Be Here Now by Ram Dass

Discussion in 'Metaphysics, Philosophy and Religion Books' started by flwrchild86, Aug 16, 2004.

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  1. flwrchild86

    flwrchild86 Member

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    wanted this book for like, EVER and finally picked it up. I'm only on the first few pages but i can tell that it is going to be an awakening and intellectual read. any thoughts on this book? i LOVE stuff like this... the author even mentions Timothy Leary a lot because i guess they were friends...neato.
     
    flwrchild86, Aug 16, 2004
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  3. tiki_god7

    tiki_god7 Member

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    yeah be here now is totally an awesome book, I got it for easter this year and have read it about 5 times since...the cook book is a little vaque but if you're into what it has to say check out the Journey of Spiritual Awaikening also by Ram Dass.....I just picked it up recently and am about half way through with it says 'more on the art of being here now' so yeah its pretty much just alike a manual of how to meditate or even obtain enlightenment and describes the paths to chose and obsticles you'll face and what not......a good read if you like be here now
     
    tiki_god7, Aug 16, 2004
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  5. MeAgain

    MeAgain Dazed & Confused Lifetime Supporter Super Moderator

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    I got this book back in 1971 when I was in college. I used to carry it around and read it in spare moments. Once I climbed a hill behind the dorm and ran into Itchy, an older black student friend of mind I hadn't seen in a while. He looked at the book I was carrying and said, "That d-m book keeps turning up everywhere!"


    It's been called the "Bible" of the "Hippies"...I read that somewhere.

    There are two other sorta similar books like it that I've found..

    The first is called Seed.

    Now this book has an anonymous author with a forward by Ram Dass. Unfortunitly it's out of print. I found 3 copies at Barnes and Noble. $80.00 to $160.00 dollars! It's the same format as Be Here Now but includes a set of tear off cards containing all kinda images that are used to play "games". There were an awful lot of them. I think I lost them all, of course. But I still have the book.

    From Barnes and Noble:
    http://search.barnesandnoble.com/OopBooks/UsedBook.asp?userid=ZYw1R5V8eY&sourceid=M000000265&itm=2&EAN=2825867550219
    Title: SEED[​IMG]Author: Anonymous Dass, Ram Lama foundation[​IMG]Comments: Paper. Very Good++/No Jacket. Softcover. VG++/No DJ. Binding tight, pages clean though lightly curled towards front. This book is about an inch and ahalf thick. The latter half of the book is a series of perforated pages each of which contains four tear out cards with a photo. These cards are intended for use in several games which are detailed by the authors. The first part of the book is a mystical treatise on the nature of God and the "way" which is illuminated through a verbal and illustrated montage borrowing from the full range of religious and spiritual practices and tradtions. Although the authors had "wished to remain anonymous", Ram Dass played a central role in the books creation.

    The other is Toward the One by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, 1974. It's out of print also but 5 copies are available at Amazon. (Same format as Be Here Now)
    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/006090352X/qid=1092785918/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-9606779-7761640?v=glance&s=books

    See review below:
    [​IMG] One of the greats, April 15, 2002
    [size=-1][/size][size=-1]Reviewer: "ppagan" (Vermont, United States) - See all my reviews [/size]Truly fabulous spiritual guide. Beautifully produced, text integrated with graphics in a beautiful way (no color though). Authentic Sufi practices and teachings with a very eclectic approach, acknowledging the true teachings behind all religions. Early editions had a poster insert--"My Heart has become an ocean, my beloved, since thou hast poured thy love into it." An extraordinary prose poem, the essence of the Way of Love.
     
    MeAgain, Aug 17, 2004
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  7. gnrm23

    gnrm23 Senior Member

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    the artist who produced all 3 of those books (he was mentioned at one point in the central text of BE HERE NOW) was steven durkee...
    (he did an article for "coevolution quarterly" (now "whole earth review") back in the late 70s/early 80s on practical methods for realizing peace in the middle east)
    ~
    yeah, i long ago lost my copy of _toward the one_ (still have the poster/poem/prayer that came with the book, for some reason)
    & _seed_ --- well, it drifted away back in the day, but somehow i have like 1-1/2 copies now + the poster/mandala/gameboard (musta been @ booksale or garage sale or somethin, i dunno...)
    ~
    lama foundation (out by taos NM) would host all sorts of folks for intensive learning experiences lived out by those of the community, and often would publish some sort of record of their studies:

    hari dass (one of ram dass' teachers - y'know, the one under a vow of silence in india, taught via a chalkboard... at lama foundation, he taught with his chalkboard!) they published that as _the yellow book_

    some rinzai zen master (i forget his name) did sesshin there for a week... his lectures were published as _buddha is the center of gravity_

    and so on...
    googlesearch "lama foundation" or maybe "steve durkee" & see what pops up, heh...

    ~

    sometimes stephen gaskin's foks at the farm in TN would publish similarly interesting tomes for us hungry (for knowledge/experience/wisdom/liberation/what!?!?) hippies to glom onto & grok... esoteric teachings explicated for the masses... who has ears, let him hear...
     
    gnrm23, Aug 18, 2004
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  9. MeAgain

    MeAgain Dazed & Confused Lifetime Supporter Super Moderator

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    gnrm,


    As I think back, was that poster a big Yantra (I think they're called yantras), a symetric geometric design, sorta blue maybe?

    I think I cut that up into sections and laminated them. Had it hung up somewhere for years, probably up in the attic now.

    "Such true seeing, therefore, is no seeing (of some thing by some-thing) ultimately neither seeing nor non-seeing - scince then there is no object to see or not see, & no subject of no object."

    Open Secret, Wei Wu Wei...From Seed
     
    MeAgain, Aug 18, 2004
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  11. gnrm23

    gnrm23 Senior Member

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    ya, a big yantra/mandala...
    all sorts of geometric onlays, over a map of - somewhere, i dunno...
    there was a suggestion of possible "games" to be played using the board...
    using coins or stones as markers... "moves" to be determines by various methods - dice? coin tossing (a la i ching?), drawing of the cards with pictures integrated... i think some of the cut-outs had i ching hexagrams, & maybe a tarot deck, and the many photographs & drawings had a lot of possibilities as well...
    ~
    hmmmm, maybe i will try to keep the tattered remnants in one dedicated container, & maybe make copies of the cutout-cards & someday play the game, hehheh...

    ~

    random other book: there was a "game book" based on the tibetan book of the dead, with a big mandala/thanka as the game-board... still in my basement bookshelves, i think...

    ~
    i think _the buddha is the center of gravity_ (along with some very trippy drawings in the book) has a wall-hanging of _the heart sutra_ or something like that...

    them crazy hippies, back in the day...
    it's like guru bill said, "there's a seeker born every minute!"
    heh...
    ;)

    namaste
     
    gnrm23, Aug 18, 2004
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  13. Fractual_

    Fractual_ cosmos factory

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    im waiting for it along with a shitload of other books in the mail for mah birfday
     
    Fractual_, Aug 18, 2004
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  15. dylanzeppelin

    dylanzeppelin daydream believer

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    Be Here Now is like a bible of hippies? I was reading through the posts figuring it out what it is really about, but still a bit unsure. I'm always looking for something to read, although school is starting up, I enjoy my own free choice of books to read and right now, I'm lacking in that right now. You guys always have good suggestion and this book has got me interested, I shall check it out on Amazon.
     
    dylanzeppelin, Aug 18, 2004
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  17. Fractual_

    Fractual_ cosmos factory

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    i think you can read excerpts on amazon, for that and the road to spiritual awakening(or somethin like that( by ram dass, i cant wait to get all ma books in dah mail.


    ive heard of alan watts, but im not even sure where i heard it.
     
    Fractual_, Aug 19, 2004
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  19. eccofarmer

    eccofarmer Member

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    NAMASTE


    Be Here Now was one of the first books looking back that opened my mind to a different world.I have since reading that book have seen Ram dass many times when he gives talks oor work shops.I still to this day read it at least once a year.Allan Watts is great too.There were at that time many writers who still to this day have made a big splash so to speak in the movement of spirituality.
     
    eccofarmer, Aug 19, 2004
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  21. GanjaPrince

    GanjaPrince Banned

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    Ram Dass is one of my spiritual teachers, and I am sooooo in love with him.

    I read Remember; Be Here Now, a few years back, and it was and still is the BEST book I have ever read. It really changed my life in so many ways, got me into meditation, and helped me understand my own spiritual path... It was the answer i was looking for, after psychedelics had introduced me to mysticism through first-hand experience. It helped me understand my own experience, and that IT never left me, I left it, because it's here now, like ram dass says, "you have to Be before you See" It all starts in the present moment.

    I ended up really getting into another book by the same lineage, it's here now by Bhagavan Das, mentioned in Be Here Now, but Be Here Now effected the way be the most and what "eric" does. I still read it a lot, and it is like a "holy book" I guess you could say to me. I always keep it by my altar. I often have read it while on mushrooms, or mescaline or whatever, and it helped with the trip in a very beautiful way, a teaching healing experience. I often see pages from Be Here Now, at odd times, during visions, as a sort of guidence how to handle a situation.

    So basically it introduced me to a beautiful teacher, Ram Dass, with great books, and great tapes you can listen to, and a great guru still hanging around him, doing the lila thing. Recently the past year are so, I've connected a lot more with Ram Dass's guru, his spirit still hangs around. He's a great spiritual guide, and I am gratefull for the grace, that is ever present actually. :)

    In may I went to a five day spiritual retreat with Ram Dass and Krishna das, and got to be in his presence, great energy! And sing kirtan with Krishna Das who used to sing for Neem karoli Baba, ram dass's guru. And it was so healing, I was laughing a lot, crying in tears of bliss, meditating, healing, learning and meeting all sorts of ancient beings, sharing the love!

    Thank you thank you thank you!
     
    GanjaPrince, Aug 19, 2004
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  23. MeAgain

    MeAgain Dazed & Confused Lifetime Supporter Super Moderator

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    Hey Grmn et all,


    Speaking of spiritual game books, I have another, maybe you've heard of this one?

    Leela, the Game of Self-Knowledge, 1975, Harish Johari

    According to the book Hari translated fading markings on two ancient Sanskrit parchments containing serpants, arrows, and squares into english. The orignal book of verses that explained the words in the squares had been lost.
    Hari then made a new version of the board and developed commentaries based on the ancient words and his understanding of Tantra, etc.

    The edition I have (I believe it is the first) came with a tear out game board.

    So you start on Cosmic Consciousness, roll a six and fall into Delusion, then work your way up through 8 levels and back to Cosmic Consciousness.

    Squares such as Mercy can take you up to the Absolute square while Ignorance can lead you down into the Sensual Plane.

    Supposedly this is where the child's game of Chutes and Ladders comes from. It's really pretty neat.

    If you go here you can see several pages. This is a very nice edition for the price! Much nicer than mine.

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0892814195/ref=sib_dp_pt/002-9606779-7761640#reader-page


    P.S. Alan Watts is fantastic! Have I read all of his books?
     
    MeAgain, Aug 19, 2004
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  25. gnrm23

    gnrm23 Senior Member

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    gnrm23, Aug 20, 2004
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  27. purity_spring

    purity_spring Member

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    Be Here Now contains real wisdom. It's hard to find truly unbiased matierial containing or inspiring good wisdom. I suggest opening up to the brown section randomly and using it for inspiration. Ram Dass is a truly bright light!
     
    purity_spring, Aug 31, 2004
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  29. Rar1013

    Rar1013 GroovaMama

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    it is such a fabulous book...i recommend it to all :)
     
    Rar1013, Nov 6, 2004
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  31. loveflower

    loveflower Senior Member

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    it definitely is
     
    loveflower, Nov 6, 2004
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  33. Elle

    Elle Senior Member

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    What's it about? Who is the author? (Im looking for a new read) :p
     
    Elle, Nov 6, 2004
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  35. Soulless||Chaos

    Soulless||Chaos SelfInducedExistence

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    Yes, it's an interesting read.... Not really my thing though... :rolleyes: A good book nonetheless... :rolleyes:
     
    Soulless||Chaos, Nov 6, 2004
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  37. Dalee

    Dalee Member

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    hey :)

    The book is buy Ram Dass, a man who used to know Timothy Leary and do experimenting with LSD with him.


    LSD inspired him to go in India in search of finding Truth, after seeing a higher perspective from LSD.


    Half of the book is just creative drawings with mantras/reminders/awakening words.

    THe other half is instructional for the path of a Yogi.
     
    Dalee, Nov 7, 2004
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  39. Elle

    Elle Senior Member

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    "for the path of a yogi"???
    I think I know what that means....but would you elaborate?
    Hey thanks! It sound intersting....I will look for it in the book store:)
     
    Elle, Nov 7, 2004
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