{
  "type": "author",
  "site": {
    "name": "Leafy Quotes",
    "language": "en",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com"
  },
  "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.",
  "name": "Ram Dass",
  "slug": "ram-dass",
  "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ram-dass",
  "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ram-dass.json",
  "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ram-dass.md",
  "image": null,
  "quotes_count": 6,
  "books": [
    {
      "title": "Be Here Now",
      "slug": "be-here-now",
      "quotes_count": 6,
      "cover": "https://quivercdn.com/covers/harmony/ram-dass/be-here-now_978-05-1754-305-4.jpg",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ram-dass/be-here-now"
    }
  ],
  "recent_quotes": [
    {
      "id": "b29c55c7-bc3f-4694-bfa1-4120b86a1dca",
      "slug": "it-was-as-if-the",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ram-dass/be-here-now/it-was-as-if-the",
      "text": "It was as if the whole western mind-training of individual differences had been made background instead of figure, so that you'd look at another human being and say, \"Here we are.\" You'd see differences more as clothing, rather than as core stuff.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "equality",
          "slug": "equality",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ram_Dass#Be_Here_Now_(1971)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:16"
    },
    {
      "id": "98f72f64-261a-4751-99d9-2fc1ae83190e",
      "slug": "during-these-travels",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ram-dass/be-here-now/during-these-travels",
      "text": "During these travels he's starting to train me in a most interesting way. We'd be sitting somewhere and I'd say,\n\n\"Did I ever tell you about the time that Tim and I ...\"\n\nAnd he'd say, \"Don't think about the past. Just be here now.\"\n\nSilence.\n\nAnd I'd say, \"How long do you think we're going to be on this trip?\"\n\nAnd he'd say, \"Don't think about the future. Just be here now.\"\n\nI'd say, \"You know, I really feel crumby, my hips are hurting ...\"\n\n\"Emotions are like waves. Watch them disappear in the distance on the vast calm ocean.\"",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "emotions",
          "slug": "emotions",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/emotions"
        },
        {
          "name": "the present",
          "slug": "the-present",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-present"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ram_Dass#Be_Here_Now_(1971)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:16"
    },
    {
      "id": "4e83f1f4-4dff-4add-8c27-3a2a9ef008ef",
      "slug": "only-when-i-know",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ram-dass/be-here-now/only-when-i-know",
      "text": "Only when I know who I am will I know what is possible.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "self-knowledge",
          "slug": "self-knowledge",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-knowledge"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ram_Dass#Be_Here_Now_(1971)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:16"
    },
    {
      "id": "1ec2f197-128d-4d39-b391-7de6f0520d56",
      "slug": "i-realized-that",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ram-dass/be-here-now/i-realized-that",
      "text": "I realized that although everything by which I knew myself, even my body and this life itself, was gone, still I was fully aware! Not only that, but this aware \"I\" was watching the entire drama, including the panic, with calm compassion.\n\nInstantly, with this recognition, I felt a new kind of calmness — one of a profundity never experienced before. I had just found that \"I\", that scanning device — that point — that essence — that place beyond. A place where \"I\" existed independent of social and physical identity. That which was I was beyond Life and Death. And something else — that \"I\" Knew — it really Knew. It was wise, rather than just knowledgeable. It was a voice inside that spoke truth. I recognized it, was one with it, and felt as if my entire life of looking to the outside world for reassurance — David Reisman's other-directed being, was over.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "self-knowledge",
          "slug": "self-knowledge",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-knowledge"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ram_Dass#Be_Here_Now_(1971)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:16"
    },
    {
      "id": "137fb355-b1e0-417c-982a-0e7dd19a5062",
      "slug": "id-get-to-a-point",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ram-dass/be-here-now/id-get-to-a-point",
      "text": "I'd get to a point with my colleagues when I couldn't explain any further, because it came down to \"To him who has had the experience no explanation is necessary, to him who has not, none is possible.\".",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "experience",
          "slug": "experience",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/experience"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ram_Dass#Be_Here_Now_(1971)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:16"
    },
    {
      "id": "08c25145-edc1-4d4d-b916-efbc755a4a83",
      "slug": "i-thought-inside",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ram-dass/be-here-now/i-thought-inside",
      "text": "I thought inside \"I must really be crazy, now — because craziness is where everybody agrees about something — except you!\" And yet I felt saner than I had ever felt, so I knew this was a new kind of craziness or perhaps a new kind of saneness.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "madness",
          "slug": "madness",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/madness"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ram_Dass#Be_Here_Now_(1971)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:16"
    }
  ]
}
