OK, so now I've sent Padron THIS email!
Re: Re: My email to Miami Dade College's Alumni Foundation -- Sulla Top of thread Forum
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Jim ®

06/11/2005, 16:26:51
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Dear Mr. Padron,
 
Please find enclosed a copy of an email I sent to your alumni foundation.  I'd have contacted you as well directly but was unable to find your email address on your website (MDC's main contact pages was down).  In fact I only obtained your address from a concerned parent whose son attending another university in another state received your mass invitation to hear Prem Rawat speak.  
 
With all due respect, I must say your alligning yourself with Mr. Rawat is most unfortunate and, I believe, a decision you will soon regret, simply because it was frankly so negligent.  As an educator and a person with some presumable influence over students, you have a clear obligation to do some basic due diligence on someone before you give them your public imprimatur, as it were.  In this case, however, it's rather obvious that you did no such investigation of Mr. Rawat.  I know this two ways: one, if you had you'd have soon discovered that Mr. Rawat is still a cult leader just as he was thirty years ago when he purported to be the "Greatest Incarnation of God to Ever Trod the Planet" and invited all mankind to the Houston Astrodome to witness the inception of a "Thousand Years of Peace", possible only because of his Grace and Power.  Rawat has hidden from the press ever since.  He can't afford any real contact as his past is frankly so laughable.  Instead, what he's done is try to bootstrap himself into respectibility by tricking institutions such as your own into unwittingly endorsing him somehow.  But make no mistake, this is still a man who encourages his followers to line up and kiss his feet, just as they did when he was a ten-year old "avatar".
 
The other way I know you did no true investigation of Rawat before endorsing him is that I can easily recognize the cult's fawning phraseology in what are purportedly your comments:
I was very pleased that Prem Rawat had accepted my invitation to address our community. His is a message of possibility, delivered with uncommon insight and candor.
This cult has an obsession with the idea of Rawat being "invited" to speak wherever.  They arrange whatever appearances they can, then doctor the situation in a bit of transparent Kabuki-theatre to make it look as if the whole world's waiting to hear the words of their master.  And the ideas of "uncommon insight" or "candor" are anethmatic to Rawat.  Any fair review, such as the one you should have undertaken to begin with, reveals as much immediately. 
 
Even now, Prem Rawat is attempting to shut down any fair, open criticism of his cult.  One website in particular I'd love to show you, full of material which tells the real story, is temporarly off-line, subject to a specious copyright complaint.  My point is that there are some people who are not willing to allow Rawat try to ensnare more people without some very public objection.  You seem to have unwittingly put yourself in the middle of the fray.  I urge you to research Rawat properly and to take whatever remedial steps you can to undo the damage.
 
Sincerely,
 
Jim Heller
 
 
To Whom it May Concern:
 
This is a link to a poster advertising a programmed scheduled at the college on June 19th:
 
 
The featured speaker, Prem Rawat, is, in fact, a notorious cult leader who has made millions duping people into believing that he is God in human form.  In that respect, he is better known to the world as Maharaji or Guru Maharaj Ji.  His so-called "message of peace" is simply that people should side-step whatever questions or doubts they have and follow him.  He claims he can show them their real "heart" which speaks in a language that he alone can translate.  He might not openly proclaim, as he once did, that he is the Lord of the Universe and Saviour of Mankind but that is still the prime substance of his teaching.  He still continues to demand slavish devotion and unquestioning faith.  In short, he is the essential cult leader, dangerous, opportunistic, predatory and deceitful. 
 
Mr. Rawat has tried to use the good offices of the UN or the Italian parliament to establish some desperately needed credibility.  For instance, you'll note in the ad the reference and picture of his speaking "at the UN".  Although Mr. Rawat's cult merely rented a UN hall for one of their private meetings, they have continued to suggest, as they do here, that the UN has somehow sanctioned Mr. Rawat's bona fides.  If you allow this event to go ahead, you can rest assure that Mr. Rawat will forever associate his name with your institution such as to suggest that you approve, indeed applaud, his activities. 
 
Here is a link to a website run by former members of this cult:
 
 
I would strongly suggest that you investigate this man thoroughly and properly before you allow this event to go ahead.  At the very minimum, if for whatever reason you cannot stop it, you should carefully review whatever rights this cult will have to use your college's name in future advertising.  You might also want to inquire how your administration allowed this to happen to begin with.  Having your president apparently vouch for an infamous cult leader can't be something the alumni foundation should be happy about. 
 
Sincerely,
 
Jim Heller
******
 
P.S. I would have circulated this message more broadly, to your Board of Trustees and administration but your website's contact page was down.  Only the alumni foundation addresses were available.  Please feel free to forward this warning to anyone you deem appropriate.









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