and seminal book, still stands as the highly readable centerpiece of the Western articulation of Eastern philosophy and practicing to live joyously in the present moment, be it luminous or mundane. From a backpackers' bible in the 1970s, Be Here Now continues to be the instruction manual of choice for generations of spiritual seekers. Fifty years later, it's still part of the timeless present. Being here now is still being here now. Ram Dass's work continues to be a path of teaching and inspiration to so many. His loving spirit has been a guiding light for three generations, carrying millions along on the journey, helping free them from their bonds as he has worked through his own. For more about Ram Dass's teachings, visit ramdass.org.
