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Laxer, Mark Eliot

"Take Me for a Ride: coming of age in a destructive cult"


"Have you noticed anything different about Guru?" Atmananda had
asked him.
"No," replied Tom, who had not yet joined Atmananda's west
coast entourage.
"Something heavy has been going down in the inner worlds,"
Atmananda said. "Call me in San Diego in late December, and I
will fill you in."


10. Bicycle Ride--Utica

One week into the cross-country bicycle trek, I stopped near the New
York-Massachusetts border by a sign pointing to a campground.
It was getting late. I wondered if I should save the money and sleep
in the woods. I recalled Atmananda's penchant for lodging at exclusive,
expensive hotels. I realized that I did not want to follow him.
I also realized that I did not want to *not* follow him.
I wanted to do what was right for me. I followed the sign.
I stood at the campground entrance beneath a totem pole, whose carved
faces reminded me of the Negative Forces. But I was no longer
bound by Atmananda's interpretation of the world, I told myself.
"Sweet dreams," I said to the faces and rolled past them.
The next morning I crossed over the Hudson River into Albany
and walked up the hill toward the Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller
Empire State Plaza. Endowed with intricately sculptured arches
and columns, the majestic New York State capitol building contrasted
with the modern structures across the street, which included
four towers labeled in letters of gold.


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