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In 2007, during a two-month tour of India, [[Sri Lanka]] and [[Nepal]], Rawat spoke at 36 events, addressing over 800,000 people, and by live satellite broadcasts reached an additional 2.25 million.<ref>Press release. [http://www.tprf.org/Prem_Rawat_press_releases/Prem_Rawat_addreses_over_3_million_in_India_events.htm Over 3 million people participate in events with Prem Rawat in India]</ref>
In 2007, during a two-month tour of India, [[Sri Lanka]] and [[Nepal]], Rawat spoke at 36 events, addressing over 800,000 people, and by live satellite broadcasts reached an additional 2.25 million.<ref>Press release. [http://www.tprf.org/Prem_Rawat_press_releases/Prem_Rawat_addreses_over_3_million_in_India_events.htm Over 3 million people participate in events with Prem Rawat in India]</ref>


==Lifestyle==
A source of controversy in the 1970s was Rawat's affluent lifestyle, which continued during the DLM's financial difficulties.<ref>Bromley and Shupe 1981, p. 137</ref> Press reports listed expensive automobiles such as Rolls Royces, Mercedes Benz limousines<ref>"Oz in the Astrodome" Ted Morgan, ''New York Times'', December 9, 1973</ref> and sports cars, some of them gifts.<ref>"The guru who minds his mother", By MALCOLM N. CARTER, AP. 11/4/73 Stars and Stripes</ref><ref>"Boy guru weds Calif. woman, 24". Associated Press, Long Beach, Calif. ''Indepedent'', May 22, 1974</ref> Some of the vehicles were reportedly bought tax-free due to the DLM's status as a church.<ref>"Investigation under way into Guru's business activities" AP Jun 24, 1974 GREELEY (Colo.) TRIBUNE</ref><ref>Current Biography Yearbook 1974</ref> The DLM was investigated for possible abuse of its stats but was not charged. Rawat took flying lessons beginning when he was 13,<ref>"Pretty Far-Out Little Dude" Henry Allen, ''Washington Post'', September 14, 1971</ref> and began training in a jet by age 15.<ref>''Who is Guru Maharaj Ji''</ref> In 1972 two Cessna airplanes were obtained for his use.<ref name="CBY1974" /><ref>"Gifts for a Guru" in ''Stars and Stripes'', [[November 15]], [[1972]].</ref> Later he would obtain an [[Airline Transport Pilot License]] and [[type rating]]s for multi-engined aircraft and helicopters,<ref>[http://www.landings.com/evird.acgi?pass=104500764&ref=-&mtd=41&cgi=%2Fcgi-bin%2Fnph-search_namd&var=9&buf=66&src=_landings%2Fpages%2Fsearch_namd.html&1=Rawat&2=Prem&5=&6=&7=&9=&8=&10=&13=&14=&16=&17=&max_ret=10&start_ret=1 Database of pilots]</ref> and had a private jet at his disposition.<ref name="HinduismToday1983">"Whatever Happened to Guru Maharaj Ji?" in ''[[Hinduism Today]]'' by Himalayan Academy, [[USA]], ISSN 0896-0801, October 1983. [http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/1983/10/1983-10-06.shtml Web copy at hinduismtoday.com]</ref> He was reported to have homes in London, New York, Colorado, California and India.<ref>"Oz in the Astrodome" Ted Morgan, ''New York Times'', December 9, 1973</ref><ref name="CBY1974" /> When asked why he did not give his Rolls to the poor he explained that he only had one and once it was given he would have no more Rolls to give,<ref>Current Biography Yearbook 1974</ref><ref>"BLISSING OUT IN HOUSTON", Francine du Plessix Gray, New York Review of Books December 13, 1973</ref><ref>"Oz in the Astrodome" Ted Morgan, NYT 12/9/1973</ref><ref>"Seventeen-year-old guru likes pizza and sports cars", DEBORAH FRAZIER UPI Santa Fe, July 13,1975 THE NEW MEXICAN.</ref><ref>Levine, Richard. "When The Lord of All The Universe Played Houston: Many are called but few show up" in Rolling Stone. Issue No. 156, March 14, 1974, pp 36-50:</ref> and that what he gave was more valuable than money. Followers said that the messiah came as a king this time instead of a beggar,<ref>"Oz in the Astrodome" Ted Morgan, NYT 12/9/1973</ref><ref>"An East Indian Teen-Ager Say He Is God", Ken Kelley, Vogue March 1974</ref> that he did not want the gifts but people gave them because their love was so strong,<ref>"Through a 'Third Eye' Comes The Divine Light", By PHIL HASLANGER (Of The Capital Times Staff), Capital times, 2/16/73</ref> that the gifts are from a "Western culture whose fruits are watches and Cadillacs",<ref>"'You're a Perfect Master'", Newsweek November 19, 1973</ref> and that Rawat's lifestyle was an example of a ''[[lila]]'', or divine prank, which held a mirror to a "money-crazed and contraption-collecting society".<ref>Foss & Larkin 1978</ref> A follower told a reporter that Rawat fired a pistol at prized vases in the backyard to "to teach us the worthlessness of material possessions."<ref> "When The Lord of All The Universe Played Houston". Richard Levine, ''RollingStone Magazine'' March 14, 1974</ref> Sources close to his mother said that his materialistic lifestyle was one of the reasons she disowned him.<ref>"Guru Tries to Take Control of Mission" in The Ruston Daily Leader, April 9, 1975:</ref><ref>"MOTHER OUSTS 'PLAYBOY' GURU" in Los Angeles Times. Wednesday April 2, 1975, PART II, p. 6A</ref> Former officials of the DLM in the 1970s, including the founding president, the vice president, and a financial analyst, complained that money was increasingly diverted to Rawat's personal use,<ref>Melton, J. Gordon. Entry "DIVINE LIGHT MISSION", subtitle "Controversy" in ''Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America''. Garland, 1986 (revised edition), ISBN 0-8240-9036-5 pp. 144–5</ref>and that the movement appeared to them to exist only to support Rawat's "opulent existence".<ref>TIME, Apr. 07, 1975 [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917237,00.html]</ref> Critics have complained that his lifestyle was supported by the donations of followers.<ref>Hunt, Stephen. ''Aternative Religions''. Ashgate 2003</ref>




Revision as of 21:04, 9 October 2008

Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat in Lisbon, Portugal
Born (1957-12-10) December 10, 1957 (age 66)
Haridwar, India
SpouseMarolyn Rawat
ChildrenPremlata Rawat, Hans Rawat, Dayalata Rawat, Amar Rawat.[1]
Parent(s)Shri Hans Ji Maharaj, Rajeshwari Devi

Prem Rawat (born Prem Pal Singh Rawat on December 10 1957 in Haridwar, India), also known as Maharaji (formerly Guru Maharaj Ji), also as Sant Ji Maharaj[2] and Balyogeshwar,[3][4][5] is a speaker on the subject of inner peace, and offers instruction in four meditation techniques he calls Knowledge.[6][7] This Knowledge consists of the techniques to obtain stillness, peace, and contentment within the individual: the happiness of the true self-understanding.[8][9]

In June 1971, Rawat left India for the West, where he was the subject of substantial media attention.[10] His first western address was given at a pop music festival in Glastonbury.[11] Tens of thousands were attracted to his message, largely from the hippie culture. Rawat made his home in the U.S. and began touring and teaching worldwide.[12][9] Turning 16, Rawat began to assume a more active role in guiding the movement.[13][14]

Over time, his teachings became more universal and less Indian, and in the early 1980s he dropped the title "Guru" and abandoned the Indian traditions from which the techniques originated.[15] In 2001, The Prem Rawat Foundation was established to contribute to global humanitarian efforts and to promote his message, which is now available throughout the world via print, TV, cable and satellite.[16] As of 2006, Rawat continued to tour regularly.[6]

Rawat has been criticized for a lack of intellectual content in his public discourses[17][18][19] and for his opulent lifestyle.[20][8]

Childhood

Further information: Hans Ji Maharaj
Prem Rawat at age 6

Prem Rawat was born in Haridwar, northern India, on December 10, 1957. He had a wealthy, high caste father[21][22] and was born into luxury.[23][24] The fourth and youngest son of guru Shri Hans Ji Maharaj and his second wife, Jagat Janani Mata Shri Rajeshwari Devi, Rawat attended St. Joseph's Academy elementary school in his hometown of Dehra Dun.[25] At the age of three he began speaking at his father's meetings, and when he was six his father taught him the "techniques of Knowledge." During the 1960s, Americans in India searching for spiritual guidance met members of his father's Divine Light Mission (founded in 1960) and a few became initiates or premies (from the Hindi prem, which literally means "love".) Rawat's father died in 1966, and during the customary 13 days of mourning, his mother and senior officials of the organization discussed the succession. Both Mata Ji and eldest son Satpal were suggested as a potential successor, but before Satpal could be nominated, Prem Rawat addressed the crowd and was accepted by them as their teacher and "Perfect Master".[26][27][28][29] On July 31 after an improvised ceremony, Mata Ji and his elder brothers touched Rawat's feet as a sign of respect.[30] Because of his youth, effective control of the DLM was shared by the whole family.[31][32][33] From that time on, Rawat spent his weekends and school holidays travelling as his father had, addressing audiences on the subject of Knowledge and inner peace.

In the late 1960s, British followers in India invited him to visit the West. In 1969 he sent one of his closest Indian students (known as Mahatmas) to London to teach Knowledge on his behalf.[34] In 1970, many of his new Western followers flew to India to see him and were present at India Gate, Delhi, when – still only twelve years old – he delivered an address known as "The Peace Bomb," which marked the start of his international work.[2][35]

Leaving India

Prem Rawat at the Los Angeles Airport

Prem Rawat first travelled to the West in 1971.[36] In September 1971 the U.S. Divine Light Mission (DLM) was established in Denver, Colorado and the same year Rawat spoke to a large U.S. gathering. By the end of 1973, DLM was operating in North and South America, Europe and Australia. Tens of thousands of people had been initiated, and several hundred centers and dozens of ashrams formed.[12]

The 1972 Hans Jayanti, a festival celebrating Rawat's father's birthday,[37] was attended by over 500,000 people. Rawat, then aged 14, arrived back in India on 7 November, together with 2,500 followers from the U.S in seven chartered Jumbo jets.[38] A suitcase containing cash, jewelry and wristwatches worth an estimated total of US$27,000 to $80,000 was not properly declared, and was impounded by customs.[39] A DLM spokesman said that the money did not belong to Rawat, but had been deposited by 3,000 followers to pay for expenses, and that the other valuables were gifts.[40] One secretary accepted responsibility for the valuables and another for failing to declare them.[41][40] The finances of Rawat and the DLM at home and abroad were investigated by the Indian government, and Indira Gandhi took a personal interest in the case which was discussed in parliament.[42] Rawat had to post a $13,300 bond in order to leave the country in June of 1973. Mata Ji said that customs officials had humiliated her son, that the Indian press had given his visit the worst possible coverage, and that her son was angry with her for convincing him to attend.[43] Charges were never filed,[44] and the Indian government later issued an apology.[45]

On August 7, 1973 Rawat went to the Detroit city hall to receive a testimonial resolution praising his work, but was pied by a reporter from the anti-establishment Detroit periodical Fifth Estate.[46][47] A tour of U.S. cities was cut short in early September 1973, when Rawat was hospitalized with what his doctor called an "intestinal ulcer". The doctor said that Rawat's body showed the stresses of a middle-aged executive weakened by the pace of continual travel.[48]

The Hans Jayanti of 1973, called "Millennium '73", was held in the Houston Astrodome. It was promoted as "the most significant event in human history". Organizers, including Rawat's eldest brother Satpal Rawat (then known as Bal Bhagwan Ji) and activist Rennie Davis, had publicly predicted attendance of 100,000 or more, but the event only attracted an estimated 20,000. Though it was not covered by the national television news, it did get extensive coverage in the print media and was depicted in the award-winning U.S. documentary "Lord of the Universe".[49] The premies were reported to be "cheerful, friendly and unruffled, and seemed nourished by their faith". To the 400 premie parents who attended, Rawat "was a rehabilitator of prodigal sons and daughters". Other reporters found a "confused jumble of inarticulately expressed ideas."[50][51] The event was called the "youth culture event of the year".[52] The failure of the event to meet expectations generated negative publicity and left the Divine Light Mission heavily in debt, forcing changes in the movement.[53] According to Thomas Pilarzyk, the Millennium economic deficit was partially the result of poor management by the "holy family", Rawat's mother and three older brothers, as well as the much lower than anticipated attendance.[54]

Because of Prem Rawat's youth, Mata Ji, his mother, had managed the affairs of the worldwide DLM, with the help of her eldest son, Satpal Rawat. As Prem Rawat approached sixteen years of age, he wanted to take a more active part in deciding and managing the direction of the movement. According to Downton, "this meant he had to encroach on his mother's territory and, given the fact that she was accustomed to having control, a fight was inevitable".[55][34]

Coming of age

In December 1973, when he turned 16, Rawat took administrative control of the Mission's U.S. branch and began to assert his independence from his mother who returned to India with Satpal.[56][57]

In May 1974 Rawat received permission from a judge to get married.[58] His marriage to Marolyn Johnson, a 24-year old follower and secretary of his from San Diego, California, was officiated at a non-denominational church in Golden, Colorado.[59] Rawat's mother, Mata Ji, had not been invited.[60] As a result of his marriage he became an emancipated minor.

Rawat's marriage to a non-Indian finally severed Rawat's relationship with his mother.[8][61] She gained legal control of the Indian DLM and appointed the eldest brother, Satpal, as its leader, while Rawat maintained the support of the Western disciples.[62] Most of the mahatmas either returned to India or were dismissed.[55] Rawat had by then become financially independent as a result of contributions from his Western devotees, which made it possible for him to follow the lifestyle of an American millionaire.[63][55]

In November 1974, seeking more privacy for himself, his wife and his entourage following security concerns, Rawat moved to a four-acre property in Malibu, California.[64][65] Purchased by the DLM for $400,000, the property also served as the DLM's West Coast headquarters.[64][65] Described in the press as a "lavish hilltop estate", it was damaged in a 1978 brush fire.[66][67] Controversy around a helipad on the property[68] was resolved by installing emergency water storage for use by the Los Angeles County Fire Department in emergencies and by limiting the number of permitted flights.[69] After scaling down the DLM's activities in the early 1980s, Rawat created the North American Sponsorship Program to help pay for the property,[70] which by 1998 was valued at $15 million.[71]

Although there were still residues of belief in his divinity, by 1976 the vast majority of students viewed Rawat primarily as their spiritual teacher, guide and inspiration.[72] In January 1976 Rawat encouraged students to leave the ashrams and to discard Indian customs and terminology.[73] In the same year, staff at the Denver headquarters were reduced from 250 to 80.[74]

His appearance at an event on 20 December 1976 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, wearing a traditional Krishna costume for the first time since 1975, signaled a resurgence of Indian influence and devotion. His followers elevated Rawat to a higher level in the conveyance of "Knowledge". During 1977, many returned to ashram life, and there was a shift back from secular tendencies towards ritual and messianic beliefs.[75][76][77] In 1977 Rawat became a US citizen.[78]

In the mid-1970s several ex-members became vocal critics.[79] James Lewis wrote that they attacked the movement with charges of brainwashing and mind control.[80] In January 1979 the Los Angeles Times reported that Rawat maintained his Malibu following despite a rising mistrust of cults.[65] Bob Mishler, co-founder of DLM in the United States and former president of the business side of the mission, and Robert Hand, a former vice president of the movement, voiced their criticism in a press conference,[citation needed] warning that a situation like the recent Jonestown incident could occur with the followers of Rawat.[81] Mishler complained that the ideals of the group had become impossible to fulfill, but his charges found little support and did not affect the progress of the Mission.[17]

Following the fire damage to his Malibu home, Rawat moved to Miami Beach, Florida with his wife and three children for several years, and DLM headquarters relocated there.[67] Prem Rawat visited India again in October 1980 after an absence of five years, and spoke to over 38,000 people in Delhi. He also toured South America and Europe that year.[82]

Westernization

October 12, 1981. Prem Rawat speaking at the Royal Albert Hall, London

In the early 1980s, the Hindu traditions and religious parables that had been prominent in Prem Rawat's teachings were abandoned as obstacles to a wider western acceptance of his message and gave way to an exclusive focus on "Knowledge" – the meditation techniques. Formerly considered the "Perfect Master", Prem Rawat abandoned his "almost divine status as guru". Spiritual growth was no longer attained by the grace of the guru, but from the teachings and their benefit to individuals.[8][83]

In 1983 the downsized Divine Light Mission changed its name to Elan Vital, and Rawat closed the last western ashrams, marking the end of his use of Indian methods for international objectives.[84]

Rawat continued to teach the techniques of Knowledge and affirmed his own status as a master rather than a divine leader. The original religious movement was essentially defunct. Scholars such as Kranenborg and Chryssides describe the departure from divine connotations, and the new emphasis that the Knowledge is universal, rather than Indian.[85][86] Sociologist Hunt claims that Rawat "left his more ascetic life behind and does not personally eschew 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. His tens of thousands of followers in the West see themselves as adherents to a system of teachings that extol the goal of enjoying life to the full."[8]

He toured extensively throughout the 1980s and 1990s,[87] and spoke publicly in over 40 countries, in places as culturally diverse as Japan, Taiwan, the Ivory Coast, Slovenia and Venezuela.[88] 1999 saw the commencement of regular satellite broadcasts to North America and other countries.[89]

2000s

June 30, 2003. Prem Rawat addressing the first "Conference on Peace" at the University of Salamanca

Between January 2004 and June 2005, Rawat delivered 117 addresses in Asia, Europe, and North America focusing on a universal message of peace and self-fulfillment. His message is currently distributed in eighty-eight countries in print and on video, and his program "Words of Peace" is broadcast on TV channels such as Canal Infinito in South America, Channel 31 in Australia, and Dish Network in the U.S.A.[90][91]

In 2001, Rawat founded the The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF),[92] a Public Charitable Organization for the production and distribution of materials promoting his message, and for funding worldwide humanitarian efforts. TPRF has provided food, water and medical help to war-torn and impoverished areas.[93]

In 2005, Rawat introduced The Keys, a set of five DVD's which prepare the student for receiving Knowledge, as well as a sixth Key which is a DVD presentation of Rawat teaching the Knowledge techniques.[94]

In 2007, during a two-month tour of India, Sri Lanka and Nepal, Rawat spoke at 36 events, addressing over 800,000 people, and by live satellite broadcasts reached an additional 2.25 million.[95]


Teachings

Further information: Teachings of Prem Rawat

Prem Rawat teaches a process of self-discovery using four meditation techniques, known collectively as "Knowledge", that offer a direct experience of transcendence.[8][96][97][98] Stephen J. Hunt describes Rawat's major focus as being on stillness, peace and contentment within the individual, with 'Knowledge' encompassing the necessary techniques to acquire these qualities. 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."[8]

Some scholars assert that Rawat's teachings began in the North Indian Sant Mat tradition,[99] which dismisses ritual and claims that true religion is a matter of loving and surrendering to God who dwells in the heart.[100][101] Rawat claims that practicing Knowledge will allow the practitioner to experience the divine within, which will yield self-understanding, calmness, peace and contentment.[86]

Several scholars wrote that Rawat claimed or suggested that he was divine, in accord with the Indian Sant Mat tradition of regarding the "Perfect Master" as an embodiment of God.[102][103] As a guru, he carried divine connotations for his followers, and Rawat's appeal to his followers to give up their beliefs and concepts did not prevent them from adopting a set of ideas about his divinity and the coming of a new age.[104] Despite his denial in a July, 1972 interview of any belief that he was the Messiah, pre-existing millennial expectations were fostered partly by his mother, whose talks were full of references to her son's divine nature, and partly by Rawat himself, who generally encouraged whatever view was held by people.[104][105]

Some journalists and scholars have described Rawat's teachings as lacking in intellectual content.[106][19] [107] Van der Lans and Derks wrote that according to Rawat all evil should be attributed to the mind (premies use "mind" and "ego" interchangeably), as an obstacle to freeing oneself from former bonds.[108][104] Rawat makes no reference to any traditional authority, neither person nor text.[109][34] In the 80s Rawat came to recognize that the Indian influences on his followers in the West were a hindrance to the wider acceptance of his teachings, and he changed the style of his message, relinquishing the Hindu traditions and beliefs and most of the original eastern religious practices.[8][110][107]

Practitioners describe Knowledge as internal and highly individual, with no associated social structure, liturgy, ethical practices or articles of faith.[8] Practitioners and organizations related to Prem Rawat emphasize the superiority of subjective experience over intellect.[8][111][3]

Reception

According to Ron Geaves, one of the earliest Western students of Prem Rawat who later became a Professor of Religion in the UK:[112] "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."[34]

Stephen A. Kent, in the preface of his book From Slogans to Mantras, described his disappointment at hearing what he considered to be a poorly delivered and banal message by Rawat in 1974, and was surprised that his companions spoke glowingly about the same message.[19]

Following

Estimates of the number of Rawat's adherents varied, and became less certain over time.[113] Petersen states that Rawat claimed 7 million disciples worldwide in 1973, with 60,000 in the U.S.[114] Rudin & Rudin give a worldwide following of 6 million prior to the family schism of 1974, of which 50,000 were in the U.S. According to these authors, these figures had fallen to 1.2 million for Prem Rawat's personal worldwide following in 1980, of which just 15,000 were in the U.S.[115] Palmer and Keller published a general DLM membership of approximately 1.2 million worldwide, with 50,000 in the U.S., in 1990 and 1997.[116]

Paul Schnabel notes a steady growth of adherence in the U.S. until 1975 (numbers for 1974: 50,000 premies, of which 1,200 living in ashrams), with a steep decline afterwards.[117] Army Pamphlet 165-13 (1978, reprinted 2001) estimated 50,000 adherents in the U.S., of which 10,000 to 12,000 were considered very active.[28] Melton & Moore suggested a U.S. following of no more than 3,000 committed followers in 1982 out of some 50,000 who had been initiated into the Knowledge meditation.[118] By 1993 it was no longer possible to obtain estimates from Rawat's organisations.[113] Paul Schnabel indicated that in 1980 the number of DLM adherents in the Netherlands had fallen to 150, 15 of which were living in a community setting.[119] In 1983 the following of Rawat in Fiji was around 1,000.[120] For West Germany, 800 members were recorded in 1987.[121]

Media

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.[122][123] In 1973, the 50-member public relations team of the Divine Light Mission who met to talk about the guru's image, concluded that he was seen as a "fat 15-year-old with pie in his face ... and a Rolls-Royce ... who was arrested for jewel smuggling", and pointed at the necessity to establish his credibility beyond his age and body shape.[124]

Charisma and leadership

Several scholars refer to Max Weber's classification of authority when describing Rawat as a charismatic leader.[125][18][126] This type of leadership, in Weber's words, rests "on devotion to the exceptional sanctity, heroism or exemplary character of an individual person, and of the normative patterns or order revealed or ordained by him."[127]

Melton refers to Rawat's personal charisma as one of the reasons for the rapid spread of his message among members of the 1960's counterculture.[128] The Dutch sociologist Paul Schnabel described Rawat as a pure example of a charismatic leader. He characterized Rawat as materialistic, pampered and intellectually unremarkable compared to Osho, but no less charismatic. Schnabel remarks that although Rawat's charisma was partly routinized as it resulted from a hereditary succession, this type of routinization played a negligible role for his Western followers; there, his charisma was primarily the result of careful staging supported by a whole organization.[18] Meredith McGuire sees formalization resulting from Rawat's desire to consolidate his power and authority over the movement in the United States.[125] Lucy DuPertuis, a sociologist and follower who assisted James V. Downton with his book about the Divine Light Mission, described Rawat's role as a Master as emerging from three interrelated phenomena: traditional or theological definitions of Satguru, adherents' first-hand experiences of the Master, and communal accounts and discussions of the Master among devotees. Her ultimate assertion is that imputation of charisma is an active, conscious, changing process which, in this context, involves non-cognitive modes of perception. She also observed that Rawat's charisma did not prevent some devotees from discovering that they had learned the "experience of God" on their own, and to drift away, not in disillusionment but in fulfillment.[126]

David G. Bromley describes the difficulty of a charismatic leader in proving to be above normal human failings such as not to suffer ill health or indulge in worldly pursuits. He presents Rawat's marriage as such a situation, which is then exploited by the media to discredit charismatic claimants in the eyes of the general public.[129] Bromley describes Prem Rawat and other founders of new religions as being held in awe by their early followers, who ascribe extraordinary powers to them that set them apart from other human beings – in the words of Max Weber, a "prophet" or bearer of charisma who proclaims alternative or new revelations. Bromley asserts that recent scholarship gives emphasis to social construct aspects of charisma, rather than relying solely on individual personality.[130] Thomas Pilarzyk, a sociologist, wrote in a 1978 paper that the distribution of power and authority in the DLM was officially based on the charismatic appeal of Maharaj Ji, which he describes as being somewhat ambiguous, and that many followers were not certain about his position in the organizational scheme of the movement, or the claim that he was the only true spiritual master.[54]

Stephen J. Hunt observes that in Rawat's case the notion of spiritual growth is not derived — as is traditionally the case with other gurus — from his personal charisma, but from the nature of his teachings and the benefits to the individuals applying them.[8] The aforementioned Ron Geaves, a student of Prem Rawat,[112] states that Rawat is not a renunciate, and that he has made great efforts to assert his humanity and take apart the hagiography that has developed around him. He further writes that 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 for his authority, and that Rawat could only be defined as charismatic in the sense of charisma having an antagonistic relationship with tradition.[34]

Students

Schnabel observed, referring to research by the psychologist of religion Van der Lans, that among his Western students, Rawat appeared to stimulate an uncritical attitude, giving them an opportunity to project their fantasies of divinity onto his person. According to these authors, the divine nature of the guru is a standard element of Eastern religion, but removed from its cultural context, and confounded with the Western understanding of God as a father, what is lost is the difference between the guru's person and that which the guru symbolizes—resulting in what they refer to as limitless personality worship. Schnabel writes that this kind of understanding of the master-disciple relationship, alien to the original Eastern guru-disciple context, often ends in disillusionment for the disciple, who finds that the teacher in the end fails to live up to his or her expectations.[131]

Former followers

Based on an analysis of Sophia Collier's Soul Rush, John Barbour, a Professor of Religion,[132] concludes that Collier's deconversion from DLM was uncharacteristic compared to other deconversions from other movements, in that her deconversion brought her no emotional suffering.[133]

When former officials of Rawat's organisations voiced their criticism in the aftermath of the Jonestown drama in the late 1970s they didn't limit themselves to the movement, but included its leader in their comments,[81] which included claiming that money had been increasingly diverted to Rawat's personal use.[17]

Former followers became known as "Ex-premies",[120][134][135][136] and Elan Vital has characterised the vocal critics among them as disgruntled former employees.[134]


Footnotes

  1. ^ Cagan, A. Peace is Possible: The Life and Message of Prem Rawat. Mighty River Press. ISBN 0-9788694-9-4, pp. 206, 215, 219 and 233
  2. ^ a b Navbharat Times, 10 November 1970 (from Hindi original): "A three-day event in commemoration of Sri Hans Ji Maharaj, the largest procession in Delhi history of 18 miles of processionists culminating in a public event at India Gate, where Sant Ji Maharaj addressed the large gathering."
    Hindustan Times, 9 November 1970 (English): "Roads in the Capital spilled over with 1,000,000 processionists, men, women and children marched from Indra Prasha Estate to the India Gate lawn. [...] People had come from all over the country and belonged to several religions. A few Europeans dressed in white were also in the procession."
    Guinness Book of World Records, 1970.
  3. ^ a b Mangalwadi, Vishal and Hoeksema, Kurt. The world of gurus: a critical look at the philosphies of India’s influential gurus and mystics. Cornerstone Pr Chicago, revised edition (1992). ISBN 094089503X pp. 137-138
    The Divine Light Mission has not been interested in teachings and philosophies. Balyogeshwar and his brother have consistently rejected "theoretical" knowledge as "useless." I found the DLM devotees most difficult to talk to, because they neither wanted to teach their philosophy to me nor answer philosophical questions and objections. Their one comment was "Take the practical knowledge of the experience of Sound and Light and all your doubts and questions will be answered."
  4. ^ "New Hindu Religious Movements in India," by Arvind Sharma, in "New Religious Movements and Rapid Social Change", by James A. Beckford, Unesco/Sage Publications: London,1986, ISBN 0-8039-8003-8, p224
  5. ^ McKean, Lise. Divine Enterprise: Gurus and the Hindu Nationalist Movement. University of Chicago Press, 1996, ISBN 0226560090. p. 54
  6. ^ a b Cagan, A. Peace is Possible: The Life and Message of Prem Rawat. Mighty River Press, ISBN 0-9788694-9-4
  7. ^ Hadden, Religions of the World, p. 428 "The meditation techniques the Maharaji teaches today are the same he learned from his father, Hans Ji Maharaj, who, in turn, learned them from his spiritual teacher [Sarupanand]." 'Knowledge', claims Maharaji, 'is a way to be able to take all your senses that have been going outside all your life, turn them around and put them inside to feel and to actually experience you ...'
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Hunt, Stephen J. Alternative Religions: A Sociological Introduction (2003), pp. 116–7, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 0-7546-3410-8
    Cite error: The named reference "Hunt2003" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b 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.
  10. ^ Goring, Rosemary (Ed.) Dictionary of Beliefs & Religions (1997) p. 145. Wordsworth Editions, ISBN 1853263540
  11. ^ Clarence Lewis Barnhart, Sol Steinmetz, Robert K. Barnhart. The Second Barnhart Dictionary of New English. Barnhart Books, 1980, ISBN 0060101547, p. 411
  12. ^ a b Melton, J. Gordon. Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America. pp. 141–2. Entry: Divine Light Mission "In 1970 Maharaj Ji announced his plans to carry the knowledge throughout the world and the following year, against his mother’s wishes, made his first visit to the West. A large crowd came to Colorado the next year to hear him give his first set of discourses in America. Many were initiated and became the core of the Mission in the United States. Headquarters were established in Denver, and by the end of 1973, tens of thousands had been initiated, and several hundred centers as well as over twenty ashrams formed. Cite error: The named reference "Melton" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  13. ^ Downton, Sacred Journeys. "Nearly sixteen, he was ready to assume a more active part in deciding what direction the movement should take. This of course meant that he had to encroach on his mother's territory and, given the fact that she was accustomed to having control, a fight was inevitable."
  14. ^ Geaves, Ron, in Christopher Partridge (Eds.), New Religions: A Guide. New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities. pp. 201–202, Oxford University Press, U.S.A. (2004) ISBN 978-0195220421. "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."
  15. ^ Melton, J. Gordon. Encyclopedia of American Religions. "In the early 1980s, Maharaj Ji moved to disband the Divine Light Mission and he personally renounced the trappings of Indian culture and religion. Disbanding the mission, he founded Elan Vital, an organization essential to his future role as teacher."
  16. ^ "The Prem Rawat Foundation website".
  17. ^ a b c Melton, J. Gordon. Entry "DIVINE LIGHT MISSION", subtitle "Controversy" in Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America. Garland, 1986 (revised edition), ISBN 0-8240-9036-5 pp. 144–5
    During the first years of the Divine Light Mission in the United States, both it and Maharaj Ji were constantly involved in controversy. The teachings of the Mission, particularly the public discourses of Maharaj Ji, were condemned as lacking in substance. Maharaj Ji, who frequently acted like the teenager that he was in public, was seen as immature and hence unfit to be a religious leader. At one point, a pie was thrown in his face (which led angry followers to assault the perpetrator). Ex members attacked the group with standard anti cult charges of brainwashing and mind control.
    However, as the group withdrew from the public eye, little controversy followed it except for the accusations of Robert Mishner [sic] 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 [were] made just after the deaths at Jonestown, Guyana [...]
  18. ^ a b c Schnabel, Tussen stigma en charisma ("Between stigma and charisma"), 1982. Ch. IV, C:
    (p. 99:) [...] persoonlijke kwaliteiten alleen [zijn] onvoldoende [...] voor de erkenning van het charismatisch leiderschap. [...] de verwende materialistische en intellectueel weinig opmerkelijke Maharaj Ji.
    (p. 101-102:) Tegelijkertijd betekent dit echter ook, dat charismatisch leiderschap als zodanig tot op grote hoogte ensceneerbaar is. Maharaj Ji is daar een voorbeeld van. In zekere zin gaat het hier om geroutiniseerd charisma (erfopvolging), maar voor de volgelingen in Amerika en Europa geldt dat toch nauwelijks: zij waren bereid in juist hem te geloven en er was rond Maharaj Ji een hele organisatie die dat geloof voedde en versterkte.         		  [...] personal qualities alone are insufficient for the recognition of the charismatic leadership. [...] the pampered materialistic and intellectually quite unremarkable Maharaj Ji.
    At the same time, this means however that charismatic leadership, as such, can also to a high degree be staged. Maharaj Ji is an example of this. Certainly, Maharaj Ji's leadership can be seen as routinized charisma (hereditary succession), but for the followers in America and Europe this is hardly significant: they were prepared to have faith specifically in him and Maharaj Ji was embedded in a whole organisation that fed and reinforced that faith.
  19. ^ a b c Kent, Stephen A. From slogans to mantras: social protest and religious conversion in the late Vietnam war era, Syracuse University press, 2001, ISBN 0-8156-2948-6
  20. ^ Rudin, James A. & Marcia R. Rudin. Prison or Paradise: The New Religious Cults. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980, ISBN 080060637X, p. 65.
    The guru's mother was so upset over the marriage and her son's opulent lifestyle that she disowned him...
  21. ^ Current Biography Yearbook, 1974.
  22. ^ McKean, Lise. Divine Enterprise. University of Chicago Press, 1996.
  23. ^ Downton 1979
  24. ^ Larson, Bob. Larson's Book of Cults. Tyndale House Publications. 1982
  25. ^ A. Cagan. Peace is Possible: The Life and Message of Prem Rawat. p3.
  26. ^ Cagan, A. Peace is Possible: The Life and Message of Prem Rawat. Mighty River Press. ISBN 0-9788694-9-4, Page 83-87
  27. ^ Aagaard, Johannes. Who Is Who In Guruism? (1980) "During the first 6 years of the new movement its head was Shri Hans, the father of the young Maharaj Ji, who, at the age of 8 years, succeeded his father in 1966."
  28. ^ a b Religious Requirements and Practices of Certain Selected Groups: A Handbook for Chaplains by U.S. Department of the Army, published 2001 by The Minerva Group, ISBN 0-89875-607-3 - reprint of Army Pamphlet 165-13, published in 1978 by Kirchner Associates in Honolulu, p. II-5 ff.
    Following his death, Shri Hans Ji appointed the youngest of his four sons, Sant Ji as the next Perfect Master and therefore he assumed the head of the Divine Light Mission as decreed by his father.
  29. ^ Fahlbusch E., Lochman J. M., Mbiti J., Pelikan J., Vischer L, Barret D. (Eds.) The Encyclopedia of Christianity (1998). p.861, ISBN 90-04-11316-9 "At the funeral of Shree Hans, his son Prem Pal Singh Rawat [...] comforted those who mourned his father's death with the thought that they still had perfect knowledge with them. The son himself had become the subject of this knowledge, the perfect master, in the place of his father, and took the title of "guru" and the name of Maharaj Ji, or great king, a title of respect to which other titular names were added. The honors paid him by his followers gave him the characteristic of a messianic child. These were supposedly his by nature and they helped him to eliminate rival claims from his own family."
  30. ^ Cagan, A. Peace is Possible: The Life and Message of Prem Rawat. Mighty River Press. ISBN 0-9788694-9-4, Page 83-86
  31. ^ Melton, Gordon J. Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America, (1986), pp.141-2 Garland Publishing, ISBN 0-8240-9036-5 "Just six years after the founding of the Mission, Shri Hans Ji Maharaj was succeeded by his younger son Prem Pal Singh Rawat, who was eight when he was recognized as the new Perfect Master and assumed the title Maharaj Ji. Maharaj Ji had been recognized as spiritually adept, even within the circle of the Holy Family, as Shri Hans' family was called. He had been initiated at the age of six [...] He assumed the role of Perfect Master at his father's funeral by telling the disciples who had gathered. [...] Though officially the autocratic leader of the Mission, because of Maharaji's age authority was shared by the whole family."
  32. ^ Melton, J. Gordon. Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America, pp. 141–2. Entry: Divine Light Mission "Just six years after the founding of the Mission, Shri Hans Ji Maharaj was succeeded by his younger son Prem Pal Singh Rawat, who was eight when he was recognized as the new Perfect Master and assumed the title Maharaj Ji. Maharaj Ji had been recognized as spiritually adept, even within the circle of the Holy Family, as Shri Hans' family was called. He had been initiated at the age of six [...] He assumed the role of Perfect Master at his father's funeral by telling the disciples who had gathered. [...] Though officially the autocratic leader of the Mission, because of Maharaji's age authority was shared by the whole family."
  33. ^ Fahlbusch E., Lochman J. M., Mbiti J., Pelikan J., Vischer L, Barret D. (Eds.) The Encyclopedia of Christianity (1998). p.861, ISBN 90-04-11316-9
    At the funeral of Shree Hans, his son Prem Pal Singh Rawat [...] comforted those who mourned his father's death with the thought that they still had perfect knowledge with them. The son himself had become the subject of this knowledge, the perfect master, in the place of his father, and took the title of "guru" and the name of Maharaj Ji, or great king, a title of respect to which other titular names were added. The honors paid him by his followers gave him the characteristic of a messianic child. These were supposedly his by nature and they helped him to eliminate rival claims from his own family.
  34. ^ a b c d e 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)" in Journal of Alternative Spiritualities and New Age Studies - Volume 2, 2006, ISBN 978-1-4196-2696-5, pp. 44-62. "Online version at the "Alternative Spiritualities and New Age Studies Association" website" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  35. ^ Kranenborg, Reender. Oosterse Geloofsbewegingen in het Westen, p. 64:
    In 1969 stuurt Maharaj ji de eerste discipel naar het Westen. In het daaropvolgende jaar houdt hij een toespraak in Delhi voor een gehoor van duizenden mensen. Deze toespraak staat bekend als de 'vredesbom' en is het begin van de grote zending naar het Westen.   In 1969 Maharaj ji sends the first disciple to the West. In the next year he holds a speech for an audience of thousands of people in Delhi. This speech is known as the 'peace bomb' and is the start of the great mission to the West.
  36. ^ Lewis, James R. Cults in America, ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, 1998. p.83
  37. ^ Marc Galanter. Cults: Faith, Healing and Coercion p.20
  38. ^ "Guru's Pupil Slates Talk", SYRACUSE POST-STANDARD Feb. 3,1973. p. 3
  39. ^ "Gifts for a guru". AP, THE STARS AND STRIPES November 15, 1972. p.4
  40. ^ a b India still studying goods confiscated from youthful guru. New York Times, July 18, 1973
  41. ^ "Gifts for a guru". AP, THE STARS AND STRIPES November 15, 1972. p.4
  42. ^ "Boy Guru Suspected of Smuggling", AP, Sat., Oakland Tribune, Aug. 25, 1973
  43. ^ "Some feel the youth is fraud", Sun., Dec. 10, 1972 INDEPENDENT, PRESS-TELEGRAM A-27
  44. ^ Current Biography Yearbook by H.W. Wilson Company, 1974
  45. ^ Downton, 1979: 187-8.
    First, there was the claim by the Indian government that Guru Maharaj Ji and his family had smuggled jewels and large sums of money into the country, a charge which was eventually dropped with the apologies from the government.
  46. ^ "Guru Gets Testimonial And Some Pie in Face" in New York Times. August 8, 1973, p. 43. At NYT website
  47. ^ "Guru Set For Honor, Gets Pie In Face" in Independent and Press-Telegram (UPI). Long Beach, Calif., Sunday, August 8, 1973, p. A-6
  48. ^ "The 'Perfect Master' from India has an ulcer", AP, THE STARS AND STRIPES September 4, 1973 p. 6
  49. ^ "Videotape Explorers on the Trail of a Guru" by Dick Adler, Los Angeles Times, February 23, 1974 p. B2
  50. ^ Collier, p. 176
  51. ^ "Oz in the Astrodome" Ted Morgen New York Times
  52. ^ Worshipping the Absurd 'The Negation of Social Causality among the Followers of Guru Maharaj Ji.' Article by Daniel Foss and Larkin in Sociological Analysis, 1978.
  53. ^ J. Gordon Melton Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America (New York/London: Garland, 1986; revised edition, Garland, pages 141-145
  54. ^ a b Pilarzyk, Thomas. "The Origin, Development, and Decline of a Youth Culture Religion: An Application of Sectarianization Theory" in Review of Religious Research. Fall 1978, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 23-43. At JSTOR
    Abstract: In this paper Wallis' theory of sectarianization is applied to data collected on the Divine Light Mission, a contemporary cultic movement of the American youth culture. Its development is discussed in terms of intra-organizational changes within the social context of American pluralism. The movement's short history to date largely substantiates Wallis' writings concerning the effects of cultic fragility, sectarianizing strategies and organizational constraints on movement development. The paper contributes to recent conceptual writings within the sociology of religion on youth culture movements in modern Western societies.
  55. ^ a b c Downton, James V. Sacred Journeys: The Conversion of Young Americans to Divine Light Mission. New York: Columbia University Press, 1979, ISBN 0-231-04198-5, Chapter 12 "Changes in the Movement"
    The end of 1973 saw Guru Maharaj Ji breaking away from his mother and his Indian past. He declared himself the sole source of spiritual authority in the Mission. And, unlike some gurus who have come to this country and have easternized their followers, he became more fully westernized, which premies interpreted as an attempt to integrate his spiritual teachings into our culture.
  56. ^ Melton J. Gordon Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America. New York/London: Garland, 1986 (revised edition), ISBN 0-8240-9036-5, pp. 141-145"In December 1973, when Maharaj Ji turned 16, he took administrative control of the Mission’s separate American corporation. "
  57. ^ Cagan, Peace is Possible: The Life and Message of Prem Rawat. Mighty River Press, ISBN 0-9788694-9-4 pp. 200, 197. "In Denver in April 1974, Maharaji applied to become an emancipated minor, because he and Marolyn were now engaged and he knew his mother would not condone his marriage at sixteen (or any other age, considering the American wife he'd chosen). With his emancipation, he could obtain a legal marriage licence without his mother's signature. After spending about forty five minutes with a judge, he was granted his request."
  58. ^ "Guru, 16, marries secretary" AP Tues. May 21, 1974 Greeley Tribune
  59. ^ "The Guru's Wife Is Another Devotee", Robert P. Dalton, AP Staff Writer, Oakland Tribune. May 23, 1974.
  60. ^ Downton, James V. Sacred Journeys. Columbia University Press, 1979. p.191.
  61. ^ Miller, America's Alternative Religions, p. 474
  62. ^ "Guru Maharaj Ji," Biography Resource Center, Thomson Gale, 2007 "The marriage further disrupted his relationship with his mother and older brothers. A lawsuit in India gave control of the Indian branch of the Divine Light Mission to Maharaj's mother and led to a complete break with her son, who maintained the complete support of the Western disciples."
  63. ^ Price, The Divine Light Mission as a Social Organization. pp. 279–96 "Immediately following Maharaj Ji's marriage a struggle for power took place within the Holy Family itself. Maharaj Ji was now sixteen years old. He had the knowledge that his personal following in the West was well established. It is likely that he felt the time had come to take the reins of power from his mother, who still dominated the mission and had a strong hold over most of the mahatmas, all of whom were born and brought up in India. Another factor may well have been the financial independence of Maharaj Ji, which he enjoys through the generosity of his devotees. Note 27: Contributions from premies throughout the world allow Maharaj Ji to follow the life style of an American millionaire. He has a house (in his wife's name), an Aston Martin, a boat, a helicopter, the use of fine houses (divine residences) in most European countries as well as South America, Australia and New Zealand, and an income which allows him to run a household and support his wife and children, his brother, Raja Ji, and his wife, Claudia. In addition, his entourage of family, close officials and mahatmas are all financed on their frequent trips around the globe to attend the mission's festivals."
  64. ^ a b "Maharaj Ji Buys $400,000 Home Base in Malibu Area", JOHN DART, Los Angeles Times, Nov 27, 1974; p. B2
  65. ^ a b c "Malibu Guru Maintains Following Despite Rising Mistrust of Cults" Mark Foster, Los Angeles Times January 12 1979 p. 3
  66. ^ Finke, Nikki. "MALIBU Metamorphosis: Is Hollywood's Haven Growing Into Just Another Miami Beach?" in Los Angeles Times. September 3, 1989. At L. A. Times Archives
  67. ^ a b Cagan, A. Peace is Possible: The Life and Message of Prem Rawat. Mighty River Press. ISBN 0-9788694-9-4, pp. 219–220 Judy Osborne recalls Maharaji asking the staff to leave immediately. "He didn’t want any heroics," she comments, “even though this was his home and everything that he had was in there." His concern was for their safety. "The fire came but it blew right over the house," she remembers. "All the trees were burned, and so were the grass, the shrubs, and the hills around there. And then there was the soot. Everything in the house was filthy from soot." Maharaji and his family stayed with his brother, Raja Ji, for a while, and then within a few months, they relocated to Miami while the Malibu house was being repaired.
  68. ^ "1-Year Trial OKd for Sect's Helipad" in Los Angeles Times. May 22, 1981, p. F6. At L. A. Times Archives
  69. ^ Pasternak, Judy. "Maharaji Denied in Bid to Triple Copter Use" in Los Angeles Times. July 7, 1985, p. 1. At L. A. Times Archives
  70. ^ "Guru Maharaj Ji." Religious Leaders of America, 2nd ed. Gale Group, 1999. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC
  71. ^ "Fomer guru on a different mission, Rebecca Jones, Rocky Mountain News, January 30, 1998
  72. ^ Downton, James V., Sacred Journeys: The Conversion of Young Americans to Divine Light Mission, (1979) Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-04198-5 p199 "Although there were still residues of belief in his divinity, in 1976, the vast majority [of premies] viewed the guru primarily as their spiritual teacher, guide, and inspiration.
  73. ^ Downton, Sacred Journeys. "The guru had inspired greater autonomy by saying in January 1976: 'Don't expect that all these premies who are in the ashram right now are going to stay in the ashram. I hope they don't.' This comment had the effect of producing a widespread exodus from the ashrams that year, which gave rise to an individualistic attitude ... Changes in terminology were made in an attempt to divorce the Mission from its Indian trappings. 'Festivals' became 'regional conferences.' 'Holy Company,' a term used to describe the state of being in the presence of other premies, fell from use, as did the customary Indian greeting."
  74. ^ Downton, Sacred Journeys. "The staff in Denver was 250 just a couple of months ago. Now it is 80."
  75. ^ Downton, James V., Sacred Journeys: The Conversion of Young Americans to Divine Light Mission (1979), Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-04198-5. pp. 210–211. "Signs of rededication both to Guru Maharaj Ji and the inner guru became quite apparent. Most of the premies who left the ashrams in the summer of 1976 began to return in 1977, when more than 600 signed up to enter the ashrams in just a few months' time. ... To the surprise of everyone who had come to the Atlantic City program at the close of 1976, Guru Maharaj Ji appeared in his Krishna costume, a majestic looking robe and crown he had not worn since 1975. The sight of him in his ceremonial best brought premies to their feet singing, as nostalgia for the early days caught them up in feelings of devotion once more. ... With so many premies coming out in support of devotion, there has been a shift away from secular tendencies back to ritual and messianic beliefs and practices ... elevating the guru to a much greater place in their practice of the Knowledge."
  76. ^ Cagan, A. Peace is Possible: The Life and Message of Prem Rawat. Mighty River Press. ISBN 0-9788694-9-4, p. 228
  77. ^ Downton, Sacred Journeys. "Signs of rededication both to Guru Maharaj Ji and the inner guru became quite apparent. Most of the premies who left the ashrams in the summer of 1976 began to return in 1977, when more than 600 signed up to enter the ashrams in just a few months' time.
  78. ^ "Guru Maharaj Ji becomes a citizen of the U.S." Rocky Mountain News, Wednesday, October 19, 1977, Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
  79. ^ 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"
  80. ^ 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"
  81. ^ a b 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."
  82. ^ Cagan, A. Peace is Possible: The Life and Message of Prem Rawat. Mighty River Press. ISBN 0-9788694-9-4, p. 229
  83. ^ Melton, J. Gordon. Encyclopedia of American Religions. Maharaji had made every attempt to abandon the traditional Indian religious trappings in which the techniques originated and to make his presentation acceptable to all the various cultural settings in which followers live. He sees his teachings as independent of culture, religion, beliefs, or lifestyles.
  84. ^ Miller, America's Alternative Religions, p. 474
  85. ^ Kranenborg, Reender. Neohindoeïstische bewegingen in Nederland: een encyclopedisch overzicht, p. 178
    "Zij [Mata Ji, Prem Rawats moeder] onterfde hem spiritueel, in feite werd hij de beweging uitgezet. Maharaji ging zelfstandig verder, zij het met minder pretenties dan voorheen. Zo sprak hij sindsdien niet meer in goddelijke termen over zichzelf, maar noemde zich 'humanitarian leader'" (translation: "She [Rawat's mother, Mata ji] disinherited him spiritually. In fact, he was expelled from the movement. Maharaji continued on independently, albeit with less pretensions than in the past, no longer speaking in divine terms about himself, but calling himself instead a 'humanitarian leader'.")
  86. ^ a b Chryssides, George D. Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements pp. 210–1, Scarecrow Press (2001) ISBN 0-8108-4095-2 This Knowledge was self-understanding, yielding calmness, peace, and contentment, since the innermost self is identical with the divine. Knowledge is attained through initiation, which provides four techniques that allow the practitioner to go within ... and emphasizing that the Knowledge is universal, non Indian, in nature.
  87. ^ Cagan, A. Peace is Possible: The Life and Message of Prem Rawat. Mighty River Press. ISBN 0-9788694-9-4 pp. 255, 266
  88. ^ Melton, J. Gordon Encyclopedia of American Religions. "He sees his teachings as independent of culture, religion, beliefs, or lifestyles, and regularly addresses audiences in places as culturally diverse as India, Japan, Taiwan, the Ivory Coast, Slovenia, Mauritius and Venezuela, as well as North America, Europe and the South Pacific."
  89. ^ Contact Info - Broadcasts
  90. ^ Conversation with Prem Rawat, Available online. (Retrieved January 2006)
  91. ^ "Words of Peace" by Maharaji receives TV Award in Brazil" Press release.
  92. ^ "About Prem Rawat" at the website of The Prem Rawat Foundation
  93. ^ "Charity report". BBB Wise Giving Alliance. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |retrieved= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  94. ^ "The Keys, by Maharaji". thekeys.maharaji.net. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
  95. ^ Press release. Over 3 million people participate in events with Prem Rawat in India
  96. ^ Hadden, Religions of the world, p. 428 The meditation techniques the Maharaji teaches today are the same he learned from his father, Hans Ji Maharaj, who, in turn, learned them from his spiritual teacher [Sarupanand]. 'Knowledge', claims Maharaji, 'is a way to be able to take all your senses that have been going outside all your life, turn them around and put them inside to feel and to actually experience you ... What you are looking for is inside of you.'
  97. ^ "Oz In the Astrodome", by Ted Morgan, New York Times, December 9, 1973
  98. ^ "Blissing Out in Houston", by Francine du Plessix Gray, New York Review of Books, Vol. 20, No. 20, December 13, 1974, p36 'I am meditating right now, as I talk to you,' he says cheerfully. 'But I cannot describe to you the Divine Knowledge any further than that if you haven't experienced it. Our Knowledge is not a religion, but an experience. Can I describe to you the taste of a mango before you have tasted it?'
  99. ^ Melton, J. Gordon. The Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America. Garland Publishing (1986). ISBN 0-8240-9036-5 p. 143
    The Divine Light Mission is derived from Sant Mat (literally, the way of the saints), a variation of the Sikh religion which draws significant elements from Hinduism... In any case Hans Maharaj Ji claimed a Sant Mat succession which he passed to Maharaj Ji.
  100. ^ Lipner, Julius (1994). Hindus: their religious beliefs and practices. New York: Routledge. pp. p.120-1. ISBN 0-415-05181-9. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  101. ^ Schomer, Karine (1987). The Sants: studies in a devotional tradition of India. [Berkeley, Calif.]: Berkeley Religious Studies Series. ISBN 0-9612208-0-5.
  102. ^ Lans, Jan van der and Frans Derks, Premies Versus Sannyasins in "Update: A Quarterly Journal on New Religious Movements", X/2 (June 1986)[1]"DLM and Rajneeshism are comparable in that in both, the Indian guru is the central object of devotion. While in the Christian tradition the spiritual master is only an intermediate between the individual and God, standing outside their personal relation, in both these new religious movements the devotee's relation with the guru is considered identical to his relation with God. The guru is accepted as the manifestation and personification of God. His request for total surrender and complete trust is grounded in his claim of ultimate authority derived from his godliness.'"
  103. ^ Melton, J. Gordon The Encyclopedia Handbook of Cults in America. p. 143, Garland Publishing (1986) ISBN 0-8240-9036-5 "In any case Hans Maharaj Ji claimed a Sant Mat succession which he passed to Maharaj Ji. Maharaj Ji, as do many of the other Sant Mat leaders, claims to be a Perfect Master, an embodiment of God on earth, a fitting object of worship and veneration."
  104. ^ a b c Downton, Sacred Journeys. "During 1971, there were social forces encouraging the development of millenarian beliefs within the Mission. They were developed in part by the carryover of millennial thinking from the counterculture; by the psychological trappings of surrender and idealization; by the guru's mother, whose satsang was full of references to his divine nature; and partly by the guru, himself, for letting others cast him in the role of the Lord. Given the social pressures within the premie community which reinforced these beliefs, there was little hope premies would be able to relax the hold that their beliefs and concepts had over them. ... From the beginning, Guru Maharaj Ji appealed to premies to give up their beliefs and concepts so that they might experience the Knowledge, or life force, more fully. This, as I have said, is one of the chief goals of gurus, to transform their followers' perceptions of the world through deconditioning. 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."
  105. ^ Collier, Sophia, Soul Rush: The Odyssey of a Young Woman of the '70s Morrow, 1978. "There are those who sincerely believe that Guru Maharaj Ji is the Lord of Creation here in the flesh to save the world. And then there are those who know him a little better than that. They relate to him in a more human way ... to them he is more of a teacher, a guide, a co-conspirator in their personal pursuit of a more heavenly way of life. Guru Maharaji, though he has never made a definitive statement on his own opinion of his own divinity, generally encourages whatever view is held by the people he is with. Addressing several hundred thousand ecstatic Indian devotees, prepared for his message by a four-thousand-year cultural tradition, he declares, 'I am the source of peace in this world ... surrender the reins of your life unto me and I will give you salvation.' On national television in the United States he says sheepishly, with his hands folded in his lap, 'I am just a humble servant of God."
  106. ^ "Melton, J. Gordon, The Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America: Revised and Updated Edition. Garland Publishing (1992). p. 222
  107. ^ a b "Oz In the Astrodome", by Ted Morgan, New York Times, December 9, 1973 The reasons for the guru's American success seem to lie partly in the nature of the movement and partly in the timing of the transplant. The doctrine has about as much intellectual content as the fudge sundaes the guru dotes on. As the late Alan Watts, the all-purpose mystic and expert on Zen Buddhism, said: "The core of this doctrine is a sacred ignorance." The important thing is the experience the guru claims he can give, to change people and make them want peace. It follows, as puddles follow rain, that if everyone has this experience, the world will be at peace.
  108. ^ Van der Lans and Derks Premies Versus Sannyasins, 1986
  109. ^ Geaves, Ron in Partridge, Christopher (Ed.) and Melton, J. Gordon (introduction). New Religions: A Guide: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities. Oxford University Press, USA, 2004, ISBN 978-0195220421, pp. 201–202
    Rawat is insistent that it is not the product of any one culture or the property of any religious tradition and that it can be practiced 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.
  110. ^ Melton, J. Gordon. Encyclopedia of American Religions. Maharaji had made every attempt to abandon the traditional Indian religious trappings in which the techniques originated and to make his presentation acceptable to all the various cultural settings in which followers live. He sees his teachings as independent of culture, religion, beliefs, or lifestyles.
  111. ^ Barret, David V. The New Believers: A Survey of Sects, Cults and Alternative Religions. Cassel, 2003, ISBN 1844030407, p. 65
    The experience is on individual, subjective experience rather than on a body of 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
  112. ^ a b Cagan, Andrea, Peace Is Possible: The Life and Message of Prem Rawat, pp.109, Mighty River Press (2007), ISBN 978-0978869496
  113. ^ a b "Elan Vital" in Religious Requirements and Practices of Certain Selected Groups: A Handbook for Chaplains by The Institute for the Study of American Religion (J. Gordon Melton, Project Director - James R. Lewis, Senior Research Associate). 1993 - online edition at Internet Archive, last updated 30 May 2000. The 1993 version already contained:
    [..] Elan Vital Maharaj Ji has continued a policy of not relating to outside information gathering efforts. Recent attempts to gain status reports on the organization by researchers have been completely ignored by the leadership.
  114. ^ Petersen, William J. Those Curious New Cults in the 80s. New Canaan, Connecticut: Keats Publishing (1982); p. 146., as quoted in "Adherents.com"[2]
  115. ^ Rudin, James A. & Marcia R. Rudin. Prison or Paradise: The New Religious Cults. Fortress Press: Philadelphia (1980); p. 63.
  116. ^ Palmer & Keller, Religions of the World, p. 95. 1990 edition quoted in: Adherents.com, entry Divine Light Mission
  117. ^ Schnabel, Tussen stigma en charisma ("Between stigma and charisma"), 1982. Ch. II, p. 32
  118. ^ Melton, J. Gordon & Robert L. Moore. The Cult Experience: Responding to the New Religious Pluralism. New York: The Pilgrim Press (1984 [3rd printing; 1st printing 1982]); p. 142.
    The Divine Light Mission grew quickly in the early seventies but suffered a severe setback in 1973 [..]. In the late seventies the Mission became a low-key organization and stopped its attempts at mass appeal. Recently, Maharaj Ji quietly moved to Miami. The Mission has reportedly initiated over 50,000 people, but only a few thousand remain in the chain of ashrams that now dot the nation.
  119. ^ Schnabel, Tussen stigma en charisma ("Between stigma and charisma"), 1982. Ch. III, p. 53
  120. ^ a b "Whatever Happened to Guru Maharaj Ji?" in Hinduism Today by Himalayan Academy, USA, ISSN 0896-0801, October 1983. Web copy at hinduismtoday.com
  121. ^ Clarke, Peter B. (ed). The New Evangelists: Recruitment, Method and Aims of New Religious Movements. London, Ethnographics, 1987, ISBN 0905788605, pg. 10 to 14. Quoted in: Adherents.com, entry Divine Light Mission
  122. ^ Rolling Stone Magazine. The Seventies: A Tumultous Decade Reconsidered. Rolling Stones Press, 1998. p. 102, ISBN 0-316-75914-7
  123. ^ du Plessix Gray, Francine. Blissing out in Houston. The New York Review of Books. vol.20, no. 20 (December 13, 1973) [3]
  124. ^ "The Guru Who Minds His Mother", MALCOLM N. CARTER. Associated Press THE STARS AND STRIPES, November 4, 1973 Page A6
  125. ^ a b McGuire, Meredith B. Religion: the Social Context. Belmont California : Wadsworth Publishing, fifth edition, 2002, ISBN 0-534-54126-7, Ch. 5 "The Dynamics of Religious Collectivities", section "How Religious Collectivities Develop and Change", sub-section "Organizational Transformations", p. 175 – first edition of this book was 1981, ISBN 0-534-00951-4
  126. ^ a b DuPertuis, Lucy. "How People Recognize Charisma: The Case of Darshan in Radhasoami and Divine Light Mission" in Sociological Analysis: A Journal in the Sociology of Religion Vol. 47 No. 2 by Association for the Sociology of Religion. Chicago, 1986, ISSN 0038-0210, pp. 111-124. At JSTOR
  127. ^ Weber, Maximillan. Theory of Social and Economic Organization, Originally published in 1922 in German under the title Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft as cited in Siebers, Tobin (1993). Religion and the authority of the past. Ann Arbor, Mich: University of Michigan Press. pp. p.228. ISBN 0-472-08259-0. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  128. ^ Partridge, Christopher H. (2004). New religions: a guide: new religious movements, sects and alternative spiritualities. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-522042-0.
  129. ^ Hammond, Phillip E.; Bromley, David G. (1987). The Future of new religious movements. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press. pp. p.36. ISBN 0-86554-238-4. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  130. ^ Bromley, David G. (2007). Teaching New Religious Movements (Aar Teaching Religious Studies Series). An American Academy of Religion Book. pp. p.156. ISBN 0-19-517729-0. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  131. ^ Schnabel, Tussen stigma en charisma ("Between stigma and charisma"), 1982. Ch. V, p. 142
    The reference texts by Van der Lans quoted by Schnabel in that chapter:
    • Lans, Jan van der. "Religious Experience: An Argument for a multidisciplinary approach" in Annual Review of the Social Sciences of Religion 1, 1977, pp. 133-143.
    • Lans, Jan van der. Volgelingen van de goeroe: Hedendaagse religieuze bewegingen in Nederland. Ambo, Baarn, 1981, ISBN 90-263-0521-4
  132. ^ "John Barbour, Professor of Religion". St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  133. ^ Barbour, John D. Versions of Deconversion: Autobiography and the Loss of Faith. University of Virginia Press, 1994, ISBN 0813915465, p. 173
  134. ^ a b Keim, Tony. "Police block drive-in protest against guru", Courier Mail, Australia, September 4, 2002.
  135. ^ "Blinded by the Light", Good Weekend, Sydney (Australia), August 31, 2002.
  136. ^ "Former Guru on a Different Mission", Rocky Mountain News, January 30, 1998.

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