Most people who became involved in DLM in the 1970's did so because they were impressed by the testimony of members who basically preached that a direct experience of God was available through intitation into the techniques of meditation by an empowered 'mahatma' or 'great saint' of the organisation and that this 'experience of the divine' transcended the intellect.That sounded like a pretty basic take on Vedanta as had been preached in the West from Vivekananda on. Most of the 1970's followers were "hippies" at a time when the so-called 'counter-culture' was obviously failing and this message of constant divine bliss without LSD or marijuana was quite appealing to some of them. As the message was that 'the Knowledge' transcended knowledge it didn't matter that young Rawat could barely communicate in English because he was the 'Master of Perfectness'. The spiel was "taste and try before you buy" and we were too young and immature to understand the ramifications.
