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Prem Rawat (born Prem Pal Singh Rawat, Dec 10, 1957, in Haridwar, northern India) also known as Maharaji (formerly Guru Maharaj Ji). On the death of his father Hans Ram Singh Rawat in 1966, Prem Rawat succeeded to the spiritual leadership of a northern Indian religious movement. After coming to the attention of various travellers on the Indian ‘hippie trail’ in the late 1960s this movement became recognised outside of India under its organisational name Divine Light Mission.

In June 1971 Prem Rawat, then still only 13 years old and known as Guru Maharaj Ji, traveled to Britain and the US. Formed by US adherants, a religious charity named Divine Light Mission (DLM) was registered with the IRS in December 1971. In 1974 Prem Rawat married an American follower and adopted US citizenship. The marriage was the catalyst for a schism within Rawat’s following which split along an East–West divide.

Divine Light Mission organisations were set up in many countries and a level of adherence outside of India as high as 50,000 has been claimed. From 1983 the name under which the organisations operated was gradually changed to Elan Vital and Rawat asked to be called Maharaji rather than Guru Maharaj Ji. Elan Vital organisations continue to operate in North America, Britain, and Australia while a related organisation Raj Vidya Kender operates in India. Prem Rawat is promoted by these organisations as a teacher of an exceptional form of meditation and as an inspirational speaker. A new organisation The Prem Rawat Foundation was created in 2002.

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. When Hans Rawat died in 1966 the eight year-old Prem Rawat was 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 emulated his father by addressing audiences on the subject of inner experience. From 1968 onwards the Divine Light Mission began to attract interest from outside of India, primarily from 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. A number of Americans were initiated into the Knowledge meditation some of whom became committed followers, setting up an organisation called Divine Light Mission Incorporated. This entity was registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a church with its headquarters in Boulder, Colorado. 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.

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

An event in August 1973 threatened to destroy the Rawat movement’s claim to be concerned with ‘peace’. Following an incident in which the young Rawat had a shaving foam ‘pie thrown in his face, the pie thrower, radical journalist Pat Halley was viciously attacked with a hammer by devotees of Guru Maharaj Ji.

In November 1973, Divine Light Mission booked the Houston Astrodome for "Millennium '73", a three-day celebration of the birthday of Prem Rawat's father. The attendance was estimated at twenty thousand. The event was covered satirically in the award-winning U.S. documentary Lord of the Universe broadcast by PBS Television in 1974. The documentary featured Rennie Davis, a former member of the Chicago Seven, speaking for the group, counter-pointed by Abbie Hoffman, another Chicago Seven member, who commented: "If this guy is God, this is the God the United States of America deserves." When asked in 1971 if he was God, Rawat replied: "No. My Knowledge is God."

Schism
The rapid growth in Prem Rawat’s following presented challenges both to Rawat and to his followers. According to Foss and Larkin, by 1973 the American Divine Light Mission had developed a centralized bureaucracy with “rampant titleism and a penchant for office forms and organizational charts” and that while “failures and bungling were repeatedly demonstrated on the part of the Mission staff the symbolic form of organizational seriousness and managerial competence had a compelling emotional appeal to both the Mission staff itself and to many potential converts”. Foss and Larkin go on to say that ''“the significance of the activities of the Mission lay in "service" to and execution of the "Divine Plan" of Guru Maharaj Ji, Perfect Master and Lord of the Universe. But Guru Maharaj Ji was himself a supremely incongruous divinity: chubby, squat, enamoured of expensive cars and other gadgets, and in no way saintly in his dealings with his followers.”''

Rawat’s own role within the Mission organisation was poorly defined, part honorary CEO, part source of divine wisdom; Foss and Larkin quote from a DLM board meeting: ''“Once we had a board meeting with Maharaj Ji and we had all these reports from him. Michael (Bergman), who was treasurer at the time, said to Maharaji Ji, "I remember just before Millennium you told me that if I had only told you about the money shortage you would have given me grace to get the money together. I'd like to officially ask for grace now because we really need it!" Maharaj Ji laughed and said, "Don't ask for grace officially because if you do I'll give you what I have in my pocket-two cents. Work hard and grace will come."'' This ambiguity in Prem Rawat’s role within the Mission organisation was reflected in the minds of rank and file followers.

Prem Rawat, along with his brothers and mother was able to set, or at least influence Mission policy; Foss and Larkin describe how abrupt changes brought about by competing decisions made by different members of the Rawat family were rationalised by followers in terms of ‘Divine Lila’, essentially a game played by supra mortals whose motives were incomprehensible to mere devotees. Foss & Larkin Ibid. " Abrupt changes in Mission policy apparently due to decisions of Guru Maharaj Ji or other members of the Holy family were also defined as lila by premies in the provinces. Following Bal Bhagwan Ji's (Guru Maharaj Ji's eldest brother) visit to Denver in April 1973 the Mission made some public gestures toward "relevance." And It Is Divine magazine started to print articles on subjects of major concern to the broader youth population, such as the fad for Quaaludes and the feminist movement. The July issue featured a cover story on lesbian women (though it is suggested with great delicacy that the demands of the women's movement could be satisfied through celibacy and meditation). Rapprochement with feminism was sought through a Divine Organization of Women which raised women's issues within National Headquarters and planned propagation activities using a feminist-tinged approach. In June Mata Ji (Maharaj Ji's mother) and Guru Maharaj Ji arrived in Denver. Guru Maharaj Ji reportedly examined the July issue of AIID (the two women on the cover whom the reader was to take to be lesbians were actually celibate ashram premies) with great disgust, saying "This is divine?" The cover photo of the August issue, which was to show a premie dressed up as a Palestinian guerrilla, was scrapped in favor of a picture of a little girl licking an ice cream cone; the editorial content was correspondingly changed to sugar-n'-spice pablum. The Divine Organization of Women was disbanded. Meanwhile, back in New York one day in June we were doing service at an ashram by washing the dishes and mopping the floor. We heard some premies making some remarks about lila; it seemed that they were now prohibited from using certain materials for purposes of propagation. We asked whether different members of the Holy Family represented divergent policy positions within the Mission. The housemother pointed out that members of the Holy Family could do whatever they pleased because "they're not human", and therefore speculation about their possible motives was entirely futile and presumptuous.

Maeve Price, writing primarily about the UK DLM has suggested that the rapid growth of a large membership had left organizers (and by implication the Rawat family) without a clear idea where to lead the following and as a consequence “the mission moved into a recessionary phase which lasted until the Autumn of 1975". Price identifies the most significant contribution to the weakening of the mission (in terms of loss of members and decline in recruitment), as being the marriage of Prem Rawat and the subsequent conflict within the Rawat family.

Despite being only 16 Prem Rawat was able to marry without his mother’s permission having achieved emancipated minor status in California and in May 1974 he married 25-year-old Marolyn Johnson, one of his American followers. The marriage was disapproved of by Prem Rawat's mother and two of his elder brothers, as well as by many of his Indian devotees and it provided a focal point for a schism within the international Divine Light Mission. The movement split into Eastern and Western branches with the majority of American and European adherents remaining faithful to Prem Rawat.

Interregnum
Prior to Prem Rawat’s marriage, the Rawat family had collectively formed the DLM movement’s international leadership hierarchy. The family conflict and consequent religious schism was accompanied by a period of doctrinal instability in the American and European DLM. Prem Rawat’s mother issued a damning indictment of her youngest son and series of legal claims were pursued by the administrators of the Indian DLM to ensure Prem Rawat was denied any claim on Mission property and the eldest Rawat son, then know as Balbagwan Ji, now Satal Maharaj was declared the new DLM satguru.

Separated from its Indian root the portion of the DLM movement loyal to Prem Rawat underwent a series of fluctuating changes, there was an attempt to smother its Hinduistic background and Guru Maharaj Ji (Prem Rawat) was emphasized as a personification of ideology with a consequent diminution of the significance Hans Ram Singh Rawat, the movement's founder. Initiation policy underwent change, before 1975 it was sufficient to have a desperate longing for "Knowledge", after 1975 one had to accept Guru Maharaj Ji (Prem Rawat) as a personal saviour in order to become a member. Although Prem Rawat's marriage had precipited the crisis in which change was engendered Prem Rawat was not the only originator of change and leadership competition within the American DLM movement was only resolved by the departure of among others, the DLM president Robert Mishler

Charismatic leadership
With his mother and eldest brother having no legal claim within the US, and with opposition from within the American organization neutralized, Prem Rawat was free to exercise the role of lone charismatic leader to the Western branch of the Divine Light Mission. The first evidence of assertion of his control came in late 1976 when a policy of ashram closures that had been begun earlier that year under Mishler’s influence was reversed, while at the same time moves towards democratisation within the DLM following were curtailed Devotionalism became an even greater aspect of Prem Rawat’s ‘teaching’ and the millenarian ideology of the early 1970s fell from use. As the single charismatic leader, unencumbered by competing family members or challenged by assertive officials Prem Rawat reprised, albeit in a north American context, the distinctive role of a Sant Mat Guru.

Membership of Prem Rawat’s following had begun to change from 1975, according to Derks and Lans pre 1975 followers had been attracted by DLM’s Hinduistic ideology which “offered them an opportunity to legitimate their already existing rejection of the Western utilitarian world view”, while after 1975 new members included those who “had been very religious in their preadolescent years.” Derks and Lans suggest that this preadolescent religiosity, primarily Christian had been lost in adolescence but refound in the ‘satsang’ of Divine Light Mission. The new followers came to see Prem Rawat and their relationship with him as a source of continuous religious experience making Rawat much more important for them than he had been for many of the pre 1975 members.

From guru to inspirational speaker
Price writing in 1978 stated that ''“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.”'' However the finance was achieved the lifestyle that Price describes appears to have become the norm for Prem Rawat, enhanced by the provision of a private jet in 1980 Academic treatment of this period in the history of the DLM movement provides a number of contradictory presentations:

Miller suggests that in 1983 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 Melton states ''“In the early 1980s, Rawat moved to disband the Divine Light Mission and 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." while Chryssides writes, "Maharaji progressively dissolved the Divine Light Mission, closing the ashrams, affirming his own status as a master rather than a divine leader, and emphasizing that the Knowledge is universal, non Indian, in nature". and Geaves states that “In 1982, the ashrams were finally closed, Divine Light Mission was deactivated throughout the world and a series of national organisations under the umbrella title of Elan Vital were created.”''

Official documents show that Miller is correct in writing that national DLMs changed their name to Elan Vital, however this was a gradual process with one of last name changes not occurring until 1993 The contention respectively made by Melton, Chrysiddes and Geaves that DLM was disbanded, dissolved or deactivated wholesale is erroneous but is perhaps based on the unique circumstance of the UK DLM which was indeed closed down in 1993, two years after the creation of a separate UK Elan Vital organisation. The US Elan Vital was subject to a name change in 1985 but retained its religious designation with the IRS.

Levels of adherence to Prem Rawat have never been certain with the only consistent observations coming from the USA. Rudin & Rudin give a world wide following of 6 million prior to the family Schism of 1974, of which 50,000 were in the US; 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 US. Petersen states that Prem Rawat claimed 7 million followers worldwide in 1973, with 60,000 in the US. Melton & Moore suggest a US following of a mere 3,000 committed followers in 1982 out of some 50,000 who had been initiated into the Knowledge meditation.

Prem Rawat continued to tour internationally throughout the 1980s and 1990s, speaking publicly in over 40 countries, and mostly piloting the leased executive jets himself. In December 1998, he spoke live via an interactive 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 soon after in other countries. Between January 2004 and June 2005, Prem Rawat delivered 117 addresses in Asia, Europe, and North America. Rawat concentrates on what he calls a "universal message of peace" and speaks of "self-fulfillment." His message is currently distributed in eighty-eight countries in print and on video, 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. TPRF also funds humanitarian efforts

Beliefs and teachings
Prem Rawat was inculcated in the system of belief and teaching developed by his father; while the techniques of the Knowledge meditation were and are considered secret, there are two publications which provide a presentation of the teaching of Hans Rawat.

Published posthumously, although claimed to date from 1936, Hans Rawat’s philosophy is expounded in the book Hans Yog Prakash, in which Hans Rawat gives pre-eminence to four principles: the essential nature of the relationship between devotee and Guru; the notion of ‘benevolence’, the highest form which is the “bestowing of Spiritual Knowledge”, the need to carry out good actions to avoid evil thinking and evil acts, and the achievement of a state of detachment. Also published after Hans Rawat’s death, the hagiographic book ‘Satgurudev Shri Hans Ji Maharaj’ describes a philosophical position equivalent to Universalism and makes prominent reference to the ‘Divine Name’ and ‘Divine Light’. The teaching of Hans Rawat is described as ‘Raj[a] Yoga’ and reference is made to ‘mana’ (mind), ‘’prana’ (life-breath), the four techniques of meditation referred to as Knowledge are described as ‘Kryas’ of which the object is said to be the “control of the mind”. The yogic credentials of Hans Rawat are claimed in references to Japa, Ajapa, Gayatri, to Ajapa Jap, and to Mahamantra.

Academic opinion on the origins of the Rawat philosophy is divided. Geaves traces Hans Rawat’s teaching to a purely Advait Mat source however Juergensmeyer contends that the teachings of the Divine Light Mission were essentially those of Radhasoami. Juergensmeyer saw a very specific relationship between DLM and Radhasoami in the forms of meditation common to both groups, notably the Word technique of the early DLM, now Technique number 4 in Prem Rawat’s system. Rife states that the impact of Sawan Singh of the Radhasoami Satsang Beas can be directly seen in the teachings and writings of the Divine Light Mission. Melton avoids the Radhasoami controversy simply stating that “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" Hummel considered that neither Hans nor Prem Rawat possessed a systematically developed set of teachings but that  Hans Rawat veiwed himself primarily as the Guru of the Poor, using discourses  rich in metaphors that could be understood against a background of Hindu tradition, in contrast the discourses of Prem Rawat employed a minimum of Hindu terms and concepts yet remained vague for the non-Hindu listener. Hummel, Reinhart Indische Mission und neue Frömmigkeit im Westen. Religiöse Bewegungen in westlichen Kulturen Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-170-05609-3 ''“Eine systematisch entwickelte Lehre hat die Divine Light Mission weder zur Zeit des Vaters Śhrī Hans noch des Sohnes besessen. Beide haben darin eher einen Vorzug als einen Mangel gesehen. Hatte der Vater sich vornehmlich als >>Guru der Armen<< verstanden und sich in einer bilderreichen Sprache mehr um praktische Anwendbarkeit als um theoretische Durchdringung bemüht, so blieb doch der Inhalt seiner Satsangs auf dem Hintergrund der Hinduistischen Tradition klar verständlich. Die Satsangs jedoch, die der Sohn im Westen gehalten hat und die mit einem Minimum hinduistischer Terminologie und Konzepte auskommen, müssen für den nichthinduistischen Hörer vage bleiben. Der junge Guru erklärt das konzeptionelle Denken, das auch in deutschen Übersetzungen mit dem englischen Wort >>mind<< bezeichnet wird, als Hauptfeind der unmittelbaren religösen Erfahrung. So ist es nicht verwunderlich, daβ von seinen Anhängern nur wenig Handfestes über die DLM-lehre zu erfahren ist. Andererseits eröffent ihnen der Mangel an vorgegebenen Konzepten einen Freiraum für Äuβerungen einer spontanen Subjektivität, die wohltuend vom unselbständigen Reproduzieren autoritativ verkündenter Lehren absticht, wie man es vor allem dei den Anhängern der ISKCON antrifft. Wie auch immer die Bewertung ausfallen mag - die geistige Konturlosigkeit der Bewegung fällt allen Beobachtern auf." Neither in the time of the father, Shri Hans, nor in that of the son, did the Divine Light Mission possess a systematically developed set of teachings. Both saw [doctrines] as presenting more problems than advantages. Although the father saw himself primarily as the Guru of the Poor, and his discourses that were rich in metaphors were more concerned with practical applications than with penetrating theory, yet his satsangs could always be understood against a background of Hindu tradition. But the satsangs that his son held in the west, which he managed with a minimum of Hindu terms and concepts, still remain vague for the non-Hindu listener. The young Guru explains that conceptual thinking, translated with the English word “mind” in German translations also, is the main enemy of direct religious experience. It is therefore hardly surprising that little firm information about DLM teachings can be obtained from his followers. On the other hand, the lack of professed concepts allows them a freedom of expression which is spontaneous and personal, and which makes an agreeable contrast with the unexamined reproduction of received teachings which one especially finds in the devotees of Iskcon. Whatever judgment one may have about the movement, its intellectual lack of contours is clear to all observers.'' Pilarzyk writing of the transfer of DLM to the United States paints a picture of a belief system that was chaotically in flux, a situation to which Prem Rawat was induced to respond by seeking to assert his own authority as leader. Downton considered that Prem Rawat conformed to a paradigm of guruism in which the goal of the guru was to transform their followers' perceptions of the world through deconditioning. Downton ascribed many of the beliefs noted by Pilarzyk as originating from sources other than Prem Rawat but did not address the inheritance of Hans Rawat’s teaching nor of the beliefs inherent in the devotionalism encouraged by Prem Rawat. The ideological change noted by Derks and Lans in the DLM in 1976 saw a lessening of the relevance of Hans Rawat and from that point a teaching distinctively Prem Rawat’s own came to the fore. Hann, writing in 1981 states that the Divine Light Mission had hardly any philosophy and its central beliefs were reflected in the Hindu devotional song called arti.

The knowledge mediatation
According to Hadden, Rawat claims that the techniques of Knowledge, with the help and guidance of the Guru 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”. Hunt says of Rawat ''“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.”'' The techniques of Knowledge are supposedly secret, however Finch, who was for a time an officiate in DLM initiation sessions, confirms that the various descriptions and demonstrations of the four techniques now found on the Internet are accurate representations of the techniques prescribed by Prem Rawat. Finch provides descriptions of the techniques. Technique number 1, or the Light technique, involves pressing the index finger of one hand against the middle of the forehead while the thumb and middle finger rest on the eyelids. Technique number 2, or the Music technique, involves the use of both hands, the thumbs being used to close the ears while the fingers enclose the forehead. Technique number 3, or Holy Name, or the Word is a breath technique, essentially it involves simply concentrating on inhalation and exhalation, Technique number 4 or the Nectar Technique involves attempting to flip the tongue back on itself so that the tip become inserted into the soft palate.

Both Kranenborg and Melton respectively confirm the descriptions given Finch, and that techniques are secret and were originally called "Light", "Sound", "Name" or "Word" and "Nectar" but Maharaji now refers to them as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th techniques. Kranenborg is of the view that the techniques originate from Surat Shabda Yoga  Galanter, writing from a psychiatric persective and  based on research predicated on testing the hypothesis that: “a relationship existed between the perceived emotional relief and fidelity to the group” observes that ''“I was struck by the significant role of alterations in consciousness when studying the Divine Light Mission. From my first contact with this group, members mentioned the importance of the four "meditations" to their personal commitment. Each drew on a different sense, causing unexpected visions, tastes, and music. The sect itself was named for one of these sensory experiences, the "Divine Light", that members reported seeing during their personal meditation.”'' Galanter concluded that DLM adherents experienced a reduction in symptoms of psychological distress as a function of becoming a ‘group member’. Galanter did not ascribe significance to either Prem Rawat or the Knowledge meditation beyond their respective roles in maintaining group cohesiveness, other than to identify a positive correlation between time spent in meditation and reduction in neurotic distress which Galanter compares to a ‘tranqulizer’ and suggests an addictive effect. Galanter et al, found a positive correlation between reductions in drug use and adherence to Divine Light Mission, again the results were predicated upon group cohesiveness rather than any direct benefit from the Knowledge meditation.

Communicating the techniques of meditation
Prior to 1982 initiation via a "Knowledge Session" was carried out in small groups with instruction provided by an officiate, variously named a Mahatma, Initiator or Instructor, thereafter Prem Rawat conducted the sessions in person and as of 2001 the techniques are taught via a multimedia presentation featuring Prem Rawat. In this presentation, Rawat explains the techniques step-by-step, the process takes 2½ hours, of which one hour is dedicated to practicing the techniques, 15 minutes each. At the beginning of the presentation starts Rawat ask for three promises of the participants: a) to keep in touch, b) to give Knowledge a fair chance, and c) to not to share these techniques with anyone. If attendees agree with these three promises he invites them to stay and receive "the gift of Knowledge", a program of five DVD sets which prepare the student for receiving Knowledge. The techniques are taught in Key Six, a multimedia presentation produced in fifty languages. Rawat advises students that for maximum benefit the techniques should be practised daily for at least one hour.

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 startup companies in various industries, including software.