Similarities with Peoples' Temple seen

Denver cultists interviewed

Editor's note: What type of person is attracted to religious cults such as The Rev. Jim Jones', whose Peoples Temple in Guyana was the scene last week of a mass murder-suicide. How are they spellbound and held to such a cult? An Associated Press exclusive interview with two former leaders of the Guru Maharaj Ji's Divine Light Mission has offered some insight.
By JOE MCGOWAN JR. Associated Press Writer

DENVER (AP)-ln 1971, a 13-year-old youth from India came to the United States and began preaching meditation, inner peace and world peace through his leadership.

Soon he had a flock of "devotees" variously estimated at more than 30,000 in the United States alone. Then he developed a liking for Rolls Royces, Mercedes Benz sports cars and a mansion in Malibu, Calif.

He was the Guru Maharaj Ji, spiritual head of the Divine Light Mission. The Guru, who will turn 21 on Dec. 10, now is a naturalized American and he was wanted in India for jumping bail in a disupte with his mother and brothers over who should head the mission.

Two men who played a key role in building the mission in America now portray the Guru as a violent, sadistic person. They are Robert Mishler, president of the Divine Light Mission from 1971 to 1977, and John Hand Jr., vice president from 1971 to 1973.

They declared Friday that the recent mass murder-suicide at The Rev. Jim Jones' Peoples Temple settlement in Guyana "has brought to light so many striking similarities between the Jones cult and the Divine Light Mission cult" that they recognize "the possibility of similar disaster."

A worker at the Mission's National Headquarters in Denver said they were aware of the accusations and that a mission spokesman would issue a statement at a future time.

Mishler, now 33 and a student at the University of Colorado in Denver, and Hand, 30 and involved in restoring old homes in Denver, were interviewed by The Associated Press. Fearing reprisals, they declined to be photographed.

Mishler characterized the young people who joined the Guru's cult as "mostly white, middle class with some college education. It's a desire for certainty that brings the devotees. Some have been lonely.

"Many were idealistically hopeful, naive, trusting people. In the early 19705, there seemed to be a consciousness awakening. He was captivating. He acted so confident he knew what was going on. He said he was closer to God than we were to ourselves. But his disciples said he was God."

Hand said, "When he says you should lose your mind at his feet, you do. There is total surrender. Then the ego no longer is in the way."

"Divine Light Mission people have the same suicide capability as the Peoples Temple," Hand added, saying the Guru "has often said they would jump off a cliff or slit someone's throat for him. He has preached that if he asked someone to jump off a cliff for their salvation that they should do it."

Hand said Maharaj Ji "makes use of the reincarnation bit. He says the divine person comes in a different body each time. He said the disciples do the same. He said each time he comes into the world in a different body and brings his closest devotees with him in order to serve him.

"He said we came together and could leave together. He said those who served him were the one group that would come back with him again and again. He explained that is why we all found it so easy to love one another, because we had been together through so many incarnations.

"That is how a person could lead so many people to die together. He has absolute power," Hand said. Mishler said he had witnessed the Guru's sadistic nature on more than one occasion. "He personally humbled me and hit me with sticks. He would do that to people in his inner circle. He would knee people in the groin," he said.

Hand said he pulled out of the Mission when the Guru adopted a playboy's life. He said the Guru bought two airplanes and expensive cars and then asked the mission to provide him a mansion in Malibu, Calif. The Guru then moved from Denver. "I don't think he ever liked it in Denver," Hand said.

Mishler said he resigned when he became convinced the mission had become a personality cult rather than something based on theology. "I've heard it said that the only difference between a psychosis and a cult is in the number of people involved," Mishler added. Both men said they realized the possibility of reprisals. But, Mishler said that when the tragedy unfolded in the steamy jungles of South America they felt it was "time to stand up and be counted."