1978: Bob Mishler ex-President of Divine Light Mission Tells All

The suicide/murder of 900 members of the Jim Jones' cult in Guyana, known as the Jonestown Massacre, made "the Cult problem" news again and Bob Mishler, Guru Maharaj Ji's right hand man, personal assistant and President of Divine Light Mission from the beginning began to publicise the disturbing behaviours of the guru and his followers. There were articles in numerous newspapers including United Press International 25th November 1978, the Los Angeles Times 12th January 1979, the Miami Herald 13th March 1979 and the St Petersburg Times 27th January 1979. He was joined in this crusade by the former vice-President of DLM, John Hand Jr.

IN AN EXCLUSIVE interview with UPI, the two men said Maharaj Ji had spoken frequently of building a city similar to Jonestown and was infatuated by weapons and gangsters. Mishler and Hand, who were two of only about 15 members that saw the guru's private behavior, said Maharaj Ji was excited by the crime underworld and after viewing the movie "The Godfather," formed a security unit called the "World Peace Corps." "HE IS INFATUATED with the mafia and even tried to arrange a meeting with a New York don," Hand said. "The Mission now has secret stockpiles of weapons." The two former Mission officials said Maharaj Ji's private behavior included physical and sexual assaults on followers by stripping them, pouring abrasive chemical on their bodies, administering psychotropic drugs and having them beaten with sticks or thrown into swimming pools.

These tales were true and have been recounted by others as well but the warnings about a possible premie Jonestown were far fetched. Maharaji had no political or anti-social message. He delighted in luxury and adulation and was never able to gain enough followers or finances to "build a city." His nasty behaviour was small time and kept within his inner circle. He once spent several days "souping-up" a novelty shop "Sex Book" to deliver a painful shock and the proceeded to shock his brother and another four people and then apparently never used it again.

On the other hand, there is no doubt that all the nasty stories about the young Rawat were true. He was an abusive alcoholic as corroborated by his eldest son, completely unfit to lead any group of people and his behaviour did not improve as we learnt 20 years later when the successor to Mishler as Personal Assistant to Guru Maharaj Ji, Michael Dettmers, then revealed. In actuality neither was really an assistant, they did all the work of organising the Mission while Maharaji merely made speeches and sat around having his feet kissed. The revelations that showed he wasn't a vicious mastermind just a pathetic drunk included:

In 2000, the successor to Mishler, Michael Dettmers, also revealed a series of home truths about Maharaji's life behind the image