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Rawat and his dwindling number of die-hard devotees do not really care if people "leave knowledge," consider it useless and consider the group a cult. They do not care that people had a generally negative experience as a premie or feel that they were damaged by it. No, they only care if those people talk about it, and specifically talk about it in public. That is not acceptable and makes you a member of a "hate group," by definition, as far as a cult is concerned. If you dislike Rawat or his cult, you are supposed to keep your mouth shut. That's what a good ex-devotee does. Free speech and personal happiness are irrelevant to a cult. But that Elan Vital still has the "hate group" label on its website does more damage to Rawat's "cause" of getting new devotees than I think the EV honchos can imagine. That they can't see that, just is more evidence that they are in a cult.
Modified by Joe at Thu, Mar 01, 2007, 14:51:09
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When you're in the cult the gag order on free speech and personal happiness is internalised. When you're out, there they are telling you to shut up and be miserable while you're about it - don't go being a walking talking living example of how much better life is once you've dumped the living lord.
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Yes exactly...and it is quite funny because the way they see it is that 'Maharaji gives us the choice..the option to move on' so 'what is our problem?' But of course the whole point is to re-assert our own choice (which for many of us just happens to be to say exactly what we see fit). X-rating is another aspect of how the cult has limited personal free choice. If I had known that Rawat smokes, drinks, womanises, had (apparently) ignored child abuse etc. etc then I personally would have stopped following or respecting him years ago. But some inner set of honchos seems not only to have decided that Rawat's behaviour was all A OK as far as they personally were concerned but also that it was OK (and at the same time necessary?!) to keep it as a secret and therefore curtail anyone elses choice ! That is some kind of arrogance! In debates about this it seems to me that premies just don't seem to get the point at all .." why shouldn't Rawat have a normal life..he doesn't preach a 'lifestyle' etc. etc On well... best Tim
Modified by tommo at Thu, Mar 01, 2007, 14:57:48
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Ex-premies know where a lot of bodies are buried, so to speak. They are a kind of (to quote Al Gore) "an inconvenient truth." People who have received the great gift, have practiced it sincerely and who came out the other side saying it's not only a crock, it's damaging, are a terrible problem for premies and Rawat, because they can't be written off as "people of the world" who "have never had the experience," and so can be excused for being ignorant and negative. So, to explain it some way, to rationalize without having to engage, they demonize. Now, not all premies do it vocally, but probably all of them do it in their own personal "mind control" rationalization, to keep from doubting Rawat. But what is really weird, is the cult not only demonizes us by saying we "came to knowledge for the wrong reason(s)," we are (and probably were) mentally or morally defective as well. They really take it to the extreme because, well, in a cult, there is no half way. Knowledge is either the perfect experience of peace and the way to happiness, and Rawat is the divine perfect master, or all of that is false. There is no other way to explain away former followers who tell the truth than to dismiss and attack them, because there is no middle ground. That's why talking rationally to premies on this subject is pretty much impossible.
Modified by Joe at Thu, Mar 01, 2007, 15:08:16
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we are, aren't we. Julie Collett went missing quite early on in the piece, and I never forgot her and would occasionally wonder where and how she was.
Nowadays when there is an 'event' over here the number of missing smiles must surely add up to an inconvenient truth.
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Julie lives in Bellingen now, and is into healing crystals - that is, crystals which by their nature are healing, not perfoming first aid on crystals. I ran into her in Ripe Café in Mullumbimby a couple of months back.
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I would guess so, though we didn't really mention the war, just had a general chat.
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Even more important, is she with someone?
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LOL, no idea, Ocker, which shows you how bad I am at gossip!
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Well I'm freshly divorced and I'm surely not the only male premie who back in the 70's thought about more than just respect when it came to Julie Colet.
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she never felt the same after Rawat dumped the full time instructors. She felt like a nun - like she had married God, so when he fired them all, she felt like he had divorced her. She has done a lot of careers since then. Last time I saw her she was working as a Jenny Craig weight loss counselor. Crystals sounds more like her though -- I hope she is happy - she was always a wonderful person to me.
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Yes she was good to me too and what a lovely face!
I'm glad to hear she's in Bellingen, even if those crystals are poorly it's a nice place to be.
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