<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><p class="">The spiritual teacher and psychologist, Ram Dass, <a href="https://www.ramdass.org/statement-from-the-love-serve-remember-foundation-on-ram-dasss-passing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">died on December 22</a>, 2019 in Maui, Hawaii. He was 88.</p><p class="">Born Richard Alpert, Ram Dass was known as a devotee of Eastern
religion and for his spiritual teachings that drew from a variety of
traditions including Buddhism, Hinduism, Sufism, and Jewish mystical
studies. He first gained notoriety as a psychedelic pioneer, having
worked in the Harvard University psychology department with Dr. Timothy
Leary in the early 1960s, where the two researched the potentially
therapeutic and mind-altering effects of LSD and psilocybin. He was the
author of over a dozen books, including the classic <i class="">Be Here Now,</i> published in 1971.</p><p class="">Born in 1931 in Newton, Massachusetts, he began his PhD studies at
Stanford in the 1950s. In 1958, he joined Harvard University as an
assistant clinical psychology professor. In 1961, he began researching
psychedelic chemicals, and co-authored two books on the subject. The
research was seen as controversial, and in 1963, Ram Dass and Leary were
formally dismissed from Harvard. They continued to research the
religious use of psychedelic drugs through the International Federation
for Internal Freedom (IFIF), a non-profit they co-founded in 1962.</p>
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<div id="attachment_235915" style="width: 383px" class="aligncenter wp-caption"><a href="https://www.lionsroar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/800px-Neem_Karoli_Baba_Sculpture_in_Ram_Dass_Library.jpg" class=""><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-235915" class=" wp-image-235915" src="https://www.lionsroar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/800px-Neem_Karoli_Baba_Sculpture_in_Ram_Dass_Library.jpg" alt="" data-wp-pid="235915" srcset="https://www.lionsroar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/800px-Neem_Karoli_Baba_Sculpture_in_Ram_Dass_Library.jpg 800w, https://www.lionsroar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/800px-Neem_Karoli_Baba_Sculpture_in_Ram_Dass_Library-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.lionsroar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/800px-Neem_Karoli_Baba_Sculpture_in_Ram_Dass_Library-768x576.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 373px) 100vw, 373px" width="373" height="280"></a><p id="caption-attachment-235915" class="wp-caption-text">Neem
Karoli Baba’s sculpture in Ram Dass Library, Omega Institute for
Holistic Studies, Rhinebeck, New York. Photo: Smokestack Basilisk</p></div>
</div><p class="">Ram Dass traveled to India for the first time in 1967, where he met
Neem Karoli Baba, the Hindu spiritual teacher known as Maharaj-ji, who
would become his guru. It was Neem Karoli Baba who gave the then Dr.
Richard Alpert the name “Ram Dass,” meaning “Servant of God.”</p><p class="">When he returned to America, he stayed at the Lama Foundation, a
counterculture spiritual community he had helped co-found in Taos, New
Mexico. There, he created a manuscript for a book titled <i class="">From Bindu to Ojas</i>,
which residents from the community edited and illustrated. The book
told Ram Dass’ story of his spiritual journey and included
eastern-influenced spiritual guidelines and quotes. It was published in
1971 with the name <i class="">Be Here Now</i>, and went on to become a popular and influential book for spiritual seekers from varying traditions.</p><p class="">Throughout the 70s, Ram Dass focused on teaching and writing,
building a community of students in the West. He founded the Hanuman
Foundation, a nonprofit service organization in 1974 “meant to embody
the spirit of service that inspired his Guru.” The foundation created
the Prison-Ashram Project, now called the Human Kindness Foundation, and
the Dying Project, which brought awareness to conscious aging and
dying. The <a href="https://www.ramdass.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="">Love Serve Remember Foundation </a>was later organized to preserve Ram Dass’s teachings.</p><div class="our-newsletter lions-newsletter-bottom-signup-for-long-post" style="margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; " id="our-newsletter"><h4 class=""><span class="s1"></span></h4></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></body></html>