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My mum was in a cult, along with my stepdad. The leader was an Indian guy called Guru Maharaji. He was quite blatant in the 70s with the cult aspect of it, calling himself Lord of the Universe and other such poo poo, but over time he has toned all that down to the extent that nowadays he just goes by his name, Prem Rawat, and styles himself as an ambassador for peace. At its heart is the same old poo poo though, and once you start looking through his videos he will try and and ultimately flog you the same mediation techniques that were always the core of what he offered. Apparently in India the cult-like language is still present today. One of the practices that was done at older events, that of darshan (basically kissing his feet) is also apparently still done at some of his events today, but this is all super private now. In older days, when you were indoctrinated enough to be considered ready to learn the techniques, he or one of his appointed teachers would show them to you (no charge), make you promise not to show them to anyone else, and to "keep in touch", i.e. go to events and give lots of money. The techniques by this point in the indoctrination were presented as not being properly effective without a connection with him. Today, one can easily learn the techniques on the internet. They all come from yogic traditions and texts and are unsurprisingly not specific to him, nor the other cults from India of related lineage. One of them is just basic mindfulness; the others are I would say are of questionable theoretical value. Some people gave up their lives/money/inheritances to him; some of them lived in ashrams. At one point, he closed the ashrams and all those people were turfed out on the street with no money and little employment prospects. He meanwhile lived (and still does) in mega luxury, with cars, jets etc. There was also an instructor who abused some of the children of some followers; this was denied and hushed up by the organisation. Many of the adherents who didn't suffer from those terrible things would later need therapy etc from the process of coming out of the cult. Despite this, and though it was obviously a cult and fundamentally hosed up, I'd say it was pretty mild compared to some other cults. I don't think it had a particularly deleterious effect on my mum's life; in fact she would have claimed that it brought her huge peace. She didn't have much money to be fleeced, though she went to events and poo poo and was socially involved with other "premies" (his followers). I'd sometimes go into her room and she'd be under the covers meditating - they were supposed to do it for about an hour a day I think. I remember she had some pictures of him, and I think I remember her taking me to some events (not to involve me, but because she was a widowed single mum), but otherwise it didn't hugely affect my life. I have a book containing some stuff she wrote to me while she was ill and knew she was going to die. This was when I was 10 and her illness and death (as well as my stepfather's death prior to hers) had nothing to do with the cult. Sadly, she passed before she could write too much, and most of what is there (she obviously started with this topic as it was so important to her) is exhorting me to find out more about and follow this motherfucker, which leaves a bitter taste. My only communication from my dead mum, speaking to me as an adult as she never got to do directly in life, and it's largely about this prick. I know she'd have written more had she lived longer, but it's all I've got. Who knows what would have happened had she lived, in terms of me and the cult. I have a very rational and somewhat iconoclastic mind, but I know indoctrination can be strong, especially when you're younger. I reckon I may have got involved with it at first and then ultimately rejected it, needing therapy to deal with the whole thing.
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Nov 29, 2023 16:39
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 11:02 |
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