Guru's
followers flock to hear him speak.
Australian
Associated Press General News
By Rosemary Desmond - 4 September 2002
(c) 2002 AAP Information Services Pty Ltd. All rights
reserved. Available for personal use but not for sale or
redistribution for compensation of any kind without the
prior written permission of AAP.
BRISBANE,
Sept 3 AAP - Prem Rawat or "Maharaji" is worth following
around the world.
A
three-day gathering of members of his Elan Vital cult has
drawn more than 3,500 people from 60 countries with their
teacher's thoughts aired tonight in a bushland setting at
Peak Crossing, south-west of Brisbane.
A
small army of security guards and a few police stood guard
today outside the Ivory's Rock Conference Centre, as
journalists unsuccessfully sought to gain entry.
A
spokesman blamed "negative publicity" from a weekend
newspaper report for a refusal to grant interviews with the
Indian-born guru, affectionately known to his followers as
Maharaji.
Elan
Vital conference-goers, some of whom have followed him to
Australia for the second time this year, were also reluctant
to talk.
Internet
websites have accused Elan Vital of wrongdoings, including
misusing donated funds, and Prem Rawat of even raffling his
mother's dental X-rays.
Elan
Vital today angrily denied the accusations, saying the
claims were "bizarre".
"We
were forced this morning to deny that Mr Rawat auctioned his
mother's dental X-rays," a spokesman said.
Elan
Vital directors also issued a written denial, saying recent
news reports were based on unsupported rumours generated by
two disgruntled former employees.
Lone
protester Neville Ackland is a disaffected follower of the
Maharaji with his own website dedicated to telling those
willing to read it about what he calls "the con trick".
Mr
Ackland today parked a truck on the roadside leading to the
conference centre.
The
vehicle was plastered with handwritten slogans attacking the
guru he first met while backpacking in India in the early
1970s.
Mr
Ackland said he donated two Brisbane home units, now worth
about $500,000, left to him by his mother to Elan Vital.
But
12 years later he became disenchanted with the cult, leaving
it in 1985 but was talked into rejoining in the 1990s.
"My
friends talked me into coming back because they said things
had changed," he said.
"But
I discovered all sorts of anomalies and very sad people who
had been abused by people higher up."
Mr
Ackland was turned away at the gates to the conference
centre.
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