>Ok, so I'm being asked to take both party's views on faith<

Er .. Um ...  I'm not a party - and I don't expect anyway to take anything I write as a matter of faith. See reply to below for an attempt at some figures.

>... except that what attracted me wasn't the man, it was the message. ie, the idea that peace was not only possible in my life, but that I already had it.<

Well I think you have to allow that your home background has provided you with a certain disposition - and of course not everyone judges on appearances - but honestly how many young people aren't going to look at Rawat and not want to up chuck, promise of inner peace or not?

Of course I can not but agree that Rawat's product is 'seductive' - that's the point. If he was telling people they had to spend twenty years serving the poor or had to spend a lifetime living on buckwheat or must make a thousand barefoot pilgrimages before they began to achieve inner peace he wouldn't be pulling in the $4 million a year he needs to keep the GSV flying.

>There's a viral marketing campaign spreading ...< excellent description  however while EV/TPRF can use audience/ attendance figures for their promo effort - none of that translates into real people paying real cash. And Rawat's godman career is founded on a minimum number of  $500 + annual donorships. While the big spenders - Linda P etc,  will make up some of the slack,  unless the marketing effort - TheKeys and Eversound's other ouput, increases dramatically or new donor blood is found - the money to support the fantasy of Rawat bringing Knowledge to the World is simply going to dry up.

Nik