Prem Rawat (Prem Pal Singh Rawat) whose devotees call him Maharaji (meaning Ultimate Ruler) first came to attention in the West as Guru Maharaj Ji - the self-proclaimed Perfect Master and Lord of the Universe ridiculed in the media as a fat, squeaky-voiced God boy. He had inherited his titles and position as the Satguru, The True Revealer of Light and Spiritual Master of the Divine Light Mission, India (Divya Sandesh Parishad) when his father died in 1966. His father, Hans Rawat, was a successful Indian guru, self titled HRH (His Royal Highness) Yogiraj Param Sant Satgurudev Shri Hans Ji Maharaj. As a child the youngest Rawat son was informally called Sant Ji, more formally Balyogeshwar ("Born King of the Yogis") and even more formally Param Sant Satgurudev Shri Sant Ji Maharaj. In the West Rawat dropped these more verbose titles in the early 1980's and instructed his followers to call him Maharaji. He has also changed the names of his organisations many times: Divine Light Mission (DLM), World Welfare Association (WWA), World Peace Corps (WPC) and Divine United Organisation (DUO) became Elan Vital in the early 1980's and in 2001 The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) was created and from 2010 his major orgs are Words Of Peace Global (WOPG) registered in Holland, Words of Peace International (WOPI) in the USA, HDSK (Human Development through Self Knowledge) in Great Britain and Raj Vidya Kender (Royal Knowledge Society) in India. He no longer claims to be an Incarnation of God but an internationally famous humanitarian leader and teacher of peace. He's neither.
Fund Raising is a necessary part of any cult or New Religious Movement and it has been especially important in Prem Rawat's organisations because of the opulent lifestyle he has demanded since arriving in the West. Once Divine Light Mission was operating successfully the young Rawat took over half the cash flow for his personal use. In the beginning fund raising was as unsophisticated as requesting his followers to give cash rather than their most valued and "spiritually meaningful" possessions in darshan lines. Below are scenes from a DLM film showing Rawat's bodyguard collecting valuables as they are presented to the young Maharaji. By 1973 Rawat was receiving $60,000 per month. In the early days in England wealthy followers were encouraged to accompany Rawat to Harrods to purchase whatever took his fancy. By the 1990's Elan Vital was sending regular reqests for donation to everyone on their mailing list. Here is a sample of those requests.
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The evidence of Michael Garson, a former premie who worked in the Denver headquarters during the 'Darby McLean' case revealed that a major method of financing DLM was peer pressure exerted on those young recruits with inheritances. Michael Bergman was the executive accountant for the Divine Light Mission in 1973. He allowed Ken Kelley, a journalist for Ramparts magazine, to inspect the organization's books and interview donors. Most of the donations came from inheritances. In 1972 five premies together gave over $110,000, in early 1973 another three had given $60,000 and DLM was expecting another $200,000 each from 2 premies by July while scores had donated gifts of $1,000 to $10,000, the largest contribution had been $40,000. Sophia Collier also mentions a $350,000 inheritance donated to the Mission in 1974 that allowed (among other things) magazine publication to restart. Ted Patrick, the (in)famous "de-programmer," wrote in his book Let Our Children Go that donations of $50,000 were not uncommon and one woman he was deprogramming had signed over an inheritance of half a million dollars to the cult. Jos Lammers, who in 1976 was an administrator in DLM IHQ (International Headquarters in Denver) related how he saw Rawat touring European Jewellery stores being followed by local premies who were there to pay for his purchases. Rennie Davis explained that the Mission's success whichdepended wholly on the "incidence of coincidence" and that the fortuitous donations that arrived when necessary could only be construed as proof of divine grace. Jeanne Messer explained in an articles in The New Religious Consciousness that the Mission managed to stay solvent because the number of supporting members increased so rapidly but that this could continue only so long as it expanded. This expansion slowed or ceased in 1974 leaving Bob Mishler and Rick Berman to explain at Guru Puja '74 in Amherst that unless the other 12,000 active members of DLM at that festival began to make regular donations of 10% of their income the 800 ashram premies currently keeping it afloat would go crazy. This message was also the theme of the Divine Times of July 1974. However in an interview in the January 1976 issue of Divine Times magazine Michael Dettmers, then vice-president of Divine Light Mission, explained that only some extremely large donations from a handful of premies had made up the $500,000 shortfall in DLM's 1975 finances.
While Rawat's financial returns in the 1970's were considerable there was a need to obtain a regular cash flow to support Rawat's personal jets and lavish touring, let alone his more than 50 cars, helicopters, $7 million yacht, etc especially after the collapse of support following the closing of the ashrams in 1983/84. After a shaky start professional fund-raising techniques became an integral part of Elan Vital operations.
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Photos of Rawat, often posed as if he were a male model or Hollywood star, have been regularly given as Thank You gifts to people donating to his causes.
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From around the year 2000 people who donated above a certain amount received CDs of Rawat speaking or his followers singing as Thank You presents.
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Prem Rawat has also inspired Aspirare, direct sales of a uniqely selected range of articles of a certain style and taste that says "Maharaji!"
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Visions International is a non-profit organization dealing with the production of materials that promote Rawat ( Maharaji). It has a symbiotic relationship with Dunrite Productions of Thousand Oaks, California (http://www.dunritegroup.com) a for profit company that does the actual production work. Visions International Introductory Catalogue A major source of income has been the sale of audio and video tapes, CDs and DVDs of Rawat's speeches which are the source of Rawat's "teachings." Local communities of Rawat's followers also had to pay to screen these videos/DVDs publicly though the audiences were mainly committed followers with a few peoplw who were interested in "learning more."
In 2010 Rawat's fund-raising methods are working so well that he can continue to fly his personal jet around the world giving talks to the people who donate money so that he can then continue to fly his personal jet around the world giving talks to the people who donate money so that he can then continue to fly his personal jet around the world giving talks to the people who then donate money so that he can ...
References:
Prem Rawat's "Knowledge" has three parts: regularly listening to his speeches, doing voluntary work for organisations serving him or donating money and daily meditation correctly practicing the four techniques he recommends. The techniques are so simple it's hard to see how they could be practiced incorrectly. First technique ("Divine Light") involves sticking your thumb and middle finger on your eyeballs (NB: with eyes closed) and your index finger between your eyebrows. Second technique: ("Heavenly Music") poking your thumbs into your ears and listening. Third technique: ("Holy Name") thinking about your breathing (NB: continue to breathe). Fourth technique: ("Nectar") curling your tongue backwards and tasting. Rawat's father taught slightly different techniques but either way it's difficult to see how these could produce the benefits claimed for them especially as Rawat claims His Knowledge is the only method of attaining real happiness and love in this life.