They are
encouraging the abrogation of the personal
and religious freedoms of adult American citizens
through brainwashing methods and techniques similar
to those employed by the North Koreans and
North Vietnamese against American P.O.W's...
I certainly am not in favor of cults--who is?
But I do not believe any person or organization
has the right to incite the kidnappings of persons
who are part of small religious organizations
that are not cults... This is a money making
racket. This [Cult Awarenes Network] is nothing
more than McCarthyism in a new form.

Anne and I read and reread this last section of the "Statement." We
glanced at each other for a moment--but said nothing.

* * *

In 1990 I spoke with the three English professors who, in 1976, had
served on Rama's doctoral dissertation committee. Louis Simpson, a
Pulitzer prize winning writer, told me he had written a poem about a
student, a brilliant lecturer, who creates his own system rather than
working within an existing one (Simpson, Louis. "Herons and Water
Lilies." In The Room We Share. New York: Paragon House, 1990). Paul
Dolan told me that Fred's performance on the Ph.D. oral exams had been
slightly above average. Gerald Nelson told me that while he had taken
a liking to this graduate student, he had never thought much of Fred's
get-rich-and-famous schemes, including the one to boost his credentials
via a mail-order minister's degree.

"Fred once asked me what I thought of his idea for a book called The
Thirteen Mystics," Nelson told me. "I joked that he would already have
a built in market for the sequel, The Return Of The Thirteen Mystics."
But Nelson had not taken lightly the way young Frederick had been
affecting undergraduates during his free lectures on meditation. In
1975, Nelson recommended that Fred read about Ken Kesey and about
Charles Manson. The lesson was that while both charismatic leaders had
experimented with drugs and with young peoples' lives, Kesey learned to
check his power over others. Manson did not.

"Yet it was difficult for me to guide Fred," Nelson explained. "Though
he was my student, he was Chinmoy's disciple."

Professor Nelson was a tall man with a strong, kind voice. I wondered
if Fred had been drawn to him in his search for a caring father figure.

I asked Nelson if he had read the