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the Aquarian Age: Richard Alpert, an early LSD advocate later known as Baba Ram Dass, who had also studied under Neem Karoli Baba. There have been persistent rumors that Ma and Ram Dass were lovers, or at least that he had an unrequited love for her. She blows off such claims. “I was happily married at the time,” she says. But not for long: The new guruship proved too much for her Italian-Catholic husband. Once divorced, she began casting around for a permanent ashram. South Florida seemed a good place, with its warm climate. She says the Baba apparition told her where to look: “A tree with seven crooks in a branch.” The tree turned-out to be on a bank of the St. Sebastian River. Ma bought, 42 acres with followers' funds and named the place Kashi, the Sanskrit name for the holy city Benares in India. Ma designed the Kashi Ranch and Church to reflect her diverse doctrines. Her closest followers, by then about 20, dug a pond in its center, and she dedicated it with a bottle of water from the Ganges River. She now calls it "my Ganga, my River." Ringing the pond are small shrines for various deities. They include a leafy hut for Hanuman, an incarnation of Shiva; a Jewish shrine with a wooden replica of the Ten Commandments; a Tibetan Buddhist shrine and statue; a life-size statue of Christ with the Sacred Heart, and an abstract carving of Shiva Shakti. J. Gordon Melton, director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, Calif., conducted two studies of Ma and her ashram in 1990 and '93. "She believes that different religions are expressions of the one true religion," he says. "So what you do outwardly Christianity or Hinduism or whatever is not important. It's the inward reality that counts." Melton, author of the Encyclopedia Of American Religions, regards Ma with some admiration. "She doesn't exude the air of sanctity of most gurus," he says. "They usually teach only their best disciples and limit contact with the rest. Ma's people see her every night." AS NIGHT FALLS AT KASHI, SOME 150 chelas or students gather at the small wooden amphitheater at the Hanuman shrine. Drums and bells keep rhythm as they sing from memory the Hanuman Chalisa, a 15th-century hymn of 40 verses. The devotees fan the air slowly toward themselves. The only flap in the solemnity comes from the guru herself, as her flashlight guide falters briefly. "Hey! Whaddaya doing?" she exclaims. Ma sits and reads the Indian legend of a man who loves a woman who then reveals herself as a naga, a divine cobra-like being. The reading evidently is meant for a visitor who has identified himself as a transsexual and been insulted by one of the chelas. |
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"One of the things I've always taught you is to treat everyone as Christ," she tells her listeners. "You never know who you're sitting next to." One of those you might find yourself sitting next to is Arlo Guthrie, who became a follower in 1986. Guthrie had previously had a Jesus vision of his own and become a lay member of the Franciscan order. But when he first saw Ma's "beautiful" face in a picture at a friend's house, he felt impelled to visit Kashi. He walked in and waited as she talked with other people. She spotted him and
asked- "What the f--- do you want?" "It showed me she was for real," he says. "I felt the same kind of love as when I talked to Christ." Guthrie now visits Kashi once or twice a year, and is restoring a house on the Indian River near the ashram. KASHI IS RUN AS A Cooperative living center rather than a commune. The 100 residents pay $170 a week to live in large group homes. Other disciples live off the grounds, in adjacent houses and apartments. Although devotees are encouraged to find their own spiritual paths, ashram life has its rules. Residents are expected to share chores with 20 paid employees. Group dinners, are meatless, though bountiful in fish, shrimp, vegetables and bread. Drug abuse brings expulsion. |
And celibacy is required, except for procreation. The example is set by the guru herself, who married tae kwon do instructor Soo Se Cho in 1980 after taking his classes. Most of the week, Cho lives in Miami, where he runs his school. Typically, Ma rises at 4 a.m. for solitary devotions. She then writes about 15 pages in one of seven books she simultaneously is working on: poetry, religion, two collections of children's stories, an autobiography, Hindu legends, advice for caregivers. Disciples still on the grounds at 10:30 are invited to a daily bout of roller hockey at a loaned warehouse in nearby Sebastian. Ma took up the sport a year ago after getting in-Ma skates as a gift.' Afternoons are for prayer and hospital visits. After dinner at 5:30, just before the nightly darshan or devotional service, she counsels individuals in the Lion Kuti, a complex that includes her apartment and private chapel. |
" One of the things I've taught Is to treat everyone as Christ," Ma says, "You never know who you're sitting next to."
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