if you want devotion, then you must be honest first,

and be prepared to give up your social respectability for the sake of truth(peace bomb)].

just talking the talk!  There really is a difference, isn't there?//!!!  Thanks Jethro!  Who needs him when we have us???!!!  There's a book called "Do I Have to Give Up Me to be Loved By You?"  The answer is No!  Never!

 Walk in peace...

Shelagh

Thanks Hilltop!  Yes, that was all there, right in front of us, all the time!  It's funny how we see what we WANT to see, and DON'T see what we don't want to see.  And of course there are plenty of people in the world who know how to use that in us (me, I should say!).  Illusionists, scammers, con-artists, now-you-see-it, now-you-don't people.  I hate that I was so vulnerable to this--but I also know I had things to learn!  I'm learning!

I'm reminded of an event that was a big drip for me--and the beginning of the end as far as gullibility goes.  It was a local event, somewhere along in the late 90's, but some bigwig came from EV (can't remember her name now) who was giving us some sort of presentation about EV and propagation and the latest tactics, and all that--but what I REMEMBER about that event was the number of times this lady kept saying EV was NOT a corporation, and Maharaji (as he was still known as then) was NOT a CEO.  I wondered who could possibly be saying that it was, or he was, and that of course was in fact a red flag. Was that the real message this lady had come to convey?  It woke me up a bit, and the questioning continued until I was no longer able to buy the nonsense.  Reason prevailed.Yeah!!!!!!

~shelagh

That could have been the name.  I honestly don't remember, but if I search back through some of the info I might still have from those times, I might be able to find it--and I'll let you know.

Cheers,

Shelagh

Hi Hilltop!  And thanks for your comments and support!  Much appreciated!  It's funny, I distinctly remember telling myself, when I first got into the whole knowledge thing, "If this ever gets commercial, I'll KNOW it's not the true path!".  Whatever happened, that I lost sight of that so completely, for so long?????

~Shelagh

I gave that to Hilltop to post.  How do you like it? 

Suspicious is not the right word because we were THERE and witnessed the deceitful tactics he used to get us to give money, to travel and spend LOTS of it.  IS REAL. He always orchestrated ALL.

(mods, if you think that this is too off-topic then please delete it, but I guess it is okay)

From the book "Enlightenment Blues: my years with an American guru" by André van der Braak

ISBN 0-9726357-1-8 (2003) Monkfish publishing house

page 215 (about how he and another former see their time with Andrew Cohen)

"There was nothing special about our time with Andrew. We've been members in just another cultish group that make its members feel special. Our experiences are fundamentally no different from countless others in spiritual and political groups. We see clearly that corruption is difficult to avoid when a charismatic individual is given absolute power over a group of followers. All authoritarian groups have more or less the same dynamic. The emphasis on surrender, the initial happiness of merging into something bigger, the dogmatism, the rules and regulations, the suppression of doubts, it's the same everywhere."

I know because I saw it with my own eyes: It is a brochure.

Thanks HT.

The map and the one page with all the cities tells where Maharaji used to go to give programs.  It's a list of cities that Maharaji will never ever visit again.

This is very telling.  This tells of the undeniable decline of the cult and the failure of Maharaji.  Not only has there been very little success in bringing new people into the cult, but worse is the fact that the existing membership has dwindled dramatically where there are vast regions of not only North America, but probably most of South America where Maharaji will never ever visit again.

I'll just stick to the North America:

Toronto?

Philadelphia

Atlanta

San Diego

Houston

Gainesville, FL

Orlando, FL

Austin, TX

San Antonio, TX

All of Texas for that matter

Calgary in the US Annex of Canada

He'll still go to Vancouver just to irk Jim

Bethlehem, PA - not a chance in hell

Mexico City - very doubtful

South America???

Chicago - nah

Denver?  Ha!  Probably not.  And to think that this was where IHQ was.

Portland, ME - are you kidding?

Boston - probably not

He wanted money, since he left India, so, does it matter to him how many people will bite the hook from now on, really?  No. BECAUSE IT WAS ALWAYS ABOUT MONEY. He succeded.  He became very rich using us as money making machines.  We were his "bees".

Your points are valid.  I just see that he continues to use, not just premies but also regular citizens in the USA as money making machines.  What is the most disgusting to me is that he did/does it using the USA taxpayers money to do it and that there are dirty politicians willing to back him up.  IMMORAL.

A GIANT can of worms have been openned and now there is nothing he can do about it. Cero.

The good WILL prevail.  It just takes time and lots of work, by the GRACE of GOD, all, of course.

Oh boy, does this deserve a place somewhere on EPO...

Sheldon, what would your fellow attorneys at the firm think about this one...?

Later that night in Boulder we interviewed Sheldon Jaffe, the director of Divine Sales (D. L. M.'s chain of 16 thrift stores-one of their sources of "green energy"). Sheldon was typical of many premies we talked to: overweight, pale and twitchy, he clearly gets a lot out of being a "heavy" in the organization. He said he was alienated, unsatisfied and unhappy before joining up with the forces of Guru Maharaj Ji. Now, he told us, he gets to fly all over the country as National Director of Divine Sales, and attend Board of Directors meetings.

Indeed, Sheldon's new-found self-importance was reflected in his vision of the organization. When we asked him about the new formation, Divine United Organization, he responded by saying its function would be to "clothe, feed and shelter the entire world" (DUO is planning to become the next benevolent world power).

Sheldon gave us the names of people to talk to at the national headquarters in Denver, and the next day we went to Denver to investigate further. Our first stop was the state capitol building, where we looked up D.L.M.'s incorporation papers.

The current revisionism is sickening, and is the main reason most of us stay around. If premies and Rawat stopped lying and hiding the past, then if people want to believe Rawat is the saviour, then fine, let them.

No, he never, never asked for money and he was ALWAYS invited....LOL 

Each time the "potatoes get hot" he changes "staff", as if he is hiding something.  Pinochio forever. "Good cop, bad cop game. 

No George, you are following LUCi himself, sorry to rain in your parade.  Bible 101. Run!