Customer Reviews

Ram Dass [VHS]

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3 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(4)

 

 

Mickey Lemle's documentary Ram Dass, Fierce Grace, describes the life of Ram Dass (Richard Alpert), author, 60s guru, spiritual teacher, cohort of Timothy Leary, and author of Be Here Now, one of the most influential books of the 1970s. The film begins in the present as Ram Dass deals with the effects of a massive stroke he suffered in February 1997 that left him physically incapacitated and with impaired memory and speech.

Interweaving current conversations, interviews with people in his life, and archival footage, Lemle then looks back at his childhood, the controversy surrounding his research with Timothy Leary in psychedelics at Harvard, his studies in India with Neem Karoli Baba who renamed him Baba Ram Dass (Servant of God), his work with the Seva Foundation in social action projects dedicated to relieving suffering in the world, and his impact as an author and guru to millions of followers. Several examples are shown of his compassion and his ability to feel the pain of others. In an opening sequence, his beautiful "Rachel's Letter"*comforts a family after their daughter was murdered. In the final sequence, Ram Dass listens to a young woman struggling to overcome her grief at her boyfriend's violent death. In a powerfully moving segment, she brings Ram Dass to tears when she tells him about a dream she had in which her boyfriend speaks to her from beyond with a reassuring message.

When Ram Dass received the "fierce grace" of being "stroked", he admits he did not have any unusual spiritual epiphany. He recalls, "Here I am, Mr. Spiritual, and in my own head I didn't orient toward the spirit. It showed me I have some work to do". He has written about the stroke in his latest book, "Still Here" in which he talks about slowing down, and finding out about the "everything" that is out there. For Ram Dass, aging has become a gift. "I was galumphing through life before the stroke", he says. "I'm at peace now more than I've ever been. The peace comes from settling in to the moment". Enhanced by the music of Krishna Das, the documentary is more than just a bio-pic or a meditation on the process of aging, it is an inspiring portrait of a man whose life can be summed up in one word -- service. Ram Dass has said, "What one person has to offer to another is their own being, nothing more, nothing less". In Ram Dass, Fierce Grace, Mr. Lemle has given us Ram Dass' being, nothing more, nothing less. That is a gift of love.

This is a documentary about the legendary Harvard professor, Richard Albert, who experimented with LSD in the 60s, then went to India, changed his name to Ram Das, and came back to become a guru for the hippie generation. Now he's about 70, and, due to a stroke he suffered in 1997, is wheelchair bound. "I never expected old age to be like this," he says with difficulty, as his speech is slow now as he struggles to find the right words. The camera takes us right with him on his daily routine. Aides help him dress and drive him to his many therapy appointments and we are witness to his acupuncture as well as speech and physical therapy sessions.

There's background of course, home movies of him as a child in the 1930s, one of three lively siblings whose father was the president of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. There's some footage of him with a fresh face and short cropped hair as a professor at Harvard as he and Timothy Leary saw the mind altering drugs of the time as a major breakthrough in human psychology. And then we see him with his guru in India, taking on the spiritually that was even more powerful than the drugs. He then returned home, bearded and dressed in what his father described as a "bedsheet", and held outdoor yogi sessions for his hundreds of his followers right on the golf course of his family's New Hampshire estate. His book, "Be Here Now" became a best seller and is still in print.

But now he's an old man, struggling with his physical challenges. Much of the film focuses on him this way, and sometimes it's hard to watch as he's learning to live with his limitations. I was impatient with some of these scenes, in which he struggles to speak; I would have much preferred the film tto be about his history, rather than his present. However, I realize that the film is exactly what he intended it to be and it gives a powerful message. He's now a guru to the aging baby boomers and he's a living example of how to deal with old age with dignity. Aging is a natural part of life and we all have to learn to live with it. Ram Das is a fine example. He's recently written a book, takes on speaking engagements, and finds time to give individuals spiritual counseling.

I give this film a high recommendation. There's a lot to learn from it. It might not be comfortable to watch, but it
certainly is worthwhile.

Never a Ram Dass fan, I saw this film at home and experienced a totally unexpected elevation of thought, mood and outlook. In my early 50's, I have surrendered many of my earlier life beliefs, preferring to live realistically and in concert with the community as it is. This film reached deeply into my core, brought deep tears and a profound softening, compassion for us all on the planetary journey. For anyone feeling distanced from spiritual energy, this is a must see, as it wakes up the best of what we as humans have to offer.

Recently, as I was recovering from pneumonia and feeling pretty depressed, a friend recommended I get a copy of Fierce Grace. As I watched clips of Ram Dass both before and after his stroke, I realized what suffering really was and that the human spirit always---even in the depths of pain, disease, or sorrow---has choices. When Spirit smacks us in the head with some kind of difficulty in our lives, we can either wallow in our suffering and fade away or we can accept the "fierce grace" Spirit has extended to us and grow. The message that healing is not a return to the way things were before we get sick or go through some kind of trauma, but rather the growth of spirit and consciousness that we can undergo as we come through difficulty stuck with me. My physical illness is gone, but I am not the same. For anyone facing a difficult time in his or her life, I highly recommend viewing this DVD.

As we all get older, the loss of independence and control that we've spent a lifetime acquiring is a frightening aspect. Beyond the spiritual components in the biography of Richard Alpert's life is a story of his life after the stroke that left him incapacitated; it's ironic that the book he was working on when he was "stroked by God" was a book on aging itself. Ram Dass's current example has become a daily reminder of what each one of us can accomplish with manifest hope and the help of others in our lives. (May we all have a cosmic jester the likes of Wavy Gravy!) Whatever one may think of Ram Dass as a spirtual guide his all-too-human frailty teaches a practical, very earth-bound lesson toward approaching age and disability. Highly recommended.

Baba Ram Dass was one of the major spiritual influences in my life during the early '70's. I discovered his books and tapes just about the time I decided to change my college major from Anthropology to Religious Studies. It's books like: 'Be Here Now', 'The Only Dance There Is' and more recently 'Still Here' that continue to break through my rigidity of thought and open my mind and heart to new vistas of understanding and acceptance.

I had the priviledge of meeting Ram Dass back in '76 after a talk he gave at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, CA. During that brief moment in his presence I experienced an unmistakable flow of energy emanating from this ex-Harvard professor, turned subversive LSD user, turned Hindi guru and devotee of Hanuman, the Monkey-God. I felt totally alive, empowered and so bursting with emotion that I didn't get a wink of sleep that night.

Through the years I've met, or stood in the presence of numerous famous spiritual figures from a wide variety of faiths and traditions and I can honestly say that I've never experienced anything comparable to what enveloped me that night in '76 as I looked into the smiling, grandfatherly face of Ram Dass.

Seeing Ram Dass old, infirmed and confined to a wheelchair since his stroke in '97 takes a little getting used to, but once you gaze deeply into those mischevous eyes and see that knowing smile you realize he hasn't changed a bit. At least not concerning the things that really matter. 'Fierce Grace' is a magnificent visual document presenting one mans' commitment to love, endurance and living life "in the moment." His teachings and attitude have remained as clear and consistent today as they were thirty-five years ago; humorous, insightful, deeply personal and above all compassionate.

RAM...........................................................

I've watched this DVD twice now. It is even more powerful the second time. I've known about Ram Dass for years and just really got how beautiful a man he is. This is a perfect example of how this medium can be a powerful tool for healing and transformation. The journey of this film is an emotional ride with many delightful moments of wit and interesting history about a man and presence of love on this planet. I highly reccomend everyone to experience the power of "Fierce Grace". While no one would ever wish upon another the harsh lessons of the many people interviewed in this documentary, there is an opportunity for growth and expansion of awareness contained in this slim DVD.

My first introduction to Ram Dass (aka Dr. Richard Albert) came in December of 1984. I was managing a bookstore in my hometown in North Carolina, and an elderly lady came in one night just before closing. My mother had died of cancer several months before, and I was in a state of severed depression about my life and where I was headed. The lady walked around the store for a number of minutes, and then came up to the counter and laid a cassette tape down it. Now, I didn't know who this lady was. I'd never seen her before, nor did I ever see her again. She said that she wanted me to have the tape and that it would help to ease my emotional pain and suffering. I didn't know how she knew about that and felt somewhat embarrassed by her comment. I didn't want the tape and attempted to give it back to her. That was when she mentioned my mother and said that I was being watched over by her. I didn't know what to say. The lady left the store. Against my better, I listened to the tape that night. It was a lecture by someone that I'd never heard of. The man's name was Ram Dass, and he was speaking to a group of people about living and suffering, and how all of this is nothing more than another method for learning about ourselves as spiritual beings. There was a truth to his words that touched something deep within me. I could hear the honesty in his voice as he talked about his own life and the struggles that he had to work through. I have no doubt that the tape saved my life that winter. Afterwards, I began to search for more tapes by this unusual gentleman and discovered a wealth of information in both tape and book form.

Twenty-two years later, Ram Dass is once again in my life in the form of a documentary by Mickey Lemle called Ram Dass: Fierce Grace. The documentary was done in 2001 and deals with the major stroke that Ram Dass had in 1997, as well as flashbacks to his early years as a child, a Harvard professor, a spiritual seeker in India, a guru to the baby boomers of the sixties, and as the best selling author of Be Here Now. Ram Dass has always said that his message was simply his own personal journey through life. That was what he had to share with others who sought a clearer understanding about life and why we're here. During the documentary, we get to see Ram Dass and how the stroke has changed his own life with numerous sessions of therapy, learning to talk again and to be able to find the right words to express his thoughts, and still being here to help other people on their own special journey of inner discovery. We also get to see the early years of Ram Dass, especially with his spiritual guru, Neem Karoli Baba, and with his father after he returns home from India. It was enlightening to see his father, who was very upper class, deal with his son returning from a third-world country, dressed in a white robe and having a long beard, with hundreds of people flocking to their home in New Hampshire to listen to this "servant of God" speak about his own journey toward understanding. Some how, on a deeper level, his father knew that he was doing something that would help others. As the DVD ends, Ram Dass talks about his new journey, which deals with aging and strokes and still being here and a new way to find true grace in his actions.

Though I'd seen pictures of Ram Dass over the years and had listened to countless cassette tapes, I'd never seen him in person. This DVD is probably as close as I'll ever get to him. It was certainly an eye-opening experience, and it made me realize that there was vital information here that I needed to know because I'm now 56 and dealing with the aging process and my own unique journey. It was also fun to finally see Wavy Gravy. I've heard so much about him over the years and his acute sense of humor. And yes, he did make me laugh. I do wish, however, that the documentary had been longer. There's an extra twenty minutes of scenes in the Special Features, but it was still too short. I could've easily sat through another ninety minutes, listening to Ram Dass talk about perception and reality and how each person has chosen a particular path to follow with its own challenges and mellow drama and methods for achieving self-realization. There were a number of scenes in the documentary that will have you crying. The biggest one deals with the parents of Rachel, a young teen who was raped and murdered. Ram Dass wrote them a letter with regards to their tragedy, and it helped them to over-come their rage and helplessness at what had happened to their daughter. When the mother of Rachel reads the letter, it definitely brings you to tears. Another scene has Ram Dass listening to a young woman as she talks about the murder of her boyfriend and how she's trying to understand why this has happened. What she has to say brings Ram Dass to sudden tears as her words touch his heart. Needless to say, Ram Dass: Fierce Grace has an important message to deliver to those who are ready to hear it. As Ram Dass says, when you're ready, all it takes is a simple word or action to open the door to your awareness. Then, you're able to walk through it with better clarity as to why we're here and the many different roles that we play throughout our life. This is powerful stuff, but if you're not ready, it'll be meaningless to you. Namaste, Ram Dass!

I don't know if it was just me or what, but when I was fifteen, I thought I was somehow going to be the one that magically escaped "old age". But then I got to be in my twenties and I still clung to a shred of hope that maybe I could still escape it. After my thirties I knew I was going to be no different than all the others that preceeded me, age was inevitable, but getting old was entirely up to me.

In this exceptional movie, Ram Dass shows us that even though the body may betray us, the Spirit that is within is always willing to make all things new. He is a "true" Spiritual teacher. He lives what he talks about. I was always kind of suspect of those "teachers" who claimed to be so exalted and beyond this world. What makes a "true" spiritual teacher is someone who shows us the we are in the world, but we are not of it...that our limitations are not here to thwart us, but are given to us so that we may get the opportunity to prove that our soul/our spirit is infinitely stronger than any situation we may be going through.

I have to admit, I've done my fair share of pouting the last few years. My body has had its share of trials and tribulations to overcome and after seeing Fierce Grace, I was actually embarrassed about my physical complaining. Ram Dass has faced his physical limitations with an even greater willingness to "serve God". He truly is the embodiment of Love, Compassion, and Service.

We can all learn from this beautiful movie. Do we curse the things that we are given or do we realize that even the so called difficulties that are in our lives are blessings? We really don't know what is for our Highest Good, but there is something that does and it is that something greater that we need to continually surrender to moment by moment by precious moment.

Every moment of our lives has gotten us to right here and right now and where we will eventually end up will be determined by what we predominantly used our time for. Did we use our time helping others or by seeing what we could get from others? Did we use our time for celebrating or for mourning our losses? Did we realize the amount of grace that is available in each and every moment or did we argue that life isn't fair? We may not be able to escape age, but we can use it to our greatest advantage.

This movie is a blessing. You will feel blessed just by watching it.

Peace to all...

With all of the Documentaries that get Academy awards nominations that really shouldn't, this documentary is one that should have.

It is a beautiful film, following the life of a man who devotes himself to service of Humankind and love.
It shows where Ram Dass has come from, and how he is coping with the results of his stroke.

Truly a remarkable work.