"I like the book very much," I replied.
"Would you like to meet Shirer?" she offered.
William L. Shirer was the only correspondent sent by an American
newspaper to cover India's revolution. He gathered that Gandhi's
philosophy encompassed more than civil disobedience, passive resistance,
non-cooperation and non-violence, but "had to do also with
something more subtle--and fundamental: the search for truth,
for the essence of the spirit..." Insights such as this made him
seem particularly suited to investigate so complex and sensitive
a matter as India's social, political, and spiritual ferment.
Shirer was also the author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich:
A History of Nazi Germany. As I knocked on his door, I hoped that
with his knowledge of benevolent and malevolent charismatic leaders,
he could help me to understand Atmananda.
I wanted to tell Shirer that I had seen Atmananda's seemingly tight-knit
community transform into a group of fearful, paranoid people.
I wanted to tell him that I had seen Atmananda himself transform from
a seemingly kind and noble seeker into a man who used anti-psychotic
drugs and LSD as tools of persuasion, who--without the use of drugs--
persuaded one woman to leave her husband and newborn child,
who dreamt of filling stadiums and of starting a world religion,
who claimed to be the anti-Christ, and who spoke repeatedly of
taking the inner circle for a ride in a Learjet into a mountain.
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