He nodded sadly. "This is the sort of thing
you would expect from an intelligent, sensitive, abused child
from a well-to-do family. Fred quite obviously needs help,
but is probably too far-gone to realize or admit it."
In the mid-eighties, Rama sent Nelson self-promotional brochures,
tapes, and books; in 1986, Rama wrote in a brochure that Nelson had
been one of the three most influential people in his life; in 1988,
Rama confessed to Nelson that he only wanted to make some money,
that he no longer maintained a following, and that he had finally
learned his lesson about Ken Kesey and about Charles Manson.
Yet the more I learned about Rama through my continuing research,
the less I was heartened by Rama's confession to his former mentor.
In 1988, Rama persuaded many of the roughly three hundred disciples
to move to Reston, Virginia, and then to Westchester, New York.
He founded two for-profit organizations: National Professional
and Personal Development Seminars (NPDS) and Advanced Systems Inc.
(ASI) During regular meetings of NPDS and ASI he continued to teach
his disciples about spirituality. He continued to experiment
with mind control. He also experimented with new ways to
make money.
Rama had been strongly encouraging disciples to study software
at the Computer Learning Center (CLC), a six-month technical school
which typically prepared people for entry-level programming jobs.
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