Witnessed: Devil in the Ditch - Listen Next: Who is Rama?

Episode Date: October 24, 2022

Listen ad-free to all episodes of Smoke Screen: I Am Rama with your subscription to The Binge. To some he was an enlightened master, and to others a dangerous cult leader. One thing’s for sure, the spiritual leader Rama was a product of the 80s: designer clothes, a rock band, sports cars and a modern message were only some of the things that made Rama a fascinating and complex teacher. Host Jonathan Hirsch explores his life and untimely death. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whatever that guy has I want to know. I want to know what that is. I want to be able to do that. And he thought that he could just transmit the state of light and beauty to us. My life would not be what it is today if not for Rama. I know this for a fact. The feeling hooked some followers for good. But others, they got out. If you're living in a echo chamber, you start to believe you're on bullshit because everybody's echoing it back to you. Who was Rama?

To some, he was an enlightened master, but to others, he was a dangerous cult leader. Smoke screen I Am Rama tells the story of the complicated life and the untimely death of a man known as Rama, an enigmatic spiritual leader of the complicated life and the untimely death of a man known as Rama, an enigmatic spiritual leader of the 1980s. And as a subscriber to the binge, you can listen to all episodes. Add free, right now. Take a listen. Some things you just can't explain.

You don't know how to explain it. You just know it happened to you. It could be a miracle or it could be a mirage. Ultimately, it doesn't matter because either way that thing changed your life. Jim had one of those experiences. My name's Jim Picarello. In the early 90s, he was in a crowded restaurant just north of Manhattan. He was there to see a spiritual teacher named Rama for the first time. He came into the room and told everyone there he was going to sit down on a stool. Everybody do your meditation, but this time do it with your eyes open.

And um, generally look at me, just sort of like have a light gaze in my direction. Jim and the other people they were focused on their breath, their eyes open. Music started playing. And they put on this what sounded like rock and roll new age music that was very calm. They lowered the lights. He concentrated on his breathing, looked up in the direction of this teacher, a man named Frederick Lentz, who went by the name Rama. And God damn it, if the whole room didn't turn into solid gold and everyone in it.

The golden light. It wasn't something he saw. He says he felt it too. And I got a rush of euphoria that I had never felt before. He said it was like a wall of good and amazing feelings just washing through him. I almost got a little nauseous because of feeling that way. It was very disoriented. But it also felt amazing.

The lights came back on 15 minutes later. He remembers Rama started talking, but can't remember what it was about. I just remember saying, I'm following this dude for the rest of my life because he's got something that no one has. This feeling, not just the golden light, but the belief that a person could transmit a spiritual energy that some say raises your consciousness toward a more enlightened state of being. It's what attracted Jim to Rama, and it's what kind of changed his life, changed other people too.

Yes, gold light and movement, vibatory movement, his face shifting and changing. And the whole room would light up, and I would feel eternity. And when he's not disappearing in the white light, I'm just looking like he's levitating, and I'm like, wow, that's pretty cool. Over time, I've come to know many of the people who say Rama changed their life. And while these stories start much the same way, they don't end up in the same place. For some of his students, Rahma was and remains nothing short of a magical being.

And he just casually said, yes, this is pretty much what somebody feels like. He might have said, this is what Nirvana feels like. One of the two. And it was just blissful, just beautiful. For others, it's more complicated than that. And then I told him a bit about beautiful. For others it's more complicated than that. And then I told them the bit about getting the energy, meditating, programming, making lots of money, giving them money to him. He says, dude, you're in a pyramid scheme. And even others saw a troubled man. Someone who surrounded by people who adored him was very much alone. I felt a little bit of sorrow that this guy never got it together. I mean, I still saw him as a fractured human being.

At first, for me, the story of Rama was the story of a curiosity. I spent years studying controversial American teachers and gurus, even met some of them. But Rama confounded me. His story rested somewhere between hegeography and cautionary tale. But for reasons I didn't expect, it made me question everything I thought I knew. I'm Jonathan Hirsch. From NeonHum Media and SmokeScreen, this is I Am Rama. Chapter 1.

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