Maybe I can add a few things.
When Prembio took the time to tone down my somewhat hyperbolic description of followers of Prem Rawat as generally some of the most beautiful and kindest people you'd ever want to meet, he added "not as up themselves as artists," to which I mentioned a few exceptions. Three guesses as to why I'm taking the time to write this.
Mitch strikes me as one of the many shamelessly blind apologists for Prem Rawat who will say just about anything. I first took notice when he said the ashrams were no more onerous than little league or summer camp. The one that was way over the top, however, was when he said some people chose celibacy as part of their path to enlightenment. He convenienty overlooked the psychologically coercive cult dynamics that short-circuited followers' free will and decision making at the time, as if Prem Rawat never said "anyone in a position to do so should move into an ashram."
Mitch knew full-well of the power, influence and coercive effects of "agya," a direct command from the embodiment of God on earth, which I'm confident he bought into wholeheartedly as he sang "Our Lord is the superior power in person... I bow down before such a wonderful Lord" morning an night for however many years he lived in an ashram. And I'm confident he took it to heart when Prem Rawat practically shouted "When you sing Arti, mean it!"
Let's be as clear as possible about this. Just what was/is the power and influence of a command from Prem Rawat to his followers? If someone were to command a free and ordiinary group of adult males to strip naked and poke each other's penises with sticks, what would be the reaction? Not in the case of the devotees of Prem Rawat who dutifully obeyed without hesitation... for the entertainment of Prem Rawat, I might add!
None of this, however, is why I'm writing this. I'm writing because there he goes again:
"In the early days, I used to refer to him as a "Guru"... Realizing I needed a better way to refer to him, I moved on to "Master." Be that as it may, I noticed that the word sometimes made people uncomfortable... Which brought me to the word "Teacher..."
And so it goes, as if Mitch adopted those terms and others on his own, independent of the osmosis-like tidal wave of adoption of those terms and others by tens of thousands of Prem Rawat's followers practically in lockstep.
Just like Al Gore who said he invented the internet.
Setting aside Mitch's attempted intellectual gymnastics and in addition to his previous comments I mentioned (and many others I haven't), his gimmick is yet another example of the shameless lengths followers of Prem Rawat will go to in an effort to rewrite history and obscure the indefensible truth about his past. It's almost like a contest to see who can outdo each other, much like a devotional peacock beauty pageant.
Hope you're well!
