Prem Rawat Maharaji Biography Page 15

The 1980’s were watershed years, with the closure of the ashrams in the west. They had served their earlier purpose, but were no longer an effective vehicle for Prem Rawat’s work.

A hierarchical organization based around monastic, communal households would always be perceived as something religious, and sociologists writing at the time labeled DLM a "new religious movement". In fact, Knowledge as taught by Prem Rawat has never been a religion; it stands alone, independent of any dogma, customs or rituals. But DLM and the ashram system had evolved in India, with Indian customs and traditions. In the west, it was inevitable that the ashrams and the DLM itself would become obstacles.

Some people had become used to living in the ashram environment, and change was difficult for them. Some, however, had already moved out a year or two before the closure. For most, the timing was right to embrace a more outward and independent lifestyle. With the closure came the opportunity to establish a totally new, more efficient organization - Elan Vital.

"When I first came to the West, there was a lot of interest in anything that originated in India, and what I was presenting was initially perceived as Indian. However, when I saw that this placed a limit on how much my work could grow, things really started to change for me. I saw that my message was indeed a global one, not one restricted to a particular group of people. I think we have seen a lot of growth over the last 30 years because I had the foresight to adapt my message for people everywhere."

Prem Rawat April, 2002 (Leaders, volume 25, Number 2)

Prem Rawat made it clear that he was not living and working to honor a tradition or to conform to someone else's ideas. His teachings were based on his own experience of life and nothing else. He had received this Knowledge from his father, but it was now his responsibility to carry on the work in the way that seemed best to him. He stated that in the past he had been placed on a tall pedestal (he said he had been “turned into a hood ornament”) but that he was a normal human being who just happened to have mastery of the Knowledge and the ability to touch peoples’ hearts by speaking of it.

These examples from 1983 and 1984 are typical of his tour schedule during the 1980s and 1990s: In 1983, he visited and spoke in Sri Lanka for the first time, as well as Miami, Manchester, Leicester, Brighton (UK), New Delhi, Colombo (Sri Lanka), Kuala Lumpur, Sydney, Auckland, Melbourne, Tokyo, Cartagena (Colombia), Lima, Sao Paulo, Caracas, Mexico City, Denver, Vancouver, Santa Monica (CA), New York, Chicago, Paris, Hamburg, Milan, Madrid, London, Birmingham and Montreal.