Raiders of the Lost Spark

Be Here Now describes the transformation of Dr. Richard Alpert into Baba Ram Dass through 3 stages: Harvard scholar and social scientist, psychedelics, and yogi. In the beginning, he had every indication of outward success, but was experiencing a mounting inner dissatisfaction. During this time, he began spending time and teaching courses with Timothy Leary, who turned him onto hallucinogens. After several years of experimentation with LSD, Alpert was dismissed from Harvard and began seeking altered states of consciousness in earnest. Armed with a bottle of LSD, Alpert left for India and shared his supply with those he met along the way. One of the most interesting receptions that he received was, “It’s good, but not as good as meditation.” Over the course of his travels through India, Alpert transformed into Dass and provided his Cook Book for a Sacred Life.

• Readiness; and eventually you will encounter your guru
• Tapaysa – renouncing the satisfaction of one’s desires
• Allow for as much sleep as the body demands
• Eat light, healthy, and unadulterated foods
• The accumulation of knowledge through study
• The practice of yoga asana with the end goal of dissolving the mind into the infinite
• Calming the mind with mantra
• Learning to transmute energy at a higher vibration
• Working with the breath
• Transmuting sexual energy into spiritual energy
• Each new level of surrender brings new powers and faith
• Surrounding ourselves with like-minded individuals – Satsang
• Be straight and open
• Distance yourself from the act of lying; seek only truth
• A livelihood which does not increase your separateness from the world
• Engaging in action without ego (Karma Yoga)
• Bhakti Yoga – ultimate oneness with the divine
• The practice of meditation
• Understand the correct use of the rational mind
• Reflect on your own time and space, and remember that you are HERE and NOW

The idea of BE HERE NOW (being present to the moment) is the core of what yoga means to me and brings to my life; and in return, what I wish to share with others.

This is one of the most profoundly moving lines I have ever digested from a book. What powerful words! We are not our bodies! Yet, how much advertising/media goes into trying to prove and/or convince ourselves that we are?

• Easy to see oneself as a collection of symptoms rather than an entire being
• The media has a massive influence on the view of aging individuals
• Our culture paints a picture of aging as some sort of failure
• Aging is a part of the continuity of life – part of mainstream culture, not opposed to it
• The difference between being lonely and being alone is an affair of the Ego
• It is the Ego that experiences aging and death; beyond ego lies the Soul
• Constrain the Ego and get it to loosen its grip by learning how to Be Here Now
• Letting go of the past is not denying it, but rather preventing it from colouring the present

“You will find that each time you’re able to welcome your own pain, you’ll also be welcoming the Soul, and the Soul is what can defeat the fear and suffering of pain.”