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.
DENVER (AP) - Lawyers for a woman who allegedly was abducted here one year ago in an attempt by her parents to break her ties with a religious sect are fighting to have her found incompetent to testify about the incident. Lawyers for Emily Deitz, a follower of the Guru Maharaj Ji - who heads the Divine Light Mission - claim the sect has control over her mind and has eliminated her ability to think for herself.
Denver District Court Judge Edward Carelli recently appointed a psychiatrist to examine Ms. Dietz, who is the key witness in the criminal case. Carelli is to decide whether she is competent to testify at the trial, scheduled to begin July 19.
The alleged abduction led to the indictment of the woman's parents, Dr. Leonard Loeb Deitz and Esther Leah Deitz of Silver Springs, Md., along with Denver policeman Mark Roggeman, nationally known "deprogrammer" Joseph Phillip Alexander Jr., and six others who allegedly assisted in the abduction.
Dr. and Mrs. Dietz pleaded guilty last December to false imprisonment and were placed on two years probation. Three others pleaded guilty to similar charges, but five of the defendants have pleaded innocent.
At the time of their pleas, Dr. and Mrs Deitz said they planned the abduction of their daughter from the Divine Light Mission because they felt the sect was controlling her mind.
Authorities claim Ms. Deitz, 23, was walking down an alley near downtown Denver on April 8, 1981 when she was seized by her father and two other men, pushed into a van and driven to Colorado Springs for deprogramming.
The indictment claims Ms. Dietz was confined for a week in a basement bedroom, where she was guarded by her father and deprogrammers then flown to Akron, Ohio and held in a house there for six days until she escaped by jumping from a second-story window at night and hitchhiking to a truck stop.
According to court records, Ms. Dietz became involved with the Divine Light Mission when she was 16, just before graduating from high school in the top three per cent of her class. Her parents said she lost interest in school, friends and family after joining the sect and attended college in Massachusetts for less than a year before dropping out.
Denver Deputy District Attorney Beth McCann said Ms. Dietz, who lives in the Denver area occasionally goes to hear the Maharaj Ji speak but isn't living with a group of followers, The cult, Ms. McCann says, doesn't have control over Ms. Dietz's mind.
"People have the impression that a flower child will run into the courtroom with a long, flowing dress," Ms. McCann said, "and it's not like that. It's our belief Emily is fine. She's articulate and in control of herself."
But Jonathan Olom, an attorney for Donny Edwin Hurst, one of the alleged deprogrammers, says Ms. Deitz's seven-year association with the cult could have affected her mind.
Olom and other defense attorneys have said they hope to argue a "choice of evils" defense during the trial. They contend those involved in the alleged kidnapping acted to stop a greater harm - the control of Ms. Dietz's mind by the cult.
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.