For Ram Das, "Being Here Now," are three words that contain "inner work for a lifetime." He is the founder of the Love Serve Remember Project and co-founder of the Seva Foundation and the Prison Ashram Project. Ram Dass' pivotal work is Remember, Be Here Now, first published in 1971. It is considered a spiritual classic around the world. In this summing-up volume, written with Rameshwar Das, he presents commentary on the practices and insights which have been the essentials of his wisdom teachings over a period of 50 years.
Ram Dass begins with a look at meditation as the practice of quieting and purifying the mind. This is followed by a probe of Bhakti Yoga, the Path of Devotion, where the goal is opening the heart. In the Hindu tradition, it can be experienced through kirtan or chanting, mystical poetry, the remembrance of saints, mantras, or being together in community. Great love is manifested in relationship to teachers who come in many different guises.
After quieting the mind and opening the heart, the next step in developing a spiritual consciousness is Karma Yoga where individuals awaken to their ego consciousness and seek to move beyond it. Ram Dass calls this process "giving up being the central character of your own melodrama." He then spells out some of the gifts of old age and living with change: being free, letting go, being with what is, and dealing with death, fear and pain.
Ram Dass concludes: "Life is an incredible curriculum in which we live richly and passionately as a way of awakening to the deepest truths of our being." He shares a series of practices that he has used over the years including making a sacred space, blessing food, and listening to self.
At the end of the "Acknowledgements" section are the following words which we found very moving and wanted to share with you:
"Spiritual books are but markers left beside the path for fellow pilgrims toward inner light. May dust from the feet of the great beings who have trod this Way before us grace the words and thoughts on these pages and guide us home."
