Click here to see a well researched article about Prem Rawat's extravagant lifestyle and click
here to see pictures of his unbelievable Malibu Mansion.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.
Prem Rawat's extravagance and greed became obvious in the mid-1970's even to the press whose interest in him was already waning. In a court case in Vancouver DLM financial documents were tendered as evidence showing the young Rawat was spending 60% of DLM's gross receipts on himself and his inner coterie. That was around $1,200,000 per annum though the money began to dry up quickly shortly thereafter. Some of those press stories are published here.
Click here to see a well researched article about Prem Rawat's extravagant lifestyle and click
here to see pictures of his unbelievable Malibu Mansion.
However, it wasn't until later that his drug use and sexual abuse of some of his female devotees, became known to any but his inner coterie.
Sophia Collier, who had been a journalist in the Denver headquarters working for Divine light Mission, and others were told by Bob Mishler, the President of Divine Light Mission, that the 15 year old boy guru was "sloshed" at the Millenium '73 festival and she saw his brother, Raja Ji, drunk at first hand, more than once. Mishler discussed the fact that Rawat didn't meditate himself but got drunk to relive his tensions in a radio interview and some newspaper articles.
Mike Donner, ex-President of Divine Light Mission, and Mike Dettmers ex-President of Divine Light Mission and personal assistant to Prem Rawat for over a decade both recounted stories of regular marijuana smoking and drunkeness by Prem Rawat in the Malibu "residence" on the internet in the 1990's after they had become disillusioned with Rawat and his "Knowledge".
Sometime in the later 1980's I met an old friend whose "service" had been looking after the audiovisual materials in Divine Light Mission in Brisbane, Australia and he gave me some material that had
been overlooked and not destroyed. Unfortunately my ex-wife destroyed most of this before I could digitise it. However on an old audio tape I found this recorded interview with a young Rawat and like most people who grew up
in the '60's I immediately recognised Rawat's condition.
Click here to listen to Rawat's stoned interview
Around 2000 I spoke to a long time Australian devotee who had finally become disillusioned when she had been doing service at Amaroo (ie doing voluntary labour at Rawat's cult compound in South East Queensland that masquerades as a convention centre.) She was a long term trusted devotee so she was given the role of cleaning Rawat's private holiday home there perched on a forested hill above the valley. As Rawat was often alone there she realised taht the empty bottles of cognac left for her to dispose of must have been drunk by the "Perfect Master" who, if nothign else, had built up quite an alcohol tolerance.
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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.
