Chronology of the Mishler Interview & Transcript
Many of Prem Rawat's "students" are fanatical in their attempts to prevent negative information about him being made public. This is exmplified by the on-going attempts by them to create a positive image of him on Wikipedia. This chronology of attacks on the publication of a transcript of a radio interview with Mishler in 1979 are indicative of the situation even though nearly all of the protagonists involved would clearly recognise his voice on the tape.
Feb. 12, 1979
Bob Mishler, former president
of Prem Rawat's organization, Divine Light Mission, gives a live
interview on Denver News-KOA radio station. The station
was then headed by station director Jim Hawthorne. This
interview includes much personal information about Rawat that
appears to undermine his position as a spiritual teacher.
ca. Oct. 1996
Former student of Rawat, Ric
Wallace mails audio cassette copies of this interview to another
former student, David Stirling.
ca. Nov, 1996
David Stirling commissions a secretarial service to transcribe the cassettes into writing.
ca. Dec. 28, 1996
The original webmaster of the ex-premie.org
website, Scott Perry, reformats Stirling's transcript with an
HTML cross linked topic index, posts it to the new ex-premie.org
site at The
Mishler Interview. Perry uses a copy of the transcript
emailed to him by Stirling to make the HTML'ized version of the
transcript. Perry was also present in Denver at the time
of the interview and recalled personally hearing the original
interview. The ex-premie.org site was originally designed
to act as a public resource of verifiable and uncensored information
about Rawat and included a very active discussion forum.
Many current students of Rawat take exception
to much of the information posted on this site, and begin to
consider it as hostile to their teacher.
December 29,
1996 -
Jan 2006
The interview
transcript is widely circulated amongst both former and current
students of Rawat. Nobody raises any questions about
the validity of the interview or of its source.
Sep. 24, 2004
A Wikipedia user first inserts
a reference to the Mishler transcript into the Wikipedia Prem
Rawat article. While the accuracy of the Mishler transcript
itself is initially not questioned by anyone, several followers
of Rawat initiate numerous attempts to undermine the credibility
of Mishler himself.
From this point forward, various debates about Mishler's personal
credibility appear to consume very large portions of the Rawat
article talk pages.
Jan. 29, 2006
One current student of Rawat posts his
first comment on the Prem Rawat talk page questioning the "reality"
and the "correctness" of the interview. In this comment
this user posits, "Even if the interview was maybe
a real interview, and even if maybe the transcript
is correct, it is still hearsay…"
Former students of Rawat soon object to
the implications being made that the authenticity of this transcript
is somehow questionable, being made without any positive proof.
Feb. 13,
2006
Adding to the apparent momentum
of the attempt amongst the students of Rawat to discredit the
Mishler transcript, now another Wikipedia user claims on the
Rawat talk page to "remember" reading on the ex-premie.org
website that the transcript was a fabrication. Again a
claim is being made without any supporting documentation. This
user states, "When the interview first appeared on the EPO
website back in the mid-late 90s, it was never claimed that it
was a real interview. It began, if my memory is accurate, with
a statement to the effect that this is what Mishler would
have said." The momentum of the apparent push
to discredit the transcript appears to be gathering steam, but
still without a single piece of positive documentation.
This same user then begins to edit the article inserting the
word, "alleged" before each mention of the Mishler
interview.
Ca. Mar. 10,
2006
Two prominent
contributors to the Rawat article on matters regarding the Mishler
transcript contact KOA for information on the interview and transcript
and then announce this on the talk page.
Mar. 11, 2006
The Wiky user
who had been inserting the word "alleged" agrees to
wait for KOA's reply before further such edits.
Mar. 21, 2006
One of these
two prominent contributors regarding the Mishler transcript receives
a reply from former KOA station chief (of 1979) Jim Hawthorne,
stating that Hawthorne clearly remembers this interview, has
reviewed the transcript, and that it appears to Hawthorne to
be accurate. (
see below)
This Wiky user posts Hawthorne's email to the Rawat talk page
in the hope that this will be accepted as reasonable proof of
the accuracy of the interview, and also as proof that the transcript
does indeed accurately represent the interview performed by KOA
in 1979. The other prominent Rawat article contributor
who contacted KOA only manages to speak with the KOA archivist,
who informs him that the station does not maintain audio archives
from such old interviews.
Mar. 24,
2006
One of the two
Wikipedia contributors who contacted KOA states that Hawthorne's
endorsement of the interview is "unattainable" as Hawthorne
could not "possibly remember what was said and endorse its
accuracy."
Surprised by this reaction, the other Wiky contributor who contacted
KOA places a request for an RfC at Wikipedia. He also links
this page as a citation to the interview in the Rawat article.
From: Jim Hawthorne <jimhawthorne@*******.net>
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 18:10:20 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Re: The 1979 KOA broadcast on the Mishler interview.
Yes, I personally remember the interview was live, with live telephone calls.
The transcript you provided (at http://www.ex-premie.org/pages/mishler.htm), appears to be accurate.
Sincerely yours,
Jim Hawthorne