Eileen,

In the real world, when someone works at a company it is the company's responsibility to ensure the safety of it's employees, not the opposite.  That's the law.  Premies trusted Maharaji with their lives on every level.  That's a fact.  But, DECA wasn't by any stretch of the imagination a "real world" company, although legally, it most certainly would have been bound by the laws of Florida and Federal employment tax laws, etc., had it not been so secret.  We took great pains to make and keep it secret to protect Maharaji from any exposure, and to save money by not operating legally.  It was Maharaji's company and everything that went on there was for his personal benefit and enjoyment, only not on paper.  Talk about not taking responsibility.  At DECA, breaking the law for Maharaji was commonplace practice and always rationalized because he was/is the Lord.

I suppose you're right though, it was the responsibilty of each and every premie there to approach Maharaji and demand safe working conditions, although I can't imagine how that senario would have played out. Actually, I do know:  Complain and you're fired.  Nobody wanted to be fired from the Lord of the Universe's personal corporation and. playground.  It happened to Joe, who talked to you on this forum.  As part of the legal team,  he complained about there not being any workers compensation insurance at DECA and was fired. He was told he wasn't devoted enough to be working at DECA.  What company fires someone for not being "devoted enough?" But that's his to tell about.  Part of the DECA interview process and "employee" orientation included making sure the premies were devoted enough to be working there.  Bet you didn't know that, but not many premies do.

I suppose DECA premies could have formed a premie labor union at DECA and maybe we could even have even demanded wages (we weren't paid anything) and that the company purchase workers' compensation insurance (there wasn't any), or that we have reasonable working hours.  There we no OSHA inspections,which most likely would have been triggered by the purchase of the WC insurance, had we DECA premies demanded that WC insurance.  But, you say it was the DECA premies' responsibilty to make sure everything there was on the up and up, so I suppose there shouldn't be any gripes, right?  Free will and all that jazz...

The predominate atmosphere at DECA was this:  Maharaji is the Lord of the Universe.  The Lord of the Universe is here (at DECA) every day, many times, per day.  Therefore, we DECA pemies are at the center of the Universe.  Anything he asked was fullfilled.  Maharaji was refused nothing, Eileen. 

I never heard maharaji make reference to the fact that we should sacrifice ourselves in such a way to cause permanent damage to our health, and anyone who was- was doing it of their own choice. And I don't know what you mean about maharaji "tossing you aside" when you became ill. In fact, several of the ashrams I lived in had premies sent there who had become sick & temporarily disabled, and were given direction by maharaji to go there and rest and be taken care of. Most of them had been at DECA. We were adults, and that's when premies were mindless cult members - not today. Ex-premies refuse to take responsibility for the decisions they made as adults.

And Maharaji takes no responsibility for anything he has ever done -- that's the point. You don't question why those premies became sick and temporaily disabled, do you?  You just acknowledge that they were sick, as if that was remotely acceptable.  You don't question the number of people who got sick, just that they wouldn't have gotten sick if they had taken responsbility for their exposure to toxis chemicals. Your statements aren't much different from Joy Wisdom saying:  When did Maharaji ask anyone to abandon their family for him? 

Maharaji most certainly asked premies, especially during the DECA period, to surrender their lives to him:  Body, mind and soul. That's what living in an ashram was all about:  giving up our lives to Maharaji totally.   I don't know what you were doing, but the DECA premies were obeying him and fulfilling his wishes and getting very sick because of it.  But, I suppose enough years have passed for you to have forgotten all about the surrending your life part. Btw, the community premies were obeying him too, by getting the enormous amounts of money together to send down to Miami to support DECA and the B707 project.  The irony of it all is that Maharaji hated the B707 from the start, from the day we took delivery of it, and he sold it within a short period of time, a year I think, to the Maharishi Yogi guy.  So much for "treasuring the premies' love."

When I got so sick that I was fired from DECA, I went to work at DLM for a short period of time (processing divorces so premies could move into the ashram and slave for Maharaji full-time without pay -- and some had kids -- more fresh bodies, Eileen) and was then transferred to the Gainesville ashram to recuperate.  Within three or four months I was forced out to work.  Why?  Because I had earning power. I was told that I was malingering!  It didn't matter that I was still sick, because I was in the ashram and the pressure was still on to make money to send to Maharaji.  I know this also happened to other DECA ashram premies. I'm aware of DECA folks who suffered for as long as ten years (far beyond the date Maharaji closed the ashrams) from toxic chem exposure and none of them received so much as a peep out of Maharaji -- not even a get well card.   So much for "merciful Lord." So much for personal responsibility!