Dear Mr. Wolf:
I am writing to you as a former follower of Prem
Rawat (aka Maharaji, "Guru Maharaj Ji" and "Lord of the Universe" ). I was
a devotee of Mr. Rawat from 1973 to 1983, and lived in Mr. Rawat's ashrams
in various cities in the USA for 9 of those 10 years, living under Mr.
Rawat's directions of poverty, chastity and obedience. I used the word
"devotee" because that is how Mr. Rawat described his followers, and
taught that his followers were to surrender and devote their lives to him
as the living "Perfect Master" of our time, and in fact, Mr. Rawat
repeatedly described himself as the living incarnation of God on Earth,
the equivalent of Jesus Christ or Krishna, only greater.
Thousands of young people joined Mr. Rawat's cult in
the 70s, many, including me, becoming renunciates, giving all our money
and talents to Mr. Rawat, and as you may have noticed, Mr. Rawat has
become fabulously wealthy off the backs of his followers, notwithstanding
claims of Mr. Rawat being a "successful investor" he in fact gained his
money which he "invested" from his devotees, under the pretense that he
was God on Earth.
Many of Rawat's former followers are very concerned
that Mr. Rawat has attempted to re-shape his image, pretending that he
never made divine claims, and essentially deleting from his history the
period 1972 to 1995. I hope that you are not an unwitting participant in
that revisionism. But moreover, more than just showing people "peace,"
which is essentially nothing more than 4 meditation techniques that are
widely available, Mr. Rawat actually heads a personality cult, and many of
his followers, mostly Middle-aged from the 70s continue to believe he is
God and continue to kiss his feet in ceremonies over which Mr. Rawat
presides.
Many of us also believe that the ideology that Mr.
Rawat teaches is in fact dysfunctional, teaching that the human mind
prevents happiness, and in fact is a separate, diabolical power that is
out to prevent personal fulfillment. Hence, the constant need for Mr.
Rawat, even after one receives knowledge.
You may know this history, but I feel it is important
to point it out to you, as I am concerned that you have become part of Mr.
Rawat's PR campaign to try to get new followers, something he had been
virtually unable to do in the West in the past 20 years, and in fact has
lost more followers than he has gained.
For more information on this, please check out a
website put together by former followers of Mr. Rawat at:
www.prem-rawat-maharaji.info
and
www.ex-premie.org
You might also note that Prem Rawat's organization
refers to people like me, indeed anyone who openly is critical of Mr.
Rawat as a "hate group." This in itself is an indication that Mr. Rawat is
likely a cult leader, who cannot, and will not accept criticism, feedback,
and will not address damage or mistakes, even from former followers who
gave him years of their lives.
You may see the attacks on former followers at
http://www.elanvital.com.au/faq/idx/11/0/
