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.

A Cult Crusade Against Its Children - Elan Vital attacks John MacGregor

Badge They were sure their Guru and God would bring in the Golden Age and so that's what they called the magazine they hawked around Sydney streets in the early 70's wearing their funny little homemade badges.

But this group of Australian anti-Establishment hippies wearing tie-dyed clothes and singing songs like:

"We are one in the spirit, we are one in the Lord
And they'll know we are brothers, by our love, by our love"

evolved into a group wearing and hiring "suits", expensive solicitors and worm-tongued barristers to wage a crusade against their former brothers and sisters who had lost their faith in the controversial, self-styled Perfect Master.

Prem Rawat wants you to forget he was ever the youngest, most ridiculed of the wave of Indian gurus who came to the West in the 60s and 70s saying they were coming to do good. Like Rajneesh and others, Guru Maharaji did well, very well. He'd like you to believe that he is an extremely wealthy Malibu millionaire who just happens to be able to offer a practical pathway to inner peace and have his past kept just a footnote in Time magazine archives as an ice-cream loving childish Perfect Master. But on the Internet there is a group of disillusioned (or as he says, disgruntled) ex-followers with integrity and courage who won't let him forget.

PR CultSpeak: "Some people found it was not for them and moved on. Sadly, not all people are able to take responsibility for their own life choices."
Plain English: The great majority of people who become involved in Elan Vital become disillusioned with its promises and practices and leave. The organisation can do nothing about this but if you make public statements about the reasons for your disillusionment we'll try to dismiss you with demeaning spin control.

But if a journalist leaves and uses his skills to have critical articles about the cult and it's Leader and their suspicious financial structures published in Australia's mainstream press then they'll take any opportunity and use any means to discredit him.

On the left we have Prem Rawat who has lots of money (he has just sold his $US6,000,000 yacht) and a team of solicitors who have already cost him close to $200,000 on this one case. (Photo taken by professional photographer and digitally enhanced, it is forbidden to take a camera into any premises where Rawat is appearing).

On the right, John MacGregor, alone and probably about to be bankrupted. (Photo taken by a mate in the backyard.)

In late 2003 MacGregor was leaked Ivory's Rock Conference Centre (a business controlled by Prem Rawat through complex international business structures) computer documents. His response to this was naive and even foolish at times and while the end legal result is still to be determined much information is already available in the Public Domain.

I believe that much of Elan Vital's response has been deceitful and on this site I will try to reveal the rotten heart at the top level management of the organization that takes advantage of the great majority of the decent people who are its members.

Elan Vital attacks John MacGregor - SIte Contents

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.