Don't believe everything you read. Don't believe everthing you read in newspapers, but especially don't believe everything you read on the Internet.
Don't believe everything you hear.
Obviously.
So how do you know what you should believe, and what you should not believe?
How do you know if something is true or not?
The answer - in my opinion, and in many people's opinion - is through experience, and through reliable evidence. The more evidence you have for something being true, the more confident you can be that it is true. You can reach the point where you can be confident that something is true beyond all reasonable doubt. And there are some things you can be certain of, to the point where any doubt is unreal.
The way I decided to deal with my doubts about Maharaji, to see whether Maharaji was genuine or not, was to look closer at Maharaji. To look and listen to Maharaji, to what he was actually saying and doing - NOT to what other people were saying about him (good or bad), NOT to what other people were claiming him to be (good or bad), NOT to other people's interpretations of Maharaji, or other people's interpretations of anything Maharaji may have said or is reported to have said (hearsay and Chinese whispers) - but to actually listen to what Maharaji was saying. To look closer at Maharaji - not to turn away and imagine what Maharaji might supposedly be saying or meaning or doing - but to actually look at Maharaji. (When I say "look" at Maharaji, I don't mean merely literally "look" at Maharaji - I mean focus on and examine and pay attention and listen carefully, etc., to Maharaji.) And the closer I looked at Maharaji, the more clearly I was able to see that Maharaji is genuine. And I continue to look closer and closer, and I continue to see more and more clearly that Maharaji is true, that Maharaji's message is true.
Maharaji promised to teach me how to experience peace in my life - and he has done that, and continues to do that. Maharaji promised to lead me from darkness to light - and he is doing that: He has brought me from living in fear to living in love. He has brought me from living a negative life to living a positive life. He has brought me from living a messed-up life to living a good life, a loving life. He has brought me from living a crazy life to living a relatively sensible life! All the hearsay and Chinese whispers and gossipy stuff in the world will not change that. All the confused premies or confused ex-premies in the world will not change that. That is my experience, and it continues to be my experience. That is what is real in my life.
Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but there is no denying that there are definitely many people in the world who are confused. If I believed everything I read or heard (good or bad) without sufficient reliable evidence, if I believed everyone's interpretation of things (good or bad) without sufficient discernment, there is no doubt I would soon become very confused. Other people are entitled to be confused if they wish, but someone else's confusion is not going to be my confusion. I do not believe everything I read. I do not believe everything I hear. But I believe in my own experience. The experience Maharaji has enabled me to experience is a beautiful experience. I may not be able to convince anyone else that that is true, but I know for myself that it is true.
