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Ram Dass was born in 1933 as Richard Alpert. In the 1960s he taught at Harvard and conducted intensive research into human consciousness through LSD and other psychedelic elements, in collaboration with Timothy Leary, Aldous Huxley, Allen Ginsberg, and others.
In 1967 he traveled to India and there he met his spiritual teacher, Neem Karoli Baba. Under his guru's guidance, he studied yoga and meditation and received the name Ram Dass, or "servant of God." Since 1968, he has pursued a variety of spiritual practices, including Hinduism, karma, yoga and Sufism.
In 1974, Ram Dass created the Hanuman Foundation, which has developed many projects, including the "Prison-Ashram Project," designed to help inmates grow spiritually during incarceration, and the "Living Dying Project," which provides support for the conscious dying. The foundation is also the organizing vehicle for Ram Dass' lectures and workshops, which constantly keep him traveling the world.
He is also a co-founder and board member of the Seva Foundation ("service," in Sanskrit), an international organization dedicated to relieving suffering in the world. Seva supports programs designed to help wipe out curable blindness in India and Nepal, restore the agricultural life of impoverished villagers in Guatemala, assist in primary health care for American Indians, and to bring attention to the issues of homelessness and environmental degradation in the United States, among others.
Ram Dass has written a number of books on spiritual topics. His first, "Be Here Now" - published in 1971, with two million copies sold and in its 34th printing - has become a classic spiritual guide that shaped the awakening consciousness of a generation. His other works include "How Can I Help: Stories and Reflections on Service" (with Paul Gorman); and his seventh book, "Compassion in Action: Setting Out on the Path of Service" (with Mirabai Bush).
On February 19, 1997, Ram Dass suffered a massive cerebral hemorrahagic stroke in his left brain hemisphere. The stroke left him with extensive right side paralysis, expressive aphasia, and a number of recurring and threatening health problems. In the years since, he has been in rehabilitation and has improved greatly. He has returned to a schedule of appearances and talks and in some ways is better than ever. Ram Dass himself refers to the event as "being stroked".
To view our complete list of Ram Dass recordings and books, click on 'Catalogue' at left, then choose Ram Dass from the drop down list under 'Speakers/Authors'.
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