Further reading: Richard Alpert, Timothy Leary, and
Ralph Metzner, The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual
Based upon the Tibetan Book of the Dead (New York:
University Books, 1964); Ram Dass, Be Here Now (Albu-
querque, N. Mex.: Lama Foundation, 1971); ———,
Miracle of Love: Stories about Neem Karoli Baba (New
York: Dutton, 1979); ———, The Only Dance There
Is (New York: J. Aronson, 1976); ———, Still Here:
Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying (New York: Riv-
erhead, 2000); Ram Dass with Mirabai Bush, Compas-
sion in Action: Setting Out on the Path of Service (New
York: Bell Tower, 1992); Ram Dass with Paul Gorman,
How Can I Help: Stories and Reflections on Service (New
York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985); Ram Dass with Steven
Levine, Grist for the Mill (London: Wildwood House,
1977).
Rameshvaram
Rameshvaram is an island off the coast of Tamil
Nadu whose name, “Rama the god,” indicates
its sacred status. It is told in the RAMAYANA that
Lord RAMA, wishing to purify himself after kill-
ing his enemy, the demon king RAVANA, stopped
at Rameshvaram. He sent HANUMAN, the monkey
god, to BENARES (Varanasi) to get a SHIVA LINGAM
for him to worship. While Hanuman was gone,
Rama’s wife, SITA made a lingam out of sand and
began to worship it. When Hanuman returned,
Rama ordered him to get rid of the sand lingam
and install his own. Hanuman could not dislodge
the lingam created by Sita. The second lingam
then was set up beside the first so that both could
be worshipped.
Rameshvaram is one of the most visited PIL-
GRIMAGE sites in India and is accepted in Hindu-
ism as one of the four major sites in India to visit
(along with BADRINATH, Puri, and DWARAKA). The
main temple on the island is dedicated to Shiva
and is said to have been established by Rama
himself. Historically, the present temple bears
the architecture of the seventh through 13th
centuries. There are a number of sacred places
on the island associated with Rama, including
the spot from which Rama allegedly shot his
bow to destroy the bridge to Lanka after the
war.Further reading: Anne Feldhaus, Connected Places:
Region, Pilgrimage and Geographical Imagination in India
(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003); N. Vanamamali
Pillai, Temples of the Setu and Rameswaram (Delhi: Kunj,
1982); Baidyanath Saraswati, Traditions of Tirthas in
India: the Anthropology of Hindu Pilgrimage (Varanasi:
N. K. Bose Memorial Foundation, 1983).Ram Lila See NAVARATI.
Ramprasad See SEN, RAMPRASAD.
Ramsuratkumar, Yogi (1918–2001)
enlightened yogi from South India
The revered South Indian beggar saint Yogi Ramsu-
ratkumar attracted a large following through his
ascetic piety and God-intoxication.
Ramsurat Kunwar was born on December 1,
1918, in a small village on the GANGES River five
miles from BENARES (Varanasi) in Uttar Pradesh.
The son of a devout rural BRAHMIN family, he was
a natural mystic and brilliant student, who gradu-
ated from Ewing Christian College in ALLAHABAD
with a B.A. in English literature in 1939. Pres-
sured by his family to assume the responsibilities
of family life, he was married in 1938. For some
years he taught high school English in Bihar state,
but he was consumed by a passionate longing for
the divine that finally compelled him to make,
in 1947, the first of many trips to South India to
search for his GURU.
Yogi Ramsuratkumar said he had three “spiri-
tual fathers” who initiated him into the spiritual
path: Sri AUROBINDO, RAMANA MAHARSHI, and Swami
(Papa) RAMDAS. After the deaths of the first two,
Ramsurat returned to Swami Ramdas at Anandash-
ram in 1952. At that time Ramdas initiated himRamsuratkumar, Yogi 359 J