Joe -:- Yes, Maharaji Really Is A Cult Leader -:- Thurs, Nov 01, 2001 at 19:49:51 (EST)

__ And the third one?? -:- Re: Yes, Maharaji Really Is A Cult Leader -:- Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 22:04:57 (EST)

__ PatD -:- Tremendous Joe , and how apt -:- Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 20:30:43 (EST)

__ __ Marianne -:- Yet another tour de force -:- Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 23:36:36 (EST)

__ Pat:C) -:- Brilliant - needs a permanent place -:- Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 13:27:31 (EST)

__ Cynthia -:- Excellent, Joe and Comments... -:- Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 11:33:37 (EST)

__ __ Joe -:- Thanks, Cynthia -:- Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 17:56:37 (EST)

__ __ __ Cynthia -:- Re: Thanks, Joe -:- Sat, Nov 03, 2001 at 14:32:30 (EST)

__ __ __ __ Jim -:- Or at least don't spend too long on them -:- Sat, Nov 03, 2001 at 16:50:09 (EST)

__ __ __ Katie -:- Joe, you need to write your 'Journey'! [nt] -:- Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 18:26:10 (EST)

__ Jim -:- Better than even the average excellent post, Joe -:- Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 11:32:46 (EST)

__ Mercedes -:- Re: Yes, Maharaji Really Is A Cult Leader -:- Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 11:12:51 (EST)

__ Thanks Joe -:- Re: Yes, Maharaji Really Is A Cult Leader -:- Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 08:14:29 (EST)

__ salsa -:- Excellent post! NT -:- Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 07:38:07 (EST)

__ magiclara -:- Thank you so much -:- Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 05:21:34 (EST)

__ JHB -:- *** Best of Forum *** -:- Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 04:53:25 (EST)

__ Susan -:- That may be the best post I have ever read. -:- Thurs, Nov 01, 2001 at 21:51:40 (EST)

__ __ Brian Smith -:- Definately best of forum !! -:- Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 03:11:45 (EST)

__ Barbara -:- This Deserves A Prominent Place On EPO -:- Thurs, Nov 01, 2001 at 20:57:50 (EST)

__ __ Jean-Michel -:- Don't worry, best of forum is being updated -:- Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 11:51:26 (EST)

__ __ __ Cynthia -:- J-M, And it's very much appreciated... -:- Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 15:47:28 (EST)

__ __ __ __ Jean-Michel -:- Grace and Help -:- Sat, Nov 03, 2001 at 04:27:23 (EST)

__ Jim S. -:- Now this one needs to be preserved... -:- Thurs, Nov 01, 2001 at 20:20:16 (EST)

__ __ Disculta -:- The cult between my ears -:- Thurs, Nov 01, 2001 at 21:13:41 (EST)

__ __ __ Joe -:- Thanks, everyone.... -:- Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 18:02:45 (EST)

Date: Thurs, Nov 01, 2001 at 19:49:51 (EST)
From: Joe
Email: kevjo@mindspring.com
To: All
Subject: Yes, Maharaji Really Is A Cult Leader
Message:

Hi Everyone. As you will be able to tell, I have been thinking about the 'cult' subject for quite some time. Now that our friends Mitch Ditkoff and Erika Andersen have weighed in with their lofty intellectual analysis of why Maharaji isn't leading a cult, I thought it was time to polish off my thoughts on this.

So, the following is the result. I will send them to 'Please Consider This' but I expect they will retain their perfect record in demonstrating they are most certainly in a cult, by censoring all contrary information.

Please let me know what you think of the following:

YES, MAHARAJI REALLY IS THE LEADER OF A CULT

It’s pretty clear that people who are still devoted to Maharaji can get really upset when you say that Maharaji is leading a cult. They may even go to a lot of trouble to try to prove otherwise, as we have seen in recent months. First, Elan Vital addressed it in a big section of its website, which consists of a transparent self-serving attempt at throwing up and then destroying straw men of its own creation.

More recently, Erika Andersen and Mitch Ditkoff have written articles on this subject, and currently it’s the topic of the week on their website. In his article, Mitch continues in the same vein as Elan Vital by attempting to explain why followers of Maharaji don’t meet certain aspects of a cult “definition.” [I’d like to request that if anyone can make any sense out of Mitch’s meanderings on this subject to please let me know.] Erika Andersen tries another angle. She presents a long expose about how “normal” her life is. Since neither mass marriages nor ritualistic abuse appears in her list of daily activities, Erika reassures us that she couldn’t possibly be in a cult.

Why is this such a big deal to them? Probably because cults have a pretty bad reputation in this society, what with Jonestown, the Moonies, Scientology, Heaven’s Gate, and the rest. It also looks bad for propagation purposes, and it’s embarrassing. When I was a follower of Maharaji, I would never, even for a minute, have thought I was in a cult. I would have considered it an insult if someone said I was.

Sure, I thought the Moonies were a cult, and the Hare Krishnas were a cult, but I and the other people following Maharaji, couldn’t possibly be a cult, could we? Of course not, I reasoned, because what Maharaji was offering was real, and I was just too smart ever to be in cult. Everything I did appeared to be of my free choice, and weren’t cults so weird that it would be obvious if you were in one?

Unfortunately, no. One of the characteristics of being in a cult is that you don’t think you are because a cult is all about protecting yourself from those kind of thoughts. Many people, after they leave cults, discover that’s exactly what they were in, and they have spawned all kinds of “ex-cult” groups and websites like Ex-Premie.Org, and large organizations like CAN and AFF, whose members proclaim that they were once members of cults. [For record, both CAN and AFF have listed Elan Vital/Maharaji as a “cult.”]

The simple (and obvious) reason for this division is that once you discover you are in a cult, you are probably either already out of it, or on your way out. Hence, the divide between the current and former followers of Maharaji on the “cult” issue is quite wide and there is little common ground on the subject.

I have thought a lot about groups and cults, and I’ve read and studied a lot to try to understand better how I ever became a follower of Maharaji in the first place, and why I remained one for as long as I did. The purpose of this article is to explain, based on my own research and my own experience, why I say that Maharaji is, and always has been, the leader of a cult, and to try to boil it all down to the most basic level I can. I have tried to set aside the hyperbole.

Maharaji’s Followers Are Not Brainwashed

Let’s just get this out of the way quickly. “Brainwashing” implies unwilling indoctrination of alien principles and beliefs and Manchurian Candidate images of overt control techniques. Maharaji does not brainwash people and followers of Maharaji are not brainwashed.

So, If We Weren’t Brainwashed, Why Did We Join?

Like with any other cult, people become premies/PWKS because they see something they think they want. This might be friends, community, absolutes to live by, a way to “know one’s self,” a way to “experience the energy that is God,” a simple formula for life, happiness, etc. When I was first introduced to Maharaji and his followers, I saw premies as a loving group of people who seemed to be happy, and I wanted to be in their “family,” to share what I thought they had, and I thought I lacked. I wanted the promised experience of the peace inside of me. I wanted to be a part of bringing peace to the world, which Maharaji said he was doing.

I was told by premies and Maharaji that to get those things I wanted, the key was to “receive knowledge.” So, very early on, like literally within hours of my first “satsang,” I decided I wanted knowledge. At the same time, I also noticed lots of really weird, or at least illogical, stuff that seemed to go along with it, like worshipping this kid, feeling “devotion” (now “gratitude”) to this strange person, pranaming, feet-kissing, and the like. This set off “red flags” in my analytical thinking, and briefly caused me to question all I was being told. So, I now had an internal dilemma. How could I deal with the major problem for me, which was that this “Maharaji” and dedication to him, came along with the premies and the “knowledge” that I wanted so badly?

Followers of Maharaji Are Not Coerced; They Are Cooperators in Their Own Programming

Many people resolve this dilemma by dropping out of the process. They split. They are part of the vast majority of people who hear about Maharaji, maybe even come to some introductory event, and never follow through. They aren’t hooked. It doesn’t take. But another way to resolve it is for the individual to follow the directives of the cult and suspend normal critical judgment in this area, in order to obtain the “carrot” representing the fulfillment desired, in this case to get “knowledge.” In this way, the individual engages in cooperation with what the cult is telling them. Unfortunately for me, that’s what I did.

Cult researchers will tell you that because this process involves mutual and willing cooperation, and the individual views all decisions as their own, it is a more binding form of “mind control” than other forms, and harder to undo, because of the illusion that it was all just a personal choice. Indeed, I wanted to believe it. It fulfilled a “need,” and it was “my decision.” In fact, the strongest, most enduring, and most insidious, programming in the Maharaji cult goes on before the individual even receives knowledge, at this very juncture.

I can still remember the feelings and the process from my own experience. I wanted to receive knowledge. So, I did what they said I had to do; I listened to premies and Maharaji talk about it and sing songs about it. This was before video, but during the days of satsang every single night. I also watched movies about it, read articles about it, and I traveled across the country and saw Maharaji speak twice before I received knowledge. In this process “aspirants” like me, are told one has to be “ready” to receive knowledge and yet there is no test or measure of what “ready” means, just that one has to have “that understanding” to “have no more doubts,” to “get rid of all pre-conceived ideas about Maharaji and knowledge,” and “be open.”

So, left with no clear guidelines and completely ambiguous instructions, most people are going to take this the way I did, that it means stripping away value judgments and restraining all doubts or critical analysis of anything that was happening in connection with Maharaji or knowledge. To fail to do that was to not be “open” or it was evidence that the impediments of doubt were still there, and therefore you wouldn’t get what you wanted, to receive knowledge.

So, I pushed all the sincerity buttons I had; I tried not to think critically or negatively about Maharaji. I tried to be open by not letting “my mind” criticize or analyze any of this process. What was the point, anyway? I was told that I wouldn’t really be able to judge any of it until I received knowledge and that knowledge was something that couldn’t be explained in words.

At some critical point in this period, I crossed over into the world of “cult.” I did this by deciding that I wanted knowledge so much that I would ignore much of my critical/analytical faculties, and even my own “gut feelings.” This was the beginning of my practicing of cult mind control which consists mainly of learning to shut down the critical part of my thinking when it came to Maharaji and knowledge. Amazingly, that process, that repressive mechanism, continued for almost 10 years thereafter, getting ever more efficient as I practiced it. So efficient in fact, that for many years I had no conscious awareness that I was even doing it.

Then began the exercises in traumatic humiliation known as “knowledge selections.” Twice I sat in the “selection” process and wasn’t selected by the Instructor. I watched, increasingly heartbroken and desperate, as those who were selected seemed ecstatic and privileged. I wanted to be like them. And I wanted to be happy like the premies, who had by this time become my friends and they were rooting for me to receive knowledge. Having been rejected, I re-doubled my efforts to “be ready” and “be open.” Any critical thought was immediately discarded. I even started singing the praises of Maharaji and knowledge. I had become not only “open,” I had become dedicated.

Finally, after cutting my university classes, and taking a bus 350 miles, I was in yet another “selection” for knowledge. By this point my critical thinking became just irrelevant background noise. I was even “praying” to Maharaji, who was by now a kind of an imaginary friend to me, to please give me knowledge and let me be his devotee. By the time I was selected to receive knowledge, I couldn’t even imagine doubting anything about Maharaji or knowledge, or even looking at any of it objectively in any way approaching how I looked at anything else. But if you would have asked, I would have told you that all of this was happening by my free will, by my free choice.

I was so far gone that by this point I was even willing to say that I devoted my life to Maharaji (then Guru Maharaj Ji), when the Instructor asked that I do so. Amazing. Here I was, a guy at the top of my university class, a guy who was a confirmed anti-authoritarian, a semi-Marxist, a guy who had left the Catholic Church because it was too paternalistic, devoting my life to a human being, who claimed to be another Jesus Christ, somebody I had never met and knew virtually nothing about. Yes, it could even happen to me, and it did. And if it could happen to me, it could happen to anybody.

So, I received knowledge, and let’s just say that the experience did not blow my socks off. It was actually somewhat disappointing. But by that time, I no longer had much capacity to evaluate anything about Maharaji. But it felt okay because now I belonged, and the premies held a “birthday party” for us, and it was all kind of nice, and I was a new baby. Give it time, I thought. Don’t doubt, don’t judge, just be open and give it a chance, the premies told me. I wasn't even conscious of the fact that I had given that up my critical thinking. Like I said, it was almost 10 years before that changed.

Okay, so what was I now a part of? I was now part of the Maharaji cult. It is and was a cult, that fits the definition Mitch Ditkoff uses in his article:

1. A group claiming to have “the answer” as the “only way” to peace and happiness;
2. A leader to whom “excessive dedication” occurs; and

3. The use of “mind control techniques.”

I’m sure even Mitch agrees that Maharaji claimed that he had the one experience of “peace and happiness” and that he was the only person on the planet offering it. I’m sure he would also agree that “excessive devotion” has been expressed to Maharaji, including just a few months ago, when his followers, once again, lined up to kiss his feet. But what about the “mind control?” How did that manifest after I received knowledge and was a full-fledged follower of Maharaji?

“Mind Control” (Better Known as: Discouragement of Doubt) in the Maharaji Cult

Although “mind control” is a heavy term, there is nothing magical or strange about how it manifests in cults. It's pretty basic stuff. But what do I really mean by it when it comes to the Maharaji cult? Well, in addition to the process I already described, the following eight examples are characteristics of the cult that caused me and others to limit our thoughts – to engage in “mind control.” These are all “Mind Control Techniques” described in general terms in the literature and research on cults. They should be easily recognizable to anyone who has been a follower of Maharaji:

1.The Commandment Against Doubting. Cults almost always forbid or discourage their members from doubting anything about the Cult, and especially the Cult Leader. Maharaji was especially explicit about this. For many years, Maharaji had a “Commandment” that his followers were supposed to follow, which was to “Never Leave Room for Doubt in Your Mind.” I know he doesn’t have “commandments” anymore, but I think the principle is still there, and I read a transcript of Maharaji speaking in Argentina in which he again lambasted “doubts” as a detriment to your “experience.” I know that some PWKs say that the commandment actually meant something else, but I find the explanations absurd. It says what it says. Moreover, in my experience, doubts in the Maharaji cult were always discouraged, with or without the existence of Maharaji’s “commandment.”

So, after you receive knowledge, after the repression of your thoughts that it took to get to that point, Maharaji gives you a commandment that says you aren’t supposed to doubt and that doubting interferes with the “experience.” Obviously, this makes it nearly impossible to look at knowledge or Maharaji objectively.

2. No Critical Question about the Leader or His Teaching is Legitimate. One of the true tests of whether someone is in a cult is whether he or she can criticize the Cult Leader. It’s nearly impossible, indeed is impossible, to get a one of Maharaji’s followers to do it. Of course, they will say there is nothing to criticize, because cult thinking will not allow those critiques, those “doubts” to enter, and if they do, they are immediately repressed. It causes a cult member great discomfort to think of questioning or criticizing the Cult Leader and if they have such thoughts, they would NEVER say it publicly. This is because the Maharaji cult is really a personality cult, although it retains some “Eastern spiritual cult” overtones. Obviously, if you attack the “personality” what do you have left? Some PWKs can bring themselves to criticize Elan Vital, and various leaders of that and other related organizations. I did the same thing towards the end of my involvement. But mostly, I just blamed myself for even having any doubts in the first place.

Once you are out of the cult, believe me, you will have no problem criticizing Maharaji. All the critical things you have thought about him, about his “efforts” as master, or about knowledge, or about your experiences as one of his followers, all of which have been repressed, will come out like a raging river, and it feels wonderful.

3. Criticism of the Cult and Especially the Cult Leader, in any Form, is Seen as Lack of “Understanding,' or 'Confusion.' In my experience, if you express criticism of Maharaji, or any of his decisions, or Knowledge, or anything related, you get the cold shoulder by his followers and his organization and will be considered “confused” or not “synchronized.” It’s group pressure, really. And if you do so, you can usually forget about moving up in the organization, getting close to the Lotus Feet, getting a good seat at a program, being invited to “the residence,” or getting a good “participation opportunity.”

If you do it too much, you might even be categorized as a “bongo.” Try sitting in your next “participation meeting” and say some negative stuff about Maharaji or what he’s doing. See how open and tolerant your fellow followers are to such statements. It’s unlikely they will encourage you to air your opinions and vigorously discuss your “negative” views. [By the way, being labeled “negative” is about the worst thing that can happen to you in the Maharaji cult and this is yet another form of mind control.]

4. Threats of Dire Calamity if They Abandon Knowledge/Maharaji. I could go into the “tons of rotten vegetables” and other things Maharaji said as threats of what would happen if people abandoned the cult, but that isn’t really necessary. Basically, this is internalized in most PWKs, such that they cannot imagine, and fear, what their lives would be like if they left Maharaji. Since Maharaji has been portrayed as being exclusive in his “perfect master” position, PWKs fear there is no place else to go. This is basically phobia indoctrination. It’s the irrational fear of ever leaving the group or even questioning the leader’s authority. Basically, the PWKs (and this was also true for me), cannot visualize a positive, fulfilled future without being a follower of Maharaji, and Maharaji reinforces this in just about everything he says.

As a premie, I described this psychological dependence on Maharaji or at least my image of Maharaji and the fear I had of rejection by him, as my “love for Maharaji,” despite the fact that I never even met the guy. Also, somehow, if I said I “loved” Maharaji, it gave me some comfort that is was less likely I would ever unconsciously reject him, or that he would reject me.

5. There is Never A Legitimate Reason to Leave/Shunning Those Who Leave. It’s difficult for a follower of Maharaji to see how someone can legitimately leave “that place” and not be miserable. Ex-premies have heard it all, and I thought much the same when people left the cult when I was still a member. People who leave are labeled as “confused,” “lacking the proper understanding,” having gotten into the cult for “the wrong reasons,” wanting a “Hindu spiritual trip,” “undisciplined,” “never having practiced knowledge,” “negative,” or seduced by money, sex, rock and roll. You name it. We have heard it all. Just check out Pia Grunbaum’s and Charles Glasser’s websites, if you want to see it in print. And as for being shunned, how many of us lost our premie “friends” when we left? Now that some of us are notorious ex-premies speaking out on the Internet, that “shunning” has evolved into open hostility. It even extends to attack websites, like those of CAC, Charles Glasser and Pia Grunbaum. “Please Consider This” is just a lot more diplomatic on that score, but is essentially an attempt at the same endeavor.

6. The Cult Leader and the Cult Make Followers Feel that Any Problems Are Their Own Fault and Never Maharaji’s. This, in my opinion, is the essence of the Maharaji cult. The axiom is this: All that is good is due to Maharaji, or at least ultimately due to him, while all that is bad is due to the PWK, because of the PWK’s lack of understanding, always getting distracted, or “forgetting that place,” his or her own confusion, etc.

If you want to see examples of this, just read the Maharaji cult websites, and see how the writers thereon engage in logical gymnastics to keep from ever blaming Maharaji for anything that ever happened, but are quite willing to place responsibility on themselves or Maharaji’s other followers.

7. Information is Not Freely Accessible/Information Varies at Different Levels/Leadership Decides Who “Needs to Know” What. Elan Vital and Maharaji are notoriously secretive. Very little is disclosed, even to members. And of course, we all know how secretive Maharaji has been about his personal life, with people being “x-rated” in order to be around him. And even PWKs complain of the paranoid secrecy within Elan Vital and Maharaji’s organization. This kind of information control, especially when it involves information damaging to the perceptions of Maharaji and knowledge, is very important in the Maharaji cult, and always has been. This is partly why EPO is seen as such a threat, because it exposes information the cult is trying to keep secret, and information is empowering to people, and even encourages them to look critically at things they accepted as truth in the past.

8. Lots of “Loaded Language” (AKA Thought-Terminating Clichés). These are basically terms that have normal meanings to most people, but to people in the Maharaji cult, they have loaded meanings, that evoke an instantaneous “understanding” such that no further thought about what is being said is necessary. Just to name a few: mind, heart, knowledge, breath (that’s a big one these days), that love, that peace, that experience, that gift (really lots of words with “that” in front of them to convey special meaning), understanding, thirst, negativity, doubt, participation, gratitude, and my personal favorite, “synchronization.” Maharaji can use these words peppered throughout his speech and end up really saying nothing, but sounding profound, with appropriate nods from his followers.

So, by the time I walked out of the knowledge session, and became an official follower of Maharaji, I was already crippled in my ability to judge what was going on with me in relation to the cult and Maharaji. Then, Maharaji’s commandments and teachings, and the culture of the cult itself, discouraged critical analysis, and encouraged its continued repression.

After a very short time, I was on automatic. I automatically engaged in self-censorship of my thoughts, almost all the time after that. It didn’t really matter the particular rituals or living situations I encountered in the cult, the real cult was by then existing largely between my ears, reinforced by the mind control mechanisms described above, and others as well. Sure, occasionally some doubts still got through, but they were pretty easily disposed of, perhaps by some extra meditation, or perhaps by getting a “group high” from an “event.”

I want to emphasize that in other areas, on subjects unrelated to Maharaji and knowledge, I remained pretty much a normal, functioning person, to the extent I could be. It wasn’t until I got out of the cult, and started to unwind that whole process, that I even realized that yes, I really was engaging in that process almost the whole time. When that happened, it was exhilarating. It was like I could finally breathe again, after I had somehow forgotten for a very long period of time.

Joe Whalen
November 1, 2001

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 22:04:57 (EST)
From: And the third one??
Email: None
To: Joe
Subject: Re: Yes, Maharaji Really Is A Cult Leader
Message:

OK Joe, I've saved this EXCELLENT post and the EXCELLENT ashram post in my word Docs (if I bookmark the forum posts they end up blank eventually??) ....what's next? :)

Cheers

Dermot

...Damn, just add this edit....I meant "and the third one?" as the title, not my name!!

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 20:30:43 (EST)
From: PatD
Email: None
To: Joe
Subject: Tremendous Joe , and how apt
Message:

that you should publish it on All Saints Day .

You should write a book.

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 23:36:36 (EST)
From: Marianne
Email: None
To: PatD
Subject: Yet another tour de force
Message:

Excellent post, Joe. You have such penetrating insights.

Marianne

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 13:27:31 (EST)
From: Pat:C)
Email: None
To: Joe
Subject: Brilliant - needs a permanent place
Message:

....and prominent place on EPO. Not only best of forum but maybe also under Journies or even on EPO as an introduction. It explains so many things that can never be contradicted by the new premie websites.

Maharaji has worked hard in the past few years to disband any last remnants of ''community'' to the point where premies are isolated in their houses watching video broadcasts. It is obviously no longer a group cult in the west simply a ''a cult between the ears'' of each individual premie, a folie a deux, a cult of two, the master and student, an invisible cult.

The funny thing is how much all PWKs still think and talk alike. There is no need for group mind-control when each individual ''student'' is a slave to a master.

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 11:33:37 (EST)
From: Cynthia
Email: None
To: Joe
Subject: Excellent, Joe and Comments...
Message:

Hi Joe,

Your post is one of the most thoughtful written here about EV/M being a cult. However, I disagree with the following statement you made concerning brainwashing:

Maharaji’s Followers Are Not Brainwashed

Let’s just get this out of the way quickly. “Brainwashing” implies unwilling indoctrination of alien principles and beliefs and Manchurian Candidate images of overt control techniques.

Maharaji does not brainwash people and followers of Maharaji are not brainwashed.

Joe, I think that Maharaji does brainwash his followers. It may not be in the style of the Manchurian Candidate, but nontheless, entering the M cult is a process of being brainwashed through thought control and coercion, albeit more subtle coercion. When I entered the cult, the process was to listen to satsang which was purposely geared toward new people. Once an aspirant I was listening to satsang every night for at least an hour and a half and more on weekends, reading the print material which consisted mostly of Maharaji's satsang, attending regional programs, and listening over and over to his tapes. As a person goes through the process of adapting the thought processes as prescribed by Maharaji and is nurtured through this process by premies or PWKs, I believe it is brainwashing.

I've been reading Raven the book about the Jim Jones/Peoples Temple cult. Among many other similarities, the tactics used in this regard are chilling. Those cult members also were subjected to long hours of Jones's rant, both before going to Guyana, and certainly after. Whenever they slacked off on their work (really a parallel to DECA) they were sent tapes of Jones, who was still in California.

From Page 277-278:

''Just when [Jonestown] settlers got too complacent, just when they were beginning to forget their holy mission, hour-long tapes of Jim Jones's sermons and teachings would arrive from California. Listening to each tape eight or ten times would jar them into remembering how bad things were back home. Then their productivity would improve noticeable.''

These tapes would be played on a broadcast system so the people could not avoid listening to them. IMO, it's all brainwashing, because lies and fear are instilled in the cult-member by being reminded who is boss. It's semantics, yes, but I believe it's important to realize that mind-control is brainwashing.

Also, FYI, I wanted to mention that the Cult Awareness Network (CAN) which you mentioned, is not a legitimate cult awareness organization. I've posted a link to Rick Ross's website which explains the process of how CAN was taken over by Scientologists.

Other than the brainwashing comment, Joe, your essay is excellent! Thanks so much.

Cynthia

I couldn't get the link thingy to work, but here's the URL:
http://www.rickross.com/cgi-bin/htsearch?config=&restrict=&exclude=&method=and&format=long&sort=score&words=Scientology

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 17:56:37 (EST)
From: Joe
Email: None
To: Cynthia
Subject: Thanks, Cynthia
Message:

Just two comments:

Regarding 'brainwashing' it depends on how you define the term. The traditional definition is coercion, kind of forcing people, through intimidation, etc., to believe something. I don't think that happens in the Maharaji cult. In fact, people who are 'brainwashed' in this fashion, usually lose the brainwashing some time after they get out of the situation, but the kind of mind control we underwent in the Maharaji cult is a lot more enduring, because we can't point to actual coercion.

But if you use a broader definition like you are, (the endless satsang, endless emersion in cult teachings, etc.), then I agree, it is brainwashing.

So, I was using the traditional term, and I also don't like to use the term in the broader sense you do because it is so 'loaded' to say that somebody is 'brainwashed.' It kind of ends the discussion right there, and I wanted to emphasise that yes, we really did make certain choices to go along with culthink at least at some point.

Regarding CAN, I know that CAN in the US has been taken over by the Scientologists, and AFF has kind of taken over the old CAN duties. I was referring to the 'old CAN' and also the CAN in other countries, which it still exists outside control by Scientology. One very active one is in Australia, run by Jan Groenveld, who I have found particularly helpful in understanding cults.

CAN Australia clearly lists EV/Maharaji as a 'cult' and so does AFF.

You can visit the CAN Australia website at: http://caic.org.au

Thanks Cynthia. I have limited time, so I don't respond to many posts, but I wanted to let you know that I always enjoy yours.

Joe

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Sat, Nov 03, 2001 at 14:32:30 (EST)
From: Cynthia
Email: None
To: Joe
Subject: Re: Thanks, Joe
Message:

Hi Joe,

Thanks for your clarification on brainwashing, it helps.

Also, again, thanks for this superb and thoughtful essay which I believe should be a permanent part of EPO. I explains everything about the cult so well.

Hope you are well...(stay off of bridges, please)
Love,
Cynthia

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Sat, Nov 03, 2001 at 16:50:09 (EST)
From: Jim
Email: None
To: Cynthia
Subject: Or at least don't spend too long on them
Message:

...(stay off of bridges, please)

Joe,

I agree that you should avoid the bridges if you can. If you can't, though, I'd suggest that you just drive on and drive right over to the other side without stopping.

Hm? That's only quetionably funny too, isn't it?

Sorry.

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 18:26:10 (EST)
From: Katie
Email: None
To: Joe
Subject: Joe, you need to write your 'Journey'! [nt]
Message:

[nt]

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 11:32:46 (EST)
From: Jim
Email: None
To: Joe
Subject: Better than even the average excellent post, Joe
Message:

This really is a top drawer post.

This part especially:

Cult researchers will tell you that because this process involves mutual and willing cooperation, and the individual views all decisions as their own, it is a more binding form of “mind control” than other forms, and harder to undo, because of the illusion that it was all just a personal choice. Indeed, I wanted to believe it. It fulfilled a “need,” and it was “my decision.” In fact, the strongest, most enduring, and most insidious, programming in the Maharaji cult goes on before the individual even receives knowledge, at this very juncture.

Thanks

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 11:12:51 (EST)
From: Mercedes
Email: None
To: Joe
Subject: Re: Yes, Maharaji Really Is A Cult Leader
Message:

Hi Joe,
Thank you so much for your thoughts, I echo with them. It is so obvious that it is a personality cult I am amazed as time goes by how clarity really comes and I can see it for what it really is.
I have been outcasted by the premies in my community they don't even talk to me and they are surprised I look good and serene...no comment.
Thanks again,
Mercedes

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 08:14:29 (EST)
From: Thanks Joe
Email: timgitti@indigo.ie
To: Joe
Subject: Re: Yes, Maharaji Really Is A Cult Leader
Message:

I don't know how you can give so much time and thought to the subject, but I do know that what you have written will be of great help to many. It really pinpoints the subtle nature of the indoctrination or self-hypnosis, the complicit suspension of disbelief which of course is powered by the self-interest motive; wishing for peace, enlightenment, clarity and love etc. I fell for it big time .

I'd love to run it past a few premie friends
Thanks Joe

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 07:38:07 (EST)
From: salsa
Email: None
To: Joe
Subject: Excellent post! NT
Message:

yeap

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 05:21:34 (EST)
From: magiclara
Email: None
To: Joe
Subject: Thank you so much
Message:

That is absolutely marvellous. I wish the premies who have turned their back on me now that I am an infidel could read that.
love magiclara

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 04:53:25 (EST)
From: JHB
Email: None
To: Joe
Subject: *** Best of Forum ***
Message:

Joe,

Brilliant analysis. It will definitely get its own page on EPO.

John.

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Thurs, Nov 01, 2001 at 21:51:40 (EST)
From: Susan
Email: None
To: Joe
Subject: That may be the best post I have ever read.
Message:

Great analysis. Just excellent.

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 03:11:45 (EST)
From: Brian Smith
Email: None
To: Susan
Subject: Definately best of forum !!
Message:

thanks Joe, for puttting forth the considerable time and effort to construct this insightful and intelligent piece

Brilliant writing

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Thurs, Nov 01, 2001 at 20:57:50 (EST)
From: Barbara
Email: None
To: Joe
Subject: This Deserves A Prominent Place On EPO
Message:

Joe:

Just a fabulous essay, Joe, so well written and exhibiting 'that clarity' we so desperately sought by coming to Maharaji and, sadly, thought we had, but didn't.

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 11:51:26 (EST)
From: Jean-Michel
Email: None
To: Barbara
Subject: Don't worry, best of forum is being updated
Message:

I'm into it theses days, still some work to do ....

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 15:47:28 (EST)
From: Cynthia
Email: None
To: Jean-Michel
Subject: J-M, And it's very much appreciated...
Message:

Hi Jean-Michel,

I want to thank you again for all the work you do to keep the material on EPO updated and ongoing with new developments.

I don't know how you do it, but your efforts mean a lot to me.

Much Love,
Cynthia

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Sat, Nov 03, 2001 at 04:27:23 (EST)
From: Jean-Michel
Email: None
To: Cynthia
Subject: Grace and Help
Message:

I have some spare time, and get some help from exes and friends that don't want to be mentioned here.

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Thurs, Nov 01, 2001 at 20:20:16 (EST)
From: Jim S.
Email: None
To: Joe
Subject: Now this one needs to be preserved...
Message:

Joe-

Quite an essay....this should be required reading for all premies and aspirants in that book that the MRC recommended that maharaji provide for all aspirants to see whether he ran a cult or not....

Quite a discourse....this should be prominently displayed for discussion....

Good work.....I would like to see a response from ev to it....

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Thurs, Nov 01, 2001 at 21:13:41 (EST)
From: Disculta
Email: None
To: Jim S.
Subject: The cult between my ears
Message:

Joe, Thanks so much for your stupendous efforts here. I enjoyed this a lot. I especially liked the last paragraph, with the great new phrase (we can have cliches too): 'the cult between my ears,' and the idea that you have been able to breathe easily since leaving. That's hysterical.

love kt

Return to Index -:- Top of Index

Date: Fri, Nov 02, 2001 at 18:02:45 (EST)
From: Joe
Email: None
To: Disculta
Subject: Thanks, everyone....
Message:

You guys as too sweet.

Happy Day of the Dead!!!!

Return to Index -:- Top of Index