Sam Harris got stimulated into his work after hitting some ecstasy (true)
Not that that has anything to do with the validity of his claims. I do, however, dislike his use of the term "beyond" in his talk about categories of thought. He talks about beyond "joy/sorrow" etc... Beyond implies a category as well.
I prefer to just stick with the term "transcendence."
Also, both hinduism and buddhism are atheistic in nature. The ultimate realization of the eastern path is that the images of gods that you have held as outside of you are, in fact, expressions of powers within you and that there is no distinction.
There is a whole realm of hindu art where the deities are cutting off their heads and such in order to free you from the impediment to enlightenment that their reality represents. It's the notion of dependant origination and transcending maya (the illusion that is the categories of the world).
Hinduism and buddhism have gods and other images, but are finally atheistic in their goals.