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Did you post it on Amazon and other book sites? You should! 
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Yes, just now as a matter of fact - also to a publishing group responsible for cagan's more mainstream biographies. I also did a search for any online references tot he book and found out that a/. Signed free copies are being offered to guests attending the Grammie Miusic Awards and the Academy Awards (Oscars). 17 Feb 2007 5:10
Hello Katie. I was impressed to read that, as a child, you wanted to bring peace on earth. So you may find it interesting to check on the latest biography of best-selling author Andrea Cagan: "Peace Is Possible - The Life and Message of Prem Rawat" published by Mighty River Press. You may also visit the following web site: www.tprf.org
(tprf stands for The Prem Rawat Foundation) I've known this man for over 30 years and I think he is definitely worth knowing. Don't hesitate to drop in a comment or email me to let me know what you think. Joelle (Niss) They seem to be targetting celebrities and anyone associated with the peace movement as potential supporters by sending the books out like Gideon Bibles - that probably explains the massive disproportionate sales its getting.
>
http://www.lulu.com/content/757452 My book on Maharaji - BRAINWASHED! A CULT SURVIVOR'S TALE
Arthur Chappell arthur@chappell7300.freeserve.co.uk
My Space. http://www.myspace.com/56954240
Web site www.arthurchappell.clara.net/
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Hi Arthur Yes I agree, very good review, well done. I have been enjoying reading your contributions here and on the freedom of mind listing as well as elsewhere. I applaud the stamina you seem to have for exposing charlatans and scammers wherever you find them. And boy are there many, not only 'our' little old Lord of the Universe aka Prem Rawat You said in respect of the Cagan book: "... that probably explains the massive disproportionate sales its getting"
I'm really not sure that there are any massive disproportionate sales, where are you getting your figures from? Disproportionate from what? Sure, the Peace is Possible fictional book was, for a brief moment in time, in the number 10 Amazon bestsellers listing. But that quickly died away and the book is now not in the Amazon's 100 best selling book. The brief appearance of the book in the Amazon bestselling list, much trumpeted by Mighty River Press (incidentally Mighty River Press is owned and operated by a premie called J Levin) was, I believe, orchestrated by the cult as I speculated here. T
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my notion of 'disproportionate sales comes from recognition of the cult donating copies to the hospitality gift providers for the oscars, Grammies, and other major award ceremonies - - though it may come right from the premie owned publisher it could be that they have to be bought and costed too - they will also be certainly selling the book to established followers, who may well buy copies as gifts for friends and family too - now there's a birthday present that's sure to disaapont now that the initial launch is over sales will inevitbly decline = hopefully. Havingthe cult as audience the book has a bigger market than most novels - high sales are however no evidence of quality and a few pages of PIP will tell all but the established premies that it is badly written so sales will inevitably plummet.
http://www.lulu.com/content/757452 My book on Maharaji - BRAINWASHED! A CULT SURVIVOR'S TALE
Arthur Chappell arthur@chappell7300.freeserve.co.uk
My Space. http://www.myspace.com/56954240
Web site www.arthurchappell.clara.net/
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That's pretty thorough Arthur. Well done.
It deserves more of an airing - Amazon?
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I really don't want to read that book, so thanks. Cynthia
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I haven't finished the book yet as it is pretty boring. I have read the second half and it is fascinating to read how Prem Rawat is always speaking to more people and always receiving more invitations and always revealing Knowledge to more and more people and yet as every Western premie knows propagation has been a failure and in reality there are probably less than half as many Western premies as there were 30 years ago. Now Prem Rawat must know that too though in fairness to Andrea Cagan she may not.
The only reasonable explanation for this, as far as I can see, is that Prem Rawat is so desperate for the appearance of respect and success, that the reality just doesn't really matter that much. It's not as if he hasn't been very successful in certain ways, after all he is very rich and has maintained a core of Western followers and since 1990 has raised his profile in India a lot but a realistic appraisal and realistic picture of his life seems beyond him and his followers to accept.
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Interesting.Thanks Arthur ! now I don't have to bother to read the book ! One small criticism.......I took part in two or three "Holis" with coloured water cannons and it was quite good fun.I don't remember any stones or people being seriously injured. There was glitter added though, which was dangerous as it got into people's eyes. Is Andrea Cagan a favoured premie or something?I can't help feeling that Rawat is buying loyalty by doshing dead cert money spinner jobs out to high profile/old timer/well liked for some reason or the other premies.This book IMO is aimed at premies....a dead cert market.No matter how ill researched , revisionist and "following the party line" the book is, it has a captive readership and everyone involved in it's publication stands to make money including ,obviously Ms Cagan. The premies being conned and exploited as ever.
Modified by lexy at Mon, Feb 19, 2007, 17:02:44
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Arthur, Undoubtedly Adrea Cagan has produced a paltry tome not worthy of the description 'biography', however there are some points of your review with which I take issue, particularly as they appear in the following extracts: >Shri Hans Maharaj Ji founded the Divine Light Mission (DLM) in the 1960’s. Maharaji, (Prem Rawat) maintained the name until the early 1980’s when it was phased out in favour of the French sounding title Elan Vital..... < >A crucial practice in the DLM cult is Darshan where followers kiss the feet of their leader – .........<. >As she [Mataji] ran the sect’s Hindu operations, her loyalties were torn between her religion and her son’s own bastardized variation of it – she chose the mainstream faith.< Perhaps the greatest tool of obfuscation used by those who have assisted Rawat in managing his following, is the consistent confusion of actual legal entity with a wholly notional 'movement'. Getting to the historical truth of Rawatism demands that we maintain a high degree of accuracy when discussing the various organisational arrangement that have underpinned Rawat's career. An organisation called Divine Light Mission was certainly Registered as an Association in Delhi in 1960 but the degree to which Hans Ji was in control of this organisation is not clear - certainly C.L.Tandon seems to have exercised a role beyond that of mere supplicant to his guru. DLM was only a feature of Hans Ji's career toward the end of his life and the form of the relationship of the Rawat family and, separately the mahatmas, to the Indian DLM did not become explicit until after the split between Prem and Mata Ji/Sat Pal. From 1972 onwards a number of national DLM's were set up around the world, these were all entirely separate legal entities, none of the Rawat family had any legal role in these with the exception that Prem was named as Chief Minister of the US DLM, which was recognised by the IRS as operating for religious purposes. Even this did not give Prem any right to the DLM name. In 1973 a separate legal entity called Divine United Organisation was set up in India. The family split eventually came down to a matter of ownership. DUO was legally in the hands of those who sided with Prem, while DLM India was controlled by those who sided with Mataji and Satpal, DLM India is effectively what became Satpal's Manhav Dharam organisation. DUO only changed its name about three years ago and is now called Raj Vidya Kender - Prem's Delhi ashram.. Of course it could be said that Prem "maintained the name" of DLM, but I don't think that it can be over stressed that continuing to use the name was a very different thing from continuing Hans Ji's organisation. It is also important to keep in mind that Prem could not act alone - it required the involvement of each of the national cabals of inner circle followers to keep the organisations operating, and to comply where changes were required by Prem - as with the change of name from DLM to Elan Vital. Of course pretty much anyone reading this forum understands the term 'DLM cult' - but to use the organisation name in this way is to maintain a confusion that for decades has supported many of Rawat's followers in their belief that they 'belonged to' or were 'part of' something. There never has been any way that ordinary premies could exercise power within the various organisations - whether called DLM, DUO, EV, TPRF or whatever - which is certainly a cult like characteristic - yet on their own none of the separate legal entities operated with the level of control that amounts to being a cult. Since the 1975/6 changes Rawat has never been identified as a leader of any of the legal entities and the organisations have really been cult facilitating machinery rather than constituting a cult in themselves. It is the movement rather than the organisations which is unifying form of the cult and the term 'Rawat cult' seems a lot more accurate than DLM cult or EV cult etc. I think it is simply wrong to identify Hans Ji's or his successors' various movements as being Hindu. The belief systems promoted by Hans Ji, Prem and Satpal are notable for their syncretism, but more significantly I would suggest is the influence of Sikhism, something which is of great importance in the Rawat powerbase of Utterakahnd where local developments of the caste system have historically given rather less power to the Brahmins. Also - the reference to the Indian Tax case is certainly interesting - however without clarification this potentially could refer to Satpal's organisation - or indeed some organisation called DLM not related to the Rawat's. Nik
Modified by JHB-Admin at Tue, Feb 20, 2007, 10:36:30
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I was shown the book yesterday and no doubt premies will buy the book and give them as gifts.
Looking at the index, I saw that Saph is listed a numerous amount of times and their description of this 'hate group' was archetypical cultist apology stuff.
Any trully objective reader will google ex-premies and Saph.Still I doubt very much if the book is intended for objective people. It is surey a quick money spinner from premies pockets.
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Sudden storm of posts, you must have touched a nerve Arthur. It lends emphasis, must go back and read your posts again, to see what words hit the nerves and which nerves twitched.
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(Having avoided confronting them in argument for a while) to see the way that a premie's mind has only that stock of learned, almost rehearsed phrases to fall back on.
A few little revisionist programs and suddenly every one is speaking the newspeak and guess what? In the same program they were also told all about us. The us bag all non believers get thrown into, proud forum posters though we be.
What we, all of us, who do not accept his message, but especially we (who once tried it, gave it a more than fair shot; and then rejected it), think: how we came to be thinking it and why we feel that way: and probably we were expecting too much ..etc.. etc. This is word for word what the last premie I argued with a year ago said.
Then: when their memory of stock phrases runs out they resort to put downs (also in the script that was taught at the program.)
And many of those insults are actually poor human conditions. They call us hurt, sad, isolated and lonely as if these were insults.
They are real human conditions and are more appropriately observed with compassion than contempt, nor except in the most emotionally dead people, would they be considered put down material, to express resentment.
It is more likely that it makes them feel more secure to think of us as hurt, sad, lonely and isolated. While they, of course are the reverse: unfeeling, happy go lucky, all accompanied by and backed up by each other, and all connected up to the same ganglionic source of information, which unfortunately amounts to the hap'th of beans which is not the knowledge, but merely the opinion of guru Maharaj ji.
Now dripping mossily out of the pipe at the other side of the forest as truth. And it is, he thinks, a picture of how a group of totally isolated unlinked up minds work. This is either impossible or the failsafe, negative, exit end of his plan, for those who disobey and walk away.
He wishes!, Rise up friends, clear your throats. We are so different. And that is good.
Premies are all the same: that is bad. I don't hate them, in fact I still love them, but it is the sad love for the dwarves of Narnia, crowded in their imaginary hut in time, who cannot see the light of day. "Even as you are-- there is something lovable about you, and this I love", but over all:-
"Concerned and applied attention to trying to help you, would better describe what I have done or felt, since the first day I realized that a substantial doubt has escaped the five fold net.
Don't worry! you won't have lost anything, if one day you lose the
Guru: happen to
misplace him, like a photo:
leave him on a train.
Like an umbrella.
In summer time. By winter
It is forgotten.
Don't worry you won't
Have lost anything: if you
lose him; walk away."
Modified by Lp at Fri, Feb 23, 2007, 07:00:24
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"And many of those insults are actually poor human
conditions. They call us hurt, sad, isolated and lonely as if these
were insults.
They are real human conditions and are more
appropriately observed with compassion than contempt, nor except in the
most emotionally dead people, would they be considered put down
material, to express resentment."
This is so very true. It is indicative of the horrifying contradiction that is rawatism. Premies imagine themselves to be the best, the holiest, the most fulfilled, etc., etc., and yet, in their dealing with other people, especially non-premies, they are so frequently contemptuous.
That was one of the first red flags for me at video showings and broadcasts. Before I even knew anything about rawat and his "knowledge", I was struck by the unbelievable arrogance of these people. To an outside observer, these people appeared pathetic, rather than the "blissful chosen of the perfect master." They were close minded, virtually all were in 'month-to-month' jobs, not a single one had held their marriage together, most rarely saw parents or children. All they did was cluster around the TV in hushed and awed silence, and listen to a short, squeaky-voiced Indian with bad control of the English language harangue them. Then they'd leave, apparently back to their very mediocre jobs and their blankets, and wait until the next time he 'graced' them by being on the TV. To say that I had big problems with all of this doesn't even touch it!
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Leaving no room for doubt in one's mind must make it hard to find the space to let anything in at all.
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'They call us hurt, sad, isolated and lonely as if these were insults.' It really is a mirror world isn't it...with us as their mirror? If I were to choose just one word to sum up what I felt as a premie then 'Isolated' would be it ...right on the button. 'Isolated' is exactly where you get by following an imaginary relationship. It is has been just so refreshing to wake up ... and btw appreciate the genuine warmth, humour and sheer quality of the company of my fellow exes ...both in the pub and online. blessing to all the expremies  Tim
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