The Holy Lotus Feet of Prem Rawat (Maharaji)

While Prem Rawat's flabby and half-naked dancing and his followers' mania for lining up and passing by and bowing down to kiss his feet are strange enough in themselves, there was another, even more unusual practice. Reproduced photos of Prem Rawat or Guru Maharaj Ji as he called himself in the 1960's and 70's, were widely sold to his premies or devotees. They ranged in cost from 50 cents for wallet size to $30 for 16" x 20". Some of the most popular photos were the focus for the cult of the worship of Rawat's "divine and Holy Lotus Feet" but don't just take my word for it, Click Here.

By Seeing the Lotus Feet of Guru Maharaj Ji, Serving Under His Lotus Feet, All The Sins Of Lives Together Are Washed Off.

A lotus is an extremely beautiful flower of a tropical aquatic plant, Nelumbo Nucifera. It often grows in dirty water and it's flowers are held above the surface so in India, it is used as a metaphor for saints and yogis, etc. They supposedly live "above" the dirt and squalor of normal human life. As Rawat said in Denver, Colorado, on May 12, 1974:

"If you want to stay in this world, be like a lotus flower who stays in the dirty water, who was born in the dirty water, but never gets adopted to dirty water. You can live in the world of concepts, but live in such a way so that they don't affect you. There can be a million, trillion infinite concepts going on, and they shouldn't bother you. And I'll tell you something, that's a most beautiful way to be."

In November 1971 at Hans Jayanti he spoke about his 360 Western followers attending the festival:

They have come here to listen to the glory of that Knowledge more and more. They have Knowledge, but now they have come here to hear the glory of that Knowledge in holy discourse. Because they know that by seeing the Lotus Feet of Guru Maharaj Ji and by hearing his nectarful voice, serving under his Lotus Feet, all the sins of lives together are washed off. I have made it clear about these things already.

And in Patna, Bihar, India on December 25, 1971 he spoke about himself:

"So the Supremest Lord, Shri Guru Maharaj Ji, knowing everything, remains detached from everything just like the lotus flower. The lotus is blossoming in water, but remaining in water, is away from the water. If the lotus flower goes underwater, then the ability of water to take all the good and bad will also come into the lotus. But the lotus, remaining in water, does not take the qualities of water. Remaining in water, the lotus does not accept the qualities of water."

Followers of Prem Rawat had shrines in their homes where a chair would be reserved for the exclusive use of the divine arse (ass) of the Perfect Master and Lord of the Universe should he ever deign to leave his gigantic Malibu mansion and enter their humble abode. In front of the chair would be a pillow with a lifesize photo of Rawat's feet before which they would pranam, sing arti while waving trays of candles and on special occasions take a smidgin of charanamrit or holy water on their tongues. Charanamrit is water in which Prem Rawat, or at least, His Holy Lotus Feet have been bathed or at least water in which it was claimed that they had been bathed. It was bottled homeopathically - a drop of the precious bath water was diluted in normal water and was then made available through his trusted followers. You had to have faith. Some examples of the photos of his feet are shown below. It appears from close examination of these photos that Rawat may have assuaged his stressful feelings of inadequacy and insecurity by picking at his toenails as well as by alcohol abuse. Click here to see what he says about his holy Lotus Feet.

Prem Rawat spoke of His Lotus Feet and explained their significance early in his career in his charming, uniquely idiosyncratic way: "… the guy who is determined to shed his forehead on the Lotus Feet goes to that perfection from where he never returns."
In 1980 in Rome he spoke of the song Leaving Your Lotus Feet, a song dedicated to his very own feet, as being one of his favourites.
His wife, the former Marolyn Johnson to whom he gave the title "Durga Ji", began speeches with "Pranam Guru Maharaj Ji! Pranam to your beautiful Lotus Feet". She was the model devotee singing the glories of her husband's feet:

And the other night I just looked at Guru Maharaj Ji's Feet, and there they were, you know. And to me - I mean, all of a sudden - I know Guru Maharaj Ji's Lotus Feet are the most beautiful thing in this world, but I was just looking at his Feet and I just went, "Oh, my God!" And I just couldn't believe it. I couldn't take my eyes off his Feet. And its like, if you go to , maybe, people of the world and just try to tell them, "Well, Guru Maharaj Ji has the most beautiful Feet," it just won't make sense. But to premies … You know, it's like, I am so blissed out looking at Guru Maharaj Ji's Feet. And yet, to each one of us, we know how beautiful those Lotus Feet are, because he gives them to us to hang on to, you know. And that's like the gateway to his heart: His Feet. And they're so beautiful. They're so perfect. They're so lovely. Physically, even. I mean, they're just so beautiful.

One wonders what she might have said about his penis.

While public worship of Prem Rawat's feet is no longer allowed (private kissing of his feet is allowed at his cult compound Amaroo in Peak Crossing, Australia) still there are often clues to the premie beliefs such as this scene from the 1995 video, The Connection.

His father, Hans Rawat the Perfect Master before him, spoke of the mystical form of the "Lotus Feet of the Supreme Lord permeating the whole universe" and how "If only I might see my living Master, I would tell Him all my sufferings, weeping, and rest my head on His Holy Feet."

Click Here for a Fuller Exposition and References