|
The most common question current
followers of Maharaji ask ex-premies is, "Why don't we just
move on?". If we have decided that Maharaji is not for us,
then why bother with him at all? After all, if we don't like
a brand of beer, we simply don't drink it - it would be
strange to mount a campaign against that beer.
Well, the short answer to this question is that the vast
majority of people in Europe, the Americas, and Australia,
who became followers of Maharaji, have 'moved on'. At the
height of Maharaji's popularity in the west in the late
70's, he could command 20,000 to attend a two week outdoor
festival. Now, after a further 22 years of teaching
'Knowledge', he has difficulty getting 5,000 to attend a two
day international event in the US, in spite of most
followers being more affluent than they were in the 70's.
The situation in India is different where their culture
includes having a guru, or quite often, several gurus. The
situation in Africa is unclear.
Most of these former followers have probably never read this
website, but even amongst those that have, many never post
on the forum. They simply read the site, write to the
webmaster address thanking us, and, as current followers
suggest, 'move on'. Although firm evidence is unavailable,
it is reasonable to assume that there are a group of readers
of the site who do simply 'move on', but never get in
contact.
Even amongst those who have posted on the forum during the
last four years, most have posted for a while, and then
'moved on'.
So to the hard core of forum posters - why are we still
here? There appear to be several reasons. Some of us are
forum junkies. We love debating with the many intelligent,
clear thinking, people who post on the forum. It's actually
very enjoyable. Some of us like the social interaction,
which includes regular real-life social gatherings. After
all, with who else can you talk about believing a teenager
from India was an incarnation of God? Some want to convert
current followers. Although this motive may seem
evangelistic, when you feel the relief of renouncing
Maharaji, it is understandable to want to share that
experience. Some definitely feel bitter towards Maharaji
because of the devotion to himself that he demanded, and
want to contribute to 'bringing him down'. For those who run
this site and the forums, there is also the motive of
providing a public service. The regular emails thanking us
for the existence of this site bear testimony to this
view.
One day, probably all of us will 'move on', but there's
still work to do, and, unfortunately for Maharaji, there are
still many of us willing to do that work.
|
