Talk:Prem Rawat/Bio proposal

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Prem Rawat,also known as Maharaji (formerly Guru Maharaj Ji) has spoken on the subject of "inner peace" since the age of three and offers instruction in the four meditation techniques he calls  Knowledge.

In 1971 Rawat traveled to Britain and the US where he was the subject of substantial media attention. Formed by Rawat’s US followers a religious charity named Divine Light Mission (DLM) was registered with the IRS in December 1971. Rawat returned to the US in 1972, accompanied by his mother and elder brother. Tens of thousands of people, largely drawn from the hippie culture, were initiated into the Rawat Knowledge and Indian style ashrams were established. Rawat was criticised by religious scholars on the basis of his youth, his behaviour and his teachings.

A separate DLM was created in the UK in 1972 ,subsequently other Nationally independent  DLM  organisations were created in Australia,South Africa, and Canada, as well as in several European and South American countries.

Rawat's desire to manifest his own vision brought him into conflict with his mother and two eldest brothers, and Rawat’s marriage to an American follower in 1974 caused a permanent split. In the early 1980s Rawat personally renounced the trappings of Indian culture and religion and the Divine Light Mission was renamed Elan Vital, the title under which it continues to operate. The Prem Rawat Foundation was established in 2001 to promote Rawat’s message in video, print, and television, as well as to support humanitarian efforts.

Childhood


At the age of three Rawat began speaking at his father's meetings, by the age of four his addresses contained references to satsang, satnam and satguru. In 1964 Shri Hans taught Rawat, then aged six, the meditation techniques called "Knowledge." Rawat’s father died in 1966 and the eight year-old, despite some initial differences of view, was eventually accepted by his family and his father's followers as the new Satguru and de facto leader of the Divine Light Mission. Thereafter on weekends and during his school holidays, Rawat traveled in much the same way that his father had, addressing audiences on the subject of inner experience. From 1968 onwards Rawat began to attract the interest of non Indians, primarily those following the ‘hippy trail’ and in 1969 a mahatma (a senior devotee) was sent to London. A number of committed non Indian followers were present at a gathering at India Gate, Delhi where on November 8 1970 Rawat announced that he was ready to begin the task of bringing peace to the world. This speech, became known as the Peace Bomb

Adolescence
On 17 June 1971, at the age of thirteen and during his school holidays, Rawat flew to England without his family. His arrival attracted substantial media interest. On 20 June, he spoke at the Glastonbury Fayre, and on 17 July, after brief trips to Paris and Heidelberg, flew to Los Angeles to begin an American tour.

In September 1971 the U.S. Divine Light Mission was established in Denver, Colorado. In October, Prem Rawat returned to India to celebrate the anniversary of his father's birth, and in 1972 came back to the West, this time accompanied by his mother, eldest brother Satpal, and an entourage of mahatmas and other Indian supporters. A festival which DLM held in Montrose, Colorado was attended by 2000 people. An article in Time Magazine at that time reported that his mother and three older brothers kissed his feet when they were in his presence as a demonstration of worship.

By 1972, DLM  was operating in North and South America, Europe and Australia and by 1973 tens of thousands of people had been initiated into the “Knowledge” and several hundred centers and dozens of ashrams had been set up..

In November 1973, DLM  booked the Houston Astrodome for "Millennium '73," a three-day gathering coinciding with Shri Hans' birthday. Rawat called it the most significant and holy event in human history. The attendance was estimated at twenty thousand and according to Thomson Gale, "the rapidly developing movement ran into trouble, beginning with its inability to fill the Houston Astrodome in a highly publicized event." .

Millennium '73 was covered satirically in the award-winning US documentary "Lord of the Universe" broadcast by PBS Television in 1974. The documentary featured Rennie Davis, a former member of the Chicago Seven, as a spokesman for the group and Abbie Hoffman, another Chicago Seven member, who commented: "If this guy is God, this is the God the United States of America deserves."

[Millennialism | Millennial] beliefs amongst Rawat’s followers were actively fostered by Prem Rawat’s mother, whose talks were full of references to her son's divine nature, but also passively by Rawat himself when he let others cast him in the role of the Lord." Rawat was said to "generally encourage whatever view is held by the people he is with" and although he certainly appealed to initiates to give up their beliefs and concepts so that they might experience the Knowledge more fully this did not prevent followers from adopting "a fairly rigid set of ideas about his divinity and the coming of a new age."

Young Adulthood
In April 1974 Rawat then aged sixteen became an emancipated minor and in May married 25 year old Marolyn Johnson, one of his American followers. The marriage and differences over behaviour and lifestyle caused the severance of Rawat's relationship with his mother, who disowned him and returned to India with his two elder brothers. The DLM  in India came under the effective control of the elder brother, Sat Pal Maharaj. Rawat took control of the Western DLM  and declared himself its sole spiritual authority. From the end of 1973 DLM was moving in a more secular direction and Rawat is seen to have inspired greater autonomy amongst the  DLM  membership when in January 1976 he expressed the hope that residency in the western ashrams would be of a temporary nature. Terminology, previously Indian style, was westernised and staff numbers at DLM's Denver HQ were reduced from 250 to 80. Rawat became financially independent through the contributions of his Western devotees which allowed him to follow the lifestyle of an American millionaire and support his wife, his brother Raja Ji, and his wife, Claudia. Continued donations to DLM  financed the world travel of Rawat and his staff.

While there were still residues of belief in his personal divinity, by 1976 the vast majority of non Indian followers viewed Rawat primarily as their spiritual teacher, guide and inspiration. Rawat’s appearance at an event on December 20th, 1976 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, wearing a Krishna costume however signaled a resurgence of devotion. Rawat was elevated to a much greater place in the practice of Knowledge, many followers returned to Ashram life and there was a shift from secular tendencies back towards ritual and messianic beliefs and practices.

In 1979, Rawat moved to Miami Beach, Florida with his wife and three children, and DLM  headquarters relocated there. Following the move to Florida the resources of DLM were committed to plans to refurbish a Boeing 707 that would be used to facilitate Rawat’s international mission. A plane was acquired and work took place at a facility subsequently acquired by Aircraft Modular Products (AMP), a company which was in turn sold to B/E Aerospace. Work on the 707 was completed in 1981 and with a co pilot, Rawat flew the plane to South America, Europe, India, Nepal, Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia.

Rawat returned to India in October 1980 after an absence of five years, and on land newly acquired by the Divine United Organization in Delhi he spoke to over 38,000 people. Rawat revisited South America and went to Mexico for the first time. Large, multi-day events where held in Colombia (Cartagena), Miami, Rome, London, New Delhi and Kansas City, Rawat also spoke at programs in Cancun, Lima, Sao Paulo and Leicester (UK)..

Adulthood
In the early 1980s Rawat personally renounced the trappings of Indian culture and religion. Documents held by the IRS show that there were moves in the US to replace the religious status DLM  with a public foundation however the US  DLM  in common with  DLMs in other countries was simply renamed Elan Vital, the only exception being the UK Charity which closed in 1995. . An educational Charity called Elan Vital was created in the UK in 1993, its legal settlor being the Elan Vital Foundation Rawat traveled widely and regularly addressed 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. .

Rawat continued teaching the four techniques of Knowledge and affirmed his own status as a master rather than a divine leader. Scholars such as Kranenborg and George D. Chryssides describe the departure from divine connotations and a new emphasis that the Knowledge was universal, rather than Indian in character. According to America's Alternative Religions, in this new role "he may be reaching more listeners than ever, especially abroad, but his role is that of a public speaker".

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s Rawat continued to tour internationally, events were held in over 40 countries, in 1990 alone Rawat spoke at over 50 public events across the world. In December 1998, Rawat spoke via a live, interactive global satellite broadcast from Pasadena, California to 86,600 participants at 173 locations in 50 countries. 1999 saw the commencement of regular satellite broadcasts to North American cities, with similar initiatives started in other countries soon after.[.

Recent Years
Between 1965 and July 2005 Rawat spoke at 2,280 events around the world. Between January 2004 and June 2005, he delivered 117 addresses in Asia, Europe, and North America. His message is currently distributed in eighty-eight countries on video and in print, and is broadcast on TV channels such as Canal Infinito in South America, Channel 31 in Australia, Kabel BW in Germany and Dish Network in the U.S.A. In 2001, The Prem Rawat Foundation was founded as a Public Charitable Organization, largely for the production and distribution of materials promoting Rawat's message. It also funds international humanitarian efforts, providing water, food and medical relief to war-torn and impoverished areas.

TPRF reports that during a tour of India, Sri Lanka and Nepal in March and April 2007, Rawat spoke at 36 events, addressing over 800,000 people, and that live satellite broadcasts reached an additional 2.25 million. Rawat travels internationally by air, flying in a Grumman Gulfstream G5 which is leased via the Wilmington Trust, and is operated by 'Prem Rawat and the Premier Trust'.

Beliefs, Teachings and Meditation Techniques
Scholars have claimed that Rawat's teachings spring from the traditions of the Indian Sants, who praised the "Divine Name" for its power to save, dismissed religious ritual, emphasised inner spiritual experience and honour for the guru or Perfect Master as an embodiment of God on Earth  Rawat claims that the meditation that he teaches, together with his guidance, will enable the practitioner to experience the divinity within.. Although essentially Hindu in origin, Rawat’s teachings, have been described by some scholars as lacking in substance, and as resembling a "Christian evangelical campaign.". Rawat himself, who frequently acted like the teenager that he was in public, was seen as immature and hence unfit to be a religious reader.

After the split with his family in 1974, Rawat declared himself the sole spiritual authority in the Mission, changed the style of his message and relinquished the Hindu tradition, beliefs and most of the eastern religious practices inherited from his father. In the 1980s the ashrams were closed and Rawat asked to be called Maharaji and not Guru.

What Rawat calls Knowledge is attained through initiation, now formalised as the sixth Key, which provides four techniques of meditation which is claimed allows the practitioner to "go within". . Introduced in 2005 The Keys is a program of five DVD packs which Rawat says prepares the student for receiving Knowledge. The meditation techniques are taught in Key Six, a multimedia presentation available in fifty languages. Those who participate in The Keys programme as well as those who practice the meditation techniques are referred to as ‘students’.

Personal
A U.S. citizen since 1977, Rawat lives with his wife in Malibu, California. They have four grown children. He holds an Airline Transport Pilot License and has type ratings for a number of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. His résumé lists skills in computer graphics, computer-aided design and the development of aviation software. He is listed as co-inventor on a U.S. patent for a world-time aviational watch.. He reports that he supports himself and his family as a private investor, and that he has contributed to the success of several startup companies in various industries, including software, although he does not identify these companies by name.

Bibliographical references

 * Brown, Mick The Spiritual Tourist, Bloomsbury Publishing 1998, ISBN 1-58234-034-X
 * Cagan, Andrea, Peace Is Possible: The Life and Message of Prem Rawat, Mighty River Press (2007), ISBN 978-0978869496
 * Carrol, Peter N. Nothing Happened: The Tragedy and Promise of America in the 1970s, Holt, Rinehart and Winston (1982), ISBN 0030583195
 * Chryssides, George D., Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements, Scarecrow Press (2001) ISBN 0-8108-4095-2
 * Collier, Sophia, Soul rush: The odyssey of a young woman of the '70s, Morrow (1978), ISBN 0-688-03276-1
 * Downton, James V., Sacred journeys: The conversion of young Americans to Divine Light Mission,(1979) Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-04198-5
 * Fahlbusch E., Lochman J. M., Mbiti J., Pelikan J., Vischer L, Barret D. (Eds.) The Encyclopedia of Christianity (1998), ISBN 90-04-11316-9
 * Geaves, Ron (2002), From Divine Light Mission to Elan Vital and Beyond: an Exploration of Change and Adaptation, 2002 International Conference on Minority Religions, Social Change and Freedom of Conscience, University of Utah at Salt Lake City
 * Geaves, Ron, From Totapuri to Maharaji: Reflections on a Lineage (Parampara),. Paper presented at the 27th Spalding Symposium on Indian Religions, Oxford. March 2002.
 * 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.
 * Goring, Rosemary (Ed.). Dictionary of Beliefs & Religions (1997) Wordsworth Editions, ISBN 1-85326-354-0
 * Hadden, Jeffrey K. and Elliot III, Eugene M., Divine Light Mission/Elan Vital in Melton, Gordon J. and Bauman, Martin (Eds.) "Religions of the world: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of beliefs and practices" ABC-CLIO (2002), ISBN 1-57607-223-1
 * Hans Jayanti (2000), DUO, New Delhi, Book published in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Shri Hans' birth.
 * Hinnells, John (Editor), The Penguin Dictionary of Religions (1997), ISBN 0-14-051261-6
 * Hunt, Stephen J. Alternative Religions: A Sociological Introduction (2003), pp.116-7, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 0-7546-3410-8
 * 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
 * Kranenborg, Reender Dr. (1982) Oosterse Geloofsbewegingen in het Westen ("Eastern faith movements in the West") (Dutch language) ISBN 90-210-4965-1
 * Kranenborg, Reender, Neohindoeïstische bewegingen in Nederland: een encyclopedisch overzicht, Kampen Kok cop. (2002)
 * Lippy, Charles H., Pluralism Comes of Age: American Religious Culture in the Twentieth Century, M. E. Sharpe (2002), ISBN 0-7656-0151-6
 * Melton, Gordon J., Encyclopedia of American Religions 7th edition. Thomson (2003), ISBN 0-78766-384-0
 * Melton, Gordon J., Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America, (1986), Garland Publishing, ISBN 0-8240-9036-5.
 * Miller, Tim (Ed.) America's Alternative Religions (S U N Y Series in Religious Studies) (1995) State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-2397-2
 * Price, Maeve, The Divine Light Mission as a social organization. (note 1) Sociological Review, 27(1979)
 * Pryor, William, The Survival of the Coolest: A Darwin's Death Defying Journey Into the Interior of Addiction (2004), Clear Press, ISBN 1-904555-13-6
 * Rawat, Prem and Wolf, Burt. Inner Journey: A spirited conversation about self-discovery (DVD). ISBN 0-9740627-0-7
 * Rawat, Prem, Maharaji at Griffith University (2004) ISBN 0-9740627-2-3
 * The Prem Rawat Foundation presents: Maharaji at Sanders Theatre, Harvard University (2005) ISBN 0-9740627-3-1

Official websites of Prem Rawat

 * 'Maharaji', Prem Rawat's personal website. Available in 16 languages.
 * The Prem Rawat Foundation
 * The Keys website - Keys for preparing to receive the techniques of Knowledge
 * Portal for contact information Information about volunteer groups world-wide, news, etc.

Other

 * Manav Dharam website of Sat Pal, Prem Rawat's elder brother who claims to be a Satguru

* Rawat, Prem Rawat, Prem Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Rawat, Prem Rawat, Prem

Prem Rawat Prem Pal Singh Rawat Πρεμ Ραβάτ Prem Rawat (Maharaji) Prem Rawat Prem Rawat Maharaji

--Nik Wright2 10:49, 6 July 2007 (UTC)