The Swamp from which Premies Arose

The early converts to Divine Light Mission did not arise from all walks and ages of society. They were nearly all around 18-20 in 1972, white, middle class. They claimed to have been radical left wing political activists though actual political activists did not accept this was true. see the realist, etc. The claimed to be internested in spirituality though judged by the books they were reading this was a shallow ephemeral vogue.

Books that Premies Read Before Receiving Knowledge

I gathered this list from books I recall seeing in the Divine Light second-hand shops, books I saw lying around in back rooms of satsang halls and from hearing premies give satsang and talk of their personal lives and spiritual interests before they became premies of Guru Maharaj Ji (Prem Rawat) and part of the DLM life. The quality of these books varied from rubbish to some important scriptures though the common denominator is their popularity amongst 60's hippies and counter-culture wannabes. As I'm Australian the list may be skewed somewhat.

It seemed that the pre-premies accepted the gist of these books and believed in:

Alternative forms of Health Care unless there was a M.D. in the community in which case they would also use their free services. They were lacto-vegetarians who believed cows' milk produced toxic mucus and the more committed were ovo-vegetarian. They believed in fasting when ill and frequently for detoxing (grape- or watermelon-fasting in season), detoxification through colonic irrigation, Dr Bonner's pure Castile soap, Dr Scholl sandals, Bircher-Benner muesli, Bach flower remedies, homeopathy and raw garlic … The diet books of Rodale and Paul Bragg were influential. A parable circulated that Bragg had died when a coconut had fallen on his head, the message being not to get too "into your mind" over diet. I thought "How cool to own your own Coconut palms." The raw garlic could make for an unpleasant atmosphere but this was nothing compared to the ubiquitous sights and sounds of skinny young children with runny noses, hungry and whining in the satsang halls who were having their colds cured through fasting, against their will. Fortunately this problem was resolved as the children aged.

Many of these books and the excessive, prior use of marijuana smoking encouraged Magical Thinking as did Prem Rawat's teachings. New premies soon learned by example in satsang that they could and should explain their positive life experiences in terms of the effect of Maharaj Ji's grace and any negative life events as MaharaJi's lila, the divine games that taught them that Prem Rawat, the Lord of the Universe, was controlling everything.

The message thse boks gave weas that meditation was a necessity for spiritual growth. Though Meditation was supposedly the most important part of a premies' life it was obvious once they became involved in the DLM lifestyle that for many of their brothers and sisters meditation was boring, difficult and deferred whenever possible. This was highlighted by one of Prem Rawat's most important premies, Linda Pascotto, the first President of The Prem Rawat Foundation and close neighbour who confessed after 30 years that she had never been able to meditate successfully.