Must be some other guru

Friday July 16, 1999
The Guardian

Francis Wheen appears to be suggesting (The Mail man, the Maharaji and the exploding love bomb, G2, July 14") that I am about to invite readers of my newspaper to participate in a mass suicide. I know that the Guardian is keen to improve its monthly circulation. The annihilation of a few thousand Daily Mail readers would no doubt help greatly in this endeavour. Nonetheless, I feel that this is taking wishful thinking a tad too far.

I do not belong to any cult, astrological or otherwise. I do have a keen interest in the world of a teacher called Maharaji but I am not his (or anyone else's) devotee. Nor do I recognise the person in the picture you printed. The Maharaji that I know does not have 93 Rolls Royces, nor has he ever described himself as an "exploding love bomb". I cannot tell you whether or not he is has a duodenal ulcer but it looks very much to me as if you are getting him mixed up with someone else.

Jonathan Cainer
Daily Mail