BOOK REVIEW – ANDREA CAGAN – PEACE IS POSSIBLE. (THE LIFE AND MESSAGE OF PREM RAWAT). 2006. Mighty River Press.
Dull propaganda for the Divine Light Mission (aka, Elan Vital) cult of Guru Maharaj Ji, now known by the name Prem Pal. The extremely one sided semi-official biography of the 49 year old leader of the movement dilutes some of the countless criticisms of his leadership and completely bi-passes many well documented challenges to his message. My own summary of the cult’s history is online at www.arthurchappell.clara.net/divinelightmission.htm the story of my own experiences as a member of the cult (1981-1985) are given at www.arthurchappell.clara.net/brainwashing.htm The official story, which I will discredit in later paragraphs, is relatively simple. Prem Rawat was the youngest son of an established religious leader, Shri Hans Maharaji in India. When his father died, Prem took over from his father, even though everyone expected the oldest of the four sons, rather than the youngest (Prem) to be the successor. Prem was just eight years old. At thirteen, he flew to London, and established a following in England, moving quickly on to Europe and the US. For a few years he seemed to do no wrong, until he ran into conflict with his mother, Mataji in 1973-4, who objected to his wedding to an airhostess called Marolyn Johnson. His mother disowned him and denounced him as a false teacher. Other critics spoke, though only ever out of malice, but gradually, Maharaji was able to rebuild his following, and became a leading advocate of peace with UNESCO, and a philanthropist, bringing aid to famine and earthquake victims worldwide. That’s the book in a nutshell, but what Cagan misses out speaks volumes about the purpose of the book. 1/. Divine Light Mission is never mentioned by name. A crucial practice in the DLM cult is Darshan where followers kiss the feet of their leader – Cagan makes no reference to Maharaji encouraging his followers to fly round the world after him to kiss his feet. Her carefully selected photos of him show him only in business suits or in early images in his Hindi robes and Nehru outfits. She gives none of the many pictures of him dancing bare-bellied in his Kryshna crown as this contradicts her claim that he is a humble Eastern philosopher rather than a man willing to let people believe he is a living god. Maharaji offended mainstream Hindus by naming his American air hostess bride Durga-Ji after a Hindu fertility Goddess. This is not covered in detail in the book. And married him as soon as he was legally old enough to wed. Maharaji’s association with the UN and various charity projects are largely just good PR exercises. Having a vast fortune makes it relatively easy to be seen being humanitarian – while the famine and earthquake victims of the world are getting something, for which we should all be grateful, the sources of the income which Maharaji redistributes to buy himself a Mother Teresa status should be seriously investigated. Cagan points out that Maharaji never charges followers for giving out the Knowledge – see www.arthurchappell.clara.net/divinelightmissionmeditations.htm However, members are encouraged to donate a tithe of 10 percent of their income or more to the cult. That hardly makes the Knowledge a free gift. The author never interviews Maharaji personally. She really stretches and strains credibility with a reference to Maharaji’s ‘little house’ in Malibu. Here are some photos of said little house. http://ex-premie.org/pages/finance1.htm#REZ The only references to ex-members at all slanderously denounce them wholesale as a vocal minority who operate through false ID’s and a limited Internet flame war group. She fails to mention a number of accusations raised against Maharaji. 1/. His follower’s beat up a reporter called Pat Halley and left him with a metal plate in his skull. Another documented accusation Cagan fails to discuss involved Maharaji’s involvement in a hit and runcar crash where he ran over and killed a cyclist in India. It is widely believed that he got one of his followers to claim to have been at the wheel of the car while he fled the scene and created a false alibi for himself, and flew out of the country. Maharaj Ji has also been protective towards a controversial India based Knowledge Instructor and follower, Mahatma Jagdeo, despite the man facing multiple paedophilia allegations. He is believed to have never been stripped of office in the cult’s Indian operations. http://www.prem-rawat-maharaji.info/index.php?id=25 Again, this is not mentioned by Cagan in a decidedly misleading propaganda study.