A Pictorial History of Guru Maharaj Ji / Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat is a dull and boring person but like his father he had to dress up at times to maintain interest in the Family Business and so there have been colourful periods in his life though it has got more monotonous and grayer as the years have passed.
Prem Rawat did not arise from a void free of the past, culture and family. He is just one of many the East Asian men who have come to the West to spruik their religious/spiritual beliefs and practices. Many of these were charlatans but the lineage of the "official" forerunners that Rawat claims such as Jesus, Kabir and Guru Nanak are generally respected or worshipped. His father, Hans Rawat, was a successful and wealthy guru/godman in India who wished to extend his influence to the West.
Pre-History: Prem Rawat's Background and Culture
Prem Rawat Inherited His Position as Satguru, 1966
On the 19th July, 1966 Prem Rawat's father died and at the end of the mourning period, whether by design or spontaneously, it was not the eldest or a senior disciple but the youngest son acclaimed as the new Satguru. This was not reported as a routine event but as a divine (re)incarnation.
This was such an important and incredible event in Prem's career that the Divine Light Mission published the events in detail in their official magazines. The account was summarised in the book "Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?" in 1973. The succession was later disputed after the family split but there is no doubt all family members accepted the youngest son as his father's replacement for at least a decade. So began Prem Rawat's career.
Prem Rawat's Career As Satguru in India, 1966-70
After the death of his father Prem continued his schooling though it must have been less terrifying. He was publicised as a Godboy and did tours and speeches during his school holidays. In 1969, Western "freaks" began to appear looking for liberation and ganga (not necessarily in that order) and some became premies.
In November 1970 there was a particularly large gathering for the Hans Jayanti festival. A small contingent of around 20-25 Westerners were there to hear (but not understand) Prem make his "Peace Bomb speech". It was a particularly bombastic performance and no doubt transcripts of the speech still embarrass him. The Westerners were undoubtedly impressed by the enormous crowd of people.
Prem Rawat's First Trip to the West, 1971
The young boy's Grey Eminence, Mahatma Gurucharanand, had been sent to England. Initially he preached to the Indian diaspora. Thanks to the influence of Brian Kitt there was already a gang of 5 English premies and these became the priority. On June 17 1971 Prem arrived in England and appeared to boos and catcalls at the initial Glastonbury Fayre. He arrived in Los Angeles on July 17 thanks to a grant from Alan Watts. He returned to India for the Hans Jayanti festival. That year 300 Westerners attended. An even larger gathering in Patna, Bihar occurred in December.
Prem Rawat's Second World Peace Tour, 1972
1972 was the year when Prem Rawat, still called "Guru Maharaj Ji," began to generate some interest. The idea of a 13 year old guru was inherently ridiculous but his claims for instant liberation on initiation and a large cohort of realized holy "mahatmas" began to get the ball rolling. Come November 3,000 Westerners came to the Hans Jayanti festival in a fleet of jumbo jets. Most of them went on to a spiritual boot camp at Dehra Dun in Hardwar.
Prem Rawat's Third World Peace Tour, 1973
Through most of 1973 the growth of Divine Light Mission was so dramatic that it went to the heads of those who possibly were in some sort of charge. At the head of the pack was Rennie Davis who was beginning to reveal that the Knowledge could drive you crazy.
They planned to end the year with an upgraded and updated Hans Jayanti festival in the Astrodrome in Houston Texas. 144,000 premies would attend, it might rise into the Kohoutek comet or Prem Rawat's Plan for World Peace (basically "Everybody obey me and everything'll be ok") would be accepted by world leaders. They called it Millenium '73
Prem Rawat's Millenium '73 Astrodome Fiasco
The Millenium '73 festival was billed by Prem Rawat (Guru Maharaj Ji) Himself as "the most holy and significant event in human history" and it's preceding publicity campaign was called 'Soul Rush'. He predicted it was going to be a big shot of TLC (tender loving care) but the festival showed that the young Rawat and his inner circle of administrators and family members had a completely unrealistic picture of their powers, the number of their followers and the public response to Rawat's proclamations that he could bring World Peace. It provided Divine Light Mission with a reality check and an exceedingly large debt. It's only to be expected that any person who claims to be an incarnation of God and actively promotes himself as about to bring in 1,000 years of peace on earth, hires the largest indoor space on the planet, even releases an astrological press release and invites tens of thousands of followers and some alien space travellers to join him in unveiling the details there will be a certain degree of media attention. This attention turned out to be critical, very critical and dismissive and Prem Rawat, himself, the Guru Maharaji Ji received the worst of it.
Prem Rawat's 1974 Wedding
"Durga Mata Ji: And all this mother has to say is that every child should listen to their father. Because their father is only telling them what is the very best for them. Because He knows. He knows exactly what each one of you need and so whatever Maharaji tells you, this is what you should do because then it will be absolutely perfect for all of us."
Prem Rawat's Difficult Years: 1974-1977
Shape Up Or Ship Out
"If you have faith that this Knowledge is gonna get you somewhere, then shape up and tell people about it. If you don't, forget it, ship out. There is nothing more."
Prem Rawat's Most Important Priority: the Maharaji Moustache
"it used to be a real pain in the butt to try to keep this mustache, took hours sometime trimming every single hair, just finding each one and getting it just the right way and getting the razor in the right place." - Prem Rawat
It came as quite a shock to me to learn that in fact he had spent far more time trimming the hairs in his moustache individually than he had time to concern himself with the bigger picture. But as he says, us little humans with our little lives and our little cars, wives, homes and children and full moustaches that require no careful treatment can't be expected to understand the ways of the Master.
"I was looking at a picture of one of the slides, had a moustache and uh we just started talking about it, I said to Marilyn "Should I grow it back again?" She didn't reply but I said one thing I have to say it used to be a real pain in the butt to try to keep this mustache took hours sometime trimming every single hair, just finding each one and getting it just the right way and getting the razor in the right place." One day I remember I was trimming it and trimming it and trimming it and I realized halfway through that I had cut half my moustache off and I got so into detail I had this magnifying mirror at one of the hotel and I got so into it. I just kept clicking closer and closer and closer and before you know 'boom' I looked at the regular mirror and it's like oops. Here we are, we spend hours shaving and doing this and doing that you know fixing our hair and putting the lipstick." - Prem Rawat aka Maharaji, Festival of Knowledge, Brussels, 10th December, 1989
Can this boy/man be the Supreme Lord who has come to earth to save mankind with that moustache?
Prem Rawat's 1975 Disinheritance
The Bonds of Family Loyalty were broken by Prem Rawat's scandalous behaviour
Prem Rawat's Family Business in India: Gone For Good
The Family Business Splits Into Two Separate Companies: India and USA
Prem Rawat's Really Difficult Years: 1976/77
In 1976/77, thanks to some miscommunication from Guru Maharaj Ji, the DLM administers had to cope with an exodus of ashram premies and a collapse of DLM's financial situation. They demanded Prem cut his spending. He tried his usual approach: blame everyone else and shoot the messengers. Finally he fell back on his father's favourite method of impressing the yokels: dressing up in fancy costumes and partying.
Prem Rawat's Agya: Initiators Must Be Full-time, 100% Surrendered & Celibate - 1976
In September 1976 in Frankfurt Prem Rawat gave his administrators some harsh criticism. They were expecting the new liberalised attitudes that had emptied the ashrams and they got the old demands for 100% surrender. "Total surrender. You are right, therefore it answers your question. No. You see, if a person is married … you will find that it'll be virtually impossible for a married person to do the service of an initiator."
For the next 5 years Prem Rawat continued a whirl of "festivals" in which:
He Dressed Up As Krishna
He Danced On Stage Like a Flabby Wombat
His Lotus Feet Were Worshipped
He Used Huge Water Pistols for Holi Festivals
1979-80: Prem Rawat's Boeing 707: The DECA Project
The DECA project, begun in 1979 was set up to provide Prem Rawat with a customized Boeing 707 for his personal use. A 1961 vintage aircraft was acquired for US$1 million from an American Football Team. The work took well over a year. People from all over the world converged in Miami to do "service" on this project. Like everything to do with Rawat, DECA was reliant on unpaid labour and donated funds. The 707 was completely inappropriate for Rawat's desires and finances and was quickly sold on to the Maharishi who could afford the kerosene though he quickly replaced it with a 727 which Rawat could only dream about.
While it was rarely discussed, premie communities required a minimum number of members to keep the nightly satsang meetings interesting and a core of premies, usually in the ashram, to provide a model of dedication and devotion for the majority of premies who lived in nuclear families. Taking such a large number of these ashram premies to one community along with the "inspiration fatigue" brought on by the years of living chaotically through constantly attending festivals and responding to Rawat's raising of the devotional bar through his public dancing and demands of "surrender" contributed to a lessening of fervour and participation.
1980s - Bhajans Dedicated To Prem Rawat
In the early 1980's, far from attempting to remove Indian trappings from his "Knowledge" and followers' lives, Prem Rawat was intensifying their influence by promoting the use of bhajans as the main musical form used at his meetings and festivals. The lyrics demonstrate that these westernised bhajans are/were far more overtly worshipful than any used before (apart from the ubiquitous Arti) The extreme personality worship of Prem Rawat as a Divine and Holy Being was reinforced with such lyrics as "Always remember His every word is Holy", "How Beautiful Are The Feet Of Him" and "Maharaj Ji, Boundless is Your love and glory". For many further examples see the song books of DLM/EV bhajans here and here.
1983-84: Goodbye Guru Maharaj Ji! Hail the New and Improved Prem Rawat!
In 1982/3 Prem Rawat did a sudden about face. He ordered the ashrams closed, he ordered the nightly satsang meetings to cease, he changed his name, his titles, his organisation, his public persona, his teachings and even his hairstyle. He ordered his followers destroy all records of his career so far. He was pretty well forgotten by then anyway so he thought he would start again fresh and with his charisma and know-how he'd really be a smash hit! For the followers of Prem Rawat it was as if the dystopia prophecied in 1984 had manifested.
1984 Metamorphosis: Goodbye Guru Maharaj Ji! Hail the New and Improved Prem Rawat!