Students of Prem Rawat After 30 Years

Critics of Prem Rawat claim that this Knowledge cannot be the true Knowledge or even a halfway true Knowledge because none of his followers have become "realised", "enlightened" or "liberated". Even those followers who have spent over 30 years meditating appear to be quite normal ageing "baby boomers" in their 50's and they cannot spend years meditating in an ice cave in Tibet, cannot exist on breath alone, cannot control their minds and do not appear abnormally youthful, healthy, wise or even thin. Anyone who was part of Prem Rawat's followers for any length of time also knows that his students have a greater than average incidence of divorce, depression and general dysfunction.

The small minority of premies who have remained devoted to Rawat long enough to age from "premies" to "students" do have one thing in common, a surprisingly strong and apparently unwarranted devotion to Prem Rawat and a belief in his super competence and power to which they attribute everything good in their lives. We can see from the testimony of Linda Pascotto and Sandy Collier that this devotion was not based on the experience of years of meditation and practise of this "Knowledge".

"I tell you one thing, the interaction with Maharaji was the magic ingredient and it was so plentiful, it was just, just so available." Joan Apter
"I can, I can look at my life and say My life has been absolutely fantastic. The, umm. I cannot think of any way that it could of been better. It's just, you know, that's not to say there haven't been problems or difficulties." Ron Geaves Professor Ron Geaves has a problem with logic: "it couldn't have been better" but "there were problems and difficulties".
"From the very beginning, listening to him, captured my heart." Linda Pascotto, President of The Prem Rawat Foundation
"When I first received Knowledge I was told that I needed to practise an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening and it seemed so unrealistic. I would sit down to practise and after 20 minutes I was just .. that's about all I could do and I didn't try hard enough you know I just kinda let it slide..." Even some of his closest devotees such as Ms Linda Pascotto, President of the Prem Rawat Foundation had been unable to practise meditation properly, if at all, no matter how much inspiration Prem Rawat gave her and all his premies, until 1987 when the required daily meditation time was cut from 2 hours a day to one hour giving her and doubtless many others a glimmer of hope that she would be able to begin o meditate properly at last.
"Maharaji has brought to me, personally, a sense of extreme peace and just, contentment." And she didn't even meditate properly for nearly 20 years either because 2 hours a day seemed so unrealistic.
"It's vital I think the relationship between the Master and the student is so vital, er that connection, that mutual feeling and um I felt that from really the very first." Sandy Collier
"To me it's like an incredible love story, you know, this life. To discover, you know, who He is." Janet Wallace I think Ms Wallace is trying to say that he's the Perfect Master, the Satguru, God Incarnate. A nod is as good as a wink.
"For me, he gave me love. He gave me trust. He gave me Knowledge. He gave me care. He gave me his kindness. How, without him, I can't imagine myself where I would be. In which street in the world, doing what? God knows." Sampuranand
"For a long time, for many, many years I felt I didn't love Maharaji and I was upset that I didn't love him because everybody else was saying "Oh we love you Maharaji." I respected him, I acknowledge him as my Master, I'd do anything for him but I didn't have that feeling of love but now I find that feeling of love is there, I love him very strongly as if it's been there forever but I know I remember the times when I was upset with myself for not loving him." Glen Whittaker
"His innner life is to do with the love that is generated between the people who've recognised him and who do love him and his love for them, one heart to each other. The dance that is going on, the eternal dance, really, between the master and the student.
"For all of my life I've been this feeling that he's with me at every step in this journey." Charanand That's quite a remarkable statement considering Charanand is a lot older than Prem Rawat. Of course, he believes that Rawat is the Perfect Master and that the Power of God incarnated in the young Prem Rawat when his father died.
"I mean experiences that aargh you know where we just feel completely one um .... Things like that we can't share." Joan Apter But she has just shared it ...
... and I still feel that. He's a Perfect, but to me he's Master, Perfect Master but he still hasn't given me a satisfactory way of thanking him. Bobby Hendry, Prem Rawat's chef
"Deep inside if I just see him and I'm going "Thank you, Maharaji." To me it's, it's the icing on the cake. To be able, you know, to be able to do that, to to look at this person. Thank you. If you were not on this planet, I don't know, I mean really, it's as serious as that. If that guy was not on this planet, I don't even know." George Blodwell
To me what he's achieved is in here, this gratitude and that, that's the greatest thing isn't it? John Hampton No, it's not the greatest thing and it's not even close.