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>The Smart Card is now offered free of charge in order to make it easier than ever to get one.< Or put another way - if you limit access to your events on the basis of levying a charge you get into difficulties with the Charity regulators ! Of course you can still have a 'suggested donation'. And unless anyone forgets here's that useful reminder that "[these are] Maharaji's techniques for finding peace within", Shame Prem's not confident enough to Copyright them - it'd make a great Court Case - imagine demonstrating that tongue thing to a Judge and claiming it was unique and protectable. Nik
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'Shame Prem's not confident enough to Copyright them ' Interesting trivia question? ...which part of intellectual property protection law could apply to the techs? It can't be patent law because they are not methods towards anything industrially useful (or novel or inventive). Not registered or unregistered designs either. Copyright? Well clearly that might apply to Key 6 or a particular written description ...but not the techniques themselves. Trademark? suppose that might be something like the word 'Knowledge' spelt with a capital K ? If they had any intellectual content at all then the techniques could be described as 'Knowhow' ...but spelt with a capital K of course! Anyway perhaps a lawyer could advise? On second thoughts maybe not ..too costly 
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Hello John, Ugly little scene isn't it? ... and ever more distant from the sorts of ideals and motives people had when they first started out with Rawat . Somehow reminded me of Peter Cook and E.L. Wisty sending off his £50 to the 'secret of life' people. best Tim
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Just like the cult leader!I find it difficult to imagine how I would rationalise the behaviour of the cult had I still been a premie. I suppose the easiest way for a fringe premie is to blame it all on the premies and EV, but for those who know it comes from the top it must be excrutiating cognitive dissonance. John.
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'The Smart Card will soon be the only credential needed for easy access to these exclusive events.'
Do they mean exclusive in the literal sense? As in, riff raff excluded? Shouldn't bringing peace to the world be inclusive?
Yuk! - it is suits using business-speak running the show. It's not the cult I joined!
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Yeah, what happened to the good old days when you knew where you stood. Hare krishnas shaved their heads and said "Hare krishna", "boy gods and gurus" sat on their thrones and followers all with one voice but in their various ways, bowed saying: "all hail to the leader". And took inevitable resultant flack (and the odd cream pie) from the press and the vast majority of healthy skeptics with more (or less) good humour, without leaping into civilian clothes or changing identity.
Cults disguised behind veneers of outward respectability seem especially ominous. Constantly renaming and reforming their image, while at the same time trying to hide the nebulous no thing they are selling: not entirely for cash; but for lasting allegiance: these have a more insidious, secret nature akin to that of a prowling cat.
Even one such cult in the world is surplus to humanity's requirements and offers no enrichment to the humanities. The value of the cult product has to be maintained by maintaining and updating the group viewpoint on a regular basis. That value only came into existence in the first place through a persuasive and coercive series of steps in the surrender of reason. What happened to healthy criticism? It was suspended in the early stages: a prerequisite.
Having already stretched my credulity to the limit, by accepting the idea that all physical phenomena were illusory, when then asked to accept that the person of the "master" (a physical object) was an exception, I should have seen the trap. At this moment I can only explain continuing by guessing that basic (Socratic) steps of reasoning had somehow already been partially eroded. Or was it optimism; wishful thinking?
If there were another world/universe other than the obvious one we have, and he were somehow miraculously in both at the same time, well yes, he would make a pretty good bridge between the two, it's true.
But it is an impossibility. Not even a remote probability - it defies the laws of physics right away and reason second. And for a good third: it defies the fundamental, unwritten law of humanity: to view and treat all others as equals, because we are, essentially.
Modified by Lp at Thu, Apr 05, 2007, 06:23:46
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The Smart Card will soon be the only credential needed for easy access to these exclusive events. I wonder how a church in the United States as Elan vital is designated can legally require passport-style IDs for everyone to attend their events? Sounds more like a private club. Instructors will no longer be available to ensure that guests are eligible for admission. In other words, we're ending the era of back room grilling by inner circle cult honchos, of unidentified, unvouched-for members. That's where you have to to prove you're not an ex-premie or a member of the press. Please apply soon to make sure that your registration and admission to the next special event for people with Knowledge is quick and easy. Except we will have just a few inner circle honchos (just in case!) to grill you in a back room to prove your devotion and sanity, so make sure you act soon to get your name off the bongo list. To support the Smart Card Program worldwide, the suggested contribution is US$45. This will help make it available for free even in countries with limited resources, and it is greatly appreciated. Knowledge is for free, it really, really, really, really, really is free. Trust us. There's no charge.
Legal Notice. Divine Light Mission/Elan Vital: Not a cult since 1971.
Modified by Cynthia at Thu, Apr 05, 2007, 08:01:48
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>I wonder how a church in the United States as Elan vital is designated can legally require passport-style IDs for everyone to attend their events? Sounds more like a private club.< From a European perspective it certainly seems odd to me - however as far as I can see there isn't any requirement by the IRS that an organisation operating for religious purpose has to provide anything in the way of public service - so a private club would be quite permissable. It's making the club membership fee compulsary, rather than a donation that is not acceptable.
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Yeah, whenever I start reading the IRS code I go cross-eyed. It's probably also legal for religions to shun and exclude people. Look at the Jehova's Witnesses, who shun members all of the time for behavior infractions. All they have to do is call it a religious practice. Arrrggghhh!
Modified by Cynthia at Thu, Apr 05, 2007, 11:38:45
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