Yes, I absolutely agree that Maharaji's requirements that people take 3 solemn oaths is worth some discussion. I would be interested to hear further thoughtful comments on this. I note that Maharaji is quite clear that these promises are to made to him not to oneself or anything vague. Is there still a formal occasion when one agrees to these promises? As we know, this was always the case on the day when one was given Knowledge.

In many ways the vows seem to be similar in function to wedding vows when one is solemnising a commitment to another person. In this case though it is not simply 'before God' but as a commitment to the Master Himself. Of course many of us don't need to imagine the awful ensuing feels of guilt, dependency and entrapment that this occasion can later bring up in people. One cannot forget that in past times Maharaji not only required these vows, but made it quite clear that there was a punishment awaiting those who broke them. Certainly his father Shri Hans and other gurus were unrestrained in explaining the horrors of hell that awaited those who dared 'revealed the secret techniques' or simply 'did not practice the Knowledge'. One only has to look at the historical roots of Maharaji's message to see that the Master controlled his devotees with both 'love' and an enormous amount of fear. This to me is established undeniable fact. It seems to me that the only thing that has changed since then are that Maharaji is at pains not to be perceived as fear-mongering although he apparently still is.

Also it is clear that the binding legal agreements that one has to make before receiving the 'Keys to Knowledge' represent a considerable threat hanging over one's head if one should later have a change of heart. Again, this is something only someone making a very serious commitment would even consider. In effect these legal agreements could be considered as addenda to the now familiar vows. It's all designed to filter out the uncommitted.

From Maharaji's POV the techniques should be kept secret. What are the possible reasons for this?

Maharaji's offers this:

The third promise I will ask for is not to reveal these techniques to anyone. Let other people go through their own journey, and when they are ready, like you, they can get it. There are no shortcuts to it. There are shortcuts to many things in life, but there is no shortcut when the heart is going to be the judge. The heart cannot be talked into anything. The mind can be convinced, but the heart has to feel the real thing. Let people prepare. Then they, too, can have the techniques when they are ready.

So he is really saying that the actual process of waiting to be shown the techniques (nowadays via the Keys process) is paramount to eventually understanding the true value of "these techniques". In other words he really does not want people to take them lightly and considers that without adequate preparation- a prior 'journey' - people will undervalue the techniques of meditation. Superficially that would seem fair enough but does this really warrant an oath? (which is undoubtedly the spirit of the promise required in this case). Since the techniques are quite likely already known by aspirants and they are in the public domain for anyone interested, it seems that Maharaji can only be trying to solemnise the whole process - to stress or even dramatise how seriously it should be taken. I think this is at best how aspirants take it. The trouble is that all this prior emphasis on how serious it is can also induce fear in people who are being invited to abandon their 'doubt-maker' and invest 'heartfelt' trust in their leader. The demand for displays of commitment is a known cultish technique for fostering dependency on the leader. What makes his demands more healthy?

As Jim points out, the really 'scary' thing is that the promises appear to be being made for perpetuity and, before one has even been given the Knowledge. Really these vows can only serve to make people edgy, reconsider or give them the opportunity to prove that they have an attitude, a posture of unquestioning trust. This is really the purpose of the vows. At the end of doing the preparatory 'Keys' they must prove that they are utterly supplicant towards Maharaji by making vows that a less convinced person would find inappropriate or insulting.
Maharaji actually scorns conviction as being a product of the 'mind' ("The mind can be convinced, but the heart has to feel the real thing.") and he goes on to suggest that there is a level of deeper conviction of the heart that must have occurred in order to eventually qualify. My recollection is that this indeed what it is all about, you are not being taught so much how to meditate but how to develop and maintain for the rest of your life, an attitude of emotional dependance toward Maharaji personally. The irony is that Maharaji can never be truly upfront about this as people would run a mile. Imagine if he was to make a world-wide honest proclamation:

"All people of the world, you are suffering from delusion of your mind which I believe is an entirely separate entity from your heart and one which is opposed to the latter and the cause of all your suffering. I alone can reveal that your only ultimate fulfilment is when you feel (what I call) your heart. To feel this you must abandon your usual habit of mental discrimination and, in the ensuing confusion and vulnerability, redirect your deepest emotions to me alone. You should do this via the process of submitting to my course which will entail you listening only to me, hour upon hour for weeks on end. At the end of this course you will need to prove that you are satisfactorily convinced (in your heart of course-not your mind) by solemnly vowing to me that you will keep the techniques secret and that you will continue to listen to me and accept me as your Master. Finally when you've completed the Keys and agreed to the legal conditions I will officially send and authorise you to use (via an online secure form) 4 meditational techniques that you will consider my gift, make you feel peaceful and help stop you thinking rationally enough to question the emotional rule I have achieved over you, when I'm not around to personally remind you"

Maharaji actually says:

Before I give you Knowledge, I will ask you for three promises. The first one is to give Knowledge a fair chance. It’s important for me to know that you are going to give Knowledge a fair chance, not just say, “Now I have it.” Some people receive it, and they have certain expectations. Get rid of the expectations, and you'll have something better. If you are going to give Knowledge a fair chance, you have to approach it with determination to let the seed grow.

Hearing someone saying give my product 'a fair chance' sound so seductively light and reasonable and yet it is presented in context of a extremely solemn oath that you will be bound for for the rest of your life. I question that the reason for the oath is simply Maharaji's concern that people commit to giving it a good try. I feel that the need for an oath is a subtle slight on the people's intelligence. I think it shows that Maharaji still looks down on people as being incapable of making sincere efforts to practice the Knowledge without the 'stick of commitment' as exemplified by the need for this vow. Again I see this as a leftover from the Indian past where the Guru's were dealing with mainly illiterate simple people who were used to, accepted and no doubt expected to be treated with some contempt by their masters. There is simply no need for such a vow in society where people treat each other with a modicum of respect and trust as a matter of simple civility.

The second promise that I ask for is to keep in touch. Keep in touch with me  through my message, through the practice of Knowledge. Come to my events. Come and hear what I am saying. Let me help you remove your doubts. Let me help to inspire you, clarify and remind you again and again what is important, so you can continue to grow.

At the end of the day, promises and secrets are going to make people more wary these days. Secrets amplify the mystique and bring in the potential for feelings of guilt and betrayal. Promises bind one to others, in this case to Maharaji. Go through each of his 3 statements and replace the word 'promise' with 'request' . Simply doing this makes the whole thing sound much healthier. The element of choice has been returned. Essentially Maharaji is making demands on people in return for what he has to offer. He is trying as hard as he can to minimise their choice without putting them off altogether at 'gate one'. The traditional way to do this is by getting people to make seemingly innocuous promises. My feeling is that, as I've said before, if in today's world of more open-communication and enlightenment on such matters, people are so gullible as to avow themselves away into worlds of cultic secrecy then they have largely themselves to blame. More so than we who entered into the whole thing maybe in the seventies or eighties, when there was far less opportunity to access enlightening information or hindsight about cults.