Lesley, I would like to hear more responses to this particular gem: 

"...it didn't matter what the truth of him was, it was by him taking on the role of Maharaji we got to have the experience of that interaction".

I kind of half agree and half disagree with this. In one way it doesn't matter who the  witch doctor is - it is all about the illusion. But in another way is does matter because a truly good person wouldn't have taken advantage of people in the cruel ways that the boy guru did. If he really were a genuine 'witch doctor' then he would have helped people with whatever gifts he had and not tried to abuse and steal from them. But then he never had anything to offer but cheap fakir tricks anyway.

And yes, we did generate our own experiences - I think this can be seen by the similar reactions of fans to rock stars and other celebrity figures. People scream and cry and faint in their presence - from an exeperience that they generated for themselves. Some of us did similar things with the guru. The syndrome of fainting or being overcome by beauty is a self generated experience. Why do some people react while others don't feel anything? If the power came from the guru then he could repeat the experience for everyone all the time. But it is a self-generated thing. He might have served as a trigger, but that was by implanting ideas into our heads about him and who he was. Then faced with him in person, we gave ourselves an experience. But get too close, and the emperor has no clothes on.

You have made me think - I love thinking. I need to ponder this more.