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Prem Rawat (also called Maharaji and formerly known as Guru Maharaj Ji attracted controversy and criticism since he started delivering his teachings in the 1960s. The sources of criticism come from articles by several scholars in the 1970s and early 1980s, individuals related to the anti-cult movement of the 1970s, media articles from the 1970s and 1980s, and former members.

Criticism and observations in several scholarly articles

Amongst the many scholarly articles, books, and encyclopedias that refer to the DLM and to Prem Rawat, there were various critical observations and comments made about him and his students by a number of authors.

Wim Haan

An article written by Wim Haan that was published in the official magazine about religious movements of the Free University of Amsterdam in 1981, a university that upholds the tradition of Christian standards and values, forwards several critical statements. Haan wrote in the article that he was a member of a critical movement within the Roman Catholic Church and that he was a student of theology at a Pastoral and Theology school in a small town in the Netherlands. In that article, based on what he wrote was his involvement with the DLM during two years in the Netherlands, he asserts that Rawat's battle against the mind sometimes degenerated in complete irrationality, that sometimes premies branded every criticism and objective approach as "mind", and that they often avoided discussions with outsiders because these discussions could possibly stimulate the mind. Haan does not report if he ever learned the techniques of Knowledge.

Stephen Hunt

Stephen Hunt, writes in Alternative Religions: A Sociological Introduction in 2003, that critics have focused on what appears to be his opulent lifestyle that they argue it is supported largely by the donations of his followers. Hunts also writes that by keeping a low profile, the movement has managed to escape the gaze of publicity that surrounds other new religuus movements.

Reender Kranenborg

The Dutch religious scholar and Christian minister Reender Kranenborg wrote in a 1982 article 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.". He also described his impression that the person of Maharaj ji became more central in the course of years and his assertions about himself and his vocation went further as he became more aware of the extent of his divinity. Kranenborg asserted that Jos Lammers, whom he labelled "ex-premie", made similar comments as van der Lans about Maharaji's lifestyle in his interview with the Dutch magazine Haagse Post. He further wrote that when Christians get into dialogue with premies that the life style of the guru is of great importance. He argued that a satguru, who drives in expensive cars, who owns a big yacht may not be a problem for premies, but it is a problem for Christians and that they should ask premies why Maharaj ji does not live what he considers to be a normal and simple life.

Jan van der Lans

Jan van der Lans, a professor in psychology of religion at the Catholic University of Nijmegen, wrote in a book about followers of gurus commissioned by the KSGV, a Netherlands based Catholic Study Center for Mental Health , that undertakes its activities from a Christian inspiration, published in 1981, that Maharaji is an example of a guru who has become a charlatan leading a double life: on the one hand, he tried to remain loyal to the role in which he was forced and to the expectations of his students, on the other hand, his private life was one of idleness and pleasure, which was only known to small circle of insiders. According to van der Lans, one could consider him either a fraud or a victim of his surroundings. Van der Lans treated several gurus but was only critical about Rawat, but does not provided citations for his very critical assessment.

Larkin, Foss

The sociologist Ralph Larkin wrote together with Daniel A. Foss in 1978 that the DLM "emphasized formal structure without substantive content." The religious scholar Dr. Ron Geaves, who is a student of Prem Rawat, accused them in response of bias, pointing to the number of students that were attracted to the DLM.

Saul V. Levine

The psychiatrist Saul V. Levine, who published several articles about cults and new religious movements, wrote in an undated article titled Life in Cults published in a 1989 book that he believed that public perception saw the Divine Light Mission the Hare Krishna, Unification Church, Children of God as cults held in low esteem and that families' perception "that their children are being financially exploited" is seen as one of the most pernicious and malevolent aspects of these group, while "the leaders live in ostentation and offensive opulence." He also writes that " in the Divine Light Mission, members are expected to turn over all material possessions and earnings to the religion and to abstain from alcohol, tobacco meat, and sex" His analysis was based on practices, such as the monastic life in ashrams, that were abandoned in the 1980s when Prem Rawat threw off anachronistic Hindu religious and cultural trappings previously associated with his message.

Paul Schnabel

The sociologist Dr. Paul Schnabel wrote in a 1982 Ph.D. thesis about new religious movements and mental health that the message of the Divine Light Mission could be summarized on the person of Guru Maharaj Ji, in which divine love and truth are manifested, and that by completely surrendering oneself to the guru or perfect master (the revealer of that truth and love), one can be a part of it. He further wrote that Prem Rawat was at that moment one of the purest examples of charismatic leadership. He characterized Rawat as materialistic, spoilt, and intellectually unremarkable and asserted that Rawat stimulated an uncritical attitude of the students' view of the guru and their projections on him.

Margaret Singer

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In the early 1980s the late Dr. Margaret Singer included the DLM (since then disbanded and replaced by the non-religious, educational nonprofit, Elan Vital) in her list of cults. In 1979, Dr. Singer mentioned the Divine Light Movement as one of a set of groups that have "intense relationships between followers and a powerful idea or leader", in an article in Psychology Today..

Other scholars

Other scholars and authors that have written about this subject but who do not level criticism against Prem Rawat include: Andrew Kopkind, Charles H. Lippy, John Bassett McCleary, Ruth Prince and David Riches, Bryan R. Wilson, Dennis Marcellino, Erwin Fahlbusch, Tim Miller, Raymond Lee, Rosemary Goring, George D. Chryssides, David V. Barrett, Lucy DuPertuis J. Gordon Melton, Jeffrey K. Hadden, Eugene M. Elliot III, Sandra S. Frankiel, and James Lewis. Barret, Dupertuis, Melton and Lewis mention criticism by the media, Rawat's mother, Bob Mishler, and anticultists respectively. Stephen A. Kent makes self-admitted subjective criticism (lacking substance) based on his personal experience with Prem Rawat and treats the criticism by the countercultural left on him in the 1970s.

Criticism in the media

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After Prem Rawat's first arrival in the United Kingdom and United States in 1971 at the age of thirteen and through the 1970s he, his students and his organizations attracted media scrutiny and attention. Examples of articles appearing in the mainstream press in that decade include a 1974 article in Rolling Stone magazine and a 1979 article in the New York Review of Books.

A 1980 article in The Washington Post reported that a Congressional Panel had singled out, among other controversial groups: "Guru Maharaj Ji's Divine Light Mission...as cults that employ manipulative techniques and turn children against their parents." A critical article which mentioned the Divine Light Mission appeared in Time Magazine in 1997. A 1998 article in Rocky Mountain News referred to Elan Vital as a "cult".

In 2002, an article by the Australian Associated Press referred to the organization as the "Elan Vital cult." In 2003, a critical piece appeared in The Daily Telegraph in Britain. In 2006, an article in The Australian labeled Elan Vital a "bullying organization."

Listings by anticult activists

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The Christian countercult activist Anton Hein, consultant Rick Ross, and psychotherapist Steven Hassan list links about Elan Vital on their websites.

Criticism by former members

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Gordon Melton describes that in the mid-1970s several ex-members became vocal critics. Another scholar, James Lewis, wrote that a number of ex-members became critics of the movement, attacking it with charges of brainwashing and mind control.

Some of the criticism leveled at Prem Rawat derives from Bob Mishler, a former president of DLM, and Robert Hand after they parted ways with Prem Rawat in the 1970s. According to Melton in a 1986 article, Mishler's complaints that the ideals of the group had become impossible to fulfill and that money was increasingly diverted to Maharaji's personal use found little support and did not affect the progress of the Mission.

External links

Media/Press

• Panel Urged to Probe Cults, The Washington Post, March 14, 1980
• The Lure of the Cult, Time Magazine, April 7, 1997, refers to "Divine Light Mission", headed by Prem Rawat from 1966-1983.

Other

• Elan Vital 'Hate Group' Allegations

References and footnotes

1. Haan, Wim (Dutch language) De missie van het Goddelijk licht van goeroe Maharaj Ji: een subjektieve duiding from the series Religieuze bewegingen in Nederland: Feiten en Visies nr. 3, autumn 1981. ISBN 90-242-2341-5 (Based mainly on the Dutch branch of the Divine Light Mission.) Note: Haan was part of a critical movement within the Catholic church
2. Hunt, Stephen J. Alternative Religions: A Sociological Introduction (2003), pp.116-7, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 0-7546-3410-8
   " He claims only to encourage people to "experience the present reality of life now." Leaving his more ascetic life behind him, he does not personally eschews material possessions. Over time, critics have focused on what appears to be his opulent lifestyle and argue that it is supported largely by the donations of his followers. However, deliberately keeping a low profile has meant that the movement has generally managed to escape the gaze of publicity that surrounds other NRMs"
3. Kranenborg, Reender (1982) Oosterse Geloofsbewegingen in het Westen/Eastern faith movements in the West (Dutch language) ISBN 90-210-4965-1
4. ksgv.nl
5. KSGV: Objectives
   "Het KSGV onderneemt zijn activiteiten vanuit een christelijke inspiratie."
6. Lans, Jan van der (Dutch language) Volgelingen van de goeroe: Hedendaagse religieuze bewegingen in Nederland page 117, written upon request for the KSGV published by Ambo, Baarn, 1981 ISBN 90-263-0521-4
7. Geaves, Ron. From Divine Light Mission to Elan Vital and Beyond: An Exploration of Change and Adaptation, Nova Religio, March 2004, Vol. 7, No. 3, Pages 45-62
8. Levine, Saul V. Life in the Cults, article that appeared in the book edited by Marc Galanter M.D., (1989), Cults and new religious movements: a report of the committee on psychiatry and religion of the American Psychiatric Association, ISBN 0-89042-212-5
9. Schnabel, Paul Dr. (Dutch language) Between stigma and charisma: new religious movements and mental health Erasmus university Rotterdam, Faculty of Medicine, Ph.D. thesis, ISBN 90-6001-746-3 (Deventer, Van Loghum Slaterus, 1982), Chapter II, page 33, Chapter IV page 99, page 101-102, Chapter V, page 142
10. "Coming Out of the Cults", Psychology Today, January 1979.
11. Kopkind, Andrew. The Thirty Years' Wars pp.233-4. Verso, ISBN 1-85984-096-5
12. Lippy, Charles H.Pluralism Comes of Age: American Religious Culture in the Twentieth Century p.114, M. E. Sharpe (2002), ISBN 0-7656-0151-6
13. McCleary Bassett, John. The Hippie Dictionary: A Cultural Encyclopedia of the 1960s and 1970s. p.140, Ten Speed Press(2004), ISBN 1-58008-547-4
14. Prince Ruth & Riches Davies, The New Age in Glastonbury: The Construction of Religious Movements, pp.99-100, Berghahn Books (2001), ISBN 1-57181-792-1
15. Wilson, Bryan, New Religious Movements: Challenge and Response. pp.268-9, Routledge (UK), ISBN 0-415-20049-0
16. Fahlbusch E. (Ed.) The Encyclopedia of Christianity (1998). p.861, ISBN 90-04-11316-9
17. Goring, Rosemary. Dictionary of Beliefs & Religions. p.145, Wordsworth Editions (1997), ISBN 1-85326-354-0
18. Hadden, Jeffrey K. and Elliot III, Eugene M. "Divine Light Mission/Elan Vital" in Melton, Gordon J. and Bauman, Martin (Eds.) "Religions of the world: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of beliefs and practices" ABC-CLIO (2002), ISBN 1-57607-223-1
19. Frankiel, Sandra S. in Lippy, Charles H. and Williams. Peter W. (Eds.) Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience p.1521, harles Scribner's Sons (1988), ISBN 0-684-18863-5 (Vol III)
20. Rolling Stone Magazine. The Seventies: A Tumultous Decade Reconsidered. Rolling Stones Press, 1998. p. 102, ISBN 0-316-75914-7
21. du Plessix Gray, Francine. Blissing out in Houston. The New York Review of Books. vol.20, no. 20 (December 13, 1973)
22. Urged to Probe Cults, The Washington Post, March 14, 1980.
23. The Lure of the Cult, Time Magazine, April 7, 1997
    The modern era of cultism dates to the 1970s, when the free inquiry of the previous decade led quite a few exhausted seekers into intellectual surrender. Out from the rubble of the countercultures came such groups as the Children of God and the Divine Light Mission, est and the Church of Scientology, the robotic political followers of Lyndon LaRouche and the Unification Church of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. On Nov. 18, 1978, the cultism of the '70s arrived at its dark crescendo in Jonestown, Guyana, where more than 900 members of Jim Jones' Peoples Temple died at his order, most by suicide
24. "Former Guru on a Different Mission", Rocky Mountain News, January 30, 1998.
    Nowadays, former cult members estimate Maharaji (he's dropped the Guru from his name and simplified the spelling) has 100000 to 200000 followers...
25. "Guru's followers flock to hear him speak", Australian Associated Press, September 3, 2002, Brisbane, Australia
26. We're vegetarians, we don't eat human organs, says the Living Perfect Master, The Daily Telegraph, 31/08/2003
27. The Australian, News Limited Australia, June 13, 2006.
28. Rick Ross, Steven Hassan and Anton Hein pages and links on Elan Vital (Retrieved September 2005)
29. Melton, J. Gordon. Encyclopedia Handbook of Cults in America p.143, Garland Publishing (1986) ISBN 0-8240-9036-5
    "several deprogrammed ex-members became vocal critics of the mission"
30. Lewis, James, The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions, p.210, Prometheus Books, ISBN 1-57392-888-7
    "a number of ex-members became critics of the movement, attacking it with charges of brainwashing and mind control"
31. Brown, Chip, Parents Versus Cult: Frustration, Kidnapping, Tears; Who Became Kidnappers to Rescue Daughter From Her Guru, The Washington Post, February 15, 1982
    "Suddenly there were new reports from people who'd actually managed the Divine Light Mission—Robert Mishler, the man who organized the business side of the mission and served for 5 1/2 years as its president, and Robert Hand Jr., who served as a vice president for two years. In the aftermath of Jonestown, Mishler and Hand felt compelled to warn of similarities between Guru Maharaj Ji and Jim Jones. They claimed the potential for another Jonestown existed in the Divine Light Mission because the most fanatic followers of Maharaj Ji would not question even the craziest commands. As Jim Jones convincingly demonstrated, the health of a cult group can depend on the stability of the leader.
    Mishler and Hand revealed aspects of life inside the mission that frightened the Deitzes. In addition to his ulcer, the Perfect Master who held the secret to peace and spiritual happiness 'had tremendous problems of anxiety which he combatted with alcohol,' Mishler said in a Denver radio interview in February 1979."
32. Ibid. Encyclopedic Handbook pp.144-5 "However as the group withdrew from the public eye, little controversy followed it except the accusations of Robert Mishner , the former president of the Mission who left in 1977. Mishner complained that the ideals of the group had become impossible to fulfill and that money was increasingly diverted to Maharaj Ji's personal use. Mishner's charges found little support and have not affected the progress of the Mission."

• Prem Rawat
• Criticism of religion