I think Marianne raised an excellent point about the contradictions and hypocrisy of Maharaji.  I don't think being wealthy in and of itself is a contradiction, but with respect to his wealth there are some serious problems.

1.  How he got it:  Prem Rawat/Guru Maharaj Ji/Maharaji got his money under false pretenses.  For a very long period he claimed to be the Messiah, equivalent to Jesus Christ.  At the same time, the living God was demanding devotion and surrender from his followers. So, when people "freely gave" him money, it wasn't "freely given" like you would donate to a charity or give a birthday gift, it was given under his lie that he was God.   Whoever that "tootrew" person is, is full of it.

Second, he made lots of money or had reduced expenses off slave labor of premies, including ashram premies, and at DECA, and at his "residences" as servants.  This, while the devotion/surrender mantra was spewing from his lips on a regular basis.  Third, he made lots of money off ashram premies who sent part of their income to Maharaji personally every single month because they believed he was divine.  I can also atest to this personally.

Finally, the supposed "church" Elan Vital" and DLM used its resources to raise money for Maharaji personally, to finance his lifestyle.  I have personally seen this happen and as a former employee of Elan Vital and engaged in it myself at the direction of Elan Vital for such things as cars, planes and cash for Prem Rawat personally.  This is illegal.  You cannot use a non-profit corporation to raise money for an individual, and yet it went on all the time.  

Because Elan Vital hides behind a legal structure as a church, despite Maharaji saying repeatedly that he doesn't offer a religion,  it means you never know where the money goes.  Linda Gross says over and over that Maharaji doesn't get a salary from Elan Vital.  That might be true, but we can't see for ourselves because of the secrecy, and moreover as true blue says, all the "expenses" Maharaji rings up for extravagant things ARE paid by Elan Vital and much of that is very much a part of his lifestyle (like a Gulfstream Jet), and as I said the resources and personell of Elan Vital have been used consistently to raise money personally for Rawat even if the money doesn't go through its books. 

And don't even get me started on the millions raised for Maharaji personally in those darshan lines.  Millions.

Maharaji has apparently also gotten millions from Amtext, and yet we are informed that a lot of people who work for Amtext do not even know that is where the money is going or even that Rawat is the "benefiicial owner" of Amtext.  If they were not lied to about this, they might not be so willing to work for the company and produce wealth for Rawat.

Even if Maharaji really did "successfully invest" all that money and made even more gazillions off of it, the questions has to be asked:  where did he get that money in the first place?  Has he ever had a job?  Right.

2. What he does with it.   the obscene amount of money Maharaji spends on himself belies what his real priorities are.  He professes that he lives just to spread knowledge and how selfless he is.  EV is constantly trying to raise money for "propagation" of one sort of another and yet Rawat seems unwilling to compromise or adjust his extravagant lifestyle to fund any of the "propagation."  The $7 million yacht is particularly hypocritical.  The premies are continually hit up for money for propagation, or to pay off debts, or for a plane, or whatever, but Maharaji has to have the biggest house in Malibu.  He couldn't possibly live in something more modest or fly first class to fund any part of his supposed "mission," that his father supposedly entrusted him with, or was that Bal Bhagwan Ji?  Whatever.

3.  How he tries to hide it.  If it weren't for EPO, premies wouldn't even know about the $7 million yacht.  Not to mention some of the other expensive toys Maharaji has.  That he tries to hide how he lives, how much money he has, where it comes from, etc., is just more evidence that even he knows it wouldn't go down well for either many premies or the public to know about it.  If it's all irrelevent and just fine, why is that hidden?

4.   The Hypocrisy.  When I lived in the ashram I knew Maharaji lived the high life, but I sure didn't know how extensive it was because he hid most of it from us.  As a premie, I don't know how much money I would have donated if I knew the extent of the extravagance in which he lived.  I did see the gold toilet on the 707, and one time I saw one of the (several) warehouses in Miami that stored all the "stuff" Maharaji owned that he couldn't even use.  It was a huge DRIP for me.  The guy is a pack rat and like Mishler said, "consumerism is like a disease with him."  You think he could see some of that crap and actually do something for humanity, if not fund his supposed "mission" to the world."  Some premies say it doesn't matter.  Well maybe to them it doesn't.  But then, they just might be in a cult and are unable to even look at Rawat objectively, and I think it DOES matter to most people, and that's why it's important that EPO tells people about it, because Rawat sure won't. 

5.  The sex, drugs and alcohol.   Aside from the money, what was more appalling as we were poor and celibate in the ashram, was the Maharaji smoked dope, drank to excess, had sex with female premies while cheating on his wife, ate meat, smoked cigarettes, and hid all of it from the people he was telling to live like monks, as well as anybody else who wasn't "x-rated."

So, those are the contradictions I see about the money and the lifestyle, not even including the fact that Maharaji is reported to be an unhappy, somewhat paranoid, and a very abusive person as well.   So much for how this knowledge works for people.

But the biggest contradiction is that "knowledge" doesn't work (except to the extent it "works" as a kind of "meditation" that you can get lots of places that have nothing to do with Rawat), unless you accept the belief system that the good experience (whatever it is) comes from Rawat, which is a lie.  And of course, part of the belief system is that it ISN'T a belief system just like how the Rawat religion isn't a religion.

Finally, the fact that Rawat is a liar is probably the biggest contradiction of all.  I think the minimum you would expect from a "master" is that he doesnt' lie to you.

But Rawat lies all the time.  He lies about his past, he lies about having claimed to be God, he lies about who was responsible for all the "concepts" of the 70s and 80s, he lies to new people at intro programs by not telling them about things like darshan and devotion, the fact that his followers worship him etc. and pretends he's some kind of new age self-help instructor, etc.  In fact, he lies because he doesn't just reveal the techniques to people at an intro program because he easily could, instead of telling them they have to be "ready" first, which means duly programmed into a cult before he will "freely give" what he offers, lest he won't get the credit for it, along with the worship and the MONEY. 

Enough for ya?

There are lots more hypocricies and contradictions of Rawat.  I know people can add lots more.