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Still Here Now

Ironically, it occurred while he was contemplating how to finish his book on conscious aging, a book he had researched in part by attending conferences of the American Society on Aging's Forum on Religion, Spirituality and Aging. He was not expected to survive the infarction. All the time spent at the feet of his guru Maharajji, all the psychedelic experiments with Timothy Leary (for which he was thrown out of his professorship at Harvard University in 1963 at age 32), all the years of sitting at the bedside of the dying, all the service organizations created and books written--and still this.

Grist for the mill. This new book is rich with personal stories and advice, but its tone is far more subdued than his earlier works. So is Ram Dass the man. At nearly age 70, though he is vigorous in mind and spirit, his physical nature has taken a huge hit. Although he speaks more fluidly and with fewer pauses than when he first returned to the lecture circuit, the proper word or understanding can still elude him. The author who once wrote a book called How Can I Help, he is now on the receiving end of care, in a wheelchair much of the time since he does not have full use of his right side. He jokes that he should write a new book, How Can You Help Me?

Sitting with me in his wood-paneled office at home in Tiburon, Calif., Ram Dass gazed out to the San Francisco Bay and marveled at the afternoon light filtering through the trees. He rents this ranch-style home and revels in the beauty around him. Flanked by pictures of his guru, Neem Karoli Baba (Maharajji), and by statuettes of Eastern icons, Ram Dass exuded a passion for life--which is meant to be enjoyed, no matter what.

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