Natty for sure -- sold to the public as peace inside a prison.  Something about it doesn't sit well with me but I can't quite articulate it, especially since I haven't observed as "session" or watched the documentary.

The odor somehow stems from a captive audience, the usual ulterior motives and the ignoring of Rawat's own previous words and claims -- another "wolf" adorned in "sheep's" clothing... all the elements so familiar in the cult's misguided "propagation" efforts.

Besides, premies must be desperate for some small example of something ostensibly good that they can pat themselves on the back for.  And I wonder how many of those prisoners would show up for an advertised introductory event if they weren't behind bars... of if they had access to the internet.

Sad and yuk are two words that come to mind.

On another note, without going back down to Swimming Free's post, I cracked up when he posted that Rawat was turning to stand-up comics to liven up his events.  All I could picture was a ventriloquist with a Rawat doll on his lap.  Ideas for a script are right up there with all the ideas we had for a South Park episode!

Then, of course, there's Amaroo and so many other great thread topics that I've missed out on.  I wonder if the "dry" public relations person who tried to represent the "delegates" was at it again.  Probably not -- I can't image the layers of security charged with preventing Inside Edition (or was it A Current Affair?) or any other news organization from getting anywhere close this time.

So much said in so few words:

To paraphrase: a word play that insinuates mockery for "inner peace," a cornerstone of "Knowledge;" our irrepressible instinct for inner peace, strength, independence, etc.; and the inevitable conflict between the cult and our daily lives (that so many premies have likely rationalized away in fascinating ways).

Thinking back, perhaps at the core of my conflict was the blatant, malicious contempt Rawat, members of his family and his inner circle cabal had for everyday premies, for... me!  (This came to a head during the team trainings.)

Perhaps it started when Linda Pascotto got away scot free when she said she didn't like meditation in "Passages" a globally distributed cult revisionist DVD.  Some people have a hard time looking themselves in the mirror.  They'd rather smash it than face it.

Perhaps that's what all the contempt is really about.  They can't face the fact that they were duped -- that they fell for it too! -- and so they try to mock and destroy the reminders, the vestiges that remind them of their dalliance with devotion, with... yuk, everyday premies, the bohemians and bongos and people too stupid to stop practicing satsang, service and meditation... the "sari brigades," all the while indulging in their vices and lavish, superior lifestyles and justifying it by saying, "don't have concepts."  (I was being sarcastic -- I never thought of premies in those ways... but others certainly did.)

And besides, mockery can be a two way street!

It reminds me of the time (and Jasper had a similar experience) when I unexpectedly bumped into (Guru Mahatma) Charananand at a large premie event.  He had just finished his first set, satsang, and went back stage to prepare for his second set -- devotional bhajans.  Searching for a men's room, I bumped into him in a backstage bathroom.  His look was dark, glowering and sinister.  (To be fair, that was only my impression.)

My takeaway to this day is that he was disgusted by how low he has to stoop to maintain his cushy, unemployed western lifestyle by pretending to be a true believer and chief advocate of so much tripe.

Apparently, some people love golf that much.

But perhaps the ultimate form of contempt is Rawat allowing another human being to kiss his foot as a result of the utter chaos and confusion he implanted in him or her, which is only a slight level of contempt above his demand for and control of ashrams and everything they entailed.

I wonder how the inmates would feel about that.

Thank you, Lesley, for such a clear reminder!

Reading Manincar's excellent post and your excellent reply -- vague ambiguous contract versus crystal clear ultimate contract -- reminded me of what someone said about holding opposite views concurrently being the mark of a genius.

Not that your views are conflicting, but geniuses nevertheless! 

I've tried to quote it on the forum many times from memory.  I'd forgotten that it was part of my Knowledge session: Kansas City, Kansas, Trivinanand, August 1973 -- road trip from Michigan.

I vividly remember when everyone would hit the deck after Arti (and Twameva Mata... as if one stupid song wasn't enough), someone would speak a line after which everyone else would repeat it.  There I was, face buried in the floor, fervently repeating it line by line.  I wonder how the inmates would feel about that missing chapter.

I think about you often and always hope you're well!

Bob

"...seeing Rawat on stage and the contempt he was feeling was palpable.  Well what else could he feel looking at the sea of premies - grown adults sticking their fingers in their face just like he told them to."

"Being ordinary was too much for him."  

Being Accepting myself as ordinary (perhaps less so because most people weren't so vulnerable and susceptible) was one of my cult recovery goals.  It sounds strange -- when was I ever not ordinary -- but the superiority complex cast upon me by Rawat and reinforced by premie culture, the sense of being most fortunate, special, chosen, different, "I have wisdom!", etc., tainted every last one of my relationships.  In the end, my duplicity, double life and disingenuous-ness -- masquerading to fit in with not knowers -- nauseated me.

My first thought before I started the thread was that premies, either through employment, affiliation or some sort of influence, e.g., financial, infiltrated PBS, much like Mitch Ditkoff at the Huffington Post or the anniversary of the movie "Gandhi."  (And where was security when "Peace Is Possible" popped up in gift bags on a Hollywood red carpet?)

You can bet those premies weren't outspoken about Rawat before they surreptitiously went about their "participation" lest they jeopardize the platform that enabled them to engage in such infiltration!

With Marianne's observation that time slots were generally around 5:00 a.m., it's comical that the cult's long standing trend of exploiting media outlets that they played no role in establishing or supporting carries on in true deceptive form... like the long list of charitable organizations that TPRF parasitically partners with attaches its name to (and milks) for the petty price of small donations.

(Like years of "leafleting" public access television stations -- at 2:00 in the morning -- with their fancy but empty DVDs.)

The problem here is me.  After all these years, I'm still susceptible to the notion that the cult will make some sort of breakthrough into (minor) mainstream acceptance -- they're certainly conspiring in their own cute ways.  I give it that much respect for its misguided determination. 

Silly me.

Hi NIK, it's been a long time!

Although my initial reaction to your post was that PBS certainly dropped the ball by not digging deep enough, I was immediately reminded of a lingering apprehension I have about the cult: I don't underestimate the inroads it is capable of making (a last vestige of negative respect I have for it).  There are/were many competent, motivated, intelligent premies with resources -- now with a lifetime of professional careers behind them.  

Take "I want to make a million bucks for Maharaji" Chuck Nathan for example. 

"Don't you want to be impeccable!?", shouted Valerio.  The level of care ("consciousness" as the cult likes to say) that sometimes goes into service, participation... doing things for Rawat... far exceeds many standards, to say the least.

That's what those premies do when they go about their insidious little infiltrations (and milk all the publicity they can get out of it) -- present a superficially impeccable, polished façade (as evidenced by the high production quality -- glossy -- introductory video clip on the Peace Education Program (PEP) website that I just skimmed through).

All the right words and all the right faces from all the right places, a direct result of the social status filtration system that was an invisible hallmark of that cult.  I can see how easy it might be for some good organizations to let their guard down.

Clearly, PBS dropped the ball by its own standards unless it fell for premies' polished, impeccable, "conscious," well rehearsed revisionist lines if/when it questioned them about "who is this PR in TPRF?"