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my rebuttal to Kathie
Thomas:
>'Elan Vital knows of the
allegations...'
excuse me Katie, but these are not allegations.
These are firsthand eyewitness reports, from
individuals who were hand picked by Maharaji
himself, who walked beside him, drove with him,
spent long hours with him in private, working with
him on his projects, listening to his wishes,
satisfactorily executing his orders and answering
to him personally. These are individuals whom he
entrusted with his most precious possession: his
net worth: and who never betrayed that trust, not
from the day they assumed his confidence until the
day they resigned. These are individuals who came
to him without preconceptions, who listened to
Satsang, who met the conditions necessary to be
bestowed the Knowledge, who met the conditions
necessary to enter the Ashram, who practiced every
aspect of it that he recommended, faithfully,
through years of service and participation. There
is nothing to allege, when one was directly
involved. It is tantamount to interrogating someone
as to whether they exist, and when they reply 'yes,
i do', you retort 'so you allege'.
These are not 'allegations', Kathie. They
are the truth, plain, simple, factual and personal
accounts.
'... made on the anti Maharaji
websites.'
excuse me again. The original website, the first
one, was not, as you mistakenly characterize it,
anti maharaji. I believe the original site
was the newsgroup alt.cult.maharaji, which,
although I am sure you cannot help reacting to the
presence of the visible 'cult' in the title, does
not refer to maharaji as a cult. the 'cult.' in the
title is standard internet abbreviation for
'alternative culture', a designation contained on
hundreds if not thousands of groups, so titled,
where humanity the world over can gather in virtual
association and converse about whatever subject
they have in common.
That said, I would think you would now feel quite
foolish, realizing that the first appearance on the
net of a place to speak of Maharaji was in fact
neutral, not 'anti'.
The site you doubtless would like to indicate as
'anti-Maharaji next, would be that titled
'ex-premie .org'. In the true history of its
existence, this site was not published for purposes
of defaming or 'exposing' Maharaji. It was an
effort by one human being who had been a member to
offer a place where others who had been members, to
come and socialize, as onetime membership in this
experience is not exactly familiar to the general
public and is tedious to explain to the average
person on the street( or on the screen). Thus,
providing a place where old friends, and once close
associates from the membership years, could find
familiar company on the internet, was appreciated
by those who had lost track of friends they missed
once they left the group.
I am sorry to burst your bubble, but they were
interested in one another, NOT in
Maharaji.
Hence, your characterization of the purpose of the
site as 'anti' -Maharaji is rather
paranoid or inflated by your imagination. It
carries the same flavor as the mind of a woman home
with her boyfriend who, when he pauses to take a
phone call from another woman he knows from work ,
turns to him and accuses him of [take your
pick:] having an affair with her/accusing him
of no longer being in love with his present
company/being certain they were talking about her
behind her back--when in fact they were talking
about the job.
' We understand your distress...'
that is doubtful, since you, and indeed, we,
ourselves, when we considered ourselves devoted
members, specifically denied any form of distress,
and attempted to determinedly supress any such
feelings with redoubled efforts to meditate,
surrender, get satsang, get darshan, and not listen
to our minds.
'...resulting from those allegations [dealt
with above] and how reading such things can be
confusing...'
Excuse me again:
No one characterized these revelations as
'confusing', Kathie. Their substance is
quite clear. They are not allegations, they are
facts, witnessed in the first person, and there is
no question about what happened, and about what
Maharaji in fact, did.
You are being disingenuous, about interpreting the
rhetorical presentation of exposure, as if it were
expressive of naivete and seeking guidance. No one
here is confused at all. Perhaps the confusion
exists for you.
.... 'However, as an organization, EV has to
first consider the source...'
very well.The source is a wide range of individuals
who had no preconceptions, attended satsang, met
the conditions to receive Knowledge, practiced it
exactly as guided to, served Maharaji, had Darshan,
devoted themselves to his work, and yes, Kathie,
had the experience.
In other words, we are you, in another skin. So as
far as considering the source, can you impugn the
personal reports of such Knowledgeable individuals
who served Maharaji as closely as did Michael
Dettmers, Michael Donner, Jean-Michel, Anth, and
Rollins? Did they serve him any less rigorously
than you yourself do?
...' and motive of the allegations and
criticisms...'
the motives of the allegations and criticisms, you
say. the motive of the criticisms...
If you are duty bound to examine motives,
then that would be a matter of ethics, would it
not? Yet you profess not to comprehend the matters
of ethical conscience expressed in Mr. Sanders' own
letter.
Again, this is disingenuous. If you understand the
need to examine motives, surely you can turn the
same strong light upon yourself!
What do you believe the motives are?
surely they could not be articulated any more
clearly than they are in Mr. Sanders'
letter!
...' before it can decide whether it is
appropriate to respond....'
'it'? Pardon me. 'It'?????
An 'it' is a thing, without a voice, a mind, a
heart, volition. The wind is an 'it'. A rock is an
'it'. Water is an 'it'.
You, however, at Elan Vital are human beings. You
are nothing else, are you not?
You cannot say 'we'? you are not human beings,
with
conscience, ethical awareness, without any sense of
responsibility to the public?
'Elan Vital also respects the right to
freedom of speech as well as the right that all
individuals have to come to their own
conclusions.'
If so, then perhaps you would like to explain the
efforts that were made to wipe the websites off the
internet.
' Maharaji has passionately and with
commitment made his gift of Knowledge and
inspiration available to people from all walks of
life.'
well, let us take those item by item.
'Passionately':does this refer to his raising his
voice and berating, humiliating, ridiculing and
abusing the belief his followers evidence in
serving him?
'Committment': would this refer to the promised
lifetime shelter of the ashrams, which he abruptly
dissolved without warning, or providence for those
who had given their trust and lives to him? Would
it refer to his comment some time ago that 'maybe
he needed to go out and get himself a whole new
bunch of premies and let all the old ones go'? Is
that what you mean when you refer to 'Committment'?
Or perhaps you are citing his declaration that 'he
had come to establish a thousand years of Peace'?
He said that 'very soon, the whole world would know
who is Guru Maharaji'. He said that 30 years ago,
when he was 14.
But today he insists he said no such thing. Is that
the Committment you refer to?
'People from all walks of life': well, maybe not
all walks. In fact, the manual
today is very specific about not giving Knowledge
to people from all walks. It is very vivd aboutb
excluding those who cannot meet the delineated
descriptions, made plain in the aspirant manual,
meaning, those who do not have sizeable and steady
incomes to donate, those who have shown signs of
disability or psychiatric handicap, those who
cannot afford satellite subscriptions to Dishnet
and Visions broadcasts, and especially not those
who ask probing questions, regarding Maharaji's
character and motives.
'He does this freely...'
!!!Surely you can't be in earnest!!!
You are well aware of the costs of attending
Amaroo, of subscribing to Dishnet and to Visions,
of the hours lost from work, the registration costs
of announced programs, the issuance of the Smart
Cards!
This is precisely why aspirants are screened for
income and the destitute discouraged from pursuing
their interest. Nothing about Knowledge is free!
You cannot receive it unless you invest enormous
amounts of time, energy, belief, and money!
...'and asks people to judge it by
their experience.'
Kathie!!
What on earth do you think we are doing??? if he
asks us to judge it by our experience, what on
earth do you think we are basing our entire inquiry
upon? Our Experience is exactly what this all
because of! WE each and all HAD experience with
him! People who have no experience with him would
not be so motivated!
If you want to really get technical about it,
we are only doing what he asked us to do,
which was to come, try it, have our experience, and
then tell the world about it!! How can
you find anything wrong in that? Isn't that exactly
what you at Elan Vital do? Isn't that your whole
reason for existing? Aren't we doing exactly the
same thing?
'Confusing allegations and stories about
Maharaji have been around since the day he arrived
in the West, and even before that, when he
travelled in India.'
Yes, and how much of that confusion has been
deliberately promulgated by Majaraji himself, to
mislead, conceal, prevaricate, and to set people
against each other? According to our eyewitnesses,
we can identify reams of such intentional acts,
which were knowingly set in motion by Maharaji
himself, and remain in force as we speak. You,
yourself are a party to this.
'It will always be a person's option to weigh
the stories...'
indeed it will. And thank whatever forces that
created us that we have that ability!
...' and their relevance...'
...' with their own personal first hand
experience, and see what feels most right.'
and this is what we are doing here, and what
Mr.Sanders is doing by issuing his open letter to
his community and his letter to you. Ethical
decisions are about doing what is right.
'... The option to practice Knowledge or stop
has always been and remains an individual
decision.'
I would like to call your attention to the phrase
'to practice Knowledge'
Let us think on this a while. The question was
asked during the Watergate hearings, 'What did the
President know, and when did he know it?' This
frames the ethics of what one does, when one has
knowledge, and what does when one comes into it.
One can come into knowledge of something and make a
decision to conceal it. Or to allow it to go on. Or
to make it public. 'To practice knowledge' takes on
some unexpected meanings, then. The premies at the
residence who were X-rated had knowledge they were
called upon to practice. The practice of that
knowledge was to participate in what went on at the
residence, in the form of drinking and drug taking
and sexual procurement, and while they knew, to not
let anyone know who was not there.
and yes, Kathie, one always does have the option
whether to continue in the practice of that
knowledge, or not.
We have opted to stop, to not to practice that kind
of knowledge, out of conscience, integrity and
committment.
'In Maharaji's lifelong effort to make his gift
available,...'
what is his gift, exactly? These techniques are not
exclusively his. They are millennia old. They are
no more remarkable than children showing one
another they can fold their tongues or bend their
thumbs back double jointed. Is this a gift? Is the
first person who shows you what sex is, giving you
a gift? Is a person who swears you to lifelong
secrecy giving you a gift? Is a person who forbids
you to speak about the ostensibly most beautiful
thing you ever experienced, giving you a gift?
A gift is something given without asking anything
back in return. It's a spontaneous gesture. A gift
does not require a subsequent lifetime of imposed
silence, or the repeated prodding to be grateful
for it. You don't have to do anything to earn it or
merit it.
This does not in any way remotely describe what a
person encounters when crossing paths with
receiving Knowledge! It is not given; it is
witheld. Conditions are imposed, both before and
after. Once one receives it, one never hears the
end of it. Fears are insinuated into it.
'gift' could not be farther from the truth.
Maharaji does not give any gift.
...' he has done so always displaying
integrity...'
[refer to the comments regarding his displays
of 'committment' and 'confusion'
...' and a quest to make it ever more
understandable...'
may I call your attention to the famous line in the
Tao Te Ching? to wit, 'Those who speak of it
cannot not know; Those who know of it cannot
speak.
The Tao/Way that can be spoken is not the true
Tao/Way'
here, by definition, we have something which
ostensibly cannot be spoken or spoken about, yet
Maharaji--and you, for him, attempt to portray him
as nobley devoting himself to doing exactly that.
It is clear, thus, that By definition, he is doomed
to fail, he is on a fool's errand, and, that
whatever it is he DOES speak of, he cannot be
speaking in the True Way.
I believe that american saying adequately apples,
then:
'Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach'.
...' and obtainable.'...
[refer to my comments above, regarding the
officially dictated screening out of undesirable
aspirants]
'Helping make Maharaji's message known has been
and will continue to be a great honor for Elan
Vital.'
Well, you are welcome to place yourselves in the
service of someone on a fool's errand. He is
wasting your time and the world's nobly portraying
himself as speaking about something he never can,
and by association, you are, as well. A fool and
his money are soon parted. I suppose it is a good
thing that what money he takes in is of zero use,
until he puts it back into the general economy, by
spending it, thus releasing it back to the rest of
the human race, where it can be used and of real
benefit to those who need it.
How many gold toilets does anyone need, after
all?
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