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Laxer, Mark Eliot

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


In the past, Rama had used the fear of Entities and of bad
karma to discipline his disciples. Typically, he had explained
that he would try to protect those who strayed from his path.
But by now his role had dramatically changed. No longer the protector,
he told disciples that if they disobeyed him, *he* would see to it
that they had a car accident or that they came down with cancer.
He had Karen warn Rachel and Anne that if they did not attend the meeting,
they would come to "serious harm."
They showed.
At the Mohave Desert meeting, Rama announced that the nineteen
could return to the Centre, move to Boston, teach yoga, and bring
him new students.
"Who does *not* want to come back?" he asked.
Anne, Dana, and Rachel reached their hands into the desert sky.
Afterwards, the devotees stopped at Denny's restaurant for coffee.
The dissenters sat together. Rama approached. Anne mentioned
that the brakes of her car were not functioning properly,
and that she had had difficulty getting to the meeting.
Rama took credit for the problem. He said: "Let that be a warning."
Then he told the three women that they had better not send him any
bad vibes.
"One out of twenty women gets breast cancer," he told them.


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