Ron Geaves Inhales

Prem Rawat and Counter CultureLong time devotee of Prem Rawat aka Maharaji, Prof. Ron Geaves, has written a book relating Rawat to the 1970s Counter Culture in an attempt to make it appear that Rawat had a significant effect on the so-called "counter-culture" because of his appearance at the original Glastonbury Fayre. He attempts to give this specious concept greater gravitas by adding references to Professor Stephen Kent's research. Kent, unlike Professor Ron, has no axe to grind or feet to kiss re Rawat and reports the contempt in which Prem Rawat and his brain-washed boobies were held by the counter-culture. Ron, a Buddhist monk, a Hindu sadhu and a Christian in the brief period before meeting Prem Rawat fell in devotion (literally) to Rawat after 10 days in India when as a stoned and starving "hippie" he saw the Light.

Its possible that Ron has been overly exalted by listening to too many of Rawat's interminable speeches, his kissing Rawat's Holy Lotus feet or drinking Rawat's bathwater or sticking his fingers in his ears or licking the Nectar from the back of his throat or adoring Maharaji's golden face and costume jewellery or any of Rawat's other rites and rituals.

Ron Geaves and Counter Culture

Ron's book is even worse than that of another long time crony/minion of Rawat's, Glen Whitaker's "For Christ's Sake." Geave's book is a puff piece disguised in the language of arcane academia but some real research about Rawat and the Counter Culture had already been done and written back when it was happening:

For evidence from the people on the ground at the time there is "Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?" - Edited by Charles Cameron and there are many other books including information about Him.

Stephen Kent Professor of Religion Stephen Kent's excellent book, From Slogans to Mantras (2001), explains the Counter Culture's response to Prem Rawat, then being billed as Guru Maharaj Ji the Lord of the Universe succinctly. The Counter Culture despised, ridiculed and reviled Him for a brief period and then ignored Him. He was of no consequence, he had no spiritual authority, he was the scum floating on the wave of Eastern Spiritual Masters arriving in the USA once immigration restrictions were eased. At least some of Rawat's most prominent followers and a major Mahatma felt the reverse disgust and took one of the chief hippie provocateurs down, With a hammer. A Hammer Blow To The Head for a Pie In the Face.

Kent, like the overwhelming majority of people, considered Prem Rawat's "satsangs" ie speeches to be 'banal' and dismissed the guru (p. xvi) out of hand. He was surprised and puzzled that an intelligent friend could become involved in Divine Light Mission but she was the only one of his many friends who did. In fact the one thing the Counter Culture had in common with the "straight press" was their disdain and disgust for Prem Rawat. The following is a small list of counter-culture publication stories about Prem Rawat. (see the drop-down menus for more)

Mr. Natural Meets The Kid

A quote from Kent's book

High upon the Movement's list of "spiritual con men" or in this case, boys was Guru Maharaj Ji. Caricatured in the Ann Arbor Sun as "Fifteen-year old Perfect Body, Satnudu Haharaz, Jr.," Maharaj Ji's ownership of two Lear jets and three Rolls Royces led Madison, Wisconsin's Free For All to label him "Guru Maha Ripoff" (see Haines 1973 174, 8; "Guru Maha Ripoff" 1973,18 ).14 An especially vitriolic attack against Maharaj Ji and premie Rennie Davis appeared in an anarchist magazine in Tucson, Arizona, which spoke about the "hocus pocus artists" who "are the direct descendants of the carnival rip off snake oil sellers and other mountebanks…. Some, like two ton butterball boy 'avatar' Guru Mararaji Gee whiz, even have the effrontery to state that since they are 'God' themselves, they deserve to ride in Rolls Royce automobiles and live like kings"… . The "very vocal barker" for the guru was Davis himself, who "enjoys an extension of his time in the limelight and his role of apologist for the Gooroo and his various enterprises. Some people have an insatiable need for power trips and publicity and the more absurd the proposition, the more challenging their ability to rationalize their involvement and explain it. Anything so long as they are at or near the center of vast attention" (McNamara 1974, 6-7).

Other articles were critical of him in a more ominous tone, as they spoke about the fascism or Nazism that reporters felt within his organization. After noting that the "Guru's pig [i.e., police] force" bore the Orwellian "newspeak" tide "World Peace Corps," Ann Arbor Sun reporter Steve Haines indicated that, at Millennium '73, "15,000 gurunoids shouting their praise of the boy god Groomraji with their arms high in the air sound just like the Nuremburg [sic] rally flicks of the '30s that used to chill my spine in college" (Haines 1973-74, 9).15 Similarly, an Augur reporter confessed that "his followers alarmed me. I was frightened by the total abdication of self direction, free will, and thought that they displayed. Like automatons they hook into a chant started by a leader and end with their arms shooting upwards in salute" (Massoglia 1974, 7). A few days after a reporter from Detroit's underground newspaper Fifth Estate took inspiration from the Yippies and "pie killed" Guru Maharaj Ji, two irate premies shattered the writer's skull with what probably was a blackjack (see Kelley 1973c, 1974b).