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August 28, 2001
Dear Elan Vital Board of Directors, Prem Pal
Singh Rawat (aka Maharaji) and All Interested
Parties:
Subject: Attacks by Followers of Maharaji Over
the Internet
The CAC website appears to have removed the
defamatory material about me and others, although I
am unsure how long that will last.
I will say that within the 48-hour deadline I
gave Maharaji and Elan Vital, part of my demands
have been fulfilled. The defamatory material has
apparently been removed within the deadline. If
Maharaji or Elan Vital had anything to do with it
being removed, I praise them for doing the right
thing and it restores my faith in the basic decency
of people, including people I personally know who
are still followers of Maharaji. But this is NOT
the end of the story for me.
In my letter to Elan Vital and Maharaji of
August 26, in addition to removal of the defamatory
material, I also demanded a public statement by
Prem Pal Singh Rawat that he specifically
disapproved of that, particular, website, and the
defamatory, homophobic, and of the illegal attacks
that took place thereon, and that he disapproves of
any similar actions by anyone associated with
him.
Why do I feel this is necessary? Because
tomorrow, or in the next 15 minutes, the same or
another website, formed by the same or other
fanatic devotees of Mr. Rawat could appear again
and without a public statement by Mr. Rawat, I am
concerned such a site likely will appear.
I and others have already been severely damaged
by what adherents to the teachings of Mr. Rawat
have done to us through the CAC website, (others
more than me from what I know so far), and we have
legitimate concerns that it might occur again.
Moreover, the Maharaji followers who formed the CAC
website say they are turning their 'database and
resources', which I conclude includes our names and
their false and twisted 'files,' on us over to
other, unnamed, organizations, possibily legal,
illegal, legitimate, racist or homophobic. The
point is, we don't know.
Since the CAC website was viciously homophobic,
among it's other crimes, this is of particular
concern to me as a gay man. I demand that Elan
Vital and Prem Pal Singh Rawat also make a
statement that they disapprove of this action as
well.
What have I learned from this? What I have
learned is that the Maharaji cult is a lot more
dangerous than I ever believed, and the same level
of fanaticism, compartmentalized thinking, and
Jihad mentality apparently still exists there, just
as it did in the time of Mahatma Fakiranand,
despite the facade of the modern and non-fanatical
organization that Elan Vital presents. It is truly
frightening.
It also reinforces my view that there are
elements within the Maharaji cult who are following
the path of other cults, who viciously attack
former members who have the courage to speak out
about what they found wrong with their former cult
and reveal damaging information that the cult has
tried very hard to keep secret. This is also
frightening, given the pattern we have seen with
Scientology and other cults.
I know that many, probably the vast majority of
followers of Mr. Rawat, are good people, who aren't
out to hurt others and wouldn't do so. Remember, I
was once a follower of Mr. Rawat myself, and many
of the people I knew at that time were wonderful,
loving people who wouldn't dream of doing what the
more fanatic devotees did. They are not the
problem. It's the other element that's the problem,
and if Mr. Rawat isn't very careful and very clear
on reigning them in, he is a problem as well.
Is there something positive here? One thing that
might be positive, is that I hope, like Way and Sir
Dave said, that perhaps this might open a more
constructive dialogue between current and former
followers of Maharaji. I think we have seen that
vitriol on both sides, although perhaps
understandable, is not constructive. And I would
like to make the following points.
1. Despite whatever else is said, if someone
sincerely wants to be a follower of Maharaji, is
having a good time doing that, he or she has every
right to do so, and to speak openly about it. But
they do not have the right to try to stop those who
are critical of Maharaji and his organization, from
speaking out or to attack them as people for doing
so. And, of course, pwks and the organizations have
every right to correct any misstatements that
anyone says about what they are involved in. But it
is generally not helpful, as most of the Pwk sites
do, to simply label all statements and criticisms
of Maharaji as 'lies' and not engage on the
substance of the statements.
2. Likewise, anyone who used to be a follower of
Maharaji, who feels he or she was damaged by their
involvement with Maharaji, has an equal right to
speak about it. But they do not have the right to
prevent any follower of Maharaji from publicly
disagreeing with them, and or to prevent them from
correcting any errors of misperceptions that the
former member might have. It is generally not
helpful to label followers of Maharaji, or former
followers as a monolithic group who all believe the
exact same things.
And neither group has the right to harass or
abuse anyone else. We are all human beings,
whatever it is we believe, and we all have rights.
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