Élan Vital and Prem Rawat in the Late 1980s

Starting in 1987 Prem Rawat began a years-long campaign to update his premies understanding or, at least, to retrain them in how to speak of him publicly (they were not to), how to recruit new people (they were not to), how to meditate (they'd been doing it all wrong), how long to meditate (half enough is good enough), the effects of meditation (simple stillness, no more seeing big light, hearing celestial music, tasting nectar and this and that), how not to apply pressure to their eyeballs, how not to attempt to reverse their tongue down their throats, how to continue to adore and worship Him without displaying evidence of this publicly

Rejoice 87, 88 & so on: Prem Rawat Gathers His True Believers & Changes "His" Meditation Techniques

The rationale given for the Rejoice 87 series of premie "knowledge reviews" was:

The idea for the Rejoice '87 series stemmed from Maharaji's realization that many people were practicing the techniques incorrectly. Some were deviating from the way they were originally instructed, while others were confusing Knowledge with cultural habits learned from early instructors. - In View 87

The rationale was nonsense. How could Rawat know what thousands of his followers were doing in the dark under a blanket? Furthermore the techniques and instructions were changed, not restated. Rejoice '87 & follow-ups were the most important events of Rawat's career in the 1980's since the major shakeup of 1982. Only half of the people still on the US Élan Vital mailing list attended one of these events. Only these could be considered even fringe members. Losing half of Rawat's followers could have been disastrous but the majority of 1970s premies were not financially positive for DLM. Clearing out the non-tithers and the "bongos" could be good for Rawat's future direction. Only time would tell.

Knowledge reviews have been a regular feature for Rawat's students which is strange considering the techniques are so simple they can be taught to anyone in less than 5 minutes but this was the first one in which Rawat had a direct hand (except for one in 1970) and so far the only one in which the techniques have been altered. I have attended quite a few Knowledge Reviews myself in the 1970s and the actual techniques were always identical.

In July 1989 a "Festival of Knowledge" (Guru Puja dates) - a three-day convention was held in Miami. 9,000 people came from 40 countries, 7,200 from North America and 1,800 from other countries. It was the first international festival in 10 years and set a benchmark for gatherings of Rawat's Western devotees. Rawat's DLM upheavals had been spectacular failures if recruiting people to practise the meditation and obey him were his actual goals. In 1980 about 20,000 people would attend annual DLM Festivals. By 1989 this figure had halved. He was now a public nonentity and could continue developing his new role without public criticism or ridicule.

Prem Rawat Ordered His Premies To Stop Telling Anyone About the "Knowledge"

In 1987 Rawat decided that none but a handful of his devotees could be trusted to talk about the Knowledge which most of them had been practising for 15 years. This seems to be very strong evidence that the Knowledge, the students and/or Rawat as the Teacher were rubbish. Well the Knowledge and Rawat are pretty rubbish but there was certainly a good reason for the order. Firstly, each premie could believe that he/she was the only person not blissing out in meditation and think the others must be. Secondly, the effects of this practice did not impress many outsiders nor the great majority of people initiated in the 1970s who had gone by the wayside so keeping it mysterious was the best option. Rawat put his followers into a bind. He told them to present themselves honestly and that this would attract new people but they knew it hadn't but hoped it would. It didn't. Thirdly, The Knowledge and Rawat were now without a credible backstory. Guru Maharaj Ji the grown-up Indian boy God, the incarnated Avatar of the Age storytale is incredible but it is a story with a "Secrets of the Mystic East" background that nearly everyone has heard of. Thirdly the premies of the 70s had been socialised to exaggerate, to hype and to embellish, extras Rawat no longer wanted. They were given cards with an instructor's phone number. - North American Convention 1986

The British newsletter, Newline, paraphrased his instructions at a session on "Communicating about Knowledge":

So Maharaji's message was a simple one - don't set yourself up as a spreader of the Knowledge. Just let the experience Knowledge brings work for you in your life. And if someone we know expresses an interest, merely set them on the path towards discovering that experience for themselves by putting them in touch with an instructor.

Premie Catch 22: Unfortunately Rawat's logic is impeccable but his premise is false. The experience Knowledge brings for you in your life by 1988, or if indeed it had ever enhanced lives, did not inspire other people. This was the elephant experience in the room that had never dared to raise its head. Thirteen years later in 2000 he apparently decided to end the "stopgap" measure but only for "students" who passed His training session. Once again he was wrong about the effect of "the trainings."

On January 26, 1988 Rawat held a meeting with a small group of "aspirants." It was reported in the Newsline newsletter:

One of his aims here was to help them (ie his long-term devotees) move forward from any unhelpful ideas and attitudes to a place where they could have more growth and experience. … he talked of the challenge that faced him in grappling with the religion that had grown up alongside all his earlier efforts to spread Knowledge. "I could write a book about it," he said. It might have been easier to let things ride, but he had decided to tackle the religion and fight for a situation whereby Knowledge could be presented free of unnecessary trappings to the people of all cultures.

No doubt Rawat thought he could tell such outright lies because his followers had destroyed all the publications, tapes, records, videos and movies proving the he was the instigator of all the "unhelpful ideas and attitudes" and "unnecessary trappings" he now derides and condemns. Fortunately he was wrong.

The Grass Is Always Greener for Prem Rawat

In this second phase of Prem Rawat's career he was usually very upbeat and openly berating his premies for their shortcomings was no longer part of his spiel. He used a snide way of demeaning his long-term premies, the ones who are still financing him. He regularly spoke of the great number of people wanting Knowledge - people who did not carry the baggage of his long-term devotees, people who unlike the long-term devotees did not bring a lot of "Eastern" baggage with them.

There's a lot of people out there waiting for Knowledge. In fact, the demand for Knowledge has never been as great as it is now. Never. And what's so beautiful is that people are not looking for a religion or a cult. They're looking for something simple and pure. You don't have to go out there and tell people about Knowledge. I know a lot of you think I'm taking something away from you, but I'm not - Birmingham, England, August 17 1986

He also implictly criticises his long-term Western and Indian followers by extolling the enthusiam and dedication of people from other areas (and they believe it). Apparently they've forgotten all the times Rawat used the cliché the grass is always greener:

It's always amazing whenever I go to Ecuador. They just let anybody come whether the people have Knowledge or not. One day I was there and those wanting to be instructors were supposed to show up the next morning. And a whole bunch of people showed up who didn't even have Knowledge and they wanted to be instructors. They were serious. They just said, What do we have to do?" There's just a wonderful enthusiasm for it and for that growth. - Newsline