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Prem Pal Singh Rawat (born December 10, 1957 in Dehradun near Haridwar, India) is a sometimes controversial figure whose teachings purport to promote inner peace through four meditative techniques that he collectively calls the "Knowledge" and which he brought to the West and promotes in both the West and India. He is known to his students as Maharaji. Formerly he was called Guru Maharaj Ji, a title he dropped in the 1980s.

Earliest years

Childhood

Prem Rawat was born and spent his childhood in India. He was raised as a Hindu 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, an Indian guru who taught surat shabda yoga using four main techniques of Knowledge and 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.

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 is not the eldest child. 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. Bob Mishler, an ex-president of the DLM in America who had earlier had a falling out with Rawat and left the organization, gave an interview in 1979 that included different details. According to Mishler, Hans' wife, Jagat Janani (also known as Mata Ji), met with his supporters and unsuccessfully proposed that she succeed her husband; agreement was then reached, Mishler said, to elevate Hans' eldest son, the fourteen-year-old Satpal, in accordance with Hindu tradition of primogeniture. However, Mishler continued, another group of followers staged a sort of coup by immediately crowning the eight-year-old Prem as successor in front of devotees. Mishler said that faced with this fait accompli the family decided to support Prem instead as the new leader. Supporters agree Prem took the stage and they describe him as comforting grieving devotees and declaring his intention to continue his father's work. Mishler's account, which was necessarily secondhand, is difficult to verify because he did not name his sources and he died soon after giving the interview. What is known for certain is that the family's support of Prem lasted for another eight years.

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. He traveled without his family, and he reported he arrived with only twenty-five pounds sterling in his pocket. He spoke in Los Angeles in July, and in August spoke at the Mackie Auditorium in Boulder, Colorado to an audience estimated by Mishler at over two thousand people. At that meeting Mishler, who characterized Rawat as a very charismatic speaker, met him personally. Mishler was impressed by his confidence, authority, and refusal to commercialize the Yogi tradition or methods, asking instead only for student's sincerity. Mishler felt Rawat was sincere, and Mishler joined up with his cause, offering to help any way he could.

Mishler asserted that during this early period Rawat was adamant he had not come to the West to start a new religion and he encouraged followers to bring their own religious traditions to the movement. Rawat denied being God, Misler recounted, billing himself instead as a humble servant who had been charged by his father and guru, Hans, with spreading the Knowledge techniques, which Misler noted were freely given. His initial message, according to Mislher, was that the truth was a perfect something within each and every individual and that having mastered this perfect something Rawat had become a perfect master able to reveal to each one his own innate perfect truth.

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 US, and Kyoto, in Japan.

Establishment of organizations in the West

At Prem Rawat's request, Mishler founded the U.S. Divine Light Mission, or DLM, in September 1971 in Denver, Colorado after Rawat's first U.S. tour. Mishler and 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.

Permanent residence in the West

Prem Rawat returned to the U.S in 1972, this time accompanied by his mother and eldest brother, Satpal, whom Mishler asserted were apparently in charge of the effort at that time, 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 were invited.

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 satsangs, 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.

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 took time out of their lives or even left their old lives altogether to join the movement and perform service for Rawat's cause. Those who joined DLM ashrams took vows of obedience and poverty. 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 due to the costs of extraditing the alleged assailants to Detroit.

For some of the Western followers, their devotion was accompanied and motivated by a belief that Rawat was personally an incarnation of God, and indeed the greatest such incarnation. The source of the early followers' belief has been a subject of controversy. More recent 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 many who believed Rawat was referring to himself when using that phrase. Critics assert that in their view there can be no doubt that in certain cases he was referring to himself and intending his followers to understand that.

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" and saying that a guru was greater than God. 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.

Materials written by students during this period and included in DLM publications featured comparisons of Guru Maharaj ji with Hindu deities, 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?" 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. Mishler was later to characterize the veneration and personal deification among the Western followers as having set in to the organization during this period in contravention of the personal principles Rawat enunciated during his first trip to the U.S., with the DLM having become a religion in its own right. 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."

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. Mishler described a period of intense conflict in 1974 between Rawat and his mother and brother. Mishler asserted that at this time Rawat took control of the Western DLM away from them. His mother disowned him and returned to India with two of his brothers. According to a report in the People weekly 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.

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 Chester College in England 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 Maharji'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 Cryssides (see References), Rawat dissolved the ashrams in the West and went on to deny his divine status and status as a Guru.

Transition in the 1980s

In the early 1980s 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.

The Western ashrams were closed in 1983, which induced some disaffection among certain members who had been forced to leave upon the closure. 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.

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. .

See also teachings of Prem Rawat.

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 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."

Criticism

Main article: Criticism of Prem Rawat

Prem Rawat and his movement have encountered critical scrutiny from the time he first came to the West , at first from the news media, the anti-cult movement, and other religious groups such as the Hare Krishnas and Jesus freaks.

Groups of disillusioned ex-students existed in the U.S. as early as 1973, some of whom spoke to reporters during the Astrodome gathering, with other students becoming disillusioned later, expressing anger and a sense of loss. Their disaffection appears to stem in some part from their former belief in Rawat's personal divinity and consequent dissonance with his newer image as human teacher. Some of them assert they came to their disillusioned realization, while his supporters characterize their disillusionment as instead a necessary by-product of Rawat's own efforts to throw off anachronistic Hindu religious and cultural trappings in favor of his core message. Most current criticism is focused though a group of former followers calling themselves "ex-premies" who have an active presence on the Internet.

What is perhaps the major and most vehement criticism currently leveled at Rawat revisits the devotion of his early followers and the unresolved issue of ambiguity surrounding personal divinity. The ex-premies charge that Rawat's and his entourage's behavior during the early period in the West amounted to deliberate and public claims of personal divinity that followers accepted, that these assertions of personal divinity have never been properly disclaimed, and that they continue to the present to be asserted in secret, all for personal gain. Other criticisms include allegations that he exploited his followers to build a luxurious lifestyle for himself, that his personal behavior was and is hypocritical and inconsistent with one claiming to have found inner peace, and that he and the organizations engage in various deceptive practices to falsely magnify his perceived significance and prestige.

The organizations categorically deny these and other accusations, labeling the ex-premies an insignificantly small hate group of no more than a few dozen who constantly harass Rawat and his students and impinge on freedom of belief with their intolerance. A contentious cloud of heated debate and even legal action continues to rage between the two sides.

Other personal aspects

Between tours, Prem Rawat lives with his wife in Malibu, California in the U.S. He has four grown children. He is an experienced airline transport-rated pilot and holds a number of pilot ratings on jet airplanes and helicopters. His resume discusses skills in computer graphics, computer-aided design, and development of aviation software. He is listed as co-inventor on a U.S. Patent for a world-time watch for aeronautic applications. He reports that he supports himself and his family as a private investor, and that he has contributed to the success of several startup companies in various industries, including software.

"Peace needs to be in everyone's life. Of all the things we have tried in this world, there is one thing we have never given a chance. That one thing is peace. If we want to hope for something, maybe we could hope in our heart that peace will come in our life. The peace that we are looking for is within. It is in the heart, waiting to be felt, and I can help you get in touch with it. It is not the world that needs peace; it is people. When people in the world are at peace within, the world will be at peace." --Maharaji

External links

Official websites

• Prem Rawat's personal website
• Elan Vital
• The Prem Rawat Foundation
• Raj Vidya Kender, India
• Portal for contact information

Critical websites

• ex-premie.org - website in excess of a thousand pages critical of Prem Rawat and the organizations that support his work, largely pseudonymously written by former followers, maintained by John Brauns
• Mike Finch website - ex-follower after thirty years as a follower
• Prem-Rawat-Maharaji.info Information about Prem Rawat written by former followers intended for academia and the media.
• Prem Rawat-Critique critique of the current promotional activities pursued by Prem Rawat and his various organisations, such as The Prem Rawat Foundation and Elan Vital
• Maharaji Drek - pseudonymously maintained website critical of Prem Rawat (Note: contains language and images some may find offensive)
• Historical scans of Divine Light Mission / Elan Vital magazines

Multimedia excerpts

• Address at Barcelona Forum 2004.
• Video and audio clips from recent addresses
• slideshow and audio excerpt of address at Griffith University in early 2004 (requires QuickTime)

Other

• Testimonials from students
• Blog of Maharaji activities
• Links to various Prem Rawat websites
• Volunteer site (English, French, Spanish) featuring excerpts of Prem Rawat's recent talks

References and bibliography

• Barrett, David V. (2001). The New Believers: A survey of sects, cults and alternative religions. Cassell & Co. ISBN 0-304-35592-92-5.
• Chryssides, George D. (2001). Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements, pp. 108-109, 115-116. The Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland and London, 2001. ISBN 0-8108-4095-2
• Geaves, Ron (2002). From Divine Light Mission to Elan Vital and Beyond: an Exploration of Change and Adaptation, 2002 International Conference on Minority Religions, Social Change and Freedom of Conscience, University of Utah at Salt Lake City (Note: Geaves is a student of Prem Rawat).
• Melton, J. Gordon and R. James Lewis, Institute for the Study of American Religion (1993). Religious Requirements and practices: A Handbook for Chaplains. (US) Department of the Army, Office of the Chief of Chaplains (discusses Elan Vital).
• Melton, J. Gordon. Encyclopedia of American Religions (7th ed.). ISBN 0-7876-6384-0.

• 1957 births
• Prem Rawat