At least we thought we were getting Knowledge of God back in the seventies, from God Himself.  That's heady stuff to a teenager who dropped his last acid trip three weeks before the K session (as in my case).

Back in those days it was all grace.  Looking back it would appear that "grace" was really autosuggestion and quite powerful too if you believed that God had chosen you.  "Suggestion" is a very powerful tool and was the main friving force back in those days even though we thought it was grace.  If you genuinely believe that you are a devotee of the living Lord, you really can feel that your life is truly magical while you uselessly fritter it away, which many of us did.  So much better than worrying about money, mortgages and jobs and live a life of pure fantasy which you're sure is THE reality that most other people are unaware of.

I've also done meditation off and on since I "left Maharaji" and it's the same as it was when I was a premie, only with no association with Maharaji.  On doing such meditations it was pretty clear that Maharaji had just promoted a scam whereas he took credit for meditational experiences that people had.  When you have them without Lord Mahahaha, it's obvious that he never came into it really.

But it's a clever trick he played especially since he knows nowt about meditation.