The inspiration for Baba Ram Dass, whose 1971 book of hipster mysticism Be Here Now became a new-age classic, Bhagavan Das (born Michael Riggs) has continued to share his vision of music and spirituality. "Singing and chanting the divine mantras repeatedly," he told an interviewer, "creates a heightened ecstasy that leaves the mind behind and brings pure stillness of the heart."
The son of an Irish Catholic father, Das attended an Episcopal church as a child. As he reached his teens, he began to be drawn to other points of view and became fascinated with beat poetry and folk ...