Ram Dass Fierce Grace

Harvard professors Richard Alpert and Timothy Leary made countercultural history in 1963 when they were fired for conducting controversial psychedelic drug research. In the purple haze aftermath, Alpert journeyed to India and found his guru Maharaj Ji, who renamed him Ram Dass ("Servant of God"). Best known for his 1971 bestseller "Be Here Now," which was a spiritual touchstone of the era, Ram Dass became an inspiration to people across the globe. Filmmaker Mickey Lemle—who has known his subject for more than twenty-five years—intersperses vivid archival footage from hippiedom's glory days with intimate glimpses of Ram Dass today, as he continues to remake his life since being—in his words—"stroked" in 1997.