Prem Rawat and the Dissolution of Divine Light Mission

Around 1983 Prem Rawat, then calling himself Guru Maharaj Ji, unilaterally and surprisingly closed the Divine Light Mission ashrams and nightly satsang meetings thereby disenfranchising the very people who supported him both publicly and financially and basically worshipped him as a God. He also demanded the destruction of all material recording his career up to date. He was disavowing that persona.

He did not have the assets to continue to live in the luxury to which he was accustomed so he had to continue in the only role he knew, with the backing of those who accepted the shocking events, now minus the Indian religious and spiritual background with which he came to the West. How could he possibly shrug off the stigma of the fat, ignorant, teenage God with an ulcer and the embarrassing financial failure of "the most Holy and significant event in human history" which took place in Houston, Texas.

I have no idea what he was thinking, if anything. However, it was not going to be that difficult. If you accepted a shallow picture of 1960s society you'd think the youth of America had joined the Woodstock Nation, in fact they'd enjoyed a Woodstock holiday weekend. If you accepted a shallow picture of 1970s society you'd think the youth of America had been brainwashed into giving up their lives into the hands of charismatic cult leaders like Sun Myung Moon and Guru Maharaj Ji. In fact, the number were miniscule and there was not going to be decades of investigations and prosecutions. He'd already been ignored for a decade despite some media interest around the time of the Jonestown Massacre.

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