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It's
been said that you can trap a monkey by placing a shiny
trinket in a jar tied to a tree. The jar opening must be
large enough for the monkey to put his hand in, but small
enough that he can't remove it after closing his fist around
the bait. We are people who have reached into the jar,
been
trapped there,
and ultimately walked away with the trinket by breaking the
jar that trapped us.
The shiny trinket offered was the experience of "Knowledge"
of one's life-force via the four
meditation techniques
taught by Prem Pal Rawat - currently known to his followers
as "Maharaji". Hailed by his entourage as "The Lord Of The
Universe" and boldly stating "I
declare that I will establish peace in this
World",
he first came to the West from India in 1971 as a
13-year-old boy who went by the name "Guru Maharaj Ji".
Professing himself to be "greater
than God",
Maharaji built a following of "premies" by offering to
reveal the supposedly-free
experience of Knowledge to anyone who would reach "within
inside".
The jar that held us was the belief instilled in us by
Maharaji, through a slow
and careful exposure
to it, that experiencing this Knowledge is only possible for
those who become devoted to him personally.
In the years since his arrival in the West, Maharaji has
changed. The former Lord Of The Universe has become "The
Master". Devotion has been re-bottled under the label
"Gratitude". His earlier Divine Light Mission has
evolved into "Elan
Vital",
and he is now repackaging his image with a new
"Foundation",
and paid for advertorials in free magazines for business
leaders. No longer needing to be driven to borrowed lodgings
in devotees' cars, he now parks his fleet of luxury cars
within the walls of his estates located around the world.
The young boy who needed his followers to pay his airfare
from India is now a middle-aged man who owns a
luxury
jet
which he pilots himself - after commuting to the airport in
his own private helicopter. Another teaching aid he has
recently acquired is a $7 million yacht.
And many who contributed our services, our money, and our
devotion to his professed "mission" of establishing
World peace have grown disgusted with his having used those
contributions for his personal enrichment, and have broken
free of the personality cult surrounding
him.
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Ex-premie.org
exists because new "aspirants" and existing premies are
still being encouraged by him to become, or to remain,
steadfast in their devotion. Maharaji attempts to surround
himself only with people who are reluctant to reveal what
they have learned about him. Those who have broken away from
that devotion want to make available what's been learned in
the process:
- That
the jar of devotion only serves Maharaji's personal
interest and wealth-building, and is not required in
order to experience anything in this life.
- That
the shiniest trinkets to be held in this world are
ours by birth to discover, to enjoy, and to share
freely.
- That
having looked up to Maharaji only enabled him to look
down to us - the people making monkeys of themselves
before finally Breaking
Free.
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