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What
is the Maharaji Cult? |
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What
is the Maharaji Cult? |
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Date:
Wed, Aug 09, 2000 at 19:42:35 (GMT) It is irrelevent nonsense to talk about whether 'Elan Vital' is a cult or not and the crap on the Elan Vital website about this is definitely part of the spin. The 'cult' which Maharaji operates and is the head of, is NOT 'Elan Vital.' Elan Vital/Visions is just a front organization used to raise money and be a legal entity to rent halls, sell cult trinkets, etc. Cult members couldn't care less if there is an 'Elan Vital' at all. The 'cult' is the entire 'group' with Maharaji as the head, with various premies as leaders, such as initiators, fundraisers, administrators, and the premies with special status because they are 'close to' Maharaji, etc. What makes the Maharaji cult a cult, is not any particular organizational structure. What makes this a cult are a number of things, including: 1. A belief system that promises a simple solution to unhappiness, problems, etc. This is called 'knowledge,' and the promise of this is what attracts most of the people who get involved in the first place. I know it's what attracted me. 2. People who receive knowledge are told, and often believe, that they have something 'special' that other people don't have, they feel 'lucky' and are told to be 'grateful.' They hence feel part of a privileged 'club' which is the cult. Just read ELK, if you don't think this is what premies believe. I know it was what I believed, and Maharaji says it repeatedly. 3. There is a 'cult leader' who is believed to be the source of the 'simple solution', who is believed to be either divine, or somehow possessing special powers, who is considered well above the status of a normal human being and is worthy of worship, awe, devotion (gratitude) and love. The situation with Maharaji is obvious, and since 99% of the premies have never even met him, they don't know that he is a very fallable, and in many ways a screwed up, human being. Nevertheless, events are held, the major purpose of which appears to be to give him 'adulation' while he sits high above them on a throne. 4. The Cult culture, both officially and unofficially, does not tolerate dissent, or publicly expressed doubt, or anything negative stated about 'knowledge' and especially, Maharaji. Any premie who were to do so in front of other premies, would lose any ability for any 'special' service, status in the cult, and could be subjected to ostracism and a lot of fear that he or she is offending some guy with a lot of power over him or her (Maharaji in particular.) Plus, as someone quoted recently, to this day, Maharaji continues to preach that one cannot 'doubt' or you won't have 'the experience.' This is a blatant 'cult' quality. 5. The cult constantly asks for money or services from the cult members, both for the 'organization' and for the 'leader.' There are constantly new projects and phases to explain that the promised world transformation is just around the corner. In the Maharaji cult, this is called 'participation' which is basically the requirements for money and free labor to cult projects (planes, Amaroo, Boeing 707, Phase II, etc., etc.), to get new people involved, and to send money to the cult and to Maharaji personally. Right now the projects seem to be Amaroo, and the new 'digital knowledge' program. Just some in a long series of failed projects going back to the Millennium festival and before. There are other things as well, but these are some of the things that make Maharaji's cult a cult. It has nothing whatsoever to do with whether some cult entity, such as Elan Vital, has members or not, or anything else about it. The cult is not in the 'organization' it's in the belief system propogated by the group and the leader. |
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