Hilly,

I love ya.  You couldn't have posted that April 1979 Holi at a better time for a couple of reasons.

First:

It was at that Holi that I was interviewed by two administrators at DECA for consideration of being shipped down to Miami -- at the time I was in the Hartford, Conn. ashram.  I remember the interview so clearly, but that satsang took me right back.  My community coordinator had been contacted upon our arrival in Miami Beach by the secret Project folks that they wanted to interview me and they set it up for the Sunday morning before the last day of the the Holi Festival.  I had nothing to do with the arrangements, btw, I was just told where to go and who to look for.

It was completely secret, at a secret location (definitely not the Broadripple hotel).  It was at another one of those dumpy high rise hotels in Miami Beach at the time.  Randi and Blackie told me that I couldn't tell anyone who they were and what was said in the interview.  I already knew one of the people Randi.  I had met her in Hartford when she had passed through once when she was still married and not yet in the ashram. I had stayed with her at her in-laws home as a favor because she didn't want to stay there alone in the house.  We had "shared" a lot of satsang that night so she remembered me when she came across my resume.  Remember when all the premies were asked by DLM to fill out those employment type forms giving our credentials and work experience?

During my DECA interview Randi and another premie, "Blackie" interviewed me and told me that it wasn't just the work qualifications on resumes that they were looking at to decide which premies would be picked to do full-time service at "the Project."  They were looking at the amount of devotion and surrender to Maharaji that premies had.  Randi told me she remembered how "devoted" I was. (LOL! I guess I was at the time!) They also told me they were looking for someone who had the ability to keep everything about that project completely confidential -- especially Maharaji's identity because he was so closely involved in the project.  Anything for the Lord, I told them. 

So I had my interview, was completely blissed out because it looked like I was going to be called down to Miami full-time.  Then I went to the program that afternoon and listened to Maharaji's last satsang for the festival.

I flew back to Hartford and the next day, on Monday I got the call to come down to Miami by that Wednesday!  Two days notice.  I was in total bliss.  Everyone in my ashram looked at me differently because even though no one really knew exactly what that project was about, they knew Maharaji was giving a lot of darshan down there and something "big" was happening in "Maharaji's World."  I quit my job, packed my stuff, gave a lot of things away, and threw away the rest of my personal belongings that I knew I wouldn't need them anymore because I was going to do full-time service for the LORD.  One thing I threw away that I really wish I still had was a large journal of poetry I had written from around age 13.  I was 24 in April of 1979.  Oh well, I was surrendering!

So reading that satsang from that Holi brought back a lot because by then I had been praying hard to Maharaji to be near him -- for quite some time before April of 1979.  And it wasn't until I had my special orientation (after I arrived in Miami Beach) that I even heard the word "DECA."  This was when the project was still in the small Hialeah warehouse with about 50-70 premies, and a jet hadn't even been purchased yet by Quantum. (Quantum was the company that purchased the jet for Maharaji, but DECA was the company that did all the work on it.)  There was another company around then called IMMCO and I can't remember what that entity was for -- it disappeared off the radar at one point long before the large Complex was leased.

Anyway, that's how I ended up in Miami at the DECA cult compound being an unpaid slave for a year.  Mind you, I was blissed out a lot of the time because I saw Rawat every day while I was a bona fide gopi doing service.  But, you really made my day, posting that tonight. 

Second:

I made a big edit on the Wiki article the other day (as I posted about before).  In it I explained that in the 70s and early 80s, "to practice knowledge" meant "doing" satsang, service, and meditation as prescribed by Rawat to premies. Of course it got deleted, because I hadn't asked permission to edit the article and besides I didn't have any backup to prove it!  And here you are today Hilly,  posting that Holi, 1979 satsang where Rawat talks incessantly about the importance of devotion, surrender, and satsang, service and meditation!  "Guru Maharaji is Holy Name."  Lord, lord, lord..etc.

I'm having a great laugh here because you have validated what I said but couldn't prove a couple of days ago.  But that doesn't matter, because I don't need validation to know that when Rawat talked about 'Guru Maharaj Ji,' he was always talking about himself, except of course, when he talked about his Maharaji.

Plus, that satsang was at the point in time when Rawat knew that a lot of premies were going to be giving up a lot of money for that project.  He knew he was going to be putting the sqeeze on for cash.  The project had already started. He also knew that a lot of ashram premies were going to be called down to Miami.  But mostly, he knew a lot of money was going to be needed and he wanted premies surrendering to him left and right!

He was definitely priming the money pump by giving those heavy surrender (your lives and cash) satsangs.  No doubt about it.

And they say he is independently wealthy!  Hardy, har har...

So thanks again. 

Love,

Cynthia