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| Re: Prem Rawat's words six months prior to Jonestown |  | ||
| Re: Prem Rawat's words six months prior to Jonestown -- Susan | Top of thread | Post Reply | Forum |
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Thank you Susan. https://www.ex-premie.org/pages/best.htm#suicide That link holds a wealth of unvarnished information about this cult as told by people who experienced it first-hand. (For anyone who may not know, the link can be opened by highlighting it and right-clicking to "go to..." I recently learned that not everyone knows this.) In the mid-70s, Prem Rawat made a surprise visit at a premie retreat in the Pocono mountains. At the same time, we were holding a remote retreat in Michigan. An initiator made contact with the Malibu residence and requested that Prem speak to us via telephone. On his way out the door enroute to the Pocono retreat, he stopped for a moment and spoke to us: "Premies who meditate by the clock are pursuing death. Blessings to all the premies." That's all he said: the alternative to practicing Knowledge is death. "Destructive cults promote the idea that their leader, doctrine, and policies are perfect." Indeed, our leader was perfect and infallible and the slightest doubt or thought to the contrary was taboo. Except that Prem Rawat claimed to have no doctrine, our heavy indoctrination into a lifetime vow of poverty, chastity and obedience to him - our perfect leader - or at least 24/7 total immersion in satsang, service and meditation, was by any standard extreme, coercive and controlling. One time when Prem Rawat was ranting about long hair or something, he said, "You think this is a trip? Let me tell you... God is control tripped!" For many premies, the guilt associated with falling short... with not being able to live-up to the Lord's standards, was paralyzing. Not to mention the fear Prem Rawat instilled of the horrible fate that would befall a premie if they were to ever to leave him. "if we let go of Guru Maharaji... that's almost like committing suicide" Prem Rawat Reluctant as I am to keep repeating it, I witnessed and had to deal with an initiator who adamently insisted that the only solution for an accutely suicidal premie was more satsang, service and meditation, i.e., Guru Maharaji. In the Team Trainings in the mid-2000s, Rule No. 1 was simply "Maharaji." I had an anxiety attack when I thought for a moment that he might test my devotion by ordering me to do something way outside my comfort zone. I'm sure the last thing the tragic victims of Jonestown were thinking at the time was that they were in a cult. I'm not suggesting that Prem Rawat would ever do such a thing, but I am suggesting that the level of cult-indoctrinated devotion and obedience is frighteningly similar. Yes, a deeply appreciative thank you to all who have ever posted here. Modified by lakeshore at Thu, Nov 23, 2023, 11:08:12 |
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