Kelli,

You are sure right about that.  In the video I saw last Saturday night, (in which it was implied he was speaking in front of the UN -- what a joke!), Maharaji did his usual spiel in which he condescendingly talked about how screwed up everyone in the world is, using his usual absurd anecdotes as proof.  He then said that knowledge was the antidote to give you peace from that.  It was the usual con man trick of informing you of an ailment you don't have and then offering the cure.  It allows people to lay all their insecurities and stress onto an undefined problem and hope against hope that his simple solution will give them respite.

Anyhow, one of the absurd anecdotes Maharaji talked about was curiosity, which he said was a sign of a lack of fulfillment and contentment.  "Curiosity" he conjectured, was the human condition which results from not being content with yourself, and not being aware of what is inside of you.  Of course, he neglected to mention that if no one was "curious" about knowledge or him, he would have no followers in the first place.

It's a radically conservative position, basically that if you are curious, desire more, want to find out what's around the corner, are interested in pursuing enjoyment in the world, it's indicative of lack of contentment and fulfillment, which is inside of you.  It's complete hogwash, but that's the way he talks. 

Another absurd conjecture he made was that people lie about their ages (saying they are younger than they are by saying things like "I'm in my late 30s" when they are in their 40s, etc., (to which the premies giggled)), because on some level they know they haven't found what they were looking for in their lives and hence they want to think they have been around for a shorter time then they have. 

And, of course, he says over and over that EVERYONE is looking for "something," this undefined "fulfillment" which they never, ever get.  We are apparently hard-wired to look for contentment (why, he doesn't say).  "We" he says, just can't help it.

Many people, however, don't have thirst, and, therefore, they don't know they are looking for it, and in that case nothing he says would make any sense. Apparently, once you think "knowledge" might be the answer, you have "thirst."  But, of course, you have no idea what it is, just that it might give you some juice you don't have.  It was so fucking absurd because he just talks in circles. 

Maharaji only can attract people by first telling them there is something terribly wrong with them -- they are missing the key element of their lives because they are looking in the wrong place for something they compulsively look for and never find.  All kinds of over-simplified, absurd human behavior is given by Maharaji as proof of this situation.

 Then, he offers something that supposedly provides the thing people are looking for as a solution to the problem he diagnosed.  "Mind" is just one of the elements he has used over the years as part of this scam. When people still aren't content, he just explains that is due to "mind" kicking in, or losing the understanding of what is going on.

Of course, we all know many people who get fulfillment and contentment from the really important things in life.  Integrity, loving relationships, committment to helping others and the world, and just plain living, enjoying all the little things that are a part of being alive.  That's were fulfillment is, not in some gradiose belief that you "go inside" and find something you didn't know was there.  Plus, who ever said "contentment" was such a great thing?  Is that something people REALLY want?  I don't think so.  It sounds like a recipe for inertia.

The weird thing is nobody ever seems to ask how things got so basically fucked up in the first place.  When kind of God or divine being, created a world in which nobody has a clue what they are looking for unless they happen to bump in to a fat, megalomanic millionaire from India who will them show them the way?  Maharaji just never explains that -- he just says that's the way things are.  It's so absurd, but I can see how this nebulous spinning of problem and solution could be attractive to those with "thirst," (ie. those who hope there really might be an easy solution to all our real and manufactured insecurities).

Joe