...around 1983 or so, Rawat actually thought about quitting being the Perfect Master...Do you know anything about this?

The short answer is: I don't know for sure, but my guess would be that it ain't so! But he certainly said things like that to the favored hangers-on.

He could turn on a dime, saying one thing one day, and the complete opposite the next. And not just saying things, but feeling or acting them as well. Many times I saw rumors start like this - he would be saying something one day, and the guy who heard it would be off repeating it all over the place like it was really hot news; but the next day (with the original audience replaced) he would be saying and acting completely opposite.

Whether it was his nature, or a calculated strategy, Maharaji was (and presumably still is) the master of obfuscation and secrecy, keeping his true feelings to himself.

So I suspect the truth is that while he may have said things like 'I am thinking of quitting the Perfect Master business', and I have heard him say things very like that, I don't believe for a second that he ever actually meant it.