* * *
Over the next few years, I grappled with conflicting images of Rama.
Sometimes I saw him as a friend. Other times I saw him as a
semi-enlightened seeker or as a powerful sorcerer. But the more I
researched his past, the more I discovered he was human.
He was born Frederick P. Lenz III on February ninth, 1950, in Mercy Hospital,
San Diego. He was raised Catholic in Connecticut where he lived,
alternately, with his grandparents, aunt and uncle, and father.
His parents divorced when he was a child. His father remarried,
joined a yacht club, and, in 1974, was elected mayor of Stamford.
In 1967 Fred graduated from Rippowam High School. The following
description of him appears in the yearbook: "A streak of the unusual--
chasing the beautiful, hiding from the known. Cut-rate philosopher--
monopoly on the side..."
At seventeen, Fred left the east coast and experienced the mushrooming
of the psychedelic movement while living in San Francisco's
Haight-Ashbury district. It was during the subsequent year,
which he spent in prison for selling drugs, that he was handed
a promotional brochure for Indian guru Chinmoy Kumar Ghose.
Chinmoy, whose path was paved with "peace, light, and bliss,"
had several hundred followers worldwide, including rock musicians
John "Mahavishnu" McLaughlin and Carlos "Devadip" Santana.
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