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I caught wind of Prem's alleged sexual misconduct about a year ago, and am encouraged that his children seem to be taking the courageous and painful lead to bring this to light. I've wished Marolyn would come forward too, perhaps more unlikely now if the allegations against her have substance. I hope that more serious reporting will come directly from his children. Does anyone know of any news sources about this, other than Johnson's account and what I've seen on this Forum?
However painful, I feel his followers deserve to know the truth of this.
My own response is mostly a deep sadness, for so many reasons.
I still count many friends that drank the Kool-Aid long ago, and remain propped up by the shared delusion of his specialness (even if downgraded from 'Perfect Master' (wink)). Probably very tough to break with a huge driver of what has made their lives seem special, especially those now in their seventies and eighties who've spent fifty tears 'with' him. That's a lot of Kool-Aid! And of course, there's the obvious ego-trip benefits to have pried away...."if he is so special, and I am one of the chosen, then I must be pretty fucking special too", and so it goes...
On the other hand, I recall how I finally stopped arguing with my evangelical father about epistemological matters about when he turned eighty, even feeling grateful that he could draw comfort from his beliefs, albeit ridiculous beliefs to me. (There's no shortage of religious cults out there). Unvarnished reality can be pretty tough to face, and getting comfortable with uncertainty and impermanence can be a real bitch.
I've also seen the sad extended effects of Prem culture on his followers' kids, innocently caught up in their parents' neediness and bullshit.
Although I got out fairly early in the game, I still feel truly, deeply sorry for any way I helped to prop up, for a time, our shared fantasy and his predatory behavior.
I mean, here is a guy that took actual ownership of a spiritual tradition/practice based on meditation and serving others, packaged it into a brand and went to market in the west at just the right time (in concert with our "just Say Yes" generation) and used it to suck our time, money, energy and love into his black hole of narcissism. And one really sad thing is that the meditation techniques he offered are fairly remedial, not to mention his saccharine message.
- Mike
BTW, a warm howdy to y'all if you've read this far, and thanks (as ever) to John for keeping this going!
Modified by Roark at Mon, Apr 22, 2024, 22:04:32
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Hi Mike,
I don't know how deep a dive you have done into the comments. But I did make this one recently-
https://www.prem-rawat-talk.org/cgi-bin/anyboard.cgi/forum?cmd=get&cG=9333930393&zu=3933393035&v=2&gV=0&p=
There is a little more on Facebook too, I don't know if you are on it or not.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/25750738521191543
One thing that I have learned that I didn't know prior to becoming friends with Shana and Hans is that there are far more children of premies who were affected by this than I realized. Many of Prem Rawat supporting companies/charities employees are actually adults, who were born to and raised as premies. Even if most who post here have kids that were not raised to believe, its a very real thing, these people raised in the cult. We all knew children named by Prem Rawat even if he hardly knew the parents. It shouldn't be such a surprise? Not exactly the Sea Org but there are some pretty heartbreaking stories in addition to some hard core premie kid true believers who remain. Maybe it's not huge numbers like the old days, but it's a reality.
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Great to see your post. You're alive and well no doubt though I guess your feet are pretty damp if you stayed in Miam 
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Hi Mike,
And a warm howdy to you as well! Thank you for your thoughtful post. Please note one minor correction: only one of Prem's four children is taking the courageous and painful lead to bring this to light. The rest of my reply is not directed at you, but rather an attempt to make what's come to light clearer to anyone who may be reading about it for the first time.
"Does anyone know any news sources about this...?"
Aside from the words of one of the victims, the best source is a recorded conversation of a family meeting that was arranged by one of Prem Rawat's daughters for the purpose of confronting Prem about allegations of childhood sexual abuse. The family meeting was attended by Prem, both of his daughters and one of his two sons (three of his four adult children) and recorded by the son. During that meeting, the son confronted his father:
Son: So I have a question for you Dad, uh did you not know that inappropriately touching a child's genitals was immoral and would have negative impact, a life changing impact on (name omitted for privacy of another victim) and I?
Prem: Is that a q... are you asking me that question?
Son: Yes.
Prem: Now I realize that that's true, now I do, I do, I do.
Son: But back then it didn't occur to you?
Prem: No, it didn't and the reason why it didn't... because in our family, in our, in our whatever India was, it was very common. It was not a, it was not a taboo thing.
Son: Did you know that Mum also abused me but refuses to admit it. When we lived in Miami in the early 80s she directly sexually abused me in an incestual manner. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The full recording is much longer. Many people have either heard it first hand or read the relevant portions of a transcript. The victim has also spoken out on Facebook and I've been informed that in addition to the recording, there is substantial documentation concerning family members' knowledge of these events and their attempts to keep it under wraps.
Prem, in front of his son (one of the victims) and both of his daughters, admitted to sexually abusing two of his children. Additionally, Prem and his two daughters listened as his son (their brother) stated that he had been abused in an incestual manner by his mother, Marolyn Rawat.
The son and his wife courageously brought this to light against the wishes of and with no support from any of the other family members. Both daughters continue to promote their father from positions at or near the top of two of his organizations. Many of Prem's followers who became aware of this continue to engage in reprehensible behavior that includes the fabrication and dissemination of false narratives and shameless attempts to discredit the victim and his wife.
As far as I know, Prem is doing nothing to protect his son and daughter-in-law from his followers' shameless character assassination, even as he and other family members know the truth of the sexual abuse that he admitted to.
According to the victim, the abuse continued until he was six or seven years old. Setting aside the fact of his American wife, that indicates that Prem had at least a decade to learn about and adapt to western culture (Miami) in which childhood sexual abuse is a crime.
I'll leave it to the readers here to draw their own conclusions about the far-reaching implications of all this.
Modified by lakeshore at Tue, Apr 23, 2024, 18:32:14
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The family meeting I referred to was in fact a conference call and not an in person gathering. In addition to including "via teleconference" after each mention of family meeting, my post should've read "During the call, Prem admitted to his son and both of his daughters that he sexually abused two of his children."
Along with truth and facts, accuracy is important as well.
Given that so much has been posted about these events, except for characterizing the behavior of certain followers as reprehensible, I refrained from adding more of my reactions and opinions. I would, however, like to emphasize that no amount of lies, false narratives and smear tactics can overcome the facts that 1) Prem admitted to what he did; 2) neither Prem nor the daughters disputed anything said by the son; and 3) having the opportunity, no one offered any alternative explanations or theories, the reprehensible likes of which have been circulated by followers on social media.
Modified by lakeshore at Wed, Apr 24, 2024, 12:47:39
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All really good points Lakeshore. I responded to the poster calling themselves Thinker below just now, because I think it was necessary. But your post is dead on.
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“As far as I know, Prem is doing nothing to protect his son and daughter-in-law from his followers' shameless character assassination, even as he and other family members know the truth of the sexual abuse that he admitted to.”
This reminds me of every other time Prem has distanced himself from the actions of his followers.
Modified by Susan at Wed, Apr 24, 2024, 18:09:33
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