"...but I am alive because a breath came into me. And it brought a spectacular gift of existence... a gift of existence was given to me."
A "gift" requires giving by a giver, a conscious act on the part of some entity, being or thing. Who or what - necessarily separate and apart from us - made the decision and gave that gift? A gift from who or what?
So many people, myself included, fell for it without thought or hesitation: the existence of a big, presumably benevolent, kind and generous "giver" out there (in there, everywhere or wherever). The whomever or whatever "it" is gets labeled as God and suddenly we have all these obligations ranging from devotion, surrender, acceptance, appreciation, gratitude, subservience, obedience and whatnot, not to mention an underlying fear of displeasing or getting sideways with it.
Enter the guru, the master of trickery and deception, who supplants himself as the giver. There was a huge debate about whether or not Prem Rawat claimed to be God because he never said "I am God." Nevertheless, Prem Rawat, a/k/a Guru Maharaji or simply Maharaji, said, among many other similar statements:
• "This time I have come with more power than ever before."
• "Guru is greater than God because he can show you God."
• "Guru Maharaji. The Lord. All powerful."
• "The Greatest Magician" in the context of being the one who actually created that bunny rabbit pulled out of a hat.
• "Not a leaf moves without the grace of Guru Maharaji."
• "And when you sing Arti, mean it!" ("Our Lord is the superior power in person." )
Suddenly, all these obligations we supposedly have to that "superior power in person" are to Prem Rawat who successfully supplanted himself as... call it what it is by every ordinary (as opposed to premie obfuscated) definition: God, the Creator, the giver of that breath!
What a crock! And it goes downhill from there. All the recriminations, disavowals, blame shifting and historical revisionism of past decades as Prem Rawat and his followers try to publicly (but not privately) reinvent themselves and run as fast as they can from the truth of their devotional origins, current private practices and their own history - like a bunch of modern-day chicken-shit Judases - as they water everything down and try to disguise it. As if their dubious peace and contentment justifies mansions, jets, yachts, millions and whatever else Prem wants or demands.
(This post is already far to lengthy to go into the influence and effects of the power of suggestion, months of required preparation and a lifetime of indoctrination on their "leave no room for doubt in your mind" experience... all in the guise of "don't have any concepts." )
The tragedy is that they're so trapped that when they find out their master, teacher, peace ambassador, (NYT dagger of death) best-selling author or whatever is a heavy drinking, smoking, blame shifting, squandering, exploitative and former power-abusive sexual abuser AND childhood sexual abuser of his own sons, they can't bring themselves to step back, walk away and use their intelligence to deconstruct how they allowed themselves to be so duped and caught-up in such a perverse trap.
And then Prem goes on to say:
"And for that person, of all the things that can be... fortunes... disasters... pain... suffering... joy... laughter... smile... there was one more thing that also could be... that person could feel peace... Could feel content."
Really? Same ups and downs as everyone else, except now they have a wholly fabricated crutch offered by a wholly fabricated imposter that they're solely dependent upon... to the benefit and enrichment of the imposter... the imposter of something wholly fabricated in the first place.
That's really messed-up.
Now they're out there peddling it to innocent and unsuspecting 15 - 18-year-olds in high schools, but (in this context) disgustingly (or disturbingly?) disguised as peace, appreciation, inner-strength, self-awareness, clarity, understanding, dignity, choice, hope and contentment. If they were honest, much like the "Legitimacy Project" in which they deceptively exploited the names of fine institutions, they might as well call it the "Cult Sustainability Project."