w 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." Nea