It's Here Now (Are You?): A Spiritual Memoir

I was really excited to read this book and to hear Bhagavan Das's journey in India which extended before and after Ram Dass.The book is divided into the parts. Part one is 2/3 of the book and covers him in India/Tibet going from ashram to guru and learning everything there was. He really experienced it all and you feel like you are right there with him. This part of the book made the purchase worth it, with great tidbits of knowledge along his recollections and some incredible stories and meetings.Then part two comes, his return to America. Which covers him throwing everything he learned away, becoming an adulterying sex addict and salesmen making tons of money but then always being strapped for cash. This section retroactively ruined the previous one for me. It revealed that his time in the East was all transference of his ego addictions and bitterness that he wasn't more famous as a musician - yet he contradicts himself often saying he doesn't want that, but brags about the money and women he beds and complains that his two wives get mad at him for for it.Section three is 10 pages that feels like a rant to summarize all he learns as he returns to being spiritual Bhagavan Das and is disorganized stream of consciousness that tells us not to be a sex addict, um hypocrite?All in all, I LOVED the first section, took great notes to remember from it, but then the other two were painful to get through as he revealed his fall from, what then seems like, false grace.Still would recommend the book, but maybe stop after the first section, or be aware of what's to come...pun sadly intended.

I found this book to be a great disappointment. I knew nothing about Bhagavan Das other than his friendship with Ram Das. After reading this book, I now have another reason to question Ram Das' judgement (not the first time, but I still love Ram Das). I closed the book thinking , 'god, what a self-serving ass.' I'll give credit to where credit is due; this guy was in India doing the spiritual pilgrim thing before it was hip to do so. There are some valid insights in these pages if you're willing to dig through the rubble to find them (the old 'pearl in the dung' syndrome that infects many spiritual works). But there is also a lot of advice that I consider to be misguided or ...just bad advice.The first half of the book is engaging. This is where he details the years he spent in India. His descriptions of the practices he encountered and the temples and the people he met...it's all fascinating. But even in these pages, I began to wonder what kind of person he was. He treated India like it was a huge spiritual shopping mall. He jumps from temple to temple, sect to sect, guru to guru as casually as one would trying on different clothes, quickly discarding what he was wearing when it impulsively suited him. He also shares numerous visions he had and he writes them down as literal realities so his narrative takes some very surreal turns. He also details some appalling lack of judgement on his part. In one section he describes how he went on a Kali trip and went to a place where they cremated bodies and wore the ashes of the dead. He later complains how the locals wanted nothing to do with him. Well, no shit, Bhagavan! If someone was walking around wearing the ashes of my deceased relatives, I wouldn't speak to that nutball either. The insensitivity he shows is appalling. And it shows up quite a bit in the second half of the book.When he returns to America, he as a reputation as some divine teacher but he just uses it to party and get laid. He complains about unwanted attention and fame and then tells how he formed a partnership with Jimi Hendrix's former manager to make him rich and famous. In other words, he tries to have it both ways.By the time I got to the end of the book, I was totally turned off on this guy. So much so, I now questioned if the first part of the book even happened or if he's just making a lot of this stuff up. Since he was a lone pilgrim most of the time in India, there's no way to verify if he met all the people he claims to have met or did the things he said he did. I also got the impression that he's not really into spirituality as a form of personal growth but as a way to experience alternate consciousnesses. That seems to be his real interest. Maybe that is legitimate. But I can't say I have a lot respect for that point of view. If experiences of altered consciousness are learning experiences, then, yes, I think they're worthwhile. If you're getting altered just to be altered or as a form of escape, then I question the value of it. People have dreams, drink, create art, and do drugs and get the same results. To use spirituality as a form of escape or as a gateway for novelty experiences is a huge waste in my opinion.

A good, interesting read. Provides a first hand perspective with empirical spiritual experiences.Most of the unsatisfied reviews on here all revolve around one point of contention: the holy perfection of Bhagavan Das. While this scrutiny is valid, it does not invalidate the value of the book.It's obvious to point out the sinful flaws and indulgences that Bhagavan Das has, that lead him into trouble (sexual promiscuity etc.).The value I found, was his descriptive and virtually empirical accounts of his spiritual experiences. He's constantly enveloped in subtly perceived states of consciousness, in which he experiments with divine communion etc. His through-the-looking-glass account of his spiritual journey is what makes the book worth reading, not the inviolability of his moral compass.It is should also be pretty obvious to the un-naive reader that the path Bhagavan follows is tantric. With tantric yoga comes sex, blissful states of awareness, trances, etc. Tantra has always been a double edged sword, with the power to dissect the inner mysteries of the self and consciousness by examining and experiencing desires (as opposed to their abstinence). The complement of this learning opportunity, is to bring ruin upon one's self through irresponsibility and less conscientious behavior.Read if you have an open mind and you're curious about a spiritual journey. Don't read if you're looking for a savior, or think the only way to God is in a Christian church, and you have trouble coping with or understanding humans' innate sexual desires.

I LOVED this book!!!! What a blessing to immerse myself as a reader in the miracle-driven chapters. I will definitely save and read again. Well written and a page turner!I also highly recommend "Being Ram Dass" by Ram Dass. Also Well written and a page turner!

I personally did not think much of it. Its ok? Gives a glimpse about the writer s experience

The title of this book is a play on Ram Das's seminal work of awakening, Be Here Now and if you've read that, then you will enjoy this. The enigmatic Bhagavan Das features in Be Here Now - this is his story, which oscillates between moments of spine-tingling spiritual experiences in India and extraordinary strangeness in America.

Well worth reading. I couldn't put this down. It's a very enjoyable, balanced and uplifting read. It also gives another dimension to Ram Dass and his stories in Be Here Now. As well as another story about Neem Karoli Baba.

I really enjoyed this book & will read it again & again, Thank you.

Fantastic.