"Maharaji Music"
From its creation in 1971, the Divine Light Mission had an important role for Prem Rawat's followers who are musicians. This role continued
long after the organisation changed its name to "Elan Vital" in the early 1980s. Music is an important tool for reinforcing emotion, and to a
large extent both mirrors and sets the actual tone of Prem Rawat's followers' emotions. It is an important indicator of beliefs in the group and it's evolution reveals much that is not available from examination of the
group's other publicly available material.
It especially shows the extent of the worship of and devotion to Rawat as a divine figure and exposes the 21st century Elan Vital revisionist history that Rawat attempted to remove the beliefs in his divinity as well as the
Indian trappings of Divine Light mission in the 1970's. A cursory examination of the "Court Of Love" tape by "the Holy Jesters" published in 1982 by Elan Productions shows that Indian style devotion
was being openly promoted in the organisations even as the renaming of Divine Light Mission as Elan Vital, was in progress.
The lyrics demonstrate the importance of music within a cult setting and how it reinforces the group milieu and demonstrates the extreme personality worship that is expressed and reinforced in the Prem Rawat cult.
See songbook of Devotional Songs and the song books of DLM/EV bhajans here and here.
The sample music below is certainly not exhaustive and any further information and copies of media would be greatly appreciated.
All relevant copyright to their respective holders is fully acknowledged. Excerpts and copies are published here under applicable fair use principles and specifically are for educational
non-commercial use. It is also noted that no respective copyright holder is currently using or planning to use any of these materials on a commercial basis.
| The early 1970's music recorded by followers of Prem Rawat was often amateurish and embarassingly simplistic in the lyrics but the musicians were enthusiastic, starry-eyed and committed and it was often moving and had a
major role in attracting new converts. The Divine Light Mission big band "Blue Aquarius" received terrible press
reviews though not as bad as Prem Rawat's and this may have been due to the absurd figure of "their band leader", Prem Rawat's older brother Bhole
Ji, than any musical shortcomings. In DLM, it was taught that he was the Divine Incarnation of Music |
THE LIVING GOSPEL
The Apostles
I Come To My Lord
Hallelujah
Guru Is The Father
Back To My Home
Lila
Now That I've Found Him
Call Him
The Practical Solution
Maharaji Can
And The Music
True Love
Riding
That's The Way Of The lord
Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?
© Divine Light Mission, Inc |
 |
1973 BLUE AQUARIUS
Blue Aquarius
God Is Love
Rock Me Maharaj Ji
Know Him While you Can
At The Feet Of The Master
Arti
How Many Lifetimes
Oh Maharaj Ji
Foxfire
Alive And Well
Satguru Has Come
© Stax Records, Inc |
 |
| Jiva was a rock band with a much harder sound than most of the "premie" musicians and they were signed to George Harrison's vanity label Dark Horse records. Whether this was purely done
on a musical basis or because Harrison was in the process of courting and marrying Olivia Arias who was a premie at the time is unknown. |
1975 JIVA
Something's Going' on in L.A.
The Closer I Get
Love is a Treasure
Take My Love
Hey Brother
World of Love
What You're Waiting For?
It's Time You Know
Don't be Sad
All is Well |
 |
| |
|
1978 ONLY ONE LOVE
One Foundation
Surdas the Gardener
Gathering up
Soul power
You saved me
What you know
Without your love
Wind of grace
Only one love
Instrumental theme
Weeping in my joy
You are my perfect master
Arti
© Divine Light Mission, Inc |
|
1978 BRAND NEW LOVE
One Foundation
Loving Times
Wild Night
Took Me By Surprise
Court Of Love
How Can I Ever Stop (Loving You)
Brand new Love
Love In The name Of Love
Festival Time
You Are Always There
© Divine Light Mission, Inc |
 |
1979 TEACH ME DEVOTION
One Foundation / Holi
Here At Your Feet
Color Of Your Love
I Only Want To Be With You
Your Love Has No Seasons
Teach Me Devotion
He's Here
See The Face (Of the Living Lord)
I'm Gonna Love Him Forever
Magic Of Your Love
Comin' Home
Teach Me Devotion
© Divine Light Mission, Inc |
 |
1979 EVERYBODY NEEDS YOU
Holi
Everybody Needs You
My Love
Child Of Mercy
I Want To See You Tonight
Let Me Give Myself To You
Lord I Need Your Love
Helpless
River Of Life
Oh My Lord
© Shri Hans International Productions, Inc |
 |
1979 I LOVE YOU
One Foundation / Rich Neel
The Greatest Magician
What Have You Done To Me
Tears Of Happiness
Hold Me Closer
Dance Dance Dance
I Love You
You Take The Darkness Away
Maharaji I Am Bound To You
Beat The Great Drums of His Satsang
© Divine Light Mission, Inc |
 |
1980 POWER OF LOVE
One Foundation
Power Of Love
Weeping In My Joy
I Only Want To Be With You
Malibu Rain
What You Know
You Saved me
How Can I Ever Stop
Brand New Love
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
Lovin' Times
© Divine Light Mission, Inc |
 |
1980 BHAJANS RECORDED AT THE HOLI 1980 FESTIVAL
One Foundation
|
 |
1980 YOU ARE MY EVERYTHING
One Foundation
Traders of the Holy Name
Leaving Your Lotus Feet (Where Would I Go?)
Dance With Us Lord
Maharaj Ji We Love You
You Are My Savior
I Surrender To My Satguru
I Just Want To Dance With You
You Are My Everything
©
Click Here for Complete Lyrics |
 |
1981 FIRE IN MY HEART
One Foundation
Fire In My Heart
You're The Only One
Coming Home
Morning Thunder
Oasis Of Love
Message Of The Heart
The Need For Love
Loving Is Where We Start
© Magenta Music |
 |
| By 1982 we can see that there had been no attempt to remove any Indian-Hindu trappings from Divine Light Mission despite the re-branding of the organisation as Elan Vital that was then underway. Actually
the opposite had happened and the main impetus of the organisation was encouraging devotion and worship of Prem Rawat as a divine omnipotent guru through the use of Indian bhajans as the dominant musical form at
meetings. |
1982 COURT OF LOVE
Holy Jesters
Listen, Listen
I Have Seen Such A Great Wonder
Court Of Love
Please Fill Me With Your Devotion
Glory Of My Master
In Your Hands Is A Jewel
My Master Blessed Me (With Such An Eye)
Life Is Passing
I Am In Love With You My Lord
Don't Let Me Loose Hold
© Elan Communications |
 |
1989 ENCORE
One Foundation
Weeping In My Joy
Nothing To Hide
Paradise
Brand New Love
Oasis Of Love
You Saved me
Within Your Love
© Visions International
|
 |
| This compilation seems to have been deliberately chosen to include only songs with lyrics that are general without specific words of worship of Prem Rawat as the divine Guru Maharaj Ji, the Lord of the Universe and
Revealer of the Knowledge of God. Maybe that is why there are only 3 songs written by Kim O'Leary the most prolific and overtly devotional of Divine Light Mission and Elan Vital songwriters. |
| I'm a loving father myself and so I don't begrudge Prem Rawat spending part of the fortune he attained by pretending to be the Lord of the Universe incarnate on trying to make his daughter happy though I do begrudge
him getting the fortune he attained by pretending to be the Lord of the Universe incarnate. However this CD is
almost a metaphor for Rawat's post 1985 career. Lots of money spent making a professional looking and sounding package of songs which contain vacuous and empty lyrics (well they are inspired by the words of Prem Rawat)
based on too little Rawat talent that will be lapped up by Rawat's devotees but should only be played in elevators. Given the right choice of material her vocal shortcomings can be overlooked but out in the real world she
would need to be super talented to overcome her appearance. Career advice to Daya: Don't bother auditioning for American Idol. |
| This recording of a live version of Spread This Knowledge (.wma) reveals her vocal deficiencies. Her voice is thin, her range is limited, she strains for some of the slightly
higher notes, her emotional expression is narrow and she needs another singer for the last section of the song as her voice lacks the power and range to manage it. Before an audience of her father's devotees the old chant
of "Bhole Satguru Dev Maharaj Ki Jai" is revisited. |
| Most of the new music being performed and available by followers of Rawat since the year 2000 seems mediocre "New Age" trivia though Tim Hain,
Cara Tower and the Ingui brothers stand out from the crowd (IMHO). A range is available at
Eversound Music.
Songs From a Mezzanine is a double CD of songs by followers of Prem Rawat which shows that many of his followers have enough musical talent to write and record songs but not enough to make you want to listen to them |
See Site Policy for statement regarding copyright for these materials.
This page was last updated on August 11, 2009
