t's flying all around--there it goes! Rama, don't you *see* it?"

He followed my finger with his eyes as if he were *seeing* the
imaginary bird, and soon he fell asleep with a smile across his face.

As he slept, I thought about what had just happened. An incarnation of
God, I realized, would not have had a bad LSD trip. Rama was not who
he said he was. He was not one of twelve fully enlightened souls on
the planet. He was an ordinary man, he was vulnerable, and I wanted to
believe he was my friend.

After about thirty minutes, Rama awoke. He lifted his quivering hands
above his head. "Did you *see* that?" he asked.

"See what, Rama?"

"I am filling the room with light. The powers are cycling through me.
I am reattaining enlightenment."

"Uh-oh," I thought. "Here we go again."

Rama seemed utterly fascinated by his hands, which he wiggled and waved
in front of his face.

An uneasy feeling permeated my gut. I recalled the aftermath of his
last enlightenment. "Just because he believes that he's perfect," I
thought, "why should I suffer?" I recalled a few of his more
outlandish claims. He had lectured a doctor about the nature of
illness: "Disease is merely the result of a difference in vibrations."
He had taken credit when his father survived a coronary bypass
operation. He had taken credit when disciples got decent jobs.

I now realized that if I were to remain a disciple, I would need to
humor myself about Rama's claims--lest I rekindle the debilitating
conflict between my rational and mystical natures. I had the
impression that Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters kept a sense of
humor about their experiments, and I wondered how they might deal with
someone afflicted with Rama's particular brand of enlightenment. I
recalled reading in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test that one prankster
often said: "Yeah! Yeah! Right! Right! Right!"

"That's it," I decided. "When Rama starts getting out there, I'll say
to myself, 'Yeah! Yeah! Right! Right! Right!'"

At that moment, Rama raised his arms again. "Do you *see* it?" he
quavered.

"I *see* it, Rama. Golden light is filling the room." ("Yeah! Yeah!
Right! Right! Right!" I thought.)

Rama waited for me to continue describing the Light which I did, and
though I was lying and probably fanning the flame, I supposed this
would beat an ongoing dark night of the soul.

Rama now looked directly into my eyes. I could not recall him doing
s