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Hunt

Stephen J. Hunt Alternative Religions: A Sociological Introduction (2003), pp.116-7, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 0-7546-3410-8

The leader of the Divine Light Mission, the Guru Maharaji, was 13 years old when he spectacularly rose to fame in the early 1970's. It was his young age which made him different from other eastern gurus who had established similar Hindu-inspired movements at the time. He was the son of Shri Hans Ji Maharaj, who began the DLM in India in 1960, based on the teachings of his own variety of enlightenment through the acquisition of spiritual knowledge. When his father died in 1966, the Guru Maharaji announced himself as the new master and started his own teaching. His global tour in 1971 helped to establish a large following in Britain and the USA. In 1973, he held what was intended to have been a vast, much publicized event in the Houston Astrodome. 'Millenium '73' was mean to launch the spiritual millenium, but the event attracted very few and had little wider influence.

Perhaps because of this failure, Maharaji transformed his initial teachings in order to appeal to a Western context. He came to recognize that the Indian influences on his followers in the West were a hindrance to the wider acceptance of his teachings. He therefore changed the style of his message and relinquished the the Hindu tradition, beliefs, and most of its original eastern religious practices. Hence, today the teachings do not concern themselves with reincarnation, heaven, or life after death. The movement now focuses entirely on "Knowledge", which is a set of simple instructions on how adherents should live. This Westernization of an essentially eastern message is not seen as a dilemma or contradiction. In the early 1980's, Maharaji altered the name of the movement to Elan Vital to reflect this change in emphasis. Once viewed by followers as Satguru or Perfect Master, he also appears to have surrendered his almost divine status as a guru. Now, the notion of spiritual growth is not derived, as with other gurus, from his personal charisma, but from the nature of his teachings and its benefit to the individual adherents to his movement. Maharaji also dismantled the structure of ashrams (communal homes).

The major focus of Maharaji is on stillness, peace, and contentment within the individual, and his 'Knowledge' consists of the techniques to obtain them. Knowledge, roughly translated, means the happiness of the true self-understanding. Each individual should seek to comprehend his or her true self. In turn, this brings a sense of well-being, joy, and harmony as one comes in contact with one's "own nature." The Knowledge includes four secret meditation procedures: Light, Music, Nectar and Word. The process of reaching the true self within can only be achieved by the individual, but with the guidance and help of a teacher. Hence, the movement seems to embrace aspects of world-rejection and world-affirmation. The tens of thousands of followers in the West do not see themselves as members of a religion, but the adherents of a system of teachings that extol the goal of enjoying life to the full.

For Elan Vital, the emphasis is on individual, subjective experience, rather than on a body of dogma. The teachings provide a kind of practical mysticism. Maharaji speaks not of God, but of the god or divinity within, the power that gives existence. He has occasionally referred to the existence of the two gods—the one created by humankind and the one which creates humankind. Although such references apparently suggest an acceptance of a creative, loving power, he distances himself and his teachings from any concept of religion. It is not clear whether it is possible to receive Knowledge from anyone other than Maharaji. 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.

Geaves

Geaves, Ron, Globalization, charisma, innovation, and tradition: An exploration of the transformations in the organisational vehicles for the transmission of the teachings of Prem Rawat (Maharaji), 2006, Journal of Alternative Spiritualities and New Age Studies, 2 44-62

The paper will focus on the case study of Prem Rawat, also known as Maharaji, and the various organizations used to transmit his teachings. Prem Rawat has been successful since he left India in 1971, establishing his teachings in over eighty countries, and his original vehicle Divine Light Mission was described as the fastest growing New Religious Movement in the West. Thus it provides an excellent example of globalisation in this category of religious tradition. In addition, Prem Rawat has affinities with the mediaeval nirguna bhakti (formless devotion) tradition of Northern India, more commonly known as Sant. With its emphasis on universalism, equality, direct experience, criticism of blind allegiance to religious ritual and dogma, and tendency towards syncretism, it could be argued that if any Indian movement, given the necessary advances in communications and technology, was likely to transcend its cultural moorings, then the Sants would be high on the list.

Initially, the followers of Prem Rawat’s teachings in the UK established Divine Light Mission in 1971, shortly after his first arrival in the west at the age of 13. There had been a presence in the UK since 1969, located in a basement flat in West Kensington and then in a semi-detached house in Golders Green, North London. This had come about as a result of four young British members of the counter-culture, taking the ‘hippy trail’ to India in 1968 discovering the young Prem Rawat and his teachings and requesting that a ‘mahatma’ be sent to London who could promote the message and show interested individuals the four techniques known as ‘knowledge’. Interest in the teachings had spread slowly by word of mouth through the counter-culture’s informal networks of communication but it was only with the arrival of Prem Rawat and his subsequent appearance at the first Glastonbury festival that the teachings caught on and spread rapidly through the milieu of the disenchanted counter-culture of Britain and the US in the early 1970s. Divine Light Mission was also established in the United States and by 1972 had its international office in Denver, Colorado.

Although Divine Light Mission was established as an organisational vehicle for promoting Prem Rawat’s teachings, it rapidly developed into a vigorous new religious movement with its own distinctive appearance combining the typical characteristics of a contemporary North Indian Sant panth in which nirguna bhakti was combined with intense reverence for the living satguru and millennial expectations of the western counter-culture (Geaves 2004a). Many of the characteristics of the Indian movement founded by Prem Rawat’s father, who had died only in 1966, were imported wholesale into the western environment. Ashrams were established with a lifetime commitment of celibacy expected from those who joined. Members were expected to forswear drugs and alcohol, and adopt a strict vegetarian diet. The teachings were primarily taught by saffron-robed mahatmas who came from India and toured the west. The teachings were essentially Hindu in origin, embracing a worldview that accepted transmigration of souls, karma, human avatars and imbedded in an interpretation of the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. However, a discerning listener would have recognized the radical voice of the North Indian nirguna bhaktas, also defined as Sants, notably Nanak and Kabir, especially in the message of universalism, equality and the focus on inwardness rather than the outward forms of Hinduism. It was this renewal of the Sant idiom that led many academics to mistake Divine Light Mission for an offshoot of the Radhasoami movement , but in fact, Prem Rawat’s charisma owed itself to a combination of factors that enabled individuals to perceive something far more dynamic than an established sampradaya lineage could provide. His age, his ability to speak spontaneously drawing upon real life experiences, anecdotes and his own experience, rather than scriptural interpretation, and the intense devotion of his following based upon their own inner experiences combined with an already developing hagiography, led to the conviction of an individual master, uncluttered by tradition in the vein of a contemporary Kabir or Nanak. The intense gurubhakti had resulted in many in India regarding Prem Rawat as an avatar of Krishna or Ram.

By 1974, the movement had experienced a number of crises resulting from the marriage of Prem Rawat to Marolyn Johnson, a Californian follower; the financial crisis created by the failure to fill the Houston astrodome * and the disillusionment of American followers, whose millennialism had always been stronger than in Europe or Britain, when their expectations of a messianic event were not fulfilled. The marriage was to prove more significant, as it caused a deep rift in Prem Rawat’s family, angered that he had not followed Indian custom and the loss of many trusted followers inherited from the time of Prem Rawat’s father. However, there was another more hidden agenda to the crisis. As Prem Rawat developed from a thirteen year old to an adolescent, about to be married and raise his own family, he was no longer prepared to be a figurehead whilst others dictated the direction and management of the movement established on the basis of his teachings.

In 1982, the ashrams were finally closed, Divine Light Mission was deactivated throughout the world and a series of national organizations under the umbrella title of Elan Vital were created. Each organization established itself according to local custom, laws and culture. For example, in Britain, Elan Vital functioned as an educational charity which existed to promote the teachings of Maharaji (Prem Rawat). The important point to note is that strenuous efforts were undertaken to ensure that Elan Vital remained an administrative tool rather than develop into a movement as Divine Light Mission had undoubtedly done. There was no membership, but a small number of paid and unpaid volunteers who looked after organisational matters such as Prem Rawat’s tours, finance, legal affairs, public relations, and communication. The closing of the ashrams took away the possibility of a committed workforce and instead Prem Rawat’s activities to promote his teachings became more dependent on part-time volunteer assistance from individuals who were now raising families and creating careers for themselves. Elan Vital displayed none of the characteristics of a religion found in Divine Light Mission. For example, none of Smart’s dimensions of religion could be found in Elan Vital and Prem Rawat increasingly used its organizational neutrality as a vehicle to promote his message of inner peace and fulfilment with a marked decrease in the trappings of the Indian heritage. Although occasionally drawing upon Indian anecdotes to use as examples for his teachings and referring to Kabir and Nanak, there is apparently little in his current idiom that could be linked to Hinduism, on the contrary, he openly challenges transmigration and the law of karma as only belief systems that cannot be verified as fact.

It would be tempting to place Prem Rawat in the context of global Hinduism and the arrival of Indian gurus in the west, but this would be far too simplistic. The reality of the transformation of the organisational forms used to promote the message reveals a complex interweaving and opposition between charisma, globalisation, innovation and tradition that need to carefully assessed. Certainly Prem Rawat is very aware of the ‘global village’ and utilizes technology extremely efficiently. The small boy who used to watch jet aircraft fly high above his house and yearn to fly, and who travelled on Air India, accompanied only by one family retainer, arriving in Britain in June 1971, now pilots a leased private jet around a quarter of a million miles every year. This is, perhaps, as claimed by Elan Vital, the only effective way of reaching out to over eighty nations where his teachings are now promoted. The message goes out by satellite and cable TV, websites, video distribution and printed materials, but it is still possible to find traditional methods in remote parts of India, Nepal or sub-Saharan Africa. Prem Rawat undoubtedly could be described as a citizen of the ‘global village’, and certainly the successful communication of his message has drawn upon such globalised features of spirituality as the easternisation of western spirituality and the movement of Indians throughout the world, providing centres of interest in the Far East and the Pacific bowl.

Prem Rawat does not lay claim to any special powers, does not heal and has stated sardonically that the last thing he would want is access to anyone else’s mind and he encourages would-be students to think for themselves, delaying formal teaching of the four techniques for at least five months during which time they should listen and resolve any questions. Prem Rawat is not a renunciate, but married with four children, and generally addresses a public audience dressed in a conservative suit, and although there is a lineage of masters behind him, he rarely refers to them. Although there are many who would assert that his authority lies in his charisma, Prem Rawat himself has stated that he does not consider himself to be a charismatic figure, preferring to refer to his teachings and the efficacy of the practice of the four techniques on the individual as the basis of his authority. The showing of the four techniques replaces the traditional diksha, and although it marks the sealing of master/disciple relationship that is not emphasized in the session itself. Rather, the focus is on correct practice and staying in touch through participation or listening.

Although Prem Rawat’s followers, in both east and west, have asserted strongly that he is either an avatar of the supreme being or one of the avatars of Vishnu, especially Krishna, he has gone to great lengths to assert his humanity and deconstruct the hagiography that has developed around his life.

Prem Rawat’s teachings make no reference to any traditional authority, neither person nor text. The shift in language, directly appealing to human understandings of their own existential dilemma, removed the earlier and more Indian- orientated style of a traditional Sant idiom that could be grounded in reference to previous sacred figures and texts, providing authenticity by comparison and asserting that the message conformed to the ‘real’ meaning of sacred text. This brings the paper to the issue of authority. Weber’s ideal charismatic authority, was not only unpredictable and unstable, requiring routinisation in order to provide continuity, but was also centred in the personal qualities of the charismatic leader and demanding obedience. Charisma and tradition are seen as having an antagonistic relationship with each other. Prem Rawat could be defined as charismatic only in the latter sense. He does not demand obedience, in that no outer requirements or prohibitions are placed on those taught the techniques. The simple axiom, “If you like it, practice it, if you don’t, try something else,” is applied on frequent occasions in his public discourses. Neither does Prem Rawat regard himself as an exemplary leader, a role often ascribed to religious founders.

Prem Rawat’s message claims to be an age-old renewal concerning real identity and self-knowledge that transcends all of the above categories of identity formation and as such could be described as ‘supra-global’ rather than ‘transglobal’. I would argue that his focus on ‘world’ as personhood rather than a geographical location would permit a ‘supra-global’ analysis which would lend itself to the image, described by Smith as seen on a contemporary poster, of Ganesh, the Hindu god of wisdom and knowledge, sitting confidently astride the globe. As Flood (1997:273) points out , not all Indian traditions have reacted to contemporary global culture with exclusive defensiveness, some have drawn upon ancient narratives of inclusiveness and universalism to contribute positively to the emergence of a new global culture. Any analysis of transformation in the organizational forms used to convey the message would need to take into account the tensions between maintaining the ‘supra-global’ with the need to engage with the practical concerns of resourcing a message which is increasingly ‘transglobal’.

Geaves, Ron, From Divine Light Mission to Elan Vital and Beyond: An Exploration of Change and Adaptation, Nova Religio

The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, March 2004, Vol. 7, No. 3, Pages 45-62

Abstract

The Following article will put forward the argument that it is necessary to take into account the worldview of the insider in order to appreciate the coherence or “rationality” of actions of a religious-spiritual teacher or organization. As a case study, the article examines the transformations that have occurred in the organizational forms utilized by Prem Rawat (a.k.a. Maharaji). While bringing readers up todate with Maharaji’s activities since the 1980s, I argue that these developments owe more to Maharaji’s self-perception of his role as a master and his wish to universalize the message historically located in the teachings of individual sant iconoclasts, than to external or internal pressures brought to bear upon the organizational forms themselves.

Daniel Foss and Ralph Larkin noted that by 1973 he organization had developed a centralized bureaucracy with rampant titleism and a penchant for office forms and organizational charts. Observations of the Mission led us to the conclusion that the primary function of the staff was monitoring of its own activities. In effect, the Mission represented the ultimate parody of bureaucracy in the wider society—functionally rational but substantively irrational. Failures and bungling on the part of the Mission staff were repeatedly demonstrated, yet the symbolic forms of the organizational seriousness and managerial competence had a compelling emotional appeal to both the Mission staff itself and to many potential converts.1 Foss and Larkin were intrigued by the contradiction offered by the manner in which large numbers of young people, including “political radicals, communards, street people, rock musicians, acid-head ‘freaks,’ cultural radicals, drop-outs”2were participating in Divine Light Mission. These young people were participating in and developing an organizational form that displayed many of “the elements of the social patterns of the wider society which they had rejected,” in particular bureaucratic hierarchies. Foss and Larkin explained this anomaly by suggesting that the Mission was able to maintain the support of its ex-dissident members by claiming that it was carrying on revolution by other means and in the process “emphasized formal structure without substantive content.” With this statement, Foss and Larkin declared their own bias in regard to religious or spiritual commitment. Maharaji’s message, which had attracted thousands, was summarily dismissed as possessing no “substantive content” and this was further expressed by the suggestion that the organization was “functionally rational but substantively irrational.”4 Maharaji’s own behavior was described as “nonsensical” and “unpredictable.”5However, the label of “irrationality” applied to new or traditional religious forms needs to be reviewed. It is resonant of crude reductionism sometimes found in the social sciences in regard to religious phenomena, described by Stark as the “old paradigm” in which social scientists “dig as deep as possible” to penetrate the real causes of religious phenomena while dismissing the realm of the sacred.6Stark asks his readers to acknowledge a new paradigm that argues that religion is rooted in the world of the rational and therefore to explore religious explanations for religious phenomena.7 Stark suggests that humans, when faced with choice, choose the “most rational” or reasonable option. In order to understand this process, the motivations and interpretations of the actors must be taken into account. It is only from the “inside” that the degree of rationality or reasonableness can be acknowledged.

The most useful theory to elucidate the relation between Maharaji’s charismatic authority and his institutions are those provided by postWeberian discourse of sociologists such as Thomas O’Dea,20combined with the work of Indian religion scholars focused specifically on the sant tradition, such as Charlotte Vaudeville and Daniel Gold. Maharaji does not see himself as bound by conventional beliefs or practices of any institutionalized religion or tradition-honored worldview. He is essentially an iconoclast who plots his route by pragmatic decisions to meet the demands and challenges that occur in his public career as a teacher striving to convince people of the value of self-knowledge. It is hard to ascertain exactly where the lines of strategic adaptation and continuation are drawn, except that they seem to lie somewhere around the inviolacy of the teacher/student relationship and Maharaji’s own trust in the efficacy of the techniques to provide individuals with an inner awareness of what is permanent and unchanging within human beings. Although Maharaji does not see himself as part of a tradition or as having to conform to the behavior of any predecessor, in my view, the best way to place him is to identify him with Vaudeville’s definition of the sant. Vaudeville describes a sant as

a holy man of a rather special type, who cannot be accommodated in the traditional categories of Indian holy men—and he may just as well be a woman. The sant is not a renunciate.... He is neither a yoginor a siddha, practices no asanas, boasts of no secret bhij mantrasand has no claim to magical powers. The true sant wears no special dress or insignia, having eschewed the social consideration and material benefits which in India attach to the profession of asceticism.... The sant ideal of sanctity is a lay ideal, open to all; it is an ideal that transcends both sectarian and caste barriers.

However, I wish to make a clear distinction between Sant Mat, often associated with Radhasoami lineages, and individual founder-sants. Although early scholars often identified Maharaji with Sant Mat and even Radhasoami lineages, there is no evidence to link Maharaji or his predecessors with that tradition.22 Sant Mat lineages usually display organizational forms that conform to Gold’s categorization of parampara orpanth. Individual sant-founders in Vaudeville’s terms are generally not concerned with organizational forms or institutionalized religion and display considerable iconoclasm in regard to ritual and doctrinal dimensions. Maharaji fits most aspects of the santcategorization by Vaudeville, even though he does not use this category as a self-definition. If being asant implies an iconoclasm that breaks the bounds of tradition while maintaining an emphasis on the inner experiential dimension, then Maharaji would conform to that definition. However, Maharaji is insistent that he should not be categorized into any traditional definition, including that of sant.

CONCLUSION

Building on the analysis of Gold and Vaudeville of the sant tradition, it could be argued that Maharaji perceives himself as the solitary sant whose authority derives from his personal charisma and is not part of any overarching formal organization, and does not have to subscribe to any particular worldview. Maharaji’s students echo this position and are united with their teacher on the primary value of personal experience. Gold argues that such figures have little inclination to establish a panth or sectarian institution,38although these may develop later.Thus, any understanding of Maharaji’s motivations would have to take into account the challenge to maintain the purity of his teachings from any sign of institutionalization. In Thomas O’Dea’s terms, this is a classic confrontation between charisma and institutionalization. O’Dea argued that the founder-innovator is only concerned with communicating the message and maintaining the spontaneity of the transcendental experience.39 Although O’Dea perceived these conflicts and tensions chronologically as a way of exploring the development of charismatic authority to institutional authority, an analysis of this new sant phenomenon still at the first stage of development provides an example of how a contemporary santmaster, the first to globalize fully his teachings, grapples with and seeks innovative solutions to the problems of institutionalization. Although there may be pragmatic problems, such as financial stability, the attitudes of the wider society, and the opposition of former practitioners, focusing on these as the prime factors of change and adaptation misses the opportunity for far more significant study of the relationship between charisma and institutionalization. In particular, Maharaji’s movement promises fascinating insights into the fine balance of maintaining the integrity of teaching and experience over the apparently inevitable processes of organizational and sectarian development wherever a sant figure has gathered students around the experience of “self-knowledge” or inner realization of “truth.” Maharaji has chosen a route of perpetual transformation in which organizational forms are created and utilized and then destroyed, thus providing flexibility to deal with rapidly changing social attitudes, to provide pragmatic solutions to internal problems, and above all to keep his students focused on the core message rather than the peripheral requirements of organizational forms.

Geaves, Ron, From Totapuri to Maharaji: Reflections on a Lineage (Parampara), paper delivered to the 27th Spalding Symposium on Indian Religions, Regents Park College, Oxford, 22–24 March 2002

Abstract

During the early years of the 1970s, Divine Light Mission experienced phenomenal growth in the West. The teachings of the young Guru Maharaji (now known as Maharaji), based upon an experience of fulfilment arrived at by four techniques that focused attention inward, spread quickly to Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Scandinavia, Japan, South America, Australasia, Canada and the USA. Today, the teachings have gone worldwide to over 80 countries.

This paper will firstly demonstrate that these various scholars who identify Maharaji’s roots as Sant Mat, or more specifically Radhasoami, are mistaken. Secondly, it will show that a more accurate exploration of Maharaji’s historical background provides an excellent opportunity to study the complexity of the various ways of organising such lineages and can demonstrate how intricately major strands of Hinduism can interweave with each other to create new paradigms to assert an ancient teaching capable of transcending discrete religious borders. Thirdly, this investigation of lineage will throw light on the relationship between charisma and institutionalisation in the Indian context and will allow for a revisiting of Gold’s classification of Sant tradition in particular.

the main focus of scholarly interest came from sociologists who were primarily concerned with issues of membership, charisma, and debates concerning cult/sect definition and formation. Very little attention was received from scholars of religion and the little that was received tended to come from those who were aware of North Indian sant tradition and its lineages. The majority of these assumed that the teachings of Maharaji could be placed in the Sant Mat revival, best represented by the Radhasoami movement. Some even went as far as to establish Shri Hans Ji Maharaj’s credentials by asserting that he had been taught the four techniques of Knowledge by Radhasoamis, probably in the period of his life when he relocated in East Punjab from his birthplace near Bodrinath. Olsen (v) asserts that Divine Light Mission was a Radhasoami-inspired movement that had the ‘greatest public American presence’. Dupertuis goes even further and claims that ‘the gurus of Divine Light Mission traced their suPertusimpiritual lineage from Sant Mat and Radhasoami traditions’ (vi). Melton further compounds the theory by identifying Shri Hans Ji Maharaj’s guru as ‘Dada Guru’ who he claims is of the Sant Mat tradition and who initiated Maharaji’s father into surat shabd yoga (the yoga of the sound current) (vii).

This paper will firstly demonstrate that these various scholars who identify Maharaji’s roots as Sant Mat, or more specifically Radhasoami, are mistaken. Secondly, it will show that a more accurate exploration of Maharaji’s historical background provides an excellent opportunity to study the complexity of the various ways of organising such lineages and can demonstrate how intricately major strands of Hinduism can interweave with each other to create new paradigms to assert an ancient teaching capable of transcending discrete religious borders. Thirdly, this investigation of lineage will throw light on the relationship between charisma and institutionalisation in the Indian context.

The scholarly literature that ascribes a Radhasoami background to the life of Maharaji’s father has been used by a small but vociferous dissatisfied opposition of ex-members as evidence that Maharaji himself is a fraud who has constructed a false account of history that reinvents himself. However, Maharaji’s history is linked to the lineage of Advait Mat, a north Indian cluster of movements which perceive themselves as originating from Totapuri, the teacher of Ramakrishna Paramhans with claimed ancient links back to Shankaracharya through a succession of Das Nami sadhus. Maharaji has referred to this lineage as his own on his website as follows:

Shri Totapuri ji Maharaj (1780-1866) Shri Anandpuri ji Maharaj (1782-1872) Param Hans Dayal Shri Advaitanand ji (1840-1919) Shri Swarupanand ji Maharaj (1884-1936) Yogiraj Param Hans Satgurudev Shri Hans ji Maharaj (1900-1966)

There is no doubt that Shri Hans Ji Maharaj was a prominent disciple of Shri Swarupanand Ji. This was confirmed on field research at Nangli Sahib in Uttar Pradesh in February 2001.

Conclusion

The lineage from Anand Puri to Maharaji provides an interesting source of research for those interested in the relationship between founders, paramparas and panths. It is clear that the lineage is not proven to be connected to the Radhasoamis although it develops historically in the same period and in the same region of Northern India and has some similarities regarding organisation and symbolic language at various stages of its development. It is also questionable to label the lineage as Advait Mat as opposed to Sant Mat as the term Advait Mat seems to have been developed by the institutionalised developments after the death of Swarupanand Ji. It does not figure in the language of the masters themselves, including Shri Hans Ji Maharaj and his son Maharaji. Although Advaita forms of nirguna doctrine would have permeated the movements which developed particularly under the first two gurus, because of their origins in Das Nami renunciate traditions that emerged from the teachings of Shankacharya, these would have become less important when Swarupanand Ji was alive. His promotion of the teachings on a large scale to the common people of the Punjab brought about both organisational changes and a transformation of the symbolic language used to express the teachings. It is this change which appears to bring the tradition closer to Sant Mat and has probably created the confusion of a Radhasoami connection. The response of the masses who received the techniques from Swarupanand Ji was to declare their master an avatar of Krishna. This is not a usual feature of the nirguna bhakti of northern Sant tradition and probably arises from the Hindu devotion to Krishna in the region combined with the remnants of Advaita symbolic language that focuses on the Bhagavad Gita.

It is certainly possible to label the two other traditions at Anandpur and Nangli Sahib which appeared as offshoots from Swarupanand Ji as Advait Mat to differentiate them from Sant Mat, but each of the masters who formed the lineage from Anand Puri to Maharaji were unique in their own right and are not easily bracketed into any parampara tradition, other than their focus on the need to find a master who is able to transform human existence through correct knowledge of the immanent divine and their promotion of the need for experience. Their lineage is akin to that of single charismatic masters such as Kabir or Nanak who had little interest in founding institutions. The point for scholars of Indian traditions who are interested in the formation of sampradayas, is how the meeting with a charismatic master and the apparent fulfilment of a ‘truth search’ can create the possibility for a leap across traditions. Both Advaitanand Ji and Swarupanand Ji maintained the Das Nami suffix of ‘Puri’ when renaming their renunciates on initiation to the order but neither indicated any particular affiliation to the Das Namis and also used the Sannyasi suffix of ‘Anand’. Shri Hans Ji Maharaj, as a householder guru, dropped the suffix ‘Puri’ completely from his own order of renunciates and used only the ‘Anand’ suffix, this removing any connection to Das Namis. Prem Rawat (Maharaji) has dropped any association to a Hindu renunciate order in recent years and appoints instructors with no lifestyle commitments linked to Indian renunciate orders who assist him in teaching and disseminating the four techniques. It would appear that this kind of fulfilment is able to cross the boundaries of traditional Hindu darshanas and sampradayas and assist in the creation of new forms of both institutional and charismatic organisations.

The various offshoots from Swarupanand Ji demonstrate the complexity of sampradaya formation after the death of such a charismatic master, and as such provide the opportunity for study of the process. As a result of this research, Gold’s categories can be adapted as follows:

a) The solitary figure such as Kabir, Nanak, or Ravidas can become a line of masters whose authority is derived from their own personal charisma and focus on individual experience. An institutionalised parampara need not develop if a strategy of seperating the material inheritance from the spiritual inheritence is developed. In this case, the lineage consists of a series of solitary figures such as exemplified by the succession from Anand Puri to Maharaji.

b) As stated by Gold (viii), a lineage can develop in which the dominant focus of spiritual power is still contained in the living holy man but the institutionalisation process develops alongside charismatic authority. Such a lineage develops into a parampara. This kind of organisation is not manifested in this case study as there was always a loss of the previous master’s material inheritence when the new master succeeded the previous one.

c) A panth, as defined by Gold, where the teachings of the past Sant(s) are claimed to be represented, but the dominant focus of spiritual power now resides in ritual forms and scripture and officiated over by a mahant who looks after the ritual and administration is seen at the progressively institutionalised lineage from Vairaganand Ji in Anandpur. The mahant's charisma is clearly derived from his position, and his traditional connection to the original Sant.

d) A panth can develop around the samadhi of the deceased Sant in which the focus of worship manifests as veneration of the deceased master. Although the shrine will be administered by successors of the sant (either by blood relatives or mahants), their authority derives from the spiritual presence of the dead Sant embodied in the remains and within the follower’s heart. The samadhi panths are looser knit organisations than sectarian institutions and can provide the inspiration for new forms of the traditon to emerge as a result of contact with the blessings of the deceased master. Such shrine forms of religious organisation develop into pilgrimage centres and this can be seen materialising at Nangli Sahib.

More research needs to be done by treating each form of organisation as a unique case study as well as comparative studies. Swarupanand Ji was not an insignificant figure in the history of North Indian nirguna bhakti traditions. Contemporary sources suggest that he had ten thousand followers and over three hundred ashrams in Northern India. Shri Hans Ji Maharaj extended this activity throughout India. Both masters require more scholarly attention to place them in modern Indian religious history. Finally, it is time to reconsider the work of Maharaji who has successfully brought these ancient teachings from India to the world arena and given them such a unique new form in which they are able to be uprooted from their origins in the subcontinent whilst maintaining the essential message of the previous master. Maharaji’s mode of teaching and delivery of the message provides an insight into the iconoclasm, universalism, spontaneity and renewal that was also a feature of the teachings of the mediaeval solitary Sants and he is also an important figure in any assessment of emergent forms of spirituality in contemporary western society.

(v) Olsen, Roger (1995), ‘Eckankar: From Ancient Science of Soul Travel to New Age Religion’ in Miller, Timothy (ed), America’s Alternative Religions, Albany: State University of New York Press, pp363-364.

(vi) Dupertius, L (1986) ‘ How People Recognise Charisma: The Case of Darshan in Radhasoami and Divine Light Mission’,

(vii) Melton, Gordon J. (ed) (1996 5th edition), Encyclopaedia of American Religions, Gale Research, p.890.

(viii) Gold D., (1987) The Lord as Guru: Hindu Sants in the Northern Indian Tradition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p.85.

Lewis

TBD

Chryssides

Chryssides, George D., Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements, Scarecrow Press (2001) ISBN 0-8108-4095-2

TBD

Barret

Barret, David V., The New Believers: A Survey of Sects, Cults and Alternative Religions (2003), Cassel, ISBN 1-84403-040-7

Page 65

"The Guru Maharaj Ji was only 13 when he sprang to prominence as leader of the Divine Light Mission, now Elan Vital, in 1971. ALthough he is still actively involved in the movement he has changed focus, has stepped back from the traditional Hindu position of guru, has dropped many of not all of the Hindu trappings. Because the founder himself has made such sweeping changes, the movement is less strongly focussed on him than it previously was, and thus is perhaps more likely to continue relatively changed after his death."

Pages 325-329 Chapter "Eastern Movements in the West"

Opening paragraph

Like several of other religious movements which were popular in the heady days of the 1960s and 1970s, Ean Vital has moved on from his origins. Originally the flamboyant and definitively Eastern-inspired Divine Light Mission, it has matured into something new, changing its name to reflect its current emphasis and approach and, presumably, to distance itself from the past. It might now be thought of a 'spiritual personal development movement' teaching meditation techniques; it is included in this section because of its origins, rather than its current teachings.

Next section

History

(Nothing new here, all is covered already in the article, mainly the disengagement from his mother, marriage, change of emphasis, closing of ashrams. One passage on the role of Prem Rawat and DLM and Elan Vital says: "She , stresses that Maharaji himself did not set up either the Divine Light Mission or its successor Elan Vital 'the registered charity that promotes Maharaji's teachings. He has never had an official or formal role in the Elan Vital organizations established around the world.'"

Next section

Beliefs and practices

"Elan Vital has now dropped all of its original Eastern religious practices. Unusually, the fact that Maharaji came from a lineage of 'Perfect Masters' is no longer relevant to the rewformed movement. This is not where the authority comes from, nor the recognitin of Maharaji as the master by his student; this comes rather from the nature of the teaching nd its benefit to the individual."

"The Divine Light movement used to be criticized for the devotion given to Maharaji, who was though to live a life of luxury on the donations of his followers; Whittaker, clearly conscious of past criticism, is emphatic that Maharaji has never earned anything from Elan Vital or any other movement promoting his teachings. At the heart of Elan Vital is this Knowledge — loosely, the joy of true self-knowledge. The Knowledge includes four meditation techniques; these have some similarities in other Sant-Mat-derived movements, and may derive originally from surat shab yoga. The experience is on individual, subjective experience rather than on a body ofd dogma, and in its Divine Light days the movement was sometime criticized for this stressing of emotional experience over intellect. The teaching could perhaps best described as practical mysticism.

In the UK Elan Vital is a very small operation, with only three or four full-time staff, depending very much on volunteer hep and funding. As a charity, it 'provides the legal framework and support structure for the personal teaching between master and student to take place.' It presents vide screenings and satellite broadcasts of Maharaji's talks around Britain, and arranges for his teaching tours.

Downton

Downton, James V., Sacred journeys: The conversion of young Americans to Divine Light Mission, (1979) Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-04198-5

page 199

Although there were still residues of belief in his divinity, in 1976, the vast majority viewed the guru primarily as their spiritual teacher, guide , and inspiration. Having quit imputing great powers to Guru Maharaj Ji by the end of 1976, premies assumed much more responsibility for their own spiritual growth. From the beginning Guru Maharaj Ji appealead to premies to give up their beliefs and concepts so that the might experience the Knowledge, or life force more fully Yet Guru Maharaj Ji's emphasis on giving up beliefs and concepts, did not prevent premies from adopting a fairly rigid set of ideas about his divinity and the coming of a new age.

Schnabel 1982

Copied from: User:Andries/Prem Rawat/Non-English#Schnabel 1982. I left the commentaries.

• (In Dutch:) Schnabel, Paul. Tussen stigma en charisma: nieuwe religieuze bewegingen en geestelijke volksgezondheid ("Between stigma and charisma: new religious movements and mental health"). Erasmus University Rotterdam, Faculty of Medicine, Ph.D. thesis, 1982. Deventer, Van Loghum Slaterus, ISBN 90-6001-746-3. Chapter II, page 33, Chapter IV page 99, page 101-102, Chapter V, page 142

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As this page demonstrates, there is a a wealth of infomation about Rawat from scholars. My point is, and has always been, that we cannot just include negative scholastic opinion. But since the article is already too long I don't believe balancing the criticism with an equal amount of positive or neutral material will work. The article would be twice as big. I believe the only solution is to leave academic opinion out of the article (academic sourced facts are fine) and simply list the scholars under the heading "academic articles" and let the reader investigate if they wish. Flooding this article with more academic opinion will make it difficult to read.Momento 09:02, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

No, again, there is not "a wealth of infomation about Rawat from scholars."; there is not a single scholarly article that gives an extensive description of Rawat's life. Again, if you think otherwise then show me one such article. Andries 10:59, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

There is a wealth of information, and we have only got started. You could help if you wish. ≈ jossi ≈ (talk) 01:23, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I am still waiting for this wealth of scholarly information about the life of Prem Rawat and I do not believe that you will be able to provide it. Andries 17:33, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

You make no sense whatsover, Andries. There is plenty of information already here, and there is more coming. What is the point you are trying to make? Is that the same point your are trying to make on other biographical articles, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary? ≈ jossi ≈ (talk) 17:54, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

What evidence to the contrary. Where is the extensive scholarly description of Rawat's life that I have been asking for many times. Andries 19:17, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

You make no sense, and you do not explain what you are saying. That is quote offending, you know? ≈ jossi ≈ (talk) 21:04, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

What I mean to say is that in contrast to what Momento asserts, there is not an extensive scholarly description of Rawat's life. There is a lot of information about the DLM, but not about Rawat's life. Andries 21:07, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

I think Hunt's article is excellent. I'd like to put it all in rather than the three sentences you selected.Momento 11:34, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Melton and Partridge

J. Gordon Melton, Christopher Partridge, New Religions: A Guide: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities pp.201-202, Oxford University Press, USA (2004) ISBN 978-0195220421

Maharaji was originally known as Guru Maharaji and came to fame when he first visited Brtain., Europe and the United States as a 13-year old in 1971. His message of personal charisma spread rapidly among members of the 1960's counterculture. In the early 1970s's Divine Light Mission, the movement made up of Maharaji's followers was the fastest-growing group in North America and Britain.

Maharaji had originally taken on the role of master after his father's dead in 1966. He was only eight years old but the position was not hereditary. It is stated that his father had chosen him as the person best suited to carry the teachings forward in an international arena as well as in India. Maharaji's childhood is full of accounts of how he would encourage his father's followers to practice the teachings and speak publicly at his father's events. However, Maharaji';s young age meant that his mother and eldest brother effectively controlled the Divine Light Mission in India. As Maharaji began to grow older and establish his teachings worldwide he increasingly desired to manifest his own vision of development and growth. This conflict resulted in a split between Maharaji and his family, ostensibly caused by his mother's inability to accept Maharaji's marriage to an American follower rather than the planned traditional arranged marriage.

Thorough the 1980's and up to the present, Maharaji has traveled around the world continuously meeting with interested people and inspiring those who practise his teachings. In the 1980's, Divine Light Mission was disbanded and Elan Vital was established to more effectively promote Maharaji;s teachings in a way that was free from any particular religious or cultural association. Maharaji's teachings are not new but belong to an age-old wisdom tradition that is continuously renewed under the inspiration of a living master. Thus, although parallels to Maharaji's teachings are found amongst such figures as Guru Nanak (the founder of Sikhism, Kabir (a 15th century Indian Sant) amd Rumi (1207-73; a Persian Sufi poet and founder of the Mevlevi brotherhood), they exist independently of any tradition and do not rely upon any requirement to be authenticated by Scriptures or authorities sanctified by the past.

However, at the heart of Maharaji's teachings lies the simplest message that the human quest for fulfillment can be resolved by turning inward to discover a constant source of contentment and joy within. This message is supported by four techniques, together known as Konwledge, which provide the practical application that allow the practitioner the possibility of the experience spoken about by Maharaji.

He is insistent that it is not the product of any one culture or the property of any religious tradition and that it can be practice by anyone. Consequently, Maharaji asserts that he is not teaching a religion and there are no particular rituals, sacred days, pilgrimages, sacred places, doctrines, scriptures or specific dress codes, dietary requirements or any other dimension associated with a religious lifestyle.

Maharaji himself does not conform to any stereotype of a religious or spiritual leader but is highly committed to his conviction tat Knowledge is effective and therefore he promotes its possibility to as many people around the world as are interested.

After going through a major transformation, structurally and organizationally, Maharaji continues to promote the availability of Knowledge as in the heyday of the Divine Light Mission in the 1970s, but without the attendant Indian culture accretions.