Rama writes:
Jennifer's mind was violated in a variety of
horrible ways. She was kept awake for extended
hours and forced repeatedly to view videos of
Charles Manson... Jennifer was screamed at, ridiculed
and degraded. She was constantly surrounded by
guards and was never allowed to leave the motel...
Jennifer was told that she would not be released
until she gave up her beliefs in the Buddhist
faith... her kidnappers also threatened that
if she went to the police they would kidnap her
again and that her family would have her
committed to a mental institution for the
rest of her life.
Jennifer Jacob's parents maintain that their daughter was not screamed at, ridiculed, or degraded. Although neither Anne nor I knew what had actually taken place with Jennifer, Anne recalled too well some of Rama's methods: "Our minds [during nightmare weekend in Seattle] were violated in a variety of horrible ways. Rama kept us awake all night. We did not see Charles Manson videos. We got to see Rama strangling his puppy instead. Rama repeatedly berated us. He claimed we were reincarnated demons and were out to get him. He did not hold us prisoners, but then again, I would not advise running off into the night on five hits of acid. Rama said we could 'come clean' if we, like Barbara, confessed that we were trying to destroy his mission. He threatened that he would send us to hell for thousands of lifetimes... "
Rama claims:
Cult Awareness Network and persons associated with
it are participating in the very practices that
they purport to be dead set against. 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."