Satpal In England

On May 10, 1998, Maharaji's oldest brother, and fellow claimant to the title 'Satguru', Satpal Maharaj held an 'event' for his own followers in Bolton, England. Successfully infiltrated by an anonymous ex-follower ('Ratty Ji') of Satpal's youngest brother, Maharaji, the proceedings here were reported in our online Forum the following day by 'U. K. Mole'. Mr. Mole refers to Satpal as 'Bubblegum Ji', and to Maharaji as 'M'. The pictures of the event were sent to the site at a later time. For more information on Satpal Maharaj (aka 'Bal Bhagwan Ji') click here and/or here.

Obviously these people should be asking P.A.M. [NOTE: People Around Maharaji - Maharaji's inner circle of devotees] for some lessons in security procedures, but nonetheless Ratty Ji delivered a magnificent performance well above and beyond the call of duty!

The program began with the obligatory Hindu bhajans for a crowd of approximately 400 people, all of them of Asian origin except for one young woman, age estimated at early 30's, who was dressed like an early 70's 'hippie-chick' and who seemed to be involved in the organization of the event.

After the bhajans several of Bubblegum's dignitaries were introduced and then came the warm-up act: one of Bubblegum's celebrated Bhai Ji's. After various announcements reminiscent of Joe Anctil's frantic attempts to ameliorate the lunacy of those badly organized 70's festivals, Shri Bubblegum himself was introduced by the Bolton contact I mentioned in my previous posts.

While the star of the show was in the process of gracing what passed for the assembled throng with his divine presence, he obviously failed to notice Ratty Ji affecting an appropriately blissful smile whilst asking a besotted dignitary if he could take a few snaps of the momentous event. Ratty is a class act himself and had chosen his moment well. In a moment of distraction the guy said yes and Ratty's smile was suddenly more genuine than the hapless dignitary could have possibly guessed. Two or three other photographers were flashing away merrily, thus providing Ratty with sufficient anonymity.

Bubblegum was ceremoniously garlanded by the 7 - 10 pranaming members of the welcoming committee who were graciously afforded the usual feet kissing privileges of the truly obsequious.

Dear readers, I humbly apologise if you're throwing up by now but this REALLY HAPPENED, and the truth must be told. Presumably to heighten the tension, Shri Satpal teasingly removed the garlands as he prepared to satiate the longing of his deluded devotees.

At last, Bubblegum commenced and was soon proclaiming that he had received knowledge from his father at an early age and had been spreading it tirelessly himself since the death of Shri Hans in 1966. There was not a mention of M throughout the whole evening, nor of the historically indisputable fact that Bubblegum himself had been a not so humble disciple of his youngest brother for several years.

He sat bethroned on a time-warped stage replete with (plastic) flowers and dual microphones stylishly projected towards the divine mouth from either side of the chair, a la M circa 1976/7. The lotus feet were, of course, appropriately displayed and luxuriously cushioned. He spoke almost entirely in Hindi.

Ratty's hidden tape recorder has captured all but a few seconds. The tape change-over occurred during one of Bubblegum's frequent pauses to pop some dubious looking pills and almost nothing is missing. I have heard the tape and the sound quality is reasonable enough for Ratty to translate so I can transcribe it. In the meantime here is a few snippets.

Bubblegum spent quite some time extolling the virtues of Mata Ji and comparing himself and his mother to Jesus and Mary, Krishna and Davki and Ram and his mother (whose name I have momentarily forgotten). The purpose of this bizarre oration seems to be the establishment of his own legitimacy as the one and only Satguru. He was strongly suggesting that the true master of any given time is always proclaimed and acknowledged as such by his holy mother.

The inferences therein regarding M are obvious but still there was no mention of the former child prodigy initially afforded the maternal benediction. Several passages are straight from the central party line of the seventies.

According to Ratty Ji, who still has quite a good collection of DLM and Elan Vital videos, some are even blatant plagiarism of M's later satsangs. This contention is supported by several publications, in English, that Ratty was able to procure. These are in front of me as I write and even a cursory glance through them makes me feel like I'm slipping into some manic Indian twilight zone.

After the holy mother routine Bubblegum spoke of the divine energy which, as science can prove, (his words, not mine) cannot be created or destroyed. He, as satguru, reveals this energy (God) in the form of light. Ring any bells? His publications make frequent mention of breath, but music and nectar are not prominent. I haven't had time to wade through this turgid stuff as yet but have noticed several photographs of Mata Ji in all her corpulent glory. There are even some examples of her satsang. However, I digress and time is short.

Bubble Ji was particularly proud of the 'two or three thousand' Indian ashrams he claims to have inherited from his father as well as the even more vague number he claims to have in the U.S. and Africa. As the Bhai Ji's graciously accepted the devotees' money, Ratty valiantly sublimated his disgust long enough to discreetly capture some choice toe kissing for photographic posterity and then scampered with his loot while the going was good.

A devotee helps his young child experience his first darshan - kissing Satpal's feet.

As the program drew to an end there was a short satsang from another Bhai Ji and the great one's throne and cushion was gingerly placed at the edge of the stage to facilitate darshan. Approximately 40 people accepted this invitation but, not surprisingly, Ratty Ji was not among them.
	Devotees line up for darshan. The 'Bhai Ji' kneeling at the right accepts the offerings.

Were he a military man I, as his self-appointed commanding officer, would have no hesitation in recommending him for the Victoria Cross! Very late last night he finally arrived safely at my house, mission well and truly accomplished. I don't have access to a scanner so we are arranging for the photos to be developed onto a CD-Rom but this may take a couple of weeks. I will then devise a method of making them available without compromising our security, possibly via a temporary web page. I'm sorry to be so secretive but we both have a lot to lose and much we would like to do, but can't as yet discuss. Ratty Ji is particularly displeased with the way Bubblegum is abusing the natural cultural and religious disposition of the Asian community and enticing them into a self-serving devotional guru-cult which is in his opinion (and mine) devoid of any true experience.

On Thursday 14th May Bubblegum is flying out for a program in New Jersey. I don't know the venue and date but am trying to find out. To the American forum participants I offer my heartfelt condolences but please understand we Brits have had more than enough.

Well, I think that's about it for now. I'll log on tomorrow evening, (British time) and try to answer any enquiries arising from this post as best I can. Please forgive me if I decline to answer questions of a personal nature. In the meantime, I leave you with an ancient Gaelic valediction: 'may you be half an hour in Heaven before the devil knows you're dead.' - U.K. Mole -
	The event is recorded on tape, as Satpal targets the lucrative video market.

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