In late 1972 the Divine Light Mission produced this film, titled 'Satguru Has Come', at a time when the young Prem Rawat, the Perfect Master, known as Guru Maharaj Ji was riding a wave of success, as DLM was swiftly growing in the West though not as fast as was thought or publicised. It encapsulates the proudly proclaimed central dogmas of the Rawatism religion: Prem Rawat was the incarnation of God, come back to Earth with more power than ever before and about to usher in the Millenium. It also contains numerous scenes where His face fades into a circular light object, centered between his eyes. This is because the Light meditation technique that was part of the "Knowledge" required you to squeeze your eyes with your longest finger and thumb producing this sort of effect if you squeeze hard enough.

In November, 1973 the Divine Light Mission held a festival, Millenium 73, "the most significant event in human history" according to Guru Maharaj Ji as Prem Rawat was then known to the world.

This video, titled 'Lord of the Universe', (not to be confused with a movie made by Divine Light Mission with the same name) was shot as a television documentary at a time when Prem Rawat and his followers had full confidence that any examination of the guru, his 'Knowledge' and his followers would be positive. The documentary makers were allowed full access to the event held at the Houston Astrodome and to the followers, especially to Rennie Davis who was then the major spokesman for the movement. It contains footage of Guru Maharaj Ji, events from the Millenium festival, premies involved in 'Soul Rush' a pre-festival publicity campaign, interviews with premies and Prem Rawat's oldest brother, Bal Bhagwan Ji and his mother, Mata Ji. It is still available at Amazon and is a must for anyone with an interest in 1970's Divine Light Mission.

During this early period of confidence in Divine Light Mission before the Millenium 73 fiasco, before Prem Rawat's marriage to a devotee of his who was nearly 10 years older and 4 inches taller than him and before his disinheritance and disowning by his mother, footage from an early Divine Light Mission movie and interviews with Rennie Davis were given to film-maker Don Como for a documentary on gurus and 'New Religious Movements' that were proselytising in the USA.

This movie was finally released on video as "Mysterious Miracles, Aliens from Spaceship Earth, A Spiritual Odyssey". It contains some early footage of Prem Rawat in the West, some even earlier footage of his father and his "Holy Family" in India, some background material with voice-overs by the folk singer Donovan who was not a follower of Guru Maharaji but of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi of Transcendental Meditation, and some footage of darshan lines in the USA and England with premie music.

Some clips mainly from the 'Guru Puja 1979' video.

This 1979 Divine Light Mission film contains some different scenes of Prem Rawat dancing, encoring his dancing and "sharing satsang" ie giving extemperaneous speeches in his inimitable style and surprisingly unpleasant shouting. Unfortunately, age has diminished the quality of the picture and sound though everything is completely legible.

Despite later Elan Vital propaganda stating that Prem Rawat at no time believed or encouraged beliefs in his own divinity or identity to the God Krishna, this video taken at nearly the zenith of the "super-devotional" period of Divine Light Mission 2 years before it was renamed Elan Vital shows him openly making such claims.

These video clips are from film of the Holi festival of 1980 in Miami on 13th April. The clips were converted from Youtube streaming videos sourced from the Guru Maharaji Information (aka Prem Rawat) website. Some of the Youtube videos have been removed for an Elan Vital Inc. claimed copyright violation. The soundtrack contains deeply religious westernised 'bhajans' with lines like "Always remember His every word is Holy" and "Resting at the Feet of my only Beloved" and are part of the message Prem Rawat was publicly teaching about His Divinity until the mid 1980's. For more bhajans go to Holi 1980 Music Taped in The Crowd.

In front of his followers he strongly criticises other religions and claims that all other "Perfect Masters" like himself, had to "fight religion", that Jesus 'revealed' the same Knowledge ie meditation, satsang, service and darshan as he does and that Christianity has nothing to do with Jesus and that religions never bring peace only fighting. He teaches that the Perfect Master, the Lord, the Master, the Creator, the Giver of everything and Guru Maharaj Ji are identical and obedience to Himself is required under all conditions: "wherever Guru Maharaj Ji goes, in whichever way he flows". He insists that everyone needs to be saved by him and that people must have faith in him and that "it's only the devotees that are right, that's the law"

Ashram Satsangs: In the 1970's and early 1980's Rawat often held special meetings for his ashram premies - who were, after all, usually his most dedicated followers and certainly they dedicated more of their lives to Rawat's mission than did his followers who lived more normal lives. In these meetings he told them that the ashrams were the backbone of this mission and ashram life gave his followers the greatest possible chanceto "surrender to Him" and "realise His Knowledge". We currently have transcripts and clips from three of these special ashram satsangs:

This Malibu Ashram Satsang of 7th January, 1979video records a speech made by Prem Rawat, or Guru Maharaj Ji as he then called himself, in Rome to ashram premies and premies wishing to move into an ashram. Much of it is ephemeral but some of the central dogmas of his teachings are restated. In it he "gives satsang" for about an hour and then answers questions from the audience - these are his most devoted followers who have no idea that within a few years all the ashrams will be closed and they will have to find careers after as much as a decade or more in full-time, unpaid work called "service" for Rawat's organisations. At least twenty percent of all ashram income was sent directly to Rawat.

Despite later Elan Vital propaganda stating that Prem Rawat at no time believed or encouraged beliefs in his own divinity or identity to the God Krishna, this video taken at nearly the zenith of the "super-devotional" period of Divine Light Mission 2 years before it was renamed Elan Vital shows him openly making such claims and demanding total surrender from his followers and loss of their personal identity.

This Lingfield Ashram Satsang of June, 1979 video records a speech made by Prem Rawat, or Guru Maharaj Ji as he then called himself, in Rome to ashram premies and premies wishing to move into an ashram. Much of it is ephemeral but some of the central dogmas of his teachings are restated. In it he "gives satsang" for about an hour and then answers questions from the audience - these are his most devoted followers who have no idea that within a few years all the ashrams will be closed and they will have to find careers after as much as a decade or more in full-time, unpaid work called "service" for Rawat's organisations. At least twenty percent of all ashram income was sent directly to Rawat.

Despite later Elan Vital propaganda stating that Prem Rawat at no time believed or encouraged beliefs in his own divinity or identity to the God Krishna, this video taken at nearly the zenith of the "super-devotional" period of Divine Light Mission 2 years before it was renamed Elan Vital shows him openly making such claims and demanding total surrender from his followers and loss of their personal identity.

This Ashram Satsang of 25th June, 1980 video records a speech made by Prem Rawat, or Guru Maharaj Ji as he then called himself, in Rome to ashram premies and premies wishing to move into an ashram. Much of it is ephemeral but some of the central dogmas of his teachings are restated. In it he "gives satsang" for about an hour and then answers questions from the audience - these are his most devoted followers who have no idea that within a few years all the ashrams will be closed and they will have to find careers after as much as a decade or more in full-time, unpaid work called "service" for Rawat's organisations. At least twenty percent of all ashram income was sent directly to Rawat.

Despite later Elan Vital propaganda stating that Prem Rawat at no time believed or encouraged beliefs in his own divinity or identity to the God Krishna, this video taken at nearly the zenith of the "super-devotional" period of Divine Light Mission 2 years before it was renamed Elan Vital shows him openly making such claims and demanding total surrender from his followers and loss of their personal identity.

This video, titled "You Are My Saviour", a Divine Light Mission release, was produced in 1980. It was filmed at the 1980 Guru Puja Festival and contains scenes of Prem Rawat dancing, encoring his dancing and "sharing satsang" ie giving extemperaneous speeches in his inimitable style and surprisingly unpleasant screeching and shouting. Unfortunately, age has diminished the quality of the picture and sound though everything is completely legible.

Despite later Elan Vital propaganda stating that Prem Rawat at no time believed or encouraged beliefs in his own divinity or identity to the God Krishna, this video taken at nearly the zenith of the "super-devotional" period of Divine Light Mission 2 years before it was renamed Elan Vital shows him openly making such claims. It features 3 songs 'You Are My Saviour', 'I Just Want To Dance With You' and a South American style tune all of which feature the interpretative dance of Guru Maharaj Ji as he was then known or Marahaji or Prem Rawat as he now calls himself. There is part of the inspirational ballad 'I Surrender to my Satguru' played while Prem Rawat changes into his Krishna costume.

This video, titled 'Contact', a Visions International (a division of Elan Vital Inc) release, was produced in 1987/8.

It contains footage of a festival in India with Holi, Darshan and divine dancing, sound-bites of premies, some satsang given in Australia and flight footage not just of the jet-of-the-day but his helicopter and his glider as well and the big ballad has scenes of Rawat producing the recording of 'I Need To Feel It' which is the featured big, inspirational ballad.

There is a very definite exposition of Rawat's position in the lineage of Perfect Masters and their role as the unique giver of true experience rather than doctrine and dogma.

This video, titled "Windows In Time", an ILC (International Learning Center) production and a Visions International (a division of Elan Vital Inc) release, was premiered at the 'Festival of Knowledge' in Miami, July 1989. It contains historical footage from India and an optimistc and upbeat view of Rawat's early career in the West. In the 1970's the press had been nearly 100% critical and derisive of the 'fat boy guru'.

There is extensive footage of an "interview" with Prem Rawat in the back seat of a car from the late 80's and some of his 'students' providing revisionist spin on his early days in the West and rare footage of his childhood in India. It ends with an inspirational series of clips of his life over 'Teach Me Devotion' with late 1980's lyrics.

Don't miss the super clear explanation of the commitment required to practise Knowledge, at least, that's what I think it's about.

This video, titled "Birthday Gift, India '88" has no attribution but was produced in 1988/89. It may have been recorded from a satellite broadcast. It is part of a series that includes "Evolution", "Windows In Time", "I Have This Knowledge" and "Passages" that attempt to show an extremely upbeat version of Rawat's early career in the West and a coherent evolution of his career and teachings while allowing his devotees watching it to briefly relive their youth during the exciting, overtly divine and devotional, optimistic and successful public phase of his career. This film seems to have been produced in India and has speeches by Rawat in Hindi and some images of Rawat dressed as Krishna and others that were not shown in any similar Western videos.

This video, titled 'Evolution', an ILC (International Learning Center) production was produced in 1989. It is part of a series that includes "Windows In Time", "I Have This Knowledge" and "Passages" that attempt to show an extremely upbeat version of Rawat's early career in the West and a coherent evolution of his career and teachings while allowing his devotees watching it to briefly relive their youth during the exciting, overtly divine and devotional, optimistic and successful public phase of his career. It is certainly not an accurate picture of the history of Rawat's life and career but it is an accurate picture of how he wanted that presented in 1989 within the constraints of available archival film. It contains more extensive footage of his father and his early life in India than the others in this series but is amateurish by comparison with an intrusive, mediocre soundtrack.

This video, titled "A Freedom Call", is © I.L.C, (Internation Learning Center) d.b.a. Visions International (a division of Elan Vital Inc) production and was released in 1991. It begins with a reading by Prem Rawat of some doggerel, presumably written by Rawat, that appears to be based on, or at least inspired by, a well-know poem "High Flight" by John Magee. It can hardly be called plagiarism as it so laughably bad it would probably qualify as satire if he didn't declaim it so earnestly. The soundtrack sounds like Vangelis has dashed something off while on the toilet and in a hurry to go somewhere else, urgently, and then recorded it in the taxi on the way to the airport. Rawat is a master of verbosity delivered in mangled syntax and poor pronunciation and here he relates another long-winded story about the birth of a bird, making this everyday event a "miracle". He calls the first flight magical and then derides human life, without his Knowledge the "one certain special way" to happiness, as being as pointless and miserable as a bird trapped in a gilded cage.

This video, titled "The Journey is the Destination", a Visions International (a division of Elan Vital Inc) production, was released in 1994.

It includes Rawat answering the questions:

• Is Knowledge the only Path?
• Should we be Vegetarians?
• How does Spirituality Correlate to Knowledge?

and Rawat reading from Kabir. There are pretty graphics. The audience response during the answer to 'How does Spirituality Correlate to Knowledge?' is interesting.

This video, titled "Like The Rain", a Visions International (a division of Elan Vital Inc) release, was released in 1996.

It contains the 'Blessing of the Master' sermon, Maharaji dancing briefly, a Holi festival where some people are collecting the charanamrit and a quick glimpse of a darshan line.

"So what is the blessing for a human being. Of course we've talked about life, we've talked about that breath, we've talked about this existence and yes they're all blessings. But there is another wonderful blessing and that blessing is the Master. Master, to me, is that manifestation of the yearning of the heart. If there was no yearning of the heart, believe me, there would be no Master."

In the period 1995 to 1997 Visions International produced a series of 10 short films which were later sold on Video CDs at speeches of Prem Rawat's. While they fit onto one Video CD they were sold as a set of two, presumably to maximise the financial returns. They were not merely recordings of Rawat's speeches, though they included many quotes and his daughter Daya's singing, some historical footage of his career and shots that followers could recognise as darshan lines (ie people lining up and passing before Rawat sitting on a throne and kissing his feet) though this would not be obvious to people who were not Rawat's long time students. They include "Boundless", "He's Here" and "Total embrace"

This video, titled 'Fulfillment', a Visions International (a division of Elan Vital Inc) short (15 minutes) introductory video, was released in 1998. It combines professional sounding voice-over explanations of Prem Rawat's claims about his life, philosophy and teachings with snippets of Rawat's "satsangs". Though intended to be shown as an introduction to "Maharaji" (Great King) as he calls himself, it still contains those central dogmas of his religion that have remained constant through the decades.

This video, titled "Introducing the Possibility of Knowledge", a Visions International release, was produced in 2000. It contains scenes from two training sessions Elan Vital held to teach Prem Rawat's students how to introduce people to the "possibility of Knowledge" and a speech in Miami. The "invited guests" paid dearly for the chance to be at these sessions as their Master was going to be there. Nearly all of them had been devotees of Maharaji for up to 30 years and so the idea that they needed such training was extraordinary enough in itself. What made it even more remarkable is that most of them had been doing such personal and public proselytisation in the '70's quite successfully until Rawat had ordered them to cease and desist in 1982.

This video, titled "Four Days In November", a Visions International (a division of Elan Vital Inc) release, was released in 2000.

It includes footage of his meetings in Delhi, India in late 1999, the last program he appeared in during the 20th century. It's highlight is the first known public performance of Prem Rawat singing in a duet with his daughter, Daya, of a bhajan and includes some ad-libbing by him and some group singing with the large audience. Unfortunately, there are only a few testimonies from premies regarding his singing and their explanations of it's effect upon them as they are very interesting.

There is a full transcript of Rawat's (Maharaji) speeches from this video available.

This video, entitled "I Have This Knowledge", allows premies to reminisce watching small clips and still photos from the early 70's Divine Light Mission archives. The soundtrack is an upbeat, edited "satsang" of Prem Rawat's talking about his early life in the West, some "interviews" with members of his inner circle and pointed comments about "Indian cultural" artifacts mistakenly taken up by young Westerners of the time that Prem Rawat has "removed" from Elan Vital doctrines.

"Passages - A Masters Journey", a Visions International (a division of Elan Vital Inc) video, was published during 2001 to mark the 30th anniversary of the arrival of Prem Rawat (aka Maharaji) to the West in 1971 and to provide a coherent story for Rawat's followers to counter the criticisms of him being published on the Internet some of them by his former closest associates. It contains a potted history of Maharaji's life, his family, his organizations and his "message". Several prominent followers of Maharaji were interviewed for the video giving their very similar thoughts on these criticised aspects of Rawat and his career.

It was first shown at an Elan Vital program held in Nottingham UK in 2001, then sold for a period of time and broadcast via Satellite. The video is now no longer available for purchase or distribution via Elan Vital or their sister organizations. It contains some early footage of Prem Rawat in the West, some even earlier footage of his father but definitely not of his "Holy Family" in India, interviews with about a dozen of his most trusted followers and some background material with a professional doing the voice-overs explaining the new interpretation of his past and his Knowledge in an attempt to counter accusations against him on the internet. A complete transcript is available here.

This video, entitled "Receiving Knowledge", was copied from a broadcast via Satellite.

It contains some footage of Prem Rawat in a Pre-Knowledge session, speaking and answering some questions. It also contains interviews with some people before receiving Knowledge (aspirants), directly after receiving Knowledge and up to a year later.

We have only received two clips from this video for now. In one he gives his definition of 'religion' and in another answers the question: "But can they be happy?"

Various Amaroo video clips.

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World Renowned Teacher of Inner Peace
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Perfect Master
Satguru
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Bhole Shri Satguru Dev Maharaji Ki Jai