Brainwashing (or thought reform, coercive persuasion, mind control, psychological manipulation) has been one of the most controversial aspects of the study of the "cults" (or New Religious Movements) that began to proliferate in the 1970's and later. The apparently puzzling success of rapid religious conversions or recruitment into derided groups such as the "Moonies", the "Hare Krishnas", the Divine Light Mission, etc was explained as being caused by a coercive power that influenced people against their will. Much of this public concern might have been allayed if the inflated statistics of groups like DLM were not accepted uncritically.
Based upon studies of those Allied POWs of the Korean War who were induced to become supporters of the North Korean communists the concept was popularised by Margaret Singer, Janja Lalich and Ted Patrick among others and was often used by the popular media throughout the 1970's and 80's though it was critically injured by ongoing research into the NRMs and was legally laid to rest in the late 1980's by the American Psychological Association's rejection of the "Report of the Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Techniques of Persuasion and Control" written by a panel led by Singer. This report was rejected by two external reviewers, Professor Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi of Haifa University and Professor Jeffrey D. Fisher. A legal brief provided by the APA and a group of academics of religion comprehensively rebutted the Singerian thesis and Singer's credibility was destroyed when she and Richard Ofshe tried to sue the authors of the brief for conspiracy rather than providing evidence for their claims. "Brainwashing" has continued to be a part of popular culture and it's proponents fight an ongoing battle to have it regain scientific credibility.
The major reasons for the failure of the DIMPAC report to be accepted were:
As time went on it became obvious that only a small minority of people who came into contact with these groups using aggressive methods of recruitment joined them, and of those, the large majority did not remain committed to the group. DLM is a prime example of this. After nearly 40 years of proselytising in the "West" there are probably considerably less than half as many members as there were 30 years ago and only a small percentage of those who have been involved at any one time currently remain despite the constant stress within the group of "propagation" and the very large amount of resources that have been committed to this attempt.
Divine Light Mission (Prem Rawat's organisation in the 1970's and early 1980's) did not use deceitful recruitment practices. Prem Rawat was loudly proclaimed as the 'Lord of the Universe', a Satguru in the succession of Perfect Masters including Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Rawat's father and Rawat's father's guru but definitely not his eldest brother. It did not remove potential recruits to places where they could be separated from normal members of society and unduly influenced as did the "Children of God" and the "Moonies". There was a heightened response to new people at the 1970's DLM nightly "satsang" meetings though it was not organised and depended upon individual motivation.
It did however, have practices that, when adhered to, provided strong reinforcement for members to accept and internalise group beliefs. These included "ashrams" where premies lived highly structured lives obedient to those higher in the cult hierarchy where all their wages went to the group or they worked for free for the group. There were nightly meetings which all members were expected to attend and all ashram members were ordered to attend in which different members would sit on a chair at the front of the room and give supposedly inspired, extemperaneous, confessional monologues about the effects of Rawat's grace and their practice of Knowledge while the congregation gave them their total attention. There were many attractive, committed, charismatic individuals at these meetings who repeatedly promised that practising Rawat's Knowledge would validate the beliefs being preached and provide unheard of joy and bliss. The process of persuasion could be powerful but it did not qualify as "brainwashing." Bob Mishler, 1970's president of DLM believed it was mainly social approval that powered the conversion process. These meetings could be very intense and without regular attendance people quickly drifted away from any involvement. The effect, if any, of the actual hours of meditation is uncertain though until the early 1980's Rawat continually criticised his followers for their poor efforts to meditate and exacerbated their guilt at any failures in this area.
It is particularly ironic that since the early 1980's Prem Rawat and his followers have attempted to rewrite his history (and theirs) and presented Rawat's position and his teachings in an increasingly false manner while having less and less success attracting new followers. This can be explained by the near total reliance on Rawat, himself, as the sole mouthpiece for his movement and the use only of videos and DVD's of him speaking in any advertised function held by his followers.
References: (These reports are complex and have been formatted for printing to paper to ease reading and maximise comprehension)
Excerpts from International Cultic Studies Review Thought Reform web pages