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Prem Pal Singh Rawat (born December 10, 1957 in Dehradun in India). His teachings claim to promote inner peace through four meditation techniques that he collectively calls "Knowledge" and which he brought to the West and promotes in both the West and India. He offers to help people prepare to learn the techniques and provide ongoing inspiration and guidance to his students to whom he is known as Maharaji. For some people, Maharaji is a controversial figure.

At an early age he was known as Balyogeshwar (Sanskrit: बालयोगेङवार = child master of yogis), or more fully, Balyogeshwar Param Hans Shri Sant Ji Maharaj. Later on he was called by the title Guru Maharaj Ji (Hindi: Maharaj = great king.) or Guru Maharaji. He dropped the term Guru from his title in the 1980s.

In his book Clarity he says:

My parents named me Prem Rawat. Since then, many people have given me many names. When as a child, I started addressing audiences in India, those who came to listen to me called me Maharaji. Over the years as I have traveled, people on different continents have continued to give me different names, affectionately expressing respect and appreciation.

Earliest years

Childhood

Prem Rawat was born and spent his childhood in India and attended the Catholic-run St. Joseph's Academy elementary school in Dehra Dun. He is the fourth and youngest son of Shri Hans Ji Maharaj's second marriage to Jagat Janani Mata Shri Rajeshwari Devi. Shri Hans was an Indian guru who founded an organization known as the Divine Light Mission in India.

Prem Rawat took up speaking about spiritual issues at a very young age, it has been said as early as age three . His father taught him the techniques of Knowledge at age six, including him among his father's other students. He reported that controversy began to arise around him at about age six, when the quality of his discourse coming from such a small child prompted critics to assert that the speech was coming from a tape recorder and that he was just lip syncing. In the early 1970s his family and certain supporters told stories that even in his early years his older brothers deferred to him, that he was the son who made introductory remarks at his father's events, and that his father indirectly indicated to the family that of all the siblings he was worthy of special respect. See Hans Ji Maharaj: Succession.

Succession to his father's mantle

Prem Rawat succeeded to the leadership of the DLM upon his father's death in 1966, which, as he noted, was unusual since he was not the eldest child and not in accordance with Hindu tradition of primogeniture. The family told American reporters during the early 1970s that Shri Hans was away from home at the time of his death and wrote a letter home to the family essentially naming Prem as his successor. There was a conflicting report about the support of the family for Maharaji's succession by Bob Mishler, ex-president of the DLM in the USA, who in a radio interview given in 1979, said to have heard that the succession was a staged coup and made fait accompli by a group of followers. Mishler was not present when these events took place.

The young Prem reportedly spoke in the same terms as his father had done, and supporters describe him as comforting grieving devotees and declaring his intention to continue his father's work. His family's support as the rightful successor to his father lasted for another eight years. See also Hans Ji Maharaj: Succession

This is how Prem Rawat describes the event, in an interview printed in the book Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji? (1973):

"Shri Maharaj Ji has only left his body, but his spiritual body is still here, and he will appear again after a few days. I went home (from school) and everyone was, weeping. I was just sitting there not weeping and something began to happen to me. Thirteen days later, I was doing pranam to my Father's ashes and bones. You know, in India they burn the bodies and thirteen days later you go and collect the ashes. I bent down to touch the ashes, the voice came: 'You are he. You are the one to go and give this to the world. For the first time, I did not give satsang. The satsang just came and I began to speak: 'Dear children of God, why are you weeping? Haven't you learned the lesson that your master taught you? The Perfect Master never dies. Maharaj Ji is here, amongst you now.'"

In an interview he gave in 2004 Prem Rawat recalls these events as follows:

He was the rock. And the next thing you know, he's not there. And it's like, "Do I really understand this? Do I really understand the dynamics of this?"And then I remember being in this hall where all these people had come to pay their respects to him. And they were waiting and crying. And I came on stage and I said, "Don't cry. Don't weep. Because what you really loved is still here and will always be there with you." And it was a powerful moment. It was very genuine. I saw these people weeping and I felt this is something that I can do. I want to help.

After succeeding to the leadership, Rawat remained in India for several years and continued to teach the Knowledge his father had championed.

Establishment in the West

First trip to the West

Prem Rawat first came to the West, including the U.K., U.S. and Canada, in the summer of 1971, at age thirteen, at a time of attraction in the West for all things Indian. Previously, a small number of British hippie seekers of truth had come across Maharaji at his home in Dehra Dun,and had asked him to vist the West, where,they said, many young people were waiting for what he had to offer. In October 1969 he sent a to London to begin teaching Knowledge on his behalf. In doing this he was fulfilling the prediction of his father, who having heard his son speak a few months before his demise, had said that 'one day this boy will take the teaching of Knowledge to all four corners of the world.' In 1970 many of his new western students traveled to India to see and hear him, and were present when he announced at a large gathering at India Gate in Delhi (a large open ground in the city center) that he was ready to begin the task of bringing peace to the world. On June 17th the following year, he arrived in London for a short school vacation visit. He traveled without his family, and he reported he arrived with only twenty-five pounds sterling in his pocket. His reception was such that, in response to his mother's entreaties that he return to India to complete his education, he said that he was doing what he would be doing with his life, whether he completed his education or not. He was interviewed on the BBC, and spoke at the first Glastonbury Festival, where he again offered people peace. He made brief trips to Paris and Heidelberg, Germany, and on 17th July flew to Los Angeles and began a tour of Americian cities. In Novmeber 1971 he returned to India accompanied by several hundred of his new western students.

At that time his teaching was enmeshed in Indian traditions and lifestyle, which he was later to renounce as unnecessary. The practice of Knowledge was called meditation, a termilogy he later changed to distinguish it from other practices and teachings to which the term usually referred. He advised his new students, who were to a large degree wedded to the drug and hippie culture of the time, that successful practice of Knowledge was incompatible with drug use, and he was widely acknowledged for taking many young people from dependency on drugs.

In the first years of his arrival, Prem Rawat received the keys to the cities of New York, New Orleans, Monterey, Oakland, Detroit, Miami and Macon in the United States, and Kyoto, in Japan.

Establishment of organizations in the West

At Prem Rawat's request, U.S. Divine Light Mission, or DLM, was formed in September 1971 in Denver, Colorado after Rawat's first U.S. tour. The DLM organization coordinated Rawat's subsequent U.S. tours and events. The DLM produced a monthly magazine, And It Is Divine, and a weekly newspaper, "Divine Times". It also operated a film and publishing company called Shri Hans Productions, a thrift shop, wholesale electronics firms, aviation and travel services, and a large vegetarian restaurant in New York City. In early 1973 it organized a fifty-six-piece rock band called Blue Aquarius, conducted by one of Prem's older brothers. Its headquarters was moved in 1979 to Miami Beach, Florida.

DLM ashrams were established in the early 1970s in major cities in South America, North America, Europe, and Australia. By 1973 there were twenty DLM ashrams in New York City. Those who entered an ashram were required to take a vow of poverty and give over their possessions and any continuing incomes to the organization. They also took a vow of chastity and obedience. They performed service, and drinking and drugs were prohibited. Vegetarianism was encouraged.

During that time he became widely known as the young guru and attracted considerable media attention. Virologist Robert Gallo, now Director, Institute of Human Virology of the University of Maryland, approached the young Rawat to ask where he might find the origin of cancer. "Look within the mysteries of life itself", Rawat answered, not a bad piece of advise, as reported by John Crewdson in his Science Fictions.

Permanent residence in the West

Prem Rawat returned to the U.S in 1972, this time accompanied by his mother and eldest brother, Satpal and an entourage of mahatmas and other supporters. That year the organization held a multi-day event at Montrose, Colorado to which two thousand people attended.

Rawat during this time was the focus of much media attention and publicity generated by the organization. The DLM made two feature-length films about him during this period, and released a book of student testimonials and Rawat's lectures, or satsang, entitled Who Is Guru Maharaj ji? published by Bantam Books.

The organization booked the Houston Astrodome for a three-day gathering and several thousand of his followers in November 1973, coinciding with Shri Hans's birthday and called "Millennium '73". Reporters in attendance estimated various days' attendance at between seven and twenty thousand. Rennie Davis, a former member of the Chicago Seven, was a prominent spokesman for the group at that event. Jesus freaks, Hare Krishnas, Jews for Jesus, and the Family of God staged small protests outside. The event lost money for the organization, but Rawat expressed his satisfaction with it.

The DLM was claiming 60,000 followers in 1974 in the United Kingdom and "it was a successful movement because it stressed access to the inner world, the attainment of peace and certainty ('never leave rood for doubt in your mind'), direct experience of God within and the use of guaranteed methods".

Early Western followers' devotion

The Western adherents who gathered around Prem Rawat in the early 1970s were generally young and were extremely loyal and devoted to him. Many devoted considerable of their time to help Rawat spread his message, others joined ashrams and took the vows of obedience and poverty associated with the monastic life in Indian ashrams. In 1973 after a reporter at a public event in Detroit hit Rawat in the face with a shaving cream pie, the reporter was attacked with a hammer and injured by two followers. In an article published in Penthouse magazine in July 1974, it was reported that the DLM issued a press release informing that the pair were in fact followers, and that they were held in custody at the Chicago ashram. They also promised a full investigation. The Detroit police did not pursue the matter allegedly due to the costs of extraditing the alleged assailants to Detroit but possibly because of the reporter's political views.

Some of the Western followers, claimed that Rawat was personally an incarnation of God, and indeed the greatest such incarnation. The source of this belief has been a subject of controversy. Most adherents attribute the belief to unintended confusion in Western minds over what was being said and done by Rawat and the movement, while critics charge this confusion was either deliberately fostered or negligently ignored for his personal gain.

The seeds of this belief may have been planted even before Rawat came to the West. In 1970 at age twelve he gave a speech in New Delhi at an event celebrating his late father's birthday, in which he made statements such as the following, which have been interpreted by some as claims of personal divinity:

The great leaders think that I have come to rule and yes, they are right! I will rule the world, and just watch how I will do it. Even the lion and sheep will embrace each other. Has there been such a king before? Krishna was not such a king. Rama was not such a king. There were lesser powers in Ram, there were lesser powers in Krishna, but I have come to the world with full powers. Accept my words, accept me. ...

I declare that I will establish peace in this world. Just give me the reins and let me rule and I will rule in such a way that even Rama, Harischandra, Krishna and other kings could not have ruled like that! That day is fast approaching.

In this speech he attributed great power and possibly divinity to "The Lord, Guru Maharaj Ji", apparently referring to his father and teacher. The fact that he himself also came to be called "Guru Maharaj Ji," may have led to confusion, whether intentional or unintentional, in the minds of Western followers between Rawat personally and this called-upon figure of divine power. It may be that during the 1970s as praise and divine connotations were further heaped upon "Guru Maharaj ji", those in charge maintained in their own minds a distinction between the young living man, his deceased father, and the lineage title itself, although that distinction appears to have been lost on some who believed Rawat was referring to himself when using that phrase.

According to a January 1974 Penthouse magazine article, Rawat said to the multitude in 1971 that "guru is greater than God", an expression also voiced by Brahmanand and somewhat in correspondence with the elevated status that some traditional Indian saints gave their gurus. Further clouding the issue were the Indian Hindu forms and customs Rawat's family and entourage brought with them when they arrived in the West in 1972, such as addressing a guru with the terms "Master" and "Lord". His early 1970s events featured the singing to him of Hindu devotional songs such as the arti and the performance toward him of the Hindu devotional ritual of darshan. Whether those in charge at that time understood or intended the interpretations of personal divinity many Western followers were giving to these devotional forms has never been definitely established. In an interview with in 1973 Tom Snyder host of "The Tomorrow show" TV series, Snyder asked Prem Rawat: "Now I'm not trying to be disrespectful but' Ive got to ask you this question: Many of your followers say that you are God. What do you have to say about this?" To which Rawat replied: "No, I am not God. I am only a humble servant of God."

Materials written by students during this period and included in DLM publications featured comparisons of Guru Maharaj ji with Rama and Krishna, and the 1973 book Who is Guru Maharaj ji? described him as the "Satguru Maharaj ji" and on its back cover asked the semi-rhetorical question, "Why do more than six million people around the world claim he is the greatest incarnation of God that ever trod the face of this planet?" In the same book, Prem Rawat was asked: "Guru Maharaj Ji, are you God?" to which he replied "No. My Knowledge is God." At a press conference during the 1973 Millennium gathering, Rawat denied to the press that he believed himself to be the Messiah, characterizing himself instead "as a humble servant of God trying to establish peace in this world." A reporter then asked him about "a great contradiction" between what he said about himself and what his followers were saying about him, and he responded by suggesting the reporter ask the devotees themselves about that. In a still-later speech, Rawat was to characterize as mistaken the early Western reaction to him upon his arrival, saying, "when people saw me at that time, they really didn't understand what it was all about."

In a proclamation published in 1975, Rawat also said, "I do not claim to be God, but do claim I can establish peace on this Earth by our Lord's Grace, and everyone's joint effort".

Despite these and other declarations, some scholars, for example, the Dutch religious scholar and reverend, who specialized in new religious movements Reender Kranenborg wrote in 1982 article about the DLM, that "in Maharaj ji's satsangs one can notice a speaking style that resembles very much some Christian evangelization campaigns: a pressing request, an emphasis on the last possibility to choose before it is too late and a terminology in which one is requested to surrender to the Lord, in this case Maharaj ji himself. The contents of the message is not Christian, though."

In an article named Journey that he published in his personal website on January 1999, Prem Rawat writes about this apparent contradiction: People through the years have tried to place me in a mold, and from the very early years I have not been able to oblige them. When I was very young, people were looking for the "old silver-haired Guru with flowing white robes." I was only eight. When people were flocking to India for their search, I was in the West. When people were looking for sophisticated discourses, I spoke of simple things. When people wanted nirvana, I said, "You need peace." When people said, "Tell us of the scriptures," I said, "Look within you." When people asked, "What is your qualification?" I said, "Judge me by what I offer." To this day, some people see me the way they want to. After all, I guess it is rather inconvenient to see things as they really are. I have evolved, but my message stays the same. Externally, I have changed but within me, something stays the same. In that same article Rawat states that people wanted to see him as a figurehead and as a leader but that he does not want to be one or the other, and that all he wanted to do is speak to those ho wanted to hear him, and impart the Knowledge to those that sought it. He also said that if people like what is given, to practice it and if not, to leave it.

Marriage and family rift

In May 1974 at age sixteen Prem Rawat married a twenty-five year old flight attendant named Marolyn Johnson. The marriage to a Westerner apparently precipitated a rift between Prem and his mother. A period of intense conflict in 1974 between Rawat and his mother and brother ensued. At that time Rawat took control of the Western DLM away from them, and his mother disowned him and returned to India with two of his brothers. According to a report in the People magazine (June 16, 1975), she announced that his son was corrupted by Western ways, strayed from the holy Hindu path and claimed he drank alcohol, eat meat and visited night clubs. She managed through legal actions to appoint the eldest brother, Satpal, as leader of the DLM in India. The other two brothers split in allegiance, one siding with Prem and one siding with Satpal. Most of the mahatmas in the West either returned to India with his mother or were fired.

However, this focus on rumours about Rawat was contested by Bob Mishler, the president of Divine Light Mission at the time. He pointed out that people who looked at individual actions of Rawat like riding motorcycles or marrying an air hostess should look instead at the effect he has on the world, by the mark he leaves on society.

Turn toward Western modes of teaching

Prem Rawat's alleged early plan to deny personal divinity

Ron Geaves, a Professor and Chair in religious studies at the University of Chester, and a student of Rawat, asserts he never intended to create a religious movement or considered his message defined by any lineage or religion. In 1975, Rawat selected the first group of teachers he called "initiators", replacing the discarded title of "mahatma". Mishler asserted that, having taken control of the DLM, toward the end of that year he began to consult with Mishler about orchestrating a major change in emphasis for the DLM. Mishler contended that Rawat acknowledged that his followers had been encouraged to believe he was God, and he concluded it was necessary to disabuse them of such a mistaken notion. To this end, Mishler said, Rawat and Mishler agreed that he would explicitly discuss and deny personal divinity in front of his followers, and that they would set about to essentially "de-program" the organization away from notions of divinity that might otherwise foster formation of a cult. The first part of 1976 saw the first mentions to followers that Rawat was best thought of as an inspirational teacher or humanitarian leader. Ashram residents were encouraged to consider leaving the monastic life, some did, and some of the ashrams closed at that time. Events in the summer of that year were distinctly westernized and went devoid of Hindu trappings; Rawat's clothing changed, and the former darshan lines were abandoned in favor of Western-style receiving lines.

A rift, however, developed between Rawat and Mishler in mid-1976 over what Mishler characterized as Maharaji's refusal to carry through with the Westernization plan out of fear it would reduce his income and lifestyle, and Mishler asserts that he resigned from the DLM in January 1977 over this. Rawat's supporters assert that Mishler was fired. Some of the Hindu trappings returned to events held during this period.

According to Dr. George Chryssides, senior lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, Rawat dissolved the ashrams in the West and went on to deny his divine status and status as a Guru.

Transition in the 1980s

According to the America's Alternative Religions, during the 1980s, Prem Rawat began the slow dissolution of the Divine Light Mission, and eventually stepped don as a "Perfect Master". He continued to appear to audiences as Maharaji, a teacher, and established a minimal organization called Elan Vital. In this new role he may be reaching more listeners than ever, especially abroad, but his role is that of a public speaker, and the original religious movement is essentially defunct.

The organization that supported Prem Rawat began retreating from Hindu trappings, and this time the trappings did not return. His supporters assert that during this period Rawat was able to free his core message from irrelevant and even hindering religious and cultural connotations to make it more universally appealing. Rawat has never publicly taken personal credit or responsibility for making this change, but his critics generally concede he was the driving force behind it, demurring only as to his motivations for doing so.

According to a 1982 dissertation about new religious movements and mental health by the Dutch sociologist Paul Schnabel, Maharaji's leadership was one of the purest examples of charismatic authority at that moment.

For a time around 1980 the center of operations moved to Miami where activities included a project known as DECA which was concerned with the customization of a Boeing 707 intended for Prem Rawat's work, and the development of a commercial executive aircraft refurbishing facility. Rawat never used the 707 aircraft and it was later sold to a new owner, and the DECA business was sold to Aircraft Modular Products (AMP), a leader in the field of business jet interiors. (AMP was sold in 1998 to B/E aerospace for $118 US million. )

The Western ashrams were closed in 1983, which induced some disaffection among certain members who had been forced to leave upon the closure. Some of them still hold a grudge about this change. The Divine Light Mission, with its name connoting a religious orientation and its past links with the ashrams, was renamed Elan Vital sometime between 1983 and 1987, retaining non-profit status but no longer referring to itself as a religious organization. Its website notes its name change was among a multiplicity of changes suggested by Rawat and implemented by its board. Rawat said that the DLM had become too big and too expensive or inefficient; most of its offices were closed and many of the staff dismissed. Local offices of Elan Vital began to be opened sometime later. The title of "Instructor" was now used to denote those who taught the Knowledge techniques. During this time the students were asked to throw away old books, magazines and videos that included forms of veneration. The video production organization was renamed "Visions International," and it began producing video versions of Rawat's addresses. The former title "Guru Maharaj ji" was dropped in favor of "Maharaji," and Rawat discouraged the use of the Indian name that had been given to his wife upon their marriage.

An article published on December 4, 1987 in The Times of India, describes Rawat's mission as as involving international tours during which he explains to "people in general without any distinction of caste, color, race, stature, or wealth that the source of happiness, peace and contentment lies within one's own self. He is trying to prepare humanity to face and overcome the present day tussle and turmoil prevailing in the world in the name of achieving world peace, on individual basis. In fact what Maharaj Ji is trying to do is not being comprehended by most of the people, with the results that he is included in the category of those persons who have become mere machines to collect wealth, while Maharaj Ji has taken a pledge to complete this huge task without any monetary consideration."

The movement today

Although based in the U.S.A., Prem Rawat is today still active in India as well. With a more culturally neutral approach, Rawat now concentrates on what he calls a "universal message of peace" and "self-fulfillment", introducing people to the possibility of inner peace. Rawat's message is currently distributed in eighty-eight countries, largely on video and in print. . The video broadcasts have won awards from various non-related entities. .

Access to the techniques

The approach to receiving Prem Rawat's techniques of Knowledge has become much less onerous. During the period when the organization was at its largest, a student's access to the techniques was constrained through a layer of intermediaries. A Mahatma or in later times an Instructor would in a "Knowledge selection" process decide and chose which aspirants would receive the techniques. Once an aspirant was chosen, he or she would then be granted access to a "Knowledge session" in which the techniques were revealed. The use of personal mentors and instructors in smaller groups has largely been abandoned in favor of taped or live instruction by Rawat himself via satellite video or cable television programming along with on-line newsletters for information dissemination, and access to the techniques is now governed by a much less restrictive self-paced and self-assessed preparation process, perhaps reminiscent of a more open attitude prevalent during Rawat's initial foray into the West. However, students must be at least eighteen years old and of legal age in their country.

The Prem Rawat Foundation states that the practice of Knowledge has no bearing or compatibility problem with peoples' existing religious or spiritual belief system.

The Dutch religious scholar Reender Kranenborg say that the techniques of Knowledge, also known as kriyas, originated from the Surat Shabda Yoga or Sant Mat, the Path of the Sound Current.

The organizations

In 2001 a new organization, the Prem Rawat Foundation, was founded as a non-profit organization largely for the production and distribution of audiovisual and other materials containing Rawat's message. The Foundation also oversees several humanitarian efforts around the world, providing food and medical relief to war-torn areas and medical care in impoverished areas .

Elan Vital remains active as well, engaged in event organization, logistics, and fundraising . It is much smaller now than it or the DLM has been in times past, however, with only a small paid staff and volunteers doing most of the work and preparation for events.

While these organizations report that they seek and accept Rawat's input, he is not an officer, director, or employee of either organization. They report he receives no income from them for his services or from sale of materials other than reimbursement for documented tour and speaking expenses.

Current activities

Prem Rawat reportedly travels about eleven months out of the year on speaking tours and giving training on the Indian sub-continent and in the West. In addition to speaking at large gatherings of students and interested persons, he speaks at various cultural, educational and community forums. He reportedly spoke to more than a million people in a 2004 India tour.

Size of following

According to the organizations, Prem Rawat has over the years engaged over six and a half million people in 250 cities and fifty countries. They estimate slightly more than half a million have been taught the techniques since Rawat came to the West, about 125,000 of this number between January 2000 and April 2004. Volunteers estimate an additional 125,000 currently in preparation to be taught the techniques, 65,000 having been in preparation five months or more, with these numbers on the increase in many countries. A press release states that 2004 was the first year where the number of new students has exceeded 50,000 . Printed and audiovisual materials are available in approximately sixty languages, and the organizations estimate Rawat currently has hundreds of thousands of practicing students worldwide, representing a wide variety of backgrounds and personal situations. Since there is no longer any membership component to the organizations, however, it is difficult to determine with precision the number of persons actually practicing his techniques. Chryssides' Historical Dictionary of New Religious movements (2001), estimates 15,000 people practicing the techniques in the USA and 5,000 in the UK.

'Premie is the name given to students of Rawat in India and other Eastern countries. It stems from the Hindi word "prem" (prema in Sanskrit), which means "love"; "premie" means "lover." Until the early 1990s it also was the name given to his followers in the West, and it is still occasionally used. Nowadays students of Rawat sometimes refer to fellow students as "People that received the techniques of Knowledge" or "People with Knowledge", or more generically as "Maharaji's students."

Life work

Prem Rawat has addressed audiences from a few hundreds to hundreds of thousands since he the age of three. Between 1965, when his addresses were first documented, and until July 2005, he addressed audiences at 2,280 events around the world. Between January 2004 and June 2005 alone, he delivered 117 addresses in Asia, Europe and North America.

• 1957 births
• Prem Rawat