Some "Premies of" Prem Rawat
Premie definition: Literally, a lover of God. A disciple, a devotee. Prem Rawat has replaced this word with the neutral term "student".
There is one effect of becoming a "premie" or "student" of Prem Rawat that has overridden all others. The great majority of people who practise the meditation Rawat "reveals" cease meditating and being "premies" or "students" after a longer or shorter time. The majority of these quietly go on with their lives and their feelings are open to conjecture. However a significant minority realise that this is not just a case of "it just wasn't right for me" or something similar but that they were deceived by the false claims of Rawat and his organisations and attempt to atone for their involvement by alerting others by public criticism of Prem Rawat and by presenting a realistic picture of his life and "teachings". A remarkable number of close personal followers of Prem Rawat's have publicly condemned and criticised him for hypocrisy, deceit and even unethical, immoral and illegal activities.
| Brian Pitt aka Mahatma Saphlanand, the only Western Mahatma
The first known and acknowledged Western devotee of Rawat's was Brian Kitt, a flamboyant figure in the London psychedelic scene who hobnobbed with such luminaries as Robin Williamson of the Incredible String Band and wished to become a sadhu (holy man). He went to India in 1968 and after the usual adventures and difficulties discovered a guru, in this case, Prem Rawat, and was soon converted. Brian was the "star" of the early Western devotees and became the only non-Indian "Mahatma" and he had an extremely important role in drawing others to Rawat and Divine Light Mission. He was the one who brought Rawat, Guru Maharaj Ji, to the notice of nearly all the early British devotees. |
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| Bob Mishler, ex-President of Divine Light Mission for 5 1/2 years
John Hand, Jr, ex vice-President, Divine Light Mission |
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Michael Donner, ex vice-President, Divine Light Mission
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| Michael Dettmers, ex Personal Assistant, Prem Rawat for 15 years
In early 2000 Jim Heller (real Name) a lawyer from Vancouver, and a person prominent in on-line criticism of Prem Rawat and his so-called "Knowledge" contacted Michael Dettmers former personal assistant to Prem Rawat and thereby began a process of debate that eventually had Dettmers publicly revealing much about Prem Rawat's life that was unknown to people who weren't part of Rawat's inner circle of devotees. |
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Michael Garson became a devotee in May 1974 and took over as Financial Director in August, 1974. He resigned in February, 1975, "because I could not tolerate the contradictions." Using photocopied DLM documentation Garson revealed Rawat's rampant greed and spending of 60% of Mission funds in testimony in a court case in Vancouver over the inherited estate of Darby McNeal, a premie who had been pressured by Bob Mishler and other Divine Light Mission administrators to donate her $400,00 inheritance to Rawat. In an affidavit presented in a British Columbia court he said, "My analysis of the accounts of the Divine Light Mission indicated that approximately 60 percent of the gross receipts are directed to maintain the lifestyle of the Maharaj Ji" |
| David Lovejoy, ex-President Divine Light Mission, Australia and Great Britain
Lovejoy maintains an ambivalent attitude to Prem Rawat. While no longer considering him worthy of worship or devotion he publicly promotes a near-magical view of Rawat's past and personal powers in his book, Between Dark and Dark (available from the Byron Bay Echo). |
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| A trio of Australian premies' lives compared
It was quite common in the early 1970's to publish the "biographies" of people who had become followers of Prem Rawat, they invariably maintained that the "revealing of Knowledge" had a positive, if not revelatory, effect on their lives. |
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| Mata Ji, mother of Prem Rawat and wife of the prior "Perfect Master" In 1975 she was so disgusted with Prem Rawat's drug abuse and general "playboy lifestyle" she disowned, disinherited and deposed him. Since that time Prem Rawat's following around the world has declined significantly. |
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| Bal Bhagwan Ji (Satpal Ji), eldest brother of Prem Rawat agreed with his mother and became the newly appointed Satguru. He "received Knowledge" from his father at the same time as Prem Rawat did. He and his mother were actively involved in organising and inspiring Divine Light Mission activities during it's phase of expansion in the West before public controversies over Prem Rawat's lifestyle and Rawat's use of the cash-flow for personal luxury and poor managerial decisions stagnated the organisation. |
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