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Laxer, Mark Eliot

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

"You have two
very different sides. And I like the other one better."
In the weeks that followed, Rama mostly ignored me until he
uprooted the four hundred or so disciples from southern California
to the suburbs of Boston. At the last meeting in Beverly Hills,
he called me to the stage, put his hand on my forehead, and said,
"The Infinite is naming you Agni."
The entry in my journal for the following day, April 4th,
1985, reads, "yea! got my spiritual name...AGNI...Fire...Breaker
of Illusions...Vision...Third Eye...Now, everything is totally
fresh & new...I feel good."
I liked the name. It represented the spiritual progress I had made
despite the difficulties of the past few years. As I caravanned
across America in Rama's group, the new name boosted my confidence.
It was springtime in New England. Rama rented a large house
in Needham, Massachusetts, and held Centre meetings in a church
in Boston. Many disciples followed his suggestion and moved
to Concord, Lincoln, or Wellesley. I moved to Wayland.
One day I bought a copy of Walden by Henry David Thoreau.
My journal entry for June 15th, 1985, reads, "Economics chapter
in Walden...didn't provide any answers, but caused me to ask questions
which lead to a variety of possibilities.


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