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Invisiblec0sm0nautt
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Ram Dass has a son! (and a new book)
    #13433237 - 11/04/10 10:17 AM (13 years, 4 months ago)

Ram Dass Has a Son! But Has This Revelation Changed His Conception of Love?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sara-davidson/ram-dass-has-a-son_b_777452.html

Quote:

Ram Dass was working on his new book, "Be Love Now," written with his longtime friend, Rameshwar Das, when a letter arrived from a stranger: "I believe you may be the father of my older brother."

What?! Ram Dass dismissed it at first, thinking, "Someone's trying to hustle me." A world-renowned spiritual leader, Ram Dass was formerly Richard Alpert, the psychology professor at Harvard who was fired with Timothy Leary for experimenting with LSD. He's bisexual with a preference for men, has never wanted children and teaches that spiritual love is of a higher order than personal love. He famously said, "If you want to see how enlightened you are, go spend a week with your family." Having a son, if true, would challenge his beliefs about love.

Two weeks after the letter arrived, a friend of Ram Dass offered to check it out. He spoke with the putative son and arranged for DNA tests, and the results came back in October 2009: Ram Dass is the father of Peter Reichard, a 53-year-old banker in North Carolina who'd never heard of Ram Dass and was raised with no religion.

When I heard the news, I was shocked. What would the son of Ram Dass be like, and how had this come about? I spoke with them both and learned that Peter was conceived in 1956, when there was no birth control pill and DNA had not been discovered. Alpert, then a lanky grad student at Stanford, had a brief affair with Karen Saum, a feisty and beautiful history major who was planning to marry another man who was living in New York and whom we'll call Hans. She and Hans had agreed to have an open relationship until they began their life together.

Right after graduating, Karen joined Hans and soon learned that she was pregnant. She told Hans that there was a slight chance that it was Dick Alpert's baby, but there was no way to determine that. Hans said it didn't matter; they'd raise the child as their own.

Fast forward to 2009. Peter's brother Lawrence hears from a mutual friend of his mother Karen that she has long harbored a suspicion that Peter may be the son of Ram Dass. When the DNA results came back, Ram Dass was flummoxed. He'd avoided creating family ties, believing they might hold him back from attaining spiritual freedom. But friends started congratulating him. Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, who's conducted workshops with Ram Dass, cried out, "Mazel tov! It would have been a shame if that wonderful seed wouldn't have continued." Ram Dass said, "My DNA continues? That doesn't mean a thing to me."

Peter Reichard also had the rug pulled out from under him. He looks like Ram Dass -- tall, with the same features and receding hairline. But he speaks with a Carolina drawl, eats pork, enjoys cigars and describes himself as "pretty shallow. Spirituality does not run deep in me." He had to go on a crash course to learn about Ram Dass. "For months," he said, "I was drinking from a fire hose."

In August I visited Ram Dass at his home in Maui and Peter in North Carolina. Although Ram Dass is paralyzed on the right side due to a stroke, he practices contentment with what is, including his physical state. Love seems to permeate the air.

I asked him why the spiritual love he cultivates for all beings didn't kick in when he learned about Peter. "It was the family thing," he said. He'd loved his mother and cared for his father when he was dying, but he had no concept of what having a son would be like.

Ram Dass and Peter began speaking on the phone each Sunday and visited twice in person, and Ram Dass came to love Peter and his wife and daughter. "Peter is such a sweet guy," he says, and they've found that they share many traits, including compassion, playfulness and the ability to ease tensions. Ram Dass developed a deeper understanding of the love parents feel for their children and began to see that personal and soul love are not mutually exclusive but can coexist in nourishing ways.

"Peter and I are meeting as father and son," Ram Dass said, "but underneath that, we're two souls. I'd like us to get beyond the roles; then we'll really have something. I'll give up Ram Dass-ness, he'll give up Peter-ness, and here we go."

I tell him I don't think I've ever given up Sara-ness.

"I know you haven't," he said with a playful laugh. "That's why I'm in the business I'm in."

"I want to...," I said.

"That's not good enough." He made a beckoning gesture with his finger and said, "Come on."

I know this is hard to convey, but at that moment, something released in me and bliss came rolling in. For the rest of the day, I sat before the windows looking out on the ocean, feeling love for everyone and everything, including the hardest case -- myself.

I hope to write a book about Ram Dass and Peter, how their connecting late in life has changed them, and how their story reveals the ways our culture and our families have evolved from the '50s to the present.

In the meantime, check out Ram Dass' "Be Love Now," published by Harper One, which describes how love is a state of being available to us all, no matter where or with whom we find ourselves.

This is the 40th anniversary of the publication of Ram Dass's game-changing book, which sold two million copies. An e-book is available at Apple's iBookstore with many extras: video of Ram Dass that's never been released, an audio version of his original "Be Here Now" lecture, and two guided meditations.



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OfflineMr Fantasy
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Re: Ram Dass has a son! (and a new book) [Re: c0sm0nautt]
    #13433358 - 11/04/10 10:53 AM (13 years, 4 months ago)

I got my copy of his new book yesterday in the mail, it is awesome so far. I can literally feel the love beaming from from my chest as I read it. Something that I would have never really got a year ago in my life. :sunny:

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OfflineJacquesCousteau
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Re: Ram Dass has a son! (and a new book) [Re: c0sm0nautt]
    #13437390 - 11/05/10 03:55 AM (13 years, 4 months ago)

Wait, so the new book isn't actually written by Ram Dass? What makes it 'his' book then?

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Invisiblec0sm0nautt
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Re: Ram Dass has a son! (and a new book) [Re: JacquesCousteau]
    #13437458 - 11/05/10 05:04 AM (13 years, 4 months ago)

Sure it is.

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OfflineJacquesCousteau
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Re: Ram Dass has a son! (and a new book) [Re: c0sm0nautt]
    #13437462 - 11/05/10 05:05 AM (13 years, 4 months ago)

Oh, it said 'written with' not 'written by' his longtime friend... i mis-read. Makes more sense now.

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Invisiblec0sm0nautt
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Re: Ram Dass has a son! (and a new book) [Re: JacquesCousteau]
    #13437464 - 11/05/10 05:07 AM (13 years, 4 months ago)

I read the forward on Amazon. They have the first couple chapters up too. :cool:

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InvisibleChronic7
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Re: Ram Dass has a son! (and a new book) [Re: c0sm0nautt]
    #13437501 - 11/05/10 05:56 AM (13 years, 4 months ago)

This is really nice, much better than someone twisting it into a story about 'the guru who has an illegitimate son'


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Offlineg00ru
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Re: Ram Dass has a son! (and a new book) [Re: c0sm0nautt]
    #13438066 - 11/05/10 10:43 AM (13 years, 4 months ago)

i mean it was the 60's, he probably has more sons he doesn't even know about :lol:


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OfflineJacquesCousteau
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Re: Ram Dass has a son! (and a new book) [Re: g00ru]
    #13438390 - 11/05/10 11:55 AM (13 years, 4 months ago)

Quote:

guruu said:
i mean it was the 60's, he probably has more sons he doesn't even know about :lol:




I'd be fuckin' psyched to find out my real dad was Richard Alpert. That's awesome. I'd be donning one-shouldered cloaks and shit within the hour.

No offense to my real dad...

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InvisibleChronic7
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Re: Ram Dass has a son! (and a new book) [Re: JacquesCousteau]
    #13438398 - 11/05/10 11:56 AM (13 years, 4 months ago)

Quote:

JacquesCousteau said:
Quote:

guruu said:
i mean it was the 60's, he probably has more sons he doesn't even know about :lol:




I'd be fuckin' psyched to find out my real dad was Richard Alpert. That's awesome. I'd be donning one-shouldered cloaks and shit within the hour.

No offense to my real dad...




:rofl:


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OfflineKickleM
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Re: Ram Dass has a son! (and a new book) [Re: Chronic7]
    #13439305 - 11/05/10 03:11 PM (13 years, 4 months ago)

Quote:

The Chronic said:
Quote:

JacquesCousteau said:
Quote:

guruu said:
i mean it was the 60's, he probably has more sons he doesn't even know about :lol:




I'd be fuckin' psyched to find out my real dad was Richard Alpert. That's awesome. I'd be donning one-shouldered cloaks and shit within the hour.

No offense to my real dad...




:rofl:




--------------------
Why shouldn't the truth be stranger than fiction?
Fiction, after all, has to make sense. -- Mark Twain

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InvisibleIcelander
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Re: Ram Dass has a son! (and a new book) [Re: JacquesCousteau]
    #13440224 - 11/05/10 06:26 PM (13 years, 4 months ago)

Quote:

JacquesCousteau said:
Quote:

guruu said:
i mean it was the 60's, he probably has more sons he doesn't even know about :lol:




I'd be fuckin' psyched to find out my real dad was Richard Alpert. That's awesome. I'd be donning one-shouldered cloaks and shit within the hour.

No offense to my real dad...





I'm sure there's a buck in it somewhere.:thumbup:


--------------------
"Don't believe everything you think". -Anom.

" All that lives was born to die"-Anom.

With much wisdom comes much sorrow,
The more knowledge, the more grief.
Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC

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Offlinedogwood
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Re: Ram Dass has a son! (and a new book) [Re: Icelander]
    #13442676 - 11/06/10 09:32 AM (13 years, 4 months ago)

I just watched Fierce Grace.  I had ordered Be Here Now (which I'm still waiting on)and I wanted a little insight into the author.  I really liked the documentary and I'm looking forward to the book.

I didn't know he was bisexual though, not that it matters

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Invisiblec0sm0nautt
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Re: Ram Dass has a son! (and a new book) [Re: dogwood]
    #13442789 - 11/06/10 10:16 AM (13 years, 4 months ago)

The first time I picked up Be Here Now I was like "wtf is this shit..."
Then I revisited it a few weeks later and realized what a treasure it is... I suppose I wasn't ready at first.

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InvisibleChronic7
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- [Re: c0sm0nautt]
    #13442894 - 11/06/10 10:51 AM (13 years, 4 months ago)

-

Edited by Chronic7 (01/18/19 03:51 AM)

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OfflineJacquesCousteau
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Re: Ram Dass has a son! (and a new book) [Re: Icelander]
    #13446952 - 11/07/10 04:51 AM (13 years, 4 months ago)

Quote:

Icelander said:
I'm sure there's a buck in it somewhere.:thumbup:




I'd do it for the lulz, thank you very much.

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Offlineg00ru
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Re: Ram Dass has a son! (and a new book) [Re: Icelander]
    #13447449 - 11/07/10 08:46 AM (13 years, 4 months ago)

Quote:

Icelander said:
Quote:

JacquesCousteau said:
Quote:

guruu said:
i mean it was the 60's, he probably has more sons he doesn't even know about :lol:




I'd be fuckin' psyched to find out my real dad was Richard Alpert. That's awesome. I'd be donning one-shouldered cloaks and shit within the hour.

No offense to my real dad...





I'm sure there's a buck in it somewhere.:thumbup:




sure but it probably goes to some foundation somewhere like the Hanuman foundation.  No reason money can't be earned and put to good use.  Idk how much Ram Das profits, but any amount doesn't bother me honestly.


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drowse in prison and your waking will be but loss

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Invisiblec0sm0nautt
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Re: Ram Dass has a son! (and a new book) [Re: g00ru]
    #13447564 - 11/07/10 09:25 AM (13 years, 4 months ago)

If you look within the first pages of Be Here Now there is a cost distribution pie chart which shows there is very little profit. Most of the money goes to the manufacturer/distributer.

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Offlinedogwood
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Re: Ram Dass has a son! (and a new book) [Re: c0sm0nautt]
    #13468639 - 11/11/10 12:50 PM (13 years, 4 months ago)

I'm now reading Be Here Now.  I just can't believe that part about him thinking about his mother and then his guru telling him what he was thinking about and how his mother died.  I'm just way too skeptical to believe that humans can read other minds. 

Also, after reading a little about bhagavad das and seeing what he's like more recently, it was a bit of a turn off from the whole thing.  I'm enjoying the book though and will finish it

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Offlineg00ru
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Re: Ram Dass has a son! (and a new book) [Re: dogwood]
    #13469093 - 11/11/10 02:26 PM (13 years, 4 months ago)

bhagavan das is still awesome, idk what you're talkin about.


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