Thanks for posting the latest Connect North America newsletter.  At least he keeps his top on now when he dances. 

There seem to be some well-organized projects going in hopes of bringing lots of new people into the cult.  These projects appear to be well-staffed and well-financed.  Now if the product they had to offer was really worthy, they would have something.  But their product, "Maharaji's message," is fundamentally problematic for their intended audience, and their success is in serious question.

They also emphasize that a "fresh start" is available this year for everybody already involved.  I can just feel their thirst for an exciting return to the 70's, even while they still hide away those years. 

I am afraid it is not going to materialize for them.  And they seem to be setting themselves up for disappointment.  When they talk about the millions and millions of people that will be enjoying Maharaji's message on  television, etc.,  surely they realize that the picture they are painting contains some overly bright colors.  Can they really project into the future without any acknowledgement of the difficulties inherent in Maharaji's message?  There are two factors against them:  the general public is savvy about cult leaders, and Rawat has many unhappy former students and an embarassing history.

Another problem with the Keys project is that the whole approach seems so academic and dry for the aspirant.  I imagine it could easily be a somewhat long, lonely, and boring process for them.   Another awful aspect is the condescending way the aspirants are treated - grown adults treated like children, being fed what is obviously a bunch of concepts packaged in a carefully designed format.  Surely only very unsophisticated people will accept these parameters.  Any intelligent person will want to ask questions and get some real answers.   I can only imagine what my own reaction would have been if I had been spoon-fed, in  a series of required video lessons, that there is a self-discovery to be made and that there is a requirement to acknowledge Rawat as the person who makes it possible.  I'm sure I would have passed on that second part.  What pulled me in, when I was an aspirant, was the loving premie community and the ancient ideal of truth and love and personal enlightenment.

I think the absolute no.1 problem with Rawat's "message" is the dychotomy between his two main tenets:  trust your own experience, and trust him as the Master.  Sometimes there is no conflict between these two voices, but what happens when these two opposite conflict, as they invariably will?  What happens is that people leave Rawat or they become "a la carte" followers, just like the Catholics who accept some tenets of their religion and ignore others.  And they become eternal optimists, judging from this latest effort.