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When I posted that ridiculous clip on Facebook, my cousin mentioned that my girlfriend, Deborah, and I had taken her to see Rawat once in LA and that she resisted going up for that foot-kissing thing. But I can't for the life of me remember ever seeing him there and thought that my last (trigger warning) darshan was in Miami in the spring or summer of 1980.
So, query: did Rawat hold any programs in LA in the early 80s? If so, where?
Thanks
Modified by Jim at Fri, Dec 09, 2016, 15:16:58
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As I recall from way back then, Rawat was getting into doing local LA programs that we in DC and around the country and maybe Europe could share in via audio feed at our local cult centers. Does Shower of Grace singsong ring a bell?
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mid eighties, I booked a flight to la, it was overbooked, so they offered a free flight to get off the plane, I asked about san diego, which was actually my destination, and they said yes in an hour, so I got to fly to san diego for free, and if I went to la, I would have never made the program in time. At the time I blamed "the grace" of course. 
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I was very much not a premie by that time but still married to my ex husband. Had just moved to California. I am pretty sure I went with him to something in Long Beach mostly just to see if I would see old friends. Weirdest thing is I think Jennifer Warnes sang ... ? Year would have been 1984-1989 but obviously bee a long long time. I don't think there was Darshan but damn yeah if anything needs a trigger warning g that does and his screechy voice!
My ex also went to something in Palm Springs area in those years. I went with him and hung out at the hotel. Never went to the "event" just treated it as a vacation.
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Susan,
I went to somewhere near Palm Springs thing in late 80's. Rawat tweeked the techniques a bit and swore us all to secrecy to those not in attendance. I suspect the change in 1st technique/light (under the advice of his lawyers) was the real reason as some of us were gouging our eyeballs out apparently. I think there were 3 or 4 "EVENTS" around the country sold as REJOICE.
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"Rejoices" were July 1987. These were the first Knowledge Reviews led by Prem himself. I went to the first one of those, July 5-6, 1987, in Snowmass, CO, where we were divided into 4 or 5 smallish groups (maybe 100-125 people per room?). Prem worked his way around the 4 or 5 rooms showing us one technique at a time. Two days: first day we got through First and Second technique. He'd show us, and say, "Do this till I get back." No elbows-to-knees or baragans allowed. Then he'd go to the next several rooms of people, talking, demonstrating the technique, answering questions about it, then observing, then moving to the next room of premies. We did *each* technique for literally nearly 2 hrs because he spent so much time in each of the other groups' rooms before moving on. The second technique (previously called Music, until he renamed it "second technique" at Rejoice) is pretty painful to do for 2 hrs without supporting the arms -- I remember the pain between the shoulder blades vividly. Second day we did third and fourth techniques (previously known as Word and Nectar) with similar length for each. I asked him a question on day 2, and got what I recall as a helpful answer. There were a lot of long-time premies upset at Rejoice because he rescinded his previous "commandment" to "constantly meditate..etc", saying that isn't possible, that Meditation is just for when sitting formally. Some premies left forever after Rejoice because he changed things up so much. (No more baragans! No more meditating while waiting for a bus! etc.) I went to the next Rejoice a week or so later, which was in Palm Desert, CA, at a really fancy hotel. He didn't spend nearly as much time there doing each technique -- Snowmass was really the trial run and I think it was too long a day for him.... After that he went to White Plains NY for Rejoice 3, and somewhere in/near Miami FL for Rejoice 4, I think. As for California programs in the late 70s or early 80s, can't help with Jim's question re that. I took a couple-year hiatus from programs sometime around Hans Jayanti FL in 79 or maybe after a strange program in the Stockyards' Rodeo building in Denver in maybe 1980. I remember a FL program in LA in ?1984 or '85, but can't recall for sure where it was, and Long Beach also in that general time period (with darshan).
Modified by canadawarbler at Sat, Dec 10, 2016, 19:53:44
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Your memory is incredible. Yes, it was Palm Desert, Marriot. We were told what appropriate dress was. Santa Cruz premies were offended as they thought it had to do w/them. No more baragons was a bummer until I escaped and turned my baragon bag into my old golf ball shag bag which I still have.
Does your real first name begin w/C?
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I didn't go as I said. I do remember the hotel because we were not well off and the only reason I went was being able to hang out at the hotel while ex learned not to gouge out his eyeballs lest the Guru get sued. I got bitten by fleas at the fancy hotel ( Marriott?) and wrote a complaint letter.
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Rejoices were
In U.S.:
Snowmass, Colorado
Palm Desert, California
Greenleaf, Florida
Ryetown, New York
and ... any others?
Also some in Europe, like
Birmingham, UK
London
Portugal
Madrid
Swaziland
and
Adelaide & Gold Coast, Australia
Buenos Aires
...and probably elsewhere.
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Sorry to read about Pat.
I believe he was at the Latvian in SF I attended years ago. As for Palm Desert, CA. I love that place. Great golf and scenery. Take a gondola to the restaurants inside the hotel. It made up for the complete dog of a place in
Greenleaf, FL. like a bad religious retreat camp. Wood, green paint and bugs. As for the Denver event held at the Denver Coliseum (built in 1952) complained
about: The day before our move-in (a Monday for a Friday-Sunday event), the
place was holding a rodeo. We get in
and they just put down temporary flooring on top of the dirt and horseshit. I was in charge of food and it was a lot of work. We had healthy options, but it was a
bitch to do (for the first time we used cash registers). A lot of dedicated volunteers helped out [thanks]. I had great seats but fell asleep
in five seconds. Rejoice. Oh yea/sure.
Just another excuse for an expensive tour -- all expenses donated (not for me, but by me).
Modified by OTS at Sun, Dec 18, 2016, 20:41:14
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I remember being so tired out by all the effort of getting there that I slept through a whole event in Rome.
All I remember is the crowds and queuing to get into the place - it was ridiculous. Why tell people to get there at a certain time and then keep the gates closed.
and then once inside the queuing to get down the particular aisle and no deviating from the set paths chosen by the ushers. And then the chairs were comfortable. Everyone would settle down it would get quiet and I would fall asleep.
I was awake for the Rejoice program. I think maybe that was when being a premie lost some of it's shine for me. Rawat wasn't happy with the way things had been? Essentially that's a real worry. Anyway I know it clicked something off in me and sucked a bit of joy out of the air. Not exactly a rejoicing.
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That's where I learned not to gouge my eyes seeking the golden donut. Had a room overlooking the course and so wanted to get out there.
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I was very much not a premie by that time but still married to my ex husband. Had just moved to California. I am pretty sure I went with him to something in Long Beach mostly just to see if I would see old friends. Weirdest thing is I think Jennifer Warnes sang ... ? Year would have been 1984-1989 but obviously bee a long long time. I don't think there was Darshan but damn yeah if anything needs a trigger warning g that does and his screechy voice!
My ex also went to something in Palm Springs area in those years. I went with him and hung out at the hotel. Never went to the "event" just treated it as a vacation.
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Thanks, Susan. I have either a vague or false memory of something in Long Beach once. Maybe. I'll run that by my cousin and see if that triggers her own further vague or false memories.
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There was a program in Long Beach on December 13, 1986.
Kabir/David
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Thanks, but I was way out by then. It would have had to be 82 tops, I think. Even then I was going as a skeptic if I went at all.
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Have a vague memory of a program in Anaheim which may have been late 70s or very early 80s, but I may have the era wrong.
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I am skeptical of my memory that Jennifer Warnes sang in Long Beach and was trying to see if there was a document supporting that. All I found was a thread from long time ago where I "remember" that again but it has Kabir's list of programs. That could help you pinpoint what you are trying to remember.
Related link: http://www.prem-rawat-talk.org/forum/archive/10003.html
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I am skeptical of my memory that Jennifer Warnes sang in Long Beach and
was trying to see if there was a document supporting that.
I have some vague and some explicit memory of that. I'm not sure of the date (maybe '85 or '86?), but it was a Christmas themed program in Long Beach billed to be for children when it was that Jennifer Warnes was engaged as one of the "acts". I escorted her from the "green room" up some corridors to the stage entrance. In the early and late '80s she had her hit songs "Up Where We Belong" from the movie "An Officer and a Gentleman" and "I've Had the Time of My Life" from "Dirty Dancing." I do seem to remember christmastime skits and carols and lots of kids in the audience. I think I remember then the only time I ever saw Pat McC on stage speak to an event audience (or did he sing?! I think he sang a popular love song? -- maybe a created memory, or maybe I'm thinking of Mike Dettmers singing opera at another time. Did Marolyn appear on stage, and sing? or something?). I have no memory of M speaking, maybe it would have been only briefly because -- kids. I think it not likely to have included a darshan line at that time, being it was billed an event for children.
Modified by tarvuist at Tue, Dec 13, 2016, 11:18:14
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I appreciate that... was thinking I dreamed this. It also makes sense as my older kids were small and I was wondering who would have watched them when we went to this event.
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I'm trying to track down my girlfriend from then because I really want to know - did I see the creep then or didn't I? I've always maintained not, that the closest I got was one Sunday morning after raving all night I drove up with a friend to Rawat's house and got out and sat on the cliff above admiring the view, looking down at the mansion that still had balloons on the walls from Marolyn's birthday party the night before (don't remember how I knew that) and told my friend the amazing, as in how-could-I-be-so-gullible, story of the cult leader below. I've told this here before. Eventually, one of his servants drove up with the Sunday paper and some fresh orange juice from the Trancas market. She wanted to know who these two hipsters (yikes!) were and I explained that I was an escapee who, in ten years time, would spend a few years trying to expose and embarrass him online. Of course neither of us knew what "online" meant then. This was late 80's. It just came out. 
But did we go to Long Beach? Hm ....
Even if we did, I would only have gone out of curiosity. I was done within a year of landing in LA in 1980. I hung around a bit for the limited social contact before I started making new outside friends.
How's your kid doing?
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Trancas market. Sort of embarrassing really, that these things all mean something to us. Kid is doing great. Coming home for holidays after his finals are done this week.
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Hey Jim,
1979 and 1980 were the height of the DECA years which means Rawat was in Miami Beach and Hialeah all of the time. He held all his major festivals in the Miami area. I don't remember him having one in L.A. And I knew where he was all the time. It was my service. Secret service.
My reasoning behind this is that Rawat never went back to L.A. during those two years and There was "rumor" that he was snubbing the L.A. crowd. Although Rawat did bring from Malibu to Miami, his family, lot of his personal staff, lots of others to work on special projects at DECA. Quite a few of his rich sycophants moved to Miami, too. And, of course, his favorite luxury autos and the mechanics arrived. I watched them unload those babies from the trailer trucks. True beauties they were.
The only way to find out for sure about this is to go to Tom Gubler's site and search for publications for those two years, see if there was a program in LA.
http://www.prem-rawat-bio.org/
Good luck, my friend... Cynth
Modified by Cynthia at Tue, Dec 13, 2016, 16:41:35
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did Rawat hold any programs in LA in the early 80s? If so, where?
Los Angeles, Lincoln Blvd. - August or September 1979
(It was in midst of a series of U.S. events, I seem to remember: Wildwood NJ, Milwaukee WI, Portland, Los Angeles, Colorado Springs, New Orleans, DECA. With two chartered commercial jets travelling the route; #1 for him; and #2 jet filled with a bunch of people paying very high fees to cover tour costs who followed along, with hotels included, taking along the One Foundation band, event crew and some few others - there was a darshan line at each event between two satsang sessions)
- The one in L.A. it was at the local community hall/satsang/movie theater venue near the airport (Lincoln Theater?). He talked awhile, then a darshan line, then again he talked awhile
Santa Monica - May 27, 1982
- a "premie program" with a few Q & A at the end.
Modified by tarvuist at Tue, Dec 13, 2016, 17:48:22
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I flew in the second plane on that tour. Rawat flew one leg in the 2nd plane. I went to Orlando after the tour ended to help prepare the site for the Orlando festival. I believe it was the first one. So much insanity. So glad to be done with it. Roger.
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Rawat flew one leg in the 2nd plane.
I think it was Milwaukee to Portland? Wasn't there a stop at Portland before L.A.? Maybe there was no darshan line at New Orleans and at DECA; I no memory of darshan there, but maybe...
Thanks for supporting that jaunt Roger; I did enjoy it, for whatever that's worth .
I went to Orlando after the tour ended to help prepare the site for the Orlando festival.
There for the "Hurricane Festival" that Sept too then I guess. That was a curious one.
The thousands of attendees had paid for their flights and hotel bookings and were arriving into town, Miami, from around the country and around the world for the event on Miami Beach at the convention center...while a hurricane was approaching from the south. But in which direction was it moving? Where would it hit landfall? ...could be right at Miami?! ...watching the weather tv news updates constantly. No word on cancellation of the event had arrived from M, all the staff and volunteers on edge, waiting, wondering, with everyone pouring into town, until the last minute when it was obvious the hurricane could land close. Then the decision came down, only just the day before, the festival will be shifted to Kissimee, and everyone evacuated in caravans of vehicles or by plane, to hunker down into their substitute Orlando motel rooms as the storm grew in its fury following everyone north. And then in the middle of the night came knockings on each motel room door awakening to notice of an immediate middle of the night darshan line just ahead of arrival of the storm's downpour and peaking. Running in the night through storm blown fields lit with makeshift lighting to a temporary stage for the rush through the darshan line in the open under bright flood lights. Then back to motel rooms to hibernate through the thrashing storm winds and and drenching walls of rain downpouring overnight and into the next day till the skies died down and everyone went home. ...until returning only [five or six?] weeks later for the week or 10-day-long Kissimmee event in November.
Modified by tarvuist at Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 20:28:00
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He needed the cash. Lots of cash can be had by doing darshan lines.
Hurricane David. I was at DECA and the decision to evacuate came from Maharaji at the last minute. I was so exhausted that by the time we got to our hotel rooms, I crashed. But, that wasn't before we had the sermon on the mount at Kissimmee. September of '79. I had been at DECA since April.
I had no idea there had been a darshan call. When I woke up the next morning and heard about it, I was, "what, darshan when, where?" lol.
The only darshan at DECA happened when individual premies sneaked a peck at the lotus feet. He never reacted or objected. I never had the nerve to do it.
Modified by Cynthia at Thu, Dec 22, 2016, 12:08:17
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Cynthia,I slept through the darshan call also. Nobody came to awake me or I slept through the wake up call. I liked the fact that the hurricane shared my name. During some previous programs Prem would mention a person's first name. I wanted him to speak my name and it wasn't until this "sermon on the mount" that he said "David" and not just once. After the program I returned to my home in New Jersey which had a passing blow from hurricane David the morning of my 30th birthday. This was the only hurricane with my name and forever will be since the names of major hurricanes are retired. By the way did you live in Gainesville during the first half of 1982. I was there from February though May of that year when I worked for the chiropractor Jim Barrass.
Kabir/David
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I had stayed in Miami after the summer event so I could go to the September event as I was broke and pregnant. So when they switched the hurricane event, I was single and 8 months along, and we raced up there. I was in a motel room with lots of ashram brothers, playing poker when we got the call for darshan, racing to the field, dropping our shoes in the dark and being rushed thru the line, then back to the hotel, as the wind rattled our room all night. It was wild. I went back home and then took my three week old daughter to the big two week event in November and we were in a tent. What a whirlwind and odd time it was. If I didn't think I was following the Lord of the Universe, it would have seemed insane, like it does, looking back!
Q
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Yes, Rawat flew in the plane from Milwaukee to Portland. The hurricane festival was just another part of the insanity. I will never forget all the frogs in the rain hopping across the roads in Orlando.
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