Hi Thorin,

With all due respect, I do not think the ex-premies have anything to do with the change of image. This took place over a fairly long period of time, say years, during which he tried first to dispose of the Indian allure of his movement and then the Divine image. After the ashrams closed down (and probably even before) he began to realize that the damage these structures are causing him is far greater than the benefits. There are people here who probably know much more about those years and can give you a better answer.

Around that time PR became increasingly important in EV and the “man of peace” image emerged. For several years the PR policy was called “flying under the radar”, meaning total media silence, no noise, trying to fly the propagation ship as quietly as possible, no waves, word of mouth etc. It was during those silent years that the original divine image was gradually erased from all documents, videos and public speech.

Make no mistake, the inside circle is still very much into the divine game.

People talk at ease about “divine interventions”, referring to his comments or actions. “Lila” stories are still very fashionable around him and even his little dog is considered part of the game. But these stories are reserved only to true believers, and from time to time public speakers would carefully bless the mob with one anecdote or two that would satisfy their insatiable hunger for “divine stories”.

BTW, providing PR services to the organization was and still is an impossible task, since there was never any consistency of message and the organization was manned by volunteers who did not have a clue what is going on. Decisions were taken and then reversed; Local EV organizations and web sites were established and almost immediately closed down, PR people resigned or have been fired. Policies were drafted and changed periodically, documents distributed and then canceled, in short, tremendous effort went to prove that “this is not a cult and he never said he was god”.

There is so much more, but enough for now.