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Laxer, Mark Eliot

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

"
Perhaps Mike's unique way of doing things, as well as the pride
with which he questioned authority, contributed to his
standing in the Centre as a less-than-model disciple.
"I'm glad that you are friendly with Mike," Rama once told me.
"But you should understand that he's not really into our program.
I can see that he's in it for himself."
I missed Tom, the bass-guitar-playing disciple from Stony Brook
whom Rama had put in charge of security. (Rama, based on fears
that his psychic vision excluded those who wanted to shoot him,
had assembled a team of volunteer disciples and professional
security guards.) Tom, one of Rama's closest disciples,
was the first high-profile follower to leave the Centre.
He left largely as a result of the "Omelet Incident."
The "Incident" occurred in Rama's kitchen in Malibu. Rama sat with Tom
and Fran, a tall, young UCSD recruit with a long, powerful stride
and a glint of the wild in her eye. Rama liked to say that Fran had
spent past lives in Africa as a hunter, and that she was one of two
disciples with the potential of attaining enlightenment in this life
(I was the other). At around 2:30 a.m., Rama asked Fran to cook
him an omelet. Perhaps she was tired from having accompanied
Rama and Tom that night to the San Francisco Centre meeting.


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