o, except during lectures and meditations, since 1981. "We used to be
friends," he murmured. "What happened?"

"Rama, I don't know."

"Should there be any problems between us?" he asked.

I felt that this was Fred trying to break through, and I struggled to
hold back the tears.

"You and I used to be friends," he continued. "But then something
happened. We should be friends. Would you like that?"

"Yes, Rama."

He smiled at me with big, puppy eyes.

I told him that Sal, Bill, Al, and I had maintained a high
consciousness earlier that day, before he arrived. "We talked about
what we hoped to gain from the power drug, Rama. It was as if we were
spiritual warriors."

Rama looked at me resolutely. "You are spiritual warriors," he said.
Then he lay back down and fell asleep. I felt happy and self-confident.

When Rama awoke, he turned to me and said, "You are okay. You are on
the net."

"On the what?"

"The net. The network. The psychic energy network."

"Really?" ("Yeah! Yeah! Right! Right! Right!")

"Yes."

Rama, who wanted to see who else was on the net, hobbled out to the
living room where Sal and Al quietly sat.

"Are you on the net?" Rama asked them.

"Yes," replied Sal, who had always been adept at learning rules to new
games.

Rama looked at him suspiciously, when suddenly the phone rang. It was
Dana. Rama told her that she was on the net, seeing as how she had
called at so auspicious a moment. "So," he told her, "it's me, you,
Mark, and Sal... " He paused and said, "Sure, Mark is on the net. He's
quick like mercury. He's right there."

I realized it was less a network than it was Rama's net, but I was
happy because the man I had once been friends with was back. I was
also happy because my conflict-diffusing strategy seemed to be working.

The following morning, I greeted Rama.

He squinted his eyes and looked away.

"Is anything the matter?" I asked.

"Oh, yes," he answered, haughtily. "I know all about it."

"About what? I thought we were friends."

"Oh, sure," he replied. "I know all about that part of you. That's
the part that wants to control me."

"Rama," I said, looking him squarely in the eye. "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