Remember how, at one time, Prem Rawat claimed that the whole world would receive knowledge? His brother, Bal Bahgwan Ji, who is now the "other" one and only Perfect Master of our time, said even the Pope would receive knowledge. (You can see him say it in the "Lord of the Universe" video (available on Amazon.com.)).  Down below, Thorin and Hamzen had a discussion about whether it was going to be 1975 or 1980 that Rawat would bring peace to the entire world.

I don't know if I had a date in mind, but I recall I believed it was relatively soon, like at least within 5-7 years. So, none of us felt it was necessary to do things like get an education, or start a family, or worry about having friends or a decent relationship with our relatives. None of that mattered because we got to be part of the establishment of the "United States of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth," which would have at least one Divine City, if not more. Nixon and Breshnev were going to kiss. Muslims and Jews in the Middle East were going to have satsang together and share communally -- like one big ashram.

Anyhow, I think one of the reasons Rawat started drinking so heavily in the mid-70s and also got ulcers and severely high blood pressure, was that for some reason, the plan wasn't working too well. Millennium was a disaster and new devotees failed to materialize, and many of his existing devotees split, never to return. He got really angry at the world, particularly the press, for failing to prostrate before him, kiss his feet, and write glowing newspaper articles about how the savior of mankind was here.

[If you want to see an example of this anger, just check out the LOTU video that shows the Millennium press conference. Rawat is one smug and pissed off 15 year old, let me tell you, when the press has the audacity to ask him hard questions without proper deference. He clearly was not used to being treated that way.] That was the end of his ever doing press conferences, if you remember.

Anyhow, my theory is that after that, Rawat decided that because his plan wasn't working out, that he would show he was the perfect master of our time in other ways:

1. Demand ever greater levels of devotion and surrender from the devotees he still had. Hence, we have the 1977-1983 period, in which there wasn't really any propagation, but he screamed at us at every program about how messed up we were, how we weren't devoted enough, and that devotion to him was everything, even more important than practicing knowledge. A lot of Hilltop's great original quotes are from this period and prove that to be true.

2. Get married, have a lot of sex, drink and smoke a lot of dope, and get as many new residences, cars, clothes and anything else, befitting what he thought the status of the LIVING PERFECT MASTER OF OUR TIME, deserved.  Basically, have a grand old time now that he was out of the contraints of India, and his Mom.  Hence, it seemed more money was raised to fund his purchase of luxury goods than to run his mission.

3. Have continued proof that the premies were really devoted, by not only demanding that they raise millions to get him a Boeing 707, but have the premies (as opposed to some ignorant professional non-premies), uproot their lives and work 24/7 in slave conditions to revamp the plane with gold, leather, and jeweled fixtures.  I remember one time when I was at DECA working on Rawat's plane project, that Mr. Hession told me that Rawat had suggested that premies even weave the seat coverings for his plane.  I remember at the time thinking that this was Rawat's great concern for the premies, that they would get to have the divine "service" of doing that work, but in retrospect I think this was in the same category of wanting ever more proof that the premies would do absolutely anything for him, and, therefore, he must be THE LIVING PERFECT MASTER OF OUR TIME, helping to quell doubts in his own mind.

And this is all in addition, to the endless renditions of dancing with Krishna crowns, the countless darshan lines (how many times did you kiss Rawat's feet during that 7-year period?). It seemed like dozens, but for me, it must have been at least 25 times. (Cringe)

See, I believe that Rawat's "devotional, Catholic period" (thanks, Jim for the apt title), was imposed on us premies, not because it had anything to do with practicing knowledge, or experiencing peace, but due to the psychological insecurities of the LIVING PERFECT MASTER OF OUR TIME. I think the only way that period makes sense is that Rawat did it as psychological reinforcement for his own insecurities, to try to demonstrate that he really was who he thought he was, and as compensation for the fact that "the divine plan" wasn't working.

I've thought a lot about this, and it's the only way it makes sense to me. It's also probably a period that is the most problematic to Rawat in his attempts to reshape his image into something less megalomaniacal. In retrospect, it didn't help him too much. Of course, it was a LOT more damaging to all of us.

Any comments?