|
STATEMENT BY
VICTIMS ATTACKED BY THE MAHARAJI CULT
August 30, 2001
The undersigned were recently attacked by
unnamed premies (devotees of Maharaji), by means of
an Internet website called “Citizens Against
Cyberstalking” (www.stopcyberstalkers.org)
which, at first glance, appeared to be a public
service to the victims of harassment. These premies
targeted the twelve of us, who are all former
followers of Maharaji (“ex-premies”), by
labeling us criminal “cyberstalkers,” and
by listing our names with eight other alleged
“cyberstalkers” who included child
molesters and kidnappers.
The website was an incitement to anyone viewing
the site to contact our employers, families,
professional associations, licensing bureaus, and
other entities to inform them that we had engaged
in criminal activity. The website provided
corresponding addresses, telephone numbers and
email links for them to easily do so. The website
also included our pictures, disclosed addresses of
our homes and businesses, telephone numbers and
email addresses. In one extreme attempt at
intimidation, the authors of the website even went
so far as to provide the picture of the young child
of one of the ex-premies, and listed the address of
where the child lived. It also included false,
out-of-context, and misleading information about
all of us, including twisted and fabricated quotes
these premies used as “proof” of their
allegations of our mental illness or criminal
activity.
The obvious goal of these premies was to
blackmail and intimidate us so that we would
refrain from posting about Maharaji and his cult on
the Internet. The perpetrators specifically offered
to refrain from further blackmail if the victim did
so. Sadly, one of our numbers, so frightened about
the safety of his daughter whose picture and
address were displayed, capitulated publicly to the
blackmail and his name was then removed from the
“cyberstalker” list.
We believe we were singled out for attack from
among the hundreds of ex-premies who have posted on
the Internet because we are perceived to have been
effective in helping premies who no longer want to
be a part of the Maharaji cult, who were staying
out of fear or other reasons, to leave the cult by
supplying information that has been kept secret by
the cult for many years, and by generally offering
them support. Some of us were targeted because of
what would appear to be our particular
vulnerability to blackmail. Three out of the twelve
appear to have been chosen because they are gay,
one appears to have been chosen because his child
was vulnerable to attack, and most of us were
chosen partly because we have posted under our own
names on the Internet, and hence were easily
identifiable.
The website authors claimed that as premies
they, themselves, have been the victims of
defamation, harassment and other illegal activities
at the hands of ex-premies, but no proof whatsoever
was provided. Much less, no proof was provided that
any of us, the actual victims of the website, had
engaged in any such activities, and we
categorically deny that we have done so.
Although the perpetrators claim to consist of
four individuals, we have reason to believe that
Elan Vital, the front organization for Maharaji,
and Maharaji himself, may have instigated,
contributed to, or condoned this attack. We have
been informed by reliable sources that Elan Vital
has been “monitoring,” collecting data
on, and even doing external investigations of,
ex-premies who have posted on the Internet about
Maharaji. We have also been informed that Elan
Vital has assigned monitors to review our postings
to compile extensive files on all of us, and we
feel there is good reason to believe, based on the
nature of the attack and who was chosen for the
attack, that that information compiled by Elan
Vital was used to prepare the website, and to
defame and attempt to intimidate us. Whether the
Elan Vital hierarchy officially condoned the use of
this information is difficult to know.
Under the circumstances, we find Elan
Vital’s press release of August 23, 2001, both
utterly inadequate and insulting, because it does
not specifically condemn this attack, and it blames
the victims for causing it. We are concerned
because the press release is yet another
“dig” at ex-premies, and might encourage
the more fanatical of Elan Vital’s members to
do something similar. We also suspect that Prem Pal
Singh Rawat (aka Maharaji) may have been personally
involved, at least to the extent of tacit approval,
since to date we are aware of no public statement
by him disavowing the website and its
perpetrators.
After threats of legal action were made publicly
by several of us, the website was modified on
August 28, 2001 and replaced with a statement that
the premies behind the site would be contributing
their “database of resources” to two
unnamed organizations. This statement, which
implies further dissemination of the defamatory
material, as well as the possibility that it or a
similar website could appear at any time, makes it
even more alarming that we have yet to see any
statement whatsoever from Mr. Rawat about this, nor
have we seen any evidence of attempts by him to
attempt to stop his more fanatic devotees from
doing anything similar in the future. Since the
perpetrators claim personal allegiance to Mr. Rawat
and his teachings, we feel Mr. Rawat has a moral
and ethical obligation to make such a public
statement.
This event is an ominous sign. Until recently,
most of us believed that the more fanatical
elements had died out years ago after the Mahatma
Fakiranand incident in the 1970s. But these events,
as well as earlier attempts by Mr. Rawat’s
lawyers to shut down the websites through which
ex-premies share information, lead us to believe
that the Maharaji cult may be headed in the same
direction as other destructive cults, such as
Scientology, which attack former members who
disclose critical information and opinions. Since
we the undersigned stand behind our statements and
opinions, and do so by not being anonymous, and
because we intend to continue speaking about the
subjects of Mr. Rawat and our former cult, we are
understandably concerned about our safety.
We can understand why the cult is concerned
about us, to the extent of wanting us to be
intimidated off the Internet. In addition to
providing a support for premies leaving the cult,
ex-premies have been extremely effective in
publicizing the fact that Maharaji is not at all
the person he has tried to project, and in fact he
has serious personal flaws that he has attempted
over the years, with great effort, to keep
secret.
We have also pointed out that Maharaji's
priorities do not appear to be what he professes.
During the same time he has amassed immense wealth
for himself personally, he has failed utterly in
'spreading knowledge' and has thousands fewer
followers today in the West than he had 20 years
ago. He rarely does 'introductory programs,' rarely
advertises his existence or that of 'knowledge,'
and has shown little interest in doing anything
other than retaining his core audience, his
dwindling group of devotees from the 70s, and
engaging in technological gimmicks, pretending that
these are finally going to spread the word, after
30 years of failed attempts.
If anyone needs any proof of the fact that
Maharaji has reverted to his “Lord of the
Universe” roots to retain these devotees, they
need only note that as recently as a few months
ago, in a high-security enclave in Australia,
Maharaji had these devotees sing ARTI to him, a
lengthy Hindu song premies sang to him in the 70s,
which clearly describes Maharaji as a deity, and
more extreme yet, Maharaji had those same devotees
line up by the hundreds to kiss his feet. Neither
Maharaji, nor Elan Vital, are about to tell any
potential aspirant that such events occur in the
year 2001, as Elan Vital deceptively presents
Maharaji to the unsuspecting world as northing more
than a entirely secular, modern, meditation master.
But if these people happen to turn to the Internet,
they just might learn the whole truth, and armed
with more complete information, make up their own
minds about who Maharaji is and what he offers. For
these reasons, we will not be intimidated from
providing a public service by speaking out freely
about Maharaji.
Joseph Whalen
Anthony Ginn
Marianne Bachers
Jeffrey Leason
William Williams
Salam Al-Ahmar
Michael Dettmers
Patrick Conlon
Jim Heller
Jean-Michel Kahn
Gerry Lyng
|