Divine Light Mission

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The Divine Light Mission (DLM) was founded by the Shri Hans Ji Maharaji in Northern India in 1960 and registered in Patna. The name of the DLM in Hindi was Divya Sandesh Parishad. When Hans Maharaji died in 1966, his fourth son, Prem Rawat (Maharaji, formerly known as Guru Maharaj Ji) succeeded him. The DLM came to the United States with the 13-year old Prem Rawat in the 1970s.

The DLM was formed in 1971 as a non-profit corporation and in 1974 was recognized as a church by the United States Internal Revenue Service under section 501(c)(3). In the 1970s the DLM was scrutinized by the press and the anti-cult movement. Students of Maharaji were called premies until the early 1990s. Some of them lived in ashrams that were closed in 1983. The DLM changed its name to Elan Vital in 1983, by filing an entity name change.^[1][2]. According to the Encyclopedia of American religions the mission was disbanded as Prem Rawat personally renounced the trappings of Indian culture and religion, to make his teachings independent of culture, beliefs and lifestyles.^[3]

The sociology professor Eileen Barker classified the Divine Light Mission as a new religious movement.

Contents 1 The mission's succession rift and the 1970s 2 Beliefs, practices and behavioral standards outside India 3 Millennium festival in the Houston Astrodome 4 Changes in students outside India 5 Evolution 6 References 7 Bibliography 8 External links

[edit] The mission's succession rift and the 1970s

Prem Rawat succeeded to the leadership of the DLM upon his father's death in 1966^{[4] [5]}, which, as he noted, was unusual since he was not the eldest child and not in accordance with Hindu tradition of primogeniture^[6]. His family told American reporters during the early 1970s that Shri Hans was away from home at the time of his death and wrote a letter home to the family essentially naming Prem as his successor. A witness account by Shri Hans' personal driver confirms that Shri Hans publicly requested that Rawat would continue his work and that some disregarded this request and discussions were held during the customary 12 days of mourning about the succession. This culminated in Prem Rawat addressing the crowd and being accepted by them as their teacher.^[7][8]

The young Prem reportedly spoke in the same terms as his father had done, comforted grieving devotees and declared his intention to continue his father's work. ^[9][10] His family's support as the rightful successor to his father lasted for another eight years. . In 1974, after a rift in the family due to Prem Rawat's marriage to a Westerner and other Westernizing tendencies⁷, his mother publicly retracted her support and endorsed instead her oldest son, Satpal, as the legitimate guru of the DLM. Prem Rawat continued the work of the DLM in the West, while Satpal, acquired the DLM in India. Satpal now claims that his father, Hans Ji Maharaj, "bequeath[ed] his mission and unfinished work" to Satpal, not to Prem, and so he, and not Prem, is the sole legitimate heir of their father's guru lineage[1]. All scholars that write about the succession report the contrary. ^{[11] [12] [13]} and it is clear that Satpal and the rest of the family accepted and supported Prem's declaration of succession for eight years. The websites and publications related to Prem Rawat and his work do not use succession claims to substantiate Maharaji's teachnings as they see Rawat simply as an individual gifted with the ability to speak about inner peace. [2].

According to the Dutch religious scholar and minister Reender Kranenborg, a speech by Rawat called 'the 'Peace Bomb' in Delhi in 1970 marked the start of the Maharaji's mission to the west ^[14].

In 1973 after a reporter at a public event in Detroit hit Rawat in the face with a shaving cream pie, the reporter was attacked with a hammer and severely injured by an Indian Mahatma and a western student. In an article published in Penthouse magazine in July 1974 [3], it was reported that the DLM issued a press release informing that the pair were in fact students, and that they were held in custody at the Chicago ashram. They also promised a full investigation. The Detroit police did not pursue the matter.

[edit] Beliefs, practices and behavioral standards outside India

Note: this section and all other following sections apply to the DLM outside India only.

Professor Eileen Barker refers for more information about the DLM to an article by the student Wim Haan in the Dutch version of her book Introduction new religious movements. In that article that appeared in the official magazine of the Vrije Universiteit about religious movements, that the DLM hardly had a philosophical background and that its central items of faith were summarized in the song associated with the Hindu devotional ritual called aarti. Haan further wrote in that article that the DLM in India was involved in charity and social work but dropped this when it came to the West. Haan wrote this article while he was a student of theology at a Pastoral and Theology school in a small town in the Netherlands and while he was part of a critical movement within the Catholic church.

Although no beliefs or ethical practices in terms of rules and regulations were taught, the fundamental practices of inner peace were embodied and experienced through satsang, service and meditation, the sum of which is an experience Prem Rawat, or Maharaji, called "Knowledge." Maharaji's perspectives delivered during his satsang talks brought great pleasure and meaning to many listeners. The practice of satsang, service and meditation also resulted for many in an inner calm and contentment which guided their behavior in the place of a belief system. Members of the DLM meditated formally twice daily and attended discourse on the Knowledge (satsang) when possible. Vegetarianism was encouraged but not enforced.⁴.

According to a text book about the sociology of religion, "the early years of the Divine Light Mission (DLM) in the United States were characterized by rapidly growing, loosely affiliated local ashrams [..] united mainly by the devotion to the ambiguous charismatic figure of Guru Maharaj Ji." The book further states that "as the DLM became increasingly structured and centralized, leadership and power focused in the Denver headquarters." According to the book, Prem Rawat's "desire to consolidate his power and authority over the movement in the United States resulted in greater formalization: rules and regulation for ashram living, standards for recruited "candidates", and pressure toward certifying movements teachers." ^[15]

[edit] Millennium festival in the Houston Astrodome

In 1973, the DLM booked the Houston Astrodome for a three-day gathering of Rawat and several thousand of his students in November 1973, coinciding with Shri Hans's birthday and called "Millennium '73". The event lost money for the organization, but Rawat expressed his satisfaction with it. After a press conference with Prem Rawat, one of the journalists expressed his dissatisfaction with Rawat's answers to questions. See also Millennium festival. Around the time of this festival the anti-cult movement had reached its peak, resulting in several deprogrammed ex-members becoming vocal critics of the mission⁵.

[edit] Changes in students outside India

According to a study performed by Jeanne Messer in 1976 the adherents of the Divine Light Mission underwent several psychological changes after they learned and began practicing the techniques of Knowledge, or inner peace, including experiencing benefits from meditation such as increased energy levels, an increased awareness of coincidences and a tendency to see them as divine interventions, as well as improvements in their marriage and work life. Professor Eileen Barker believes, without supplying proof, that the above mentioned changes can be generalized for conversion to other new religious movements.

In a study by Marc Galanter in 2002 about the healing effects of spiritual affiliation⁶, he found that social and spiritual recovery occurred naturally in certain groups. In the study, Galanter presents as an example the fact that members of the DLM experienced a reduction of symptoms of psychological distress after they joined the group.^{[citation needed]}

In another study by Galanter, in cooperation with P Buckley, R and J Rabkin, on group influence for decreased drug use, it is presented that members of the DLM, many of whom had been involved in the counterculture of the early 1970s, reported incidence of drug use prior to joining which was much above that of a non-member comparison group. Reported levels were considerably lower after joining, and the decline was maintained over an average membership of 2 years.^{[citation needed]}

In spite of the many references that he used to make to Hindu mythology and his former usage of Hindu terminology in his teachings, he used to say, and still says, that Knowledge is independent of and compatible with all religions. Even in the 1970s, his students came from many religious backgrounds and Rawat himself has often quoted Rumi (Iran) and other masters that were not of Indian origin. Rawat has been vigorously criticized by the magazine Hinduism Today for not being aligned with traditional Hindu beliefs.

James Downton, in a study of followers he performed during 1972 through 1976, writes that depite Maharaji's emphasis on giving up beliefs and concepts to experience Knowledge more fully, this did not prevent premies from adopting a rigid set of ideas about his divinity, but that by 1976, the majority of premies had abandoned their beliefs in their guru's divinity, viewing him primarily as a spiritual teacher and guide and started assuming much more responsibility for their spiritual growth. ^[16]

[edit] Evolution

As Rawat matured from boyhood to adulthood, he removed Indian connotations from his message^[17]. In the early 1980s, he began to dismantle the remnants of Indian culture and adopted a more universal style that was independent of culture, religion and belief. The Denver DLM headquarters and the ashrams were closed. He asked to be referred to as “Maharaji” instead of “Guru Maharaj Ji.” Divine Light Mission, the organization founded by his father was dismantled, and an educational non-profit entity Elan Vital took its place. ^[18]

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Chryssides, George D. (2001). Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements, pp. 108-109. The Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland and London, 2001. ISBN 0-8108-4095-2
• Barker, E. (1989), New Religious Movements: A Practical Introduction, London, HMSO
• Galanter, Marc M. D. (2002) Alcohol & Drug Abuse: Healing Through Social and Spiritual Affiliation, Psychiatric Services 53:1072-1074, September 2002. American Psychiatric Association
• Galanter M, Buckley P, Deutsch A, Rabkin R, Rabkin J (1980) Large group influence for decreased drug use: findings from two contemporary religious sects Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse. 1980;7(3-4):291-304.
• Haan, Wim (Dutch language) De missie van het Goddelijk licht van goeroe Maharaj Ji: een subjektieve duiding from the series Religieuze bewegingen in Nederland: Feiten en Visies nr. 3, autumn 1981 (The study is mainly based on the Dutch branch of the Divine Light Mission) ISBN 90-242-2341-5
• Melton, J. Gordon and Lewis, R. James. Department of the USA Army, Office of the Chief of Chaplains Religious Requirements and practices. A Handbook for Chaplains
• Melton, J. Gordon and Lewis, R. James.The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, & New Religions.
• Satgurudev Shri Hans Ji Maharaj: Eternal is He, Eternal is His Knowledge, Originally published by Divine Light Mission, (1970) India

[edit] External links

• Article by Hinduism Today (1983) Available online
• Premies Versus Sannyasins by the psychologists of religion Dr. Jan van der Lans and Dr. Frans Derks in which they compared the adherents of the Divine Light Mission with followers of the Osho-Rajneesh movement, originally published in Update: A Quarterly Journal on New Religious Movements, X/2 (June 1986)
• Site created by ex-followers http://www.ex-premie.org/

Prem Rawat (Maharaji)

Techniques of Knowledge | The Prem Rawat Foundation

Elan Vital | Criticism of Prem Rawat

Hans Ji Maharaj | Divine Light Mission | Divine United Organization