Good question Marianne. It's interesting because back in the early days of Mishler, Bob wanted Rawat to come down off his high elephant and be relatable. This is what he thought would be best for his followers who thought he was the messiah and also in the interests of furthering his mission. Bob certainly knew from living with him that Rawat wasn't any beacon of light; he knew from counting the empty cognac bottles and witnessing his tirades and the bleeding ulcer thing.Rawat went along with the humanitarian thing for a wee while until donations dried up and he felt he wasn't getting the adulation he thought that he deserved. As you know back in the early '70s they did try having the premies go out and do good works until Rawat put the kabosh on it and re-instituted devotion and surrender as the main focus.
With his congregation in major decline and propogation in the West a dismal failure it appears things have come full circle with Rawat publicizing his plaudits and donations in a belated attempt to garner respectability. The die-hard cult faithful will undoubtedly see this as divine subterfuge if you catch my drift. But of course all the decades of his ranting and raging and us surrendering and devoting and sacrificing and giving and giving and giving has somehow been swept under the carpet. As if it ever could.
