Compare what Glen says (in the post above) about the ashrams, in 1997, and what he told the press in the 70's.  Here are some excerpts from 1970's press stories:

Glen Whittaker, the son of a travel agent in Southport, Lancs., runs the mission in Britain with great efficiency. This cash-hungry mission has already inspired more than 300 followers in Britain to hand over their unopened wage-packets to divine headquarters. They sever contacts with their past lives and give up sex, meat, money, drinking, smoking, TV, cinema, marriage and worldly activities to live in "ashrams" - residential churches. Suburban flats and houses have been turned into monastery - like communes in Belfast, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Leeds, Leicester, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Oxford and districts of London. The ashrams not only propagate "the knowledge" but provide the mission with an estimated regular income of at least £4,000 a week. All members of the ashrams, except the housemother, who works as full-time unpaid housekeeper have to continue their normal jobs and hand their weekly wages over to the mission. Glen Whittaker said: "Followers in ashrams must give one hundred per cent service to Guru Maharaj Ji. That's why married couples can't join ashrams." John Lindus and his wife, Emma, have given up married life to work for Guru Maharaj Ji. They are still very much in love, but no longer live together or have sexual intercourse. Emma insists she does not miss the physical relationship with her husband. "You have to decide whether you want babies or truth", she says. In two ashrams I visited I saw dormitories where followers sleep on the floor. One was the Achnacloich ashram, Inverness-shire, an isolated farmhouse which has been handed over to the Divine Light Mission by jute heir Andy Cox, 27, an Old Etonian. The financial set-up of the Achnacloich ashram was explained by the secretary at that time, Mr. John Dewhurst. "Eight of us are working," he said. "Jobs are hard to come by here, so most of us do timber contracting work. The two housemothers don't have jobs. "I suppose we send between £150 and £200 a week to headquarters in London. "They send us back £40 a week for the ten of us to live on." I told Glen Whittaker that I thought it paradoxical that a boy should not only live in such style, but should be exempt from the structures that are imposed on followers. Whittaker replied: "They have the wages of happiness and peace." Luxuries are lavished on the boy guru. The 1970 model Silver Shadow Rolls-Royce bought for him on September 9 for nearly £10,000, isn't good enough. Next August Divine Light Mission in London will take delivery of a gold-coloured £13,000 1973 Rolls-Royce. "We like to get him the very best," Glen Whittaker explained. "We understand that he is our Lord. "It's the same as Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the donkey." There were plans to buy the guru a Piper Comanche out of charity funds. But he didn't like it. "He found it a bit noisy." I was told. Now plans have been changed to buy him a twenty-seater jetliner. Money is what Divine Light needs. At a meeting at Chelsea town hall I heard one of the guru's mahatmas plead with an audience of over a thousand: "Spend money and you become attached to earthly things - give it to Divine Light and he will spread the word."

I asked why it was that the young Guru rode around in the luxury of a Rolls Royce, when Christ had had nowhere to lay His head. (In America he is said to have a $50,000 Mercedes 600, plus three airplanes, TV and radio stations, mansions, etc.) He replied that the car had been given to him by his admirers and anyway, had not Jesus accepted the lavish gift of the woman who poured expensive ointment over His feet? He further explained that their much publicised 'Divine Jumble Sales' were far from being fund-raising stunts; they were just a means of serving the poorer members of society. It was strictly humanitarian!

According to Peter Potter, the accountant for the Mission, and Glen Whittaker, general secretary and trustee, the money has mostly been provided by donations - "dedications" - by Britain's 7,000 followers of the Guru. Apart from the 300 followers who live in community homes (Ashrams) and turn over their pay packets, it is said that only 10 per cent send regular contributions. Mr Potter says: "We have been saving hard for more than a year and it is not difficult to get this amount of money if you scrimp and save." But they had to have a £30,000 short-term loan in order to buy the cinema.   Followers are urged to show their love for the Guru by giving money. In asking devotees to provide the "Divine Residence," an article in a Mission publication said: "As much you surrender of what you are holding, as much is returned to you in richer currency .... Everything in excess after you have provided yourself and your dependants with what is needed to maintain your and their usefulness to Maharaj Ji, dedicate it each week to the Centre Ashram of your country ... Hold a lot back and He must hold a lot back." Followers were also told: "Do not fall into the maya [illusion] of ego thoughts, thinking, 'I want to have some say in how my money is being spent,' or doing something else with your money … both these thoughts are terrible traps."   Although the Guru had been expected to leave Britain early last week, both he and his entourage were still in London yesterday. Glen Whittaker commented: "The two most unpredictable things, are the weather and the Guru."

Michael John Cole, the English disciple known as "Milky," has been a constant travelling companion. He has no money either, receiving only cash for food and clothes when the need arises. " We are not in need of "worldly goods," he said. "All we require is peace". "Our organisation relies on private subscriptions alone, plus the sale of our literature. There are no fees demanded and we exist to spread the message of peace and love, just as Christ did. The Guru is Christ."   He believes in the trendiest gear, the fastest cars. He watches 'Man from Uncle' on TV. And six million worship him as the Divine Light.

No expense is spared to provide the Guru with costly accommodation, lavish transport and good food. But, mission officials say, he does not ask for this treatment. "We do it because we love him." One follower explained: "When Jesus came people were expecting the saviour to come as a king and he came as a pauper. Now is he expected to come as a pauper and he comes as a king. People never recognise the saviour."