"Yeah."
Rama began spending time with Jack. In 1986, they went on a trip
to Japan where, Rama told him, they had spent past lives together.
Meanwhile, Jack had donated to Rama not only numerous crates of fruit,
but well over one hundred thousand dollars. In fact, Rama announced
at fund-raising dinners that the disciples were "off the hook"
because Jack had donated yet another hundred thousand.
On August 2nd, 1986, forty-year-old Jack Kukulan was found in his apartment,
partially decomposed before the shrine. According to the police report,
white powder was found on a nearby piece of paper and on the blade
of a knife from the kitchen. According to the autopsy report,
Jack died of "heroin/morphine intoxication."
In August, 1986, Rama left Seattle. Four months later, he returned
to Boston, where he reunited dozens of former followers.
"You should forgive each other and start anew," he told them.
Four months after that, he instructed them to call and invite other
former followers to a "very important" meeting in Boston.
Hundreds responded by flocking east from Los Angeles and from
other areas of the country.
At the meeting, Rama divided the congregation into the "NO,"
"YES," and "MAYBE" groups as a way to determine who could
come back into his new, nameless Centre. He put the women
who had been with him the longest in the "MAYBE" group.
"They are the worst," Rama declared, explaining that they would
be required to "pay off" their bad karma with checks ranging from
$1200 to $2000 a month each. He then informed the "MAYBE" as well
as the "YES" disciples that if they wanted to study with him in this
or in any future lifetime, they should prepare to move to Silicon Valley.
Several hundred disciples made the move and attended Rama's first
gathering in Palo Alto, California. Anne and Rachel, followers since
the Stony Brook days, drove west together from Boston and arrived
a month later, in time for the second meeting. Rama asked them
and seventeen other inner circle women to work at the second meeting.
They would check attendance lists and sell his books and tapes,
which they had done many times before.
During the meeting, Rama warned the disciples in the audience
to make a mental note of the nineteen women working that night.
"*They* are witches," he explained. "*They* have been incarnating
together since ancient Egypt. *They* have been trying to destroy
my mission." He cited as evidence the times he had gotten sick,
that some of his hair had fallen out, that past-life students had been
kept from finding him, and that current students had been sapped of
their energy.
Briefly flipping to a less abusive persona, Rama announced
that the nineteen women also happened to be his best students.
"But," he said firmly, "they have been seduced by the dark side of
the force...they seduce people...they band together in the demon world."
Rama knew the women had recently left their homes, quit their jobs,
and traveled three thousand miles to be with him. He knew their
devotion ran deep. He then kicked them out before the entire Centre.
"Rama?" started a woman disciple from the audience. "I recently
dreamt that seven of the nineteen flew around me like witches."
Rama nodded. "Recently," he said, "they have networked and conspired
to murder Jack Kukulan."
Several months later, Rama gave Karen a "Warrior's task."
He told her to call and instruct each of the nineteen to attend
a private meeting. The meeting was to be held hundreds of miles
south of Palo Alto, in an obscure park in the mountains of Malibu.
It was scheduled for December 5th, 1987--the following night.
They showed.
Under the guise of helping them protect their careers, Rama warned
the approximately thirty people--the nineteen women and about eleven
other disciples--that newspaper articles targeting him in a negative
light were in the offing.
He spoke to them about the case of Annie Eastwood. A former follower, Ms.
Eastwood reported that during one encounter, Rama had misled
her spiritually, abused her psychologically, showed her a gun,
and demanded that she have sex with him. Rama later told the press:
"At no time during our evening together [with Annie] did I brandish
a hand gun." But now, at the 1987 late night Malibu gathering,
he admitted: "I did have a hand gun with me that night with Annie...
but I did not wave it around."
Later that night, Rama asked five or six people to walk back
to the cars and wait in the parking lot. Anne and Rachel remained.
Rama faced the remaining disciples, roughly half of whom had participated
in one of his group LSD trips. "If anyone asks you about LSD,"
he said somberly, "you all *know* that I gave you a placebo."
Then Rama, perhaps nervous about what I had observed in 1984 and 1985,
told the disciples: "Mark was always a little young, a little naive,
a little stupid...he thought that I actually *had* given him LSD...we
all used to indulge him...we all knew that it was just that goofy
Mark again..."
Rama went on to say that one day they might have to explain "all this"
to a judge and jury. But under *no* circumstance, he warned,
should they speak to the press.
Toward the end of the meeting, he told the nineteen that if they
wanted to return to the Centre in this life, they must first hand
in an essay--typed, double-spaced--in which they were to confess
to and apologize for their hurtful, wicked deeds.
After the meeting, Rama returned to his latest project:
staging a national, six-month, six hundred and fifty thousand
dollar "Zen" seminar promotional campaign. The effort included
the placement of a two-page spread in the Sunday New York Times.
One page was a photo of himself; the other advertised his free
talk on Zen and success at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center
(see Appendix D). The full-page spreads also appeared in
the L.A. Times, L.A. Weekly, Los Angeles Magazine, Vanity Fair,
and in more than a dozen college campus newspapers across the country,
including MIT, Harvard, Columbia, UCLA, UC San Diego, San Diego State,
UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara.
Rama's aura of allegations came to light in the press in the midst
of his national speaking tour: Newsweek, "Who Is This Rama?--
The master of Zen and the Art of Publicity is now having some very
serious problems", 2/1/88; The L.A. Weekly, "The Cosmic Seducer:
How Frederick Lenz Got Rich, Built A Clientele And Seduced Women",
1/28/88, and "Rama Redux", 9/1/88; The San Francisco Chronicle,
"Zen and now: The gospel according to guru 'Rama'", 11/8/87, and "Sex,
Fear Broke Guru's Spell", 11/27/87; The San Diego Union, "YUPPIE GURU:
Ex-Disciples Turn On 'Master'", 1/10/88; and New Age Journal, "The Rama
Drama", 6/1/88.
When articles began to appear, Rama cancelled several talks.
When more appeared, he stopped giving public lectures altogether.
In the spring of 1988, Rama had Karen call and instruct the nineteen
to attend a middle-of-the-night meeting in the Mohave Desert,
scheduled for the end of April.
Rachel and Anne individually expressed doubts about whether they
would attend.
In the past, Rama had used the fear of Entities and of bad
karma to discipline his disciples. Typically, he had explained
that he would try to protect those who strayed from his path.
But by now his role had dramatically changed. No longer the protector,
he told disciples that if they disobeyed him, *he* would see to it
that they had a car accident or that they came down with cancer.
He had Karen warn Rachel and Anne that if they did not attend the meeting,
they would come to "serious harm."
They showed.
At the Mohave Desert meeting, Rama announced that the nineteen
could return to the Centre, move to Boston, teach yoga, and bring
him new students.
"Who does *not* want to come back?" he asked.
Anne, Dana, and Rachel reached their hands into the desert sky.
Afterwards, the devotees stopped at Denny's restaurant for coffee.
The dissenters sat together. Rama approached. Anne mentioned
that the brakes of her car were not functioning properly,
and that she had had difficulty getting to the meeting.
Rama took credit for the problem. He said: "Let that be a warning."
Then he told the three women that they had better not send him any
bad vibes.
"One out of twenty women gets breast cancer," he told them.
"Five out of twenty women could get breast cancer. Twenty out
of twenty women could get breast cancer. Some women get cancer
of the uterus..."
* * *
I was shocked when I learned how Rama had treated Rachel, Dana, and Anne.
I was shocked that Rama's world had gotten so out of hand.
But according to what I read in the press, the experiences of my
friends were by no means isolated.
In 1990, Anne and I sat together and read Rama's seven-page "Statement
To The Press." Near the start of the "Statement," Rama lists the names
of "credible persons who can verify the truth of my assertions."
I glanced at the names. "Karen Lever." True, she had been
accepted at a number of medical schools, including Stanford.
She *was* extremely bright. But as Rama's mouthpiece,
she was the one who had threatened dissenters with serious harm.
"Dr. Wayne Surdam" and "Dr. Ermano Rambaldi." True, they were an
award-winning UC Berkeley scholar and a UCLA geologist respectively.
True, they *had* taken the study of spirituality to heart. But they
had never gotten close enough to Rama to observe his *other* side.
"Richard Loftin." I did not know him. But during nightmare weekend
in Seattle, he reportedly sat across from the three tripping women
and giggled.
Rama continues in the "Statement":
Annie Eastwood alleges that we had a single
sexual encounter over five years ago in my
home in Malibu, California. She has told the
press that in hindsight, she now views the
sexual encounter we had together as forced.
She has alleged that during the course of an
evening together I brandished a hand gun. She
then states that she had sex with me out of fear.
Rama then claims:
...at no time during our evening together did
I brandish a hand gun.
Anne looked up from the "Statement" and said, "But Rama explicitly
told us at the meeting in Malibu that he *did* take out a hand gun
that night with Annie."
"Maybe," I replied, "Rama is playing off the difference in meaning
between *holding* and *brandishing* [waving] a hand gun."
"What Annie perhaps did not know," Anne added, "and what Rama fails
to mention, is that he nearly *always* slept with a gun by his bed."
Rama writes:
Ms. Eastwood continued to attend my seminars
for another year after our night together.
This would not seem to be likely behavior on
the part of a person who was allegedly forced
to have sex at gunpoint.
"No," I thought. "But perhaps on the part of a person who has been
psychologically and sexually manipulated and abused."
Rama continues:
Now, five years after the event and in concordance
with a group of persons affiliated with Cult
Awareness Network, she has decided that a gun
was present during our encounter and that she
was forced to have sex with me. Her story is
absurd and untrue.
...Lisa Hughes has asserted in a variety of
interviews that I forced her to take L.S.D.
while she was a guest at my home during the
summer of 1987. She also alleges that in
some way, which is not fully clear in her
accounts, I coerced her into having sex with
me. She further alleges that I bought her
presents and that while she was on L.S.D. I
tried to convince her that she was possessed
by 'demons.'
I never gave Lisa Hughes L.S.D. nor did I,
as Lisa Hughes asserts, take L.S.D. with her.
For a period of time during the summer of
1987 Lisa and I traveled together. I purchased
some clothing for her, and some luggage which
she desperately needed.
I recalled, from press accounts, that Rama had bought Lisa $17,000
worth of clothes. I also recalled how, in 1984, Rama had told me I
was mentally ill when I tried to return the new car he had bought
for me.
During that summer while Lisa was a guest
in my home, Lisa and I were frequently joined
for dinner, videos and an occasional soccer
game by our mutual friend Mr. Richard Loftin.
Shortly before I started spending time with
Lisa, a close female friend of hers was killed
in a brutal knife attack in a parking lot in
Santa Barbara. Lisa told me that she 'knew'
that the killer was also stalking her. She
told me that he was following her on campus
and knew where she lived.
Lisa shared a small house in the Santa Barbara
area with several men and one other woman. She
told me that she was certain that the killer had
come into her house when no one was home. She
told me that this was possible because her
housemates never locked the doors. She said
that it was only a question of time before she
would be killed.
Out of concern for her welfare I gave Lisa
some money to rent an apartment in a gated
high security condominium complex so that she
would be safe. Just before Lisa graduated the
killer was apprehended and I did not give the
matter any more thought until she brought it
up over the summer.
During the summer Lisa told me about the demons.
Her first revelations occurred in the early part
of the summer. As the summer progressed
'demons' became all that she talked about.
One evening, in the presence of Mr. Loftin, she
said that she was convinced that demons had
been directing the killer in Santa Barbara.
She also asserted that my home was filled with
demons.
Anne turned to me and said, "I don't know whether that is true
or not, but he makes it sound as if he is perfectly normal--
as if *he* is not obsessed with demons."
I recalled how Rama had increasingly preached that most of his disciples--
and most of the human race--were possessed by "Negative Entity" demons.
"And I know for a fact," Anne added, "that Rama told us there
were demons in his house in Seattle."
Rama writes:
She [Lisa] led Mr. Loftin and I down into
the basement and pointed to areas of the
vacant air where she asserted that the demons
lived. She was also convinced that a demon
lived on the second to the top stair of the
upstairs staircase. She told us that the
demon that lived on the stair had caused her
to fall down the stairs once and was continually
trying to trip her.
I recalled, from press accounts, that it was Rama who had climbed
a stepladder to clean invisible demons off the ceiling, it was Rama
who had swept the stairs with his hands to avoid being tripped
by demons, and it was Rama who, wearing raingear and Indian beads,
had spent hours in the basement grabbing at the air.
Rama claims:
On another occasion while the three of
us were chatting in my backyard, Lisa
told Richard and I that she had taken
L.S.D. and other drugs as a student at
U.C. Santa Barbara.
She asked Richard if he knew where she
could get some L.S.D. and cocaine. When
he informed her that he had no knowledge
of where she could get these drugs she
became belligerent and angry.
I recalled reading about Rama's treatment of Lisa. He had allegedly
given her LSD. Then, as he had done to the three women in Seattle,
he screamed at her for hours, repeating that she was evil and that she
had been trying to hurt him.
Rama writes:
Lisa told me she was afraid of her parents.
She was convinced that they were trying to
psychologically control her. It was only after
I had repeatedly requested that she call her parents
and inform them that she was staying with me
as a guest that she finally did so.
I recalled how Rama had instructed me to avoid speaking with my parents,
unless I needed money.
Rama continues:
Finally, it became clear to me that it
was time for us to separate. I suggested
that she return home to her parents, and
she insisted that the demons were possessing
them too.
After Lisa's refusal to return to her
parents, we agreed on a solution. Lisa
had expressed a desire to go to a local
computer school. I agreed to pay her
tuition, purchase her a car and give her
enough money to get an apartment. It was
my hope that this would give Lisa a new
start and help her to gain some perspective
on her life.
Rama goes on:
Nancy Knupfer, a woman in her early
forties, attended some of my seminars a
number of years ago. She also, entirely
voluntarily, donated a sum of money to
help defray the cost of offering meditation
classes free or at low cost to the public...
Anne said, "Free or at low cost to the public? Rama has a funny
concept of what 'free' and 'low cost' actually mean."
Rama describes Steve Putnam, who:
...made a number of public accusations
regarding the validity of the teaching
process I engage in. My seminars are frequently
attended by Buddhist monks and teachers. Dr.
Wayne Surdam, an award winning Oriental scholar
from the University of California at Berkeley,
also regularly attends. I certainly feel that
Dr. Surdam is a better judge of the validity
of my presentations of the Buddhist and Hindu
philosophies and methodologies than is Mr. Putnam.
I recalled that the editor-in-chief of the Vajradhatu Sun,
an international Buddhist newspaper, once wrote of Rama, "Nobody within
the Buddhist tradition, as far as I know, has ever taken him seriously."
(New Age Journal, "The Rama Drama", 6/1/88.)
Rama continues:
Donald Kohl was a young man who at one time
attended a number of my seminars in meditation
and self-development. In the Buddhist philosophy
we strongly counsel persons against taking their
own lives because of a negative karma that can
be generated by this action. I was touched by
the fact that Donald said good-bye to me in the
note he left before he died, and I was deeply
saddened to hear of his suicide. I did not
know Donald and I never spoke to him personally,
except in passing to say hello.
Anne said to me, "Donald did not just attend a number of seminars.
He was a student. He saw Rama on a weekly basis. He came
to Rama's house and ate dinner with us. He came to parties.
He went on desert trips. He came to movies with us on Friday nights.
Rama is trying to make it seem as if Donald had been some kind
of stranger."
I replied, "Mr. Kohl called me after Donald's death. I spoke
with him for more than an hour. I figured Rama would not want
me talking with him, but I did anyway."
Anne said, "I was at the Centre when Rama found out that Donald
had taken his life. At first he looked very sad. But the first
thing he said was regarding protecting himself from blame.
He told us not to speak with Donald's parents except to say we
were sorry."
Rama writes:
I can understand Donald's parents' grief
over the tragedy of their son's death.
In their pain they are understandably
inclined to search for events and individuals
they can use to explain or rationalize
Donald's death. However, to attempt to
attribute his death to his interest in
meditation or to his attendance at some
seminars I conducted on meditation and
self-development is far-fetched at the very
least.
When examined individually the charges
that these six persons have made against
me have little validity or impact. But when
all of these people walk into a newspaper
office together and tell their stories, an
avalanche effect occurs. I can well understand
how all of these allegations, when presented
at the same time, could raise questions in
someone's mind regarding my conduct and
character. And until Jennifer Jacobs told me
the story of her kidnapping, I too was at a
loss to explain how these individuals, who
attended my seminars at different times, had
come to join together in an orchestrated
effort to discredit me.
Rama begins the "Kidnapping Of Jennifer Jacobs" section of
the "Statement" with:
It wasn't until I encountered Jennifer Jacobs,
a woman who at one time attended some of my
classes, that I understood why I had become
the target...
Anne said, "At *one time* attended *some* of my classes?
She was in the inner circle. She worked for him. She was one
of the nineteen 'witches.' He recommended where she should live,
and gave her other personal advice..."
Rama writes:
Jennifer's mind was violated in a variety of
horrible ways. She was kept awake for extended
hours and forced repeatedly to view videos of
Charles Manson...Jennifer was screamed at, ridiculed
and degraded. She was constantly surrounded by
guards and was never allowed to leave the motel...
Jennifer was told that she would not be released
until she gave up her beliefs in the Buddhist
faith...her kidnappers also threatened that
if she went to the police they would kidnap her
again and that her family would have her
committed to a mental institution for the
rest of her life.
Jennifer Jacob's parents maintain that their daughter was not
screamed at, ridiculed, or degraded. Although neither Anne nor I
knew what had actually taken place with Jennifer, Anne recalled
too well some of Rama's methods: "Our minds [during nightmare
weekend in Seattle] were violated in a variety of horrible ways.
Rama kept us awake all night. We did not see Charles Manson videos.
We got to see Rama strangling his puppy instead. Rama repeatedly berated us.
He claimed we were reincarnated demons and were out to get him.
He did not hold us prisoners, but then again, I would not advise
running off into the night on five hits of acid. Rama said we could
'come clean' if we, like Barbara, confessed that we were trying
to destroy his mission. He threatened that he would send us to hell
for thousands of lifetimes..."
Rama claims:
Cult Awareness Network and persons associated with
it are participating in the very practices that
they purport to be dead set against. They are
encouraging the abrogation of the personal
and religious freedoms of adult American citizens
through brainwashing methods and techniques similar
to those employed by the North Koreans and
North Vietnamese against American P.O.W's...
I certainly am not in favor of cults--who is?
But I do not believe any person or organization
has the right to incite the kidnappings of persons
who are part of small religious organizations
that are not cults...This is a money making
racket. This [Cult Awarenes Network] is nothing
more than McCarthyism in a new form.
Anne and I read and reread this last section of the "Statement."
We glanced at each other for a moment--but said nothing.
* * *
In 1990 I spoke with the three English professors who, in 1976,
had served on Rama's doctoral dissertation committee. Louis Simpson,
a Pulitzer prize winning writer, told me he had written a poem
about a student, a brilliant lecturer, who creates his own system
rather than working within an existing one (Simpson, Louis.
"Herons and Water Lilies." In The Room We Share. New York:
Paragon House, 1990). Paul Dolan told me that Fred's performance on
the Ph.D. oral exams had been slightly above average. Gerald Nelson
told me that while he had taken a liking to this graduate student,
he had never thought much of Fred's get-rich-and-famous schemes,
including the one to boost his credentials via a mail-order
minister's degree.
"Fred once asked me what I thought of his idea for a book called The
Thirteen Mystics," Nelson told me. "I joked that he would already have
a built in market for the sequel, The Return Of The Thirteen Mystics."
But Nelson had not taken lightly the way young Frederick had been
affecting undergraduates during his free lectures on meditation.
In 1975, Nelson recommended that Fred read about Ken Kesey and about
Charles Manson. The lesson was that while both charismatic leaders
had experimented with drugs and with young peoples' lives, Kesey learned
to check his power over others. Manson did not.
"Yet it was difficult for me to guide Fred," Nelson explained.
"Though he was my student, he was Chinmoy's disciple."
Professor Nelson was a tall man with a strong, kind voice.
I wondered if Fred had been drawn to him in his search for a caring
father figure.
I asked Nelson if he had read the newspaper accounts of Fred's
recent schemes. He nodded sadly. "This is the sort of thing
you would expect from an intelligent, sensitive, abused child
from a well-to-do family. Fred quite obviously needs help,
but is probably too far-gone to realize or admit it."
In the mid-eighties, Rama sent Nelson self-promotional brochures,
tapes, and books; in 1986, Rama wrote in a brochure that Nelson had
been one of the three most influential people in his life; in 1988,
Rama confessed to Nelson that he only wanted to make some money,
that he no longer maintained a following, and that he had finally
learned his lesson about Ken Kesey and about Charles Manson.
Yet the more I learned about Rama through my continuing research,
the less I was heartened by Rama's confession to his former mentor.
In 1988, Rama persuaded many of the roughly three hundred disciples
to move to Reston, Virginia, and then to Westchester, New York.
He founded two for-profit organizations: National Professional
and Personal Development Seminars (NPDS) and Advanced Systems Inc.
(ASI) During regular meetings of NPDS and ASI he continued to teach
his disciples about spirituality. He continued to experiment
with mind control. He also experimented with new ways to
make money.
Rama had been strongly encouraging disciples to study software
at the Computer Learning Center (CLC), a six-month technical school
which typically prepared people for entry-level programming jobs.
Several disciples, including my brother, Sal, and Paul,
had developed impressive track records in the software industry.
But many were only CLC graduates. During the meetings of NPDS and ASI,
Rama told disciples to share their knowledge of state-of-the-art
software technology. Then he told them to lie. According to
the San Francisco Chronicle ("Yuppie Guru Finds Cash in Computers:
Devotees pay $3,000 a month to sit at his feet", 7/30/92), Rama,
in 1989, wrote a manual for disciples in which he encouraged them
to think of a resume as "a mandala that reflects your new self."
Rama wrote: "They will believe anything you say, even when you
intersperse unrealities, because they feel the truth of your experience.
When you have your stories and images in place, arrange for your references.
Choose people from our group who are comfortable on the phone,
who sound professional and who have had data processing experience.
Give them a few notes about who they were."
In 1991 Rama told New York Newsday's William Falk ("The Yuppie
Guru", 7/30/91), "It's the most amazing career that I know of.
You can start in the mid-30s, and in a year or two you can make
$100,000 to $150,000 a year."
From 1988 to 1991, Rama's individual tuition rose from roughly one
thousand to three thousand dollars per month. He told followers
that since NPDS and ASI were actually furthering their careers,
they should deduct the increasing payments from their taxes.
This enabled Rama to dramatically increase his "surprise" gift reservoir--
while bilking the IRS of millions, in a way that would be difficult
to expose.
In 1989, Rama justified to the disciples his rising tuition.
"I nearly killed myself by accepting your Negative Occult Energy,"
he said, "and now you are going to have to pay for it."
In January, 1990, Rama announced that disciples had until March 21,
1991, to donate additional money--from $50,000 to $1,000,000 per person,
depending on his or her "capacity." They didn't have to participate,
he told them. But it would be their last year in the Centre if they
did not. He gave them each "charmed" marbles. The marbles,
he said, would enable them to accomplish any task he suggested.
The charm, he added, would fade for those who left the Centre--
who had not already lost their marbles.
At one meeting in 1990, Rama claimed that his students were treating
him with disrespect by being late with their tuition payments.
"Better to owe your creditors than to owe me," he told them.
He suggested that they move in together, sleep on apartment floors,
and not pay their other bills for awhile.
Rama increasingly used fear tactics to control the financially hard-pressed,
sleep deprived followers, many of whom worked more than one job.
He told them that if he stopped protecting someone who left the Centre,
they would suffer forever in the "seventh level of hell." He told
them that he wielded the power to create and demolish the universes.
He told them that he was no longer the "Last Incarnation of Vishnu
The Cosmic Preserver," but of "Siva The Cosmic Destroyer."
He emphasized that those criticizing him would invariably get hit
by a car or contract cancer.
Rama, who had not held public lectures since early 1988, required most
students to bring at least three new potential initiates per year.
He spent hours during the NPDS and ASI "computer" meetings coaching
disciples about what kind of people they should recruit and about
how they should go about recruiting them. He also told them
of his plan to have them recruit at universities in every state
in North America.
Rama came up with many new ideas between 1989 and 1991. He told
the disciples, for instance, that his former Guru was really "a
great big spidery Entity from hell." He did not mention that ten
years earlier, he had billed Chinmoy as "the Seventh Avatar...the
highest soul to incarnate on earth..." He told a few disciples
to infiltrate and destroy Microsoft Corporation (one devotee
actually landed a job at the software giant as a recruiter). He
told disciples that he was ordaining them as Buddhist monks.
He did not mention, however, that he was having unprotected sex
with a substantial number of them under the guise of advancing
their souls.
In 1991, articles on Rama appeared in New York's Newsday,
"The Yuppie Guru", 7/30/91; The L.A. Weekly, "Rama Rerun", 11/29/91;
and in several issues of the Consultants' & Contractors' Newsletter
(CCN). I read in CCN (July/August, 1991 issue) how Rama's followers
had become known in the computer industry as the "California Raisins."
The Raisins apparently had been causing companies, recruiters,
and agencies in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to lose
a substantial amount of time and money. In the same issue, I read:
"...we think it only fair to put cult members on notice that
knowledge of their activities is widespread...local area recruiters
are now circulating a list of those known to be cult members,
which is regularly updated as new names are added...In other words,
local recruiters, typically thought of as competing with one another,
are acting in unison when it comes to fighting the onslaught of this
group...if you want to adhere to a certain faith or religion, go ahead,
it's what our country was set up to protect. But don't continue trying
to raise money through fraudulent behavior which neither the courts,
nor most religions would condone...Further info. available from
(201) 299-1535."
Also in 1991, I read in Newsday that Rama did not permit disciples
to live near him because he did not want them to "lower the vibe"
of Long Island. I read about one follower who committed suicide
after "speaking incessantly about Rama and about making enough
money to get back into the group." I read about Brenda Kerber,
a follower who disappeared from her White Plains apartment on
October 9th, 1989, and who, at the printing of this book, is still
listed as "missing." I read about Rama's claim that those who had
not done well in his program were "simply unrealistic or lazy."
And I read about Rama's claim that he merely wanted to teach,
travel, meditate, and, when time permitted, date women. "I have
a great life," Rama was quoted as saying. "I'm one of the happier
people I know."
In 1992, Rama regularly held private meetings for his computer company
"monks" at the Performing Arts Center at the State University of New
York at Purchase. Christopher Beach, director of the Performing
Arts Center, told The New York Times ("Mentor to Some, Cult Leader
to Others", Westchester edition, 6/20/93) that Lenz is "no more
than a Dale Carnegie of the 90's." Dr. Sheldon N. Grebstein,
president of SUNY Purchase, also defended Lenz in The Times article:
"At SUNY Purchase we have directly witnessed none of the alleged
cult activity."
From the stage of this prestigious auditorium, Rama, whom Grebstein
described as a "model client," instructed the hi-tech monks to fan out
to different parts of the country, form front organizations, and give
talks on meditation. On the east coast his recruiting arms included:
Boston Meditation Society (Massachusetts), Hartford Meditation Society
(Connecticut), Philadelphia Society for the Meditative Arts
(eastern Pennsylvania), Diamond Mind (Washington, D.C. and Maryland),
New Jersey Meditative Society (southern New Jersey and Princeton area),
Virginia Meditative Society, and Manhattan Meditation Forum (New York
City and Westchester). On the west coast: Banzai Tantric Institute
(Silicon Valley), RCF (San Francisco, Marin County, and East Bay
area), and Pacific Meditation Society (Los Angeles). He told
disciples to promote their talks by postering universities.
He told them to pay particular attention to bulletin boards around
engineering and computer science departments. He told them to invite
certain seekers to meditate with him (at SUNY Purchase on the east
coast and at a rented hall in Oakland, California, on the west
coast). It was no secret what type of person Rama wanted to attract.
Many of his posters found at universities across America contain
this message: "All workshops designed for individuals 29
and under."
According to one disciple who left the group in 1993, Rama's recent,
indirect recruiting method attracted roughly four hundred new disciples.
When a group of disciples' parents--known as the "Rama Mamas"--
found out about Rama's active quest for fresh material,
they alerted the press. Articles began to appear: The Santa Fe
New Mexican, "Controversial guru coming to Santa Fe", 3/24/92;
Santa Fe Reporter, "Computer Cult: Is the Leader Here?", 3/25/92;
Heart Dance: The Bay Area's Most Comprehensive Events
Calendar for Contemporary Human Awareness, Spirituality &
Well-Being, Editorial: "RAMA? UH-OH", 4/1/92; The Daily Californian
(UC Berkeley), "Zen master a fraud, followers say", 6/26/92;
San Francisco Chronicle, "Yuppie Guru Finds Cash in Computers:
Devotees pay $3,000 a month to sit at his feet", 7/30/92;
The Philadelphia Inquirer, "As guru's disciples hit town,
critics cry beware: Truth and light, the followers promise.
Fraud and suffering, the watch group warns", 8/31/92;
The Portland Oregonian, "Is Brenda Barratt reading this?
If so, phone home", 9/5/92; The Ramapo News, "College Authorities
Alerted of Cult Leader", 10/15/92; The Hartford Courant,
"Guru mixes money, mystique: Ex-followers say students exploited",
and "Traveling along the path toward enlightment", 10/18/92;
The Wesleyan Argus, "Cult Recruits Students Via Meditation Group", 10/30/92,
and "Arguses Stolen", 11/3/92, and "Cult Faces Obstacles Elsewhere;
None at Wes", 11/6/92, and "Self-Discovery Club Loses Group Status",
12/4/92, and "Wes Investigates Meditation Group's Activities", 12/4/92;
The Trinity Tripod, "Alleged Cult Sponsors Workshops On Campus", 11/3/92,
and "Meditation Workshops Exposed", 11/10/92; Peninsula Times Tribune,
"Manipulative...or merely meditative? Zen Master Rama faces serious
charges", 11/7/92; Baltimore City Paper, "Software Svengali:
Yuppie Guru Frederick Lenz Wants You For His Army Of Meditating
Computer Programmers. Step #1: Bring Your Purses And Wallets", 11/13/92;
Yale Herald, "Meditation group accused of cult recruiting", 11/13/92;
Westchester Gannett Reporter Dispatch, "ZEN and the ART of COMPUTER
MAINTENANCE", and "Flim Flam Artist or Hindu Deity?", 11/22/92;
The Chronicle of Higher Education, "Insidious Recruiting or
Innocent Seminar? Colleges Police Meetings of So-Called Cult:
Meditation group forces administrators to confront questions about
student safety", 12/2/92; New Age Journal, "The Return of Rama", 1/1/93;
Family Circle, "Do You Believe In Magic? New Light on the New
Age", 2/23/93; The Trenton Times, "Meditation or manipulation?
Guru called cult leader", and "Disciples carry Rama's word by
meditation class", 2/28/93; Santa Cruz Sentinel, "HIGH-TECH Rama:
Frederick Lenz offers a vision of affluence, for a price", 2/28/93
and "Guru's Disciples teach campus clubs: Is it a 'hustler's' scam,
or an invitation to enlightenment?", 3/1/93; The New York Times
(Westchester edition), "Mentor to Some, Cult Leader to Others",
6/20/93.
Rama's response to the waves of negative publicity was no different
than his response years before on "The Larry King Show" and "A
Current Affair." He professed, through spokeswoman Lisa Lewinson,
that money-seeking deprogrammers were persuading former disciples
to fabricate accusations. Yet the individuals whose accounts appear
in this book share their experiences as individuals. These individuals
are members of no such anti-cult conspiracy. These individuals respect
and defend the freedom to practice religion in its myriad forms.
These individuals have a simple message. Fly East. Fly West.
But don't fly into the cuckoo's nest.
* * *
Yet in the spring of 1988, stung by memories of friendship and
deceit in Rama's nest, I stumbled my way past the burned-out car
abandoned on the charred foundation of 9514 La Jolla Farms Road.
I let Nunatak lead me in the fading light through the parched chaparral.
She gently tugged me back to the present. One-and-a-half miles
east of campus, I opened the door of my Volkswagon Bus. I was
still crying.
Inside the van I saw my fish-net "bulletin board" which reminded
me where I had been and where I was going. On it I saw an article
about a bicycle ride I had taken two years before with Nunatak. I saw
the cover of a book about Mohandas K. Gandhi, autographed by its author,
William L. Shirer. I saw a brochure from the Peace Corps and a
miniature American flag. I saw a sticker for UCSD, John Muir College.
I saw a quote from Thoreau: "If a man does not keep pace with
his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
Let him step to the music that he hears, however measured or far away."
My father sent me that.
I saw a picture of anthropologist-explorer Thor Heyerdahl standing
at the bow of Ra I, a papyrus reed boat which he and six others sailed
across the Atlantic. The journey had proved that "primitive" people
could have crossed the great waterways which connect the continents.
My mother sent me that.
And I saw, next to an inflatable globe, written on a small piece
of paper, the name of the chariot: "Sunped I, a solar electric/human
powered vehicle." Below that I saw the name of the quest:
"Tour Del Mundo." I was starting to realize that by leaving
Rama's dream, I had gotten back my world.
Nuna rode shotgun in the passenger seat, I turned the key and--
it started. Leaving the mall, I slowly gained momentum.
Appendix A: Excerpts from WOOF!
In a fabricated advertisement (Issue #4; February, 1981), Atmananda
poked fun at televangelists: "Dear Friends in Christ...I want to offer
you my secrets of success so that you can make fantastic profits
before the world ends! This offer is good for a limited time only,
so act now. Send $500.00 for my new book, Better Living With Jesus
Through Voodoo. You will receive your copy in a plain brown bag.
Here is a brief selection of some of the wonderful topics my
book covers: 1) How to make Satan work for you, 2) Selling religious
trinkets to the poor, 3) Using television to rake in the millions, 4)
Fourteen genuine fake miracles you can impress your congregation
with, 5) Using guilt to pry the last pennies from your friends'
pockets, 6) How to make your own religion look good while defaming
all the others, 7) Convincing people that you once took Jesus
to lunch, 8) Seven great strategies to win at pinball, 9) How to give
a fire and brimstone sermon that will cast fear into the hearts
of all Christians, 10) Tax shelters to protect your new fortunes.
All this and more can be yours if you act now! Don't delay.
Send for my book today. Yours in Christ and Heavenly Bucks$, The
Right Reverend Armageddon T. Thunderbird, Esq."
In "Swami Muktaneeshprabhphada's Thoughts For Clean Living & Laundry"
(Issue #6; March, 1981), Atmananda satirized Indian gurus:
"Greetings on you, my favorite little people! Today I am going
to discuss things with so much spiritual significance...You all want
to attain Illumination, I know that you do. You are good children.
But at the same time many of you have dirty and disgusting thoughts
about sex, sex and sex. Now you must put these rotten thoughts away.
You can't achieve Enlightenment thinking about sex. You must think about me.
If you meditate on your dear old Swami then you will become pure--
like your laundry..."
In "Constipation Cure" (Issue #7; April, 1981), Atmananda
struck out at the Moonies: "Constipated? Can't go at all?
REAM YOURSELF with Reverend Mune's Original Korean Holistic Reamer.
All Natural, Heavy Metal, Available in decorator colors."
In "Polarity Institute For The Criminally Insane - Formerly
Twingle's Military Academy for the Criminally Insane"
(Issue #6; March, 1981), Atmananda lambasted New Age groups:
"Dear Holistic Friends, It is with the greatest joy that I can
invite you to a free weekend of fun and kinkyness at the GRAND
OPENING of the Polarity Institute for the Criminally Insane.
We know that if you will come to one or two of our free sessions
we can hook you into a long term program which will cost you
thousands!...How do we manage this? By putting pictures in our ads
that are filled with subliminal sexual stimulation, by filling our
ads with a lot of nonsense about the types of therapies we offer.
And last but not least, by relying on your own insecurity and lack
of faith in your own natural healing abilities. Choose from any of
the fine therapeutic programs we offer to you: 1) QUESADILLA WRAPS.
Imagine your naked body being wrapped in warm cheese-filled Quesadillas.
Very good for gout and ingrown toenails. 2) Luxuriate in a GUACAMOLE
HOT TUB. Wonderful for mild psychosis. 3) LIE ON ONE OF OUR EXCLUSIVE
'Clam Beds' and be stroked with a flamingo feather by Ultra Violet,
one of our staff 'workers.' 4) TEQUILLA & GINSENG BODY RUB Wonderful
for asthma, heart attack, cerebral hemorrhage and mild back aches.
Located in Beautiful Downtown Tijuana, The Home Of The Stars.
Gwidcard accepted."
Appendix B: Excerpts from Rama's Tape "Welcome To Lakshmi"
(1982)
"During the first year, you will in effect become a new person.
Even your personality structure will alter...we're just trying
to cleanse your being...to just wash away those layers of maya,
to teach you enough of our language so we can begin to communicate
in a more sophisticated manner spiritually...
"Initially, the first few years, we're just trying to get basic
obstructions out of the way, get your ideas of selfhood out of the way,
just open you up to your own perfection. And as we remove more and
more of these obstructions, then I am able to do more and more for you.
"You must keep a journal...of your spiritual experiences...when
you write it down, it brings it very much into the physical
consciousness...in other words, it will imprint the experience
on your mind. Then, you should read your journal over from time
to time...You see, the mind refuses to believe a lot of what we
do...but when you bring the mind into the action of writing it down,
the mind agrees and accepts these things...
"A large part of our program has to do with self-giving. Self-giving
is totally important in my estimation. Everything we do is predicated
upon it. You can only meditate a few hours a day, but you can give
of yourself constantly. You should feel your whole life is nothing
but self-giving...there is a great deal of self-giving you can do
around the Centre, which will help you. Naturally, whenever you give
to a spiritual organization, you enter into that circle of light,
and you gain much more for it than if you had just gone out
and helped one of your neighbors, from a karmic point of view.
The way that you can give of yourself at the Centre, well, there are
a few ways. Naturally, the most important is economically.
Money is necessary in this world to run a spiritual organization.
The more money we have, the more people we help. It's a very
simple equation..."
Appendix C: Excerpts from Rama's Tape "Sophisticated Sexuality"
(1983)
"As the years went on, I found that my relationships got better.
They changed, though, as I changed...The love became very pure and then
it was no longer painful. As I went on, relationships got better
and better. And they meant less...
"I found that love and sexuality continued to be one of many
doorways that seemed to continue to help me in evolution.
It just seemed to be there. I had no choice in the matter.
As I have no choice in anything that happens anymore...
"I no longer could love one person. I just found that I loved everyone.
Equally...
"It's no more special to sleep with one person than another.
What's the difference? It's all a dream anyway...
"So I decided the best thing to do was to avoid the Watergate mentality.
And to be in full disclosure. Without the sense that anyone
would understand. Most people and most of you are threatened
completely by your own sexuality. You don't know how to deal with it.
You're terribly afraid of it. And it's a terrible threat to see
someone who is at ease with it...
"So I knew it wouldn't be easy. But at the same time I...had to be
myself...I was never particularly interested in impressing others.
Otherwise I would not have been part of the Woodstock nation.
I rejected society ages ago, and came back to it because it seemed like
an interesting thing to do...
"I began to hear rumors that well, I was--I don't know what I
was doing--I haven't listened to much of the rumors but I guess,
umm, I don't know, that I was making love to millions of women,
or something like that, uhh, I don't know. That hasn't been the case;
it might be a wonderful idea, but to be quite honest, I haven't the time
because I'm very busy; it's very demanding running a spiritual community.
It might be a heck of a lot more fun than some of the things I do...
"I've been very fortunate without one exception;
all of the women I have ever met and have been involved with
have been wonderful. Remarkable. Absolutely remarkable.
And I feel they have all been my teachers. As are all of you my teachers...
"But I think it's time everybody grew up. And stop being so petty.
About their own lives or other people's lives. And instead,
turn their attention towards what matters: money! Sex is the
preoccupation of adolescence. Money is the preoccupation of adults.
And Lakshmi is the goddess of money...
"So I think it's time everybody adopted a more professional
attitude about their lives. In other words, don't focus
so much on your relationships. Have fun with them. Or if you
don't have them, you don't want them, have fun with that.
But don't bother with what other people in the Centre do so much...
"Sexuality, I think, is a little different for me than it is for
most people in that there is almost no body awareness whatsoever.
It's just light...
"If you can't handle the fact that someday you might be enlightened,
and still fall in love with people and love them and be with them,
and if you can't deal with that, if you hate yourself so much and hate
your sexuality so much that you think it has no light in it...If
you think it makes a difference if I have ten thousand sports cars,
and ten million girlfriends, and lead a very flashy life, and eat
at only the most fashionable restaurants, which I don't, but if
that would make a difference in what we do, in other words, if you
can carry my lifestyle to the most absurd proportions in your mind,
and that would make a difference in the meditation process, then you
shouldn't work with me. I don't think you should work with any teacher.
'Cause you don't know what it's all about yet. You should come
to the fashionable restaurants with us and have a good time.
'Cause we have a good time. 'Cause God is in everything..."