Prem Rawat Maharaji Biography Page 1

Prem Rawat was born in India on December 10, 1957, and while still a child was given the honorary title Maharaji.
In 1971, at the age of 13, he began traveling internationally, speaking to diverse audiences about the real possibility of inner peace. At the core of his message are techniques that he makes freely available to those who wish to discover the inner experience he speaks of.
Today, Prem Rawat's message is broadcast via public channels on satellite and cable TV in more than 88 countries and 70 languages. In the US, an estimated 200 local cable networks air his addresses weekly in 33 states, reaching tens of millions of households.

Broadcasts are entirely financed by voluntary contributions and the sale of related materials. He supports himself and his family through independent means, deriving no income from the organizations that support his work.

“Within you is the most amazing feeling you can possibly imagine. All that you look for, that you have looked for all your life, has always been right inside you. This is a gift that you have, and I can show you a way to get in touch with it.”

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In 1966, Prem Rawat was 9 years old. His father died that year, and he took on the work to which his father had devoted his life: delivering a message to anyone who would listen that there is "a peace that is already within, waiting to be discovered." The tools that he teaches for discovering that peace are called Knowledge. Many people feel inspired and satisfied just listening to him, but others want more. Those who receive the Knowledge and take the time to practice it describe attaining a tremendous shift in their quality of life. For this reason (in the writer’s view at least) the process of making Knowledge available is also a humanitarian initiative.
Prem Rawat has always insisted that Knowledge be taught free of charge, though some have tried to persuade him to charge for it. Knowledge has never changed, though improved technology has made it easier for people to prepare to learn the techniques that he teaches. During 2004, he stopped touring for 2 months to work intensively on a video project, The Keys. This program allows people to prepare for Knowledge at home, at their own pace. The Keys are available free of charge to anyone interested, worldwide, by registering at The Keys Website.

The first five Keys include a purpose-made video and 12 hours of his addresses, grouped into topics. After watching the first five, if people feel they are ready, they may request to be taught the techniques of Knowledge, which are demonstrated in Key 6. The Keys have been translated into many languages and are also available through mail-order lending libraries worldwide.

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THE EARLY YEARS

Prem Rawat was born on December 10, 1957, in the town of Kankhal in the Northern Indian province of Uttar Pradesh. He was the youngest of 4 sons of Hans Ram Singh Rawat and Rajeshwari Devi. During early childhood he was given the nickname Sant Ji, after the Sant spiritual adepts of Northern India, and upon his father's death, the honorary title Maharaji. Today he is known by millions as both Maharaji and Prem Rawat.

Nestled at the foot of the Himalayas where the Ganges and Jumna rivers flow, in ancient times Uttar Pradesh was at the forefront of the Aryan Settlement and was the center point of the Vedic Age, where saints and sages traveled and countless religious observances and ceremonies were held. The region had been exposed to the ideas of the great religions of the world: Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and, with the Mogul Empire, Islam. With the arrival of the British in India, Christianity was added to this diverse mix of religions, sects, belief systems and philosophies.

Prior to 1936, Prem Rawat’s father, Hans, had helped his teacher Sarupanand in the Lahore and Sind area, now part of the new Pakistan. After Sarupanand's death, Hans traveled throughout Northern India as Sat Guru {truth teacher} to thousand of students. From an outside observer's position, Hans might be categorized as a teacher in the Sant tradition of Northern India. But these teachers were not easy to categorize or define. They offered to show a fundamental inner peace, free of rites, rituals and religious trappings. Many of their students saw no reason to leave their cultural and religious traditions, and to Hans these were never obstacles to their receiving his Knowledge.

On one occasion, Hans spoke to a Soviet diplomat in Delhi. The diplomat abruptly told Hans that he was an atheist and that his fellow Russians didn't believe in God either, so they didn't have anything to talk about. Hans’ question to him was, "Do you believe in peace?” The diplomat agreed that he did, and Hans continued, “The names we use for that feeling are immaterial. What we are looking for is peace and satisfaction – no matter what we call it.”

Hans was wary of organizations, knowing that they could assume a life and direction of their own, out of step with the purpose of their creation. However, in 1960, a group of students finally convinced him to head an organization called Divya Sandesh Parishad (Divine Light Mission).

Hans Rawat's vision was to be a strong and lasting influence on his son as his life unfolded. When Prem was only 2 weeks old, Hans took his young family on a short trip north to Dehra Dun. Prem Rawat’s journey had begun. But where Hans traveled throughout India, Prem would travel throughout the world.

Prem was described as an extraordinary child who was contented and playful. He interacted with his family and his father’s students with a level of maturity beyond his years. His father's journeys to see his students included 480-km round trips to his Shakti Nagar Ashram in Delhi. Prem was often taken on shorter journeys through the region. He first spoke on stage at the age of 3 during one of these trips.

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The audience was captivated by the interaction between Hans and his son. Even at that time, there were strong indications that Prem would continue in his father's footsteps. In the meantime, work continued on Prem Nagar Ashram in nearby Haridwar, where Hans often stayed with his students.

Prem joined his brothers at the St Joseph’s Academy, a Patrician Brothers school in Dehra Dun. Becoming proficient in the English language was the focal point of his education.

When he was 6 years of age, Hans taught him and his brothers the techniques of Knowledge, and he began to speak to audiences in Haridwar and Dehra Dun. On one occasion he organized an event at his school and invited his father to speak. Hans was away at another planned event at the time, but when he received the invitation he left it, and traveled through the night to attend the event that his son had organized. When his father asked him to address the audience in English and Hindi, the flame of expectation that young Prem would succeed his father was fanned, but there was no indication that things would happen so quickly.

On July 19, 1966, the news arrived in Haridwar that Hans had passed away in Delhi. Arrangements were made for his body to be returned to Prem Nagar. At the end of the mourning period, Prem Rawat spoke to and comforted thousands of weeping students, and was accepted by those present as the new teacher in accordance with his father's expressed wishes. While this was happening, Prem's mother, eldest brother and some senior officials of the organization were holding a meeting to decide who should succeed Hans. They emerged from the meeting and belatedly accepted Prem Rawat's succession. His mother and eldest brother then joined him on stage.

Prem Rawat continued his education at St Joseph’s Academy while beginning his life-long work, and began traveling throughout Northern India at weekends and during school holidays. The following year his mother, Mata Ji, arranged his schedule in advance and established an additional team of mahatmas [people who were trained and qualified to teach the techniques of Knowledge].

By 1969, westerners traveling in India had discovered him and would meet with him after school. Several stayed at his house in Dehra Dun. Indian students in London requested a mahatma to travel to England, and Charanand arrived in October. When the westerners heard this, several decided to return to England.

By the following year, new students arrived from the west and were present when, still only 12 years old, he announced at a gathering at India Gate in Delhi that he was ready to begin the task of bringing peace to the world. This gathering of 1 million people on November 8 was reported to be one of the largest ever in the history of Delhi, and was the culmination of an 18 mile-long procession. Some westerners had been staying at the Prem Nagar Ashram enjoying Prem Rawat's weekend visits. Now the time had come for them to return to the west.

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Until December 2008, Prem Rawat’s speaking tours and engagements were arranged by Elan Vital (EV), a charitable organization incorporated in 1971 in the US. EV also provided support for the production of materials containing his message. In November 2001, he established The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) to further his message of peace, and to provide humanitarian aid to people who are often overlooked by other aid agencies. He conceived this idea during a conversation with active philanthropist, Linda Pascotto. Later, he asked her to become the first president of TPRF.

"The main humanitarian focus of the Foundation," says Pascotto, "is to provide nutritious food and clean water for people who don't have access to them. And not just ready-to-eat canned rations. Maharaji wants these people to have good-tasting foods and to give them the dignity of a decent meal. He's talked to me about when he was a child, how hungry people would come to his house, knock on the kitchen door, and any time of day or night, they would get something to eat. and he's often expressed how gratifying it is to see the face of a person who was hungry and has had a satisfying meal." (p. 296, Peace is Possible, by Andrea Cagan)

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When news of the devastating tsunami of December 26, 2004, hit the headlines, Prem Rawat phoned Pascotto: "I'd like the Foundation to send some money. How much can it afford?" TPRF was short of funds at the time, so he auctioned off several works of art and donated the proceeds, which enabled TPRF to give enough money to the UN World Food Program to feed 9,000 survivors for a month and also to fund future humanitarian initiatives.

One such initiative, the Food for People facility in northeastern India, now serves more than 100,000 free hot meals every year to poverty-stricken people living in a remote tribal area. Prem Rawat said, "Just because people are poor does not mean they are miserable. They all have beautiful smiles on their faces, but they need food, and this project will deliver real food to them."

TPRF also holds free medical clinics in India, where eye consultations, appropriate medicines and eyeglasses are provided to people in need. So that help can reach a greater number of people more rapidly, the Foundation partners with non-profit organizations such as the UN World Food Program, Oxfam and the Red Cross.

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THE WILD WEST

Prem Rawat’s arrival in London and Los Angeles in June and July of 1971 heralded the beginning of his international work. His mother was not initially in favor of him traveling to the west, but once his journey had begun there was no going back. News of his arrival spread among the counter-culture youth in both countries and people flocked to the airport to meet him. Many found themselves attracted by his simple wisdom, his youth and spontaneous style, and his air of purpose. His language was full of the metaphors of his everyday life: cars, ships, planes and comic books.

On June 21, 1971, at the first Glastonbury Fayre in the UK, he spoke publicly for the first time in the west. This 13-year-old boy, newly arrived in an alien culture, with an imperfect command of English, demonstrated his courage and strength of purpose by walking on stage and addressing a crowd of hippies, some of whom were naked.

He adjusted to western customs quickly and switched to European style clothes. But by then, ironically, some of his students had begun wearing Indian clothes. A few even adopted Indian names, and as they introduced his message to others, they invariably couched it in the terms of their adopted culture. It seemed that from the beginning his work was to be challenged by his students’ preconceptions.

Prem Rawat’s brothers and mother followed him to England. They received a warm welcome, but the focus was on Prem. In November of 1972, seven Jumbo Jets traveled to India carrying his students to the Hans Jayanti festival. Earlier in the year he had visited Germany, Switzerland, South Africa, Kenya, Australia and Japan, as well as revisiting the U.S. and U.K.

In South Africa, at the height of the apartheid system, he spoke in defiance of the government to racially mixed audiences. “How wonderful it would be,” he said, “to be able to carry on a conversation with your heart, to be able to ask the heart how magnificent it feels to be fulfilled, and for the heart to reply in utter silence. And, in that silence, to understand the acknowledgment and to receive internally the most magnificent joy. To have a beautiful smile dance upon your lips because you have carried on that conversation with the ultimate friend you have. Through sad times and happy times, this heart of yours will be your best friend. It will never abandon you.”

The South African police took no action against him and did not try to interfere with his events. Apparently the government did not want to provoke an international incident by arresting a 14-year-old boy who had come to their country to speak about peace.

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In Nairobi he stayed with an Indian family. Prem Rawat later recalled, "They had a very large household and when I started talking to one of their black servants the owners got upset." "You're not supposed to talk to the servants," they told him. Prem Rawat replied, "He's a human being, isn't he? What's wrong with talking to him? I want to know how he lives, how he survives." ( p175, Peace is Possible, by Cagan )

By the end of 1972, permanent accommodation had been established for him in London and Los Angeles. An organizational structure emerged with the formation of separate Divine Light Missions, registered and incorporated in several western countries, as well as the establishment of ashrams (shelters).

Many who had rejected the social norms of the time were willing to give up their bohemian lifestyle in favor of the monastic life that the ashrams provided, and ashrams mushroomed around the world. They had been a very successful focus for his father’s work in India, providing an environment in which residents could optimize their practice of Knowledge.

In the west, the ashrams began to attract criticism. Some people felt that residents were allowing a religious lifestyle to compromise their effectiveness in supporting Prem Rawat’s work. Some residents found the ashram life was not for them and moved out. Most former residents now look back on their ashram days as a great opportunity to ground themselves in the practice of what they had been taught.

In 1983, he decided to close the ashrams and dissolve the Divine Light Mission. He had become openly critical of the bureaucracy that had developed, describing it as "…like trying to take a cow and put lipstick on it. You can do it, but it's unnecessary in practical terms". During the next two decades, he made many organizational changes to provide a better support base for his work and to simplify the process for aspiring students. However, the core of his teaching remains unchanged: four practical ways to enter a dimension of the heart.

In 1973, 20,000 students attended a program at the Houston Astrodome in Texas, U.S.A. It was promoted as the Millennium Festival, invoking a New Age and also attracting Christian protestors, but Prem Rawat’s students were doing all they could to get their teacher noticed. In Australia that year, following his first 1972 visit, they conducted a controversial and rather outrageous campaign, which they called the Second Coming. Media attention naturally followed, and perhaps wisely, Prem Rawat chose not to visit Australia that year.

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Joan Apter, one of the first westerners to arrive at Deradune (Prem Rawat's childhood home in India) described his mother, Mata Ji, as "... a loving woman, a unique personality type," but observed that she "held on to her Hindu culture above loyalty to her family." Another person who stayed at Deradune described her as, "... an ultra-orthodox, old-guard Hindu lady with clear ethnic and religious biases." Prem Rawat and Raja Ji, Mata Ji's two youngest sons, were becoming westernized, and Raja Ji was engaged to a German woman. Mata Ji was devastated: from her point of view, marriage outside Hindu tradition was blasphemy. The situation had become volatile, but worse was to come. Mata Ji had been unaware of the deepening relationship between Prem Rawat and Marolyn Johnson, a young American airline stewardess who was also one of Prem Rawat's students.

They had first met in mid 1973, when Marolyn arrived with a gift of sweets at the house in which Prem Rawat was staying. He had just arrived back in the US after a lengthy speaking tour. Prem Rawat smiled and said, "You look like an airline stewardess." "I am," she replied.

They met again by chance a week later on a flight to Chicago. Marolyn recalls, "I used to carry a picture of him with me, and I felt that I truly loved him from a place deep inside. I didn't know him yet as the fun, engaging, enjoyable human being that he was, but I was in heaven after that encounter." (pp187-188 Peace is Possible by Andrea Cagan). By early 1974, Prem Rawat and Marolyn were engaged to be married. Mata Ji would never have allowed the marriage, so in April of that year Prem Rawat successfully applied to become an 'emancipated minor' in the US. He was 16 years old.

Raja Ji and Claudia were the first to marry. Relations within Prem Rawat's family sank to a new low, and in early 1974, his mother, his eldest brother, and an entourage of Indian instructors returned to India.

Prem Rawat and Marolyn were married on May 20, 1974, at the Rockland Community Church, Colorado. For Prem Rawat's friends and students it was a time of joyous celebration. For his mother and eldest brother, Sat Pal (Bal Bagwan Ji), it must have been a time of bitterness. To compound the problem, Sat Pal apparently thought that he should have been the one to continue as Shri Hans' successor. Unfazed, Prem Rawat and Marolyn flew to Europe.

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The previous year his tour schedule included France and Germany. In Germany, his event was disrupted by bible-waving Christians who thought he was the anti-Christ, and in France, by anarchists who disrupted events more or less for fun. One of the anarchists stopped shouting long enough to listen for a while, and later she asked to receive Knowledge.

At an event in Copenhagen, Marolyn joined him on stage, and over 8,000 people celebrated their marriage. In addition to events in the US, his speaking tour schedule for that year also included New Zealand, Fiji, Australia and Japan.

In India, Mata Ji was busy seizing most of the property owned by DLM. She and Sat Pal also supplied Indian newspapers with a photo of Prem Rawat and Marolyn that had been stolen from his house, along with Marolyn's passport. Without explaining that Prem Rawat and Marolyn were married, they claimed that he was spending time with a white woman, and that this disgraceful behavior disqualified him from carrying on the work of his father.

When Prem Rawat first arrived in the west, numerous people were happy to help him out with food, shelter and clothing. "He was also provided support by the organization in the US in keeping with his guest status until he became an emancipated minor capable of pursuing his own interests privately. This support included housing, transportation to and from events, and other relevant expenses."

The organization supporting his work was audited by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service in 1997 and "found to be in full compliance with regulations governing charities."

During the mid-1970s, Prem Rawat received stock shares in corporations as gifts of appreciation. These produced significant dividends, and some were sold, creating substantial profits that were reinvested. A company that developed software applications for government contractors went public. This generated considerable income for him and his family.

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On March 9, 1975, Prem Rawat and Marolyn's first child was born. They called her Premlata, meaning "Vine of Love." A month later, as soon as his young family was able to travel, they flew to India. Sat Pal had informed authorities that Prem Rawat was planning to "instigate riots." However, he was able to meet many of his students briefly under supervision of the military and police. At the Jhumri Talaiya Ashram in Bihar, he and Marolyn had an Indian-style wedding ceremony and feast, attended by a huge crowd of well-wishers.

By 1974, the headquarters of the U.S. DLM occupied four stories of a Denver office building. Prem Rawat was not yet old enough to legally manage the organization, and it had begun to develop a life and a direction of its own. The person in charge, Bob Mishler, began to feel that Prem Rawat should take on a figurehead humanitarian leadership role. He thought that the instructors should take over the responsibility for spreading Knowledge.

Some senior managers, Mishler included, had become so caught up in running the organization that they had reportedly stopped practicing Knowledge. By neglecting their practice of Knowledge in favor of running an organization, they had in effect abandoned the primary purpose for which the organization existed. An ex-official later reported in his autobiography that an angry Mishler had slammed his head into a wall during a disagreement over the storage of photos.

Another wrote, “I was working at the grandly named International Headquarters of Prem Rawat’s work in Denver. It was a time of change, but to me the most significant development was the desire of Bob Mishler, the man in charge at the time, with a charismatic but driven personality, to downplay Maharaji’s role as the teacher to a point of near invisibility. Bob felt this would be more acceptable to the American mentality. Maharaji rejected the plan, holding the role of the teacher as essential — that you couldn’t take the teacher out of the equation. Bob found the rejection hard to take, and he became increasingly unhappy, in the end resigning his role.”

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His successor was Michael Dettmers, who said that Prem Rawat asked for a message to be sent to Bob saying, “The door that you walked out through goes both ways; you are always welcome to walk back through it.” It was sad, because Prem and Bob had enjoyed a good relationship. After his departure in late 1976, Mishler became increasingly bitter, making bizarre, unsubstantiated claims. Four years later Mishler and his wife died tragically in an air crash in the French West Indies.

By 1975, Knowledge had spread to 58 countries, but reports suggested that some of the instructors trained by Prem Rawat's mother, Mata Ji, had been teaching variants of the techniques of Knowledge. The problem may have been in part due to their poor command of English. Prem Rawat began training western instructors, and in July 1975, the first four non-Indian instructors were appointed and began traveling internationally. During the same month he held a 3 day event in Venezuela, a relatively safe haven from the political turmoil that gripped much of South America at that time. His speaking engagements that year included events in Nepal, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Malibu, Denver, Boulder, Essen, London and Sydney. In Orlando, Florida,there was an outdoor event for 8,000 people.

In February 1976, his address to members of congress in Washington, D.C. was included permanently in the Congressional Record. His event schedule included a European tour with a national coordinators meeting in Essen, Germany, and another event in Sydney, Australia.

The following year he did an extensive tour of North America, including multi-day events and an outdoor event in Miami. He also conducted seven training sessions for new instructors. In London, he did an event for 10,500 people. In Europe, his schedule included an event in Spain and a 5 day international event at Rome's Palazzo dello Sport for 14,500 people.

Events continued in 1978. The climax was a multi-day “Hans Jayanti” event in November at an outdoor location in Kissimmee, Florida. More than 20,000 people attended from all over the world.

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Prem Rawat's tour schedule during the 1970s was as hectic and demanding as it is today. By the mid 1970s, DLM was chartering various aircraft to take Prem Rawat and his staff to widely spaced events. However, after a series of alarming incidents including an engine failure and an autopilot malfunction, a safer and more reliable means of transport for Prem Rawat and his tour staff became desirable.

A Boeing 707 was purchased in 1979. It was old but affordable. Prem Rawat began training for a commercial pilot's license, and the following year, after an extensive renovation project, the plane was put into service. The 707 project was well publicized internationally. Many thousands of people around the world contributed mostly small amounts to help make the purchase and refit possible. Several talented volunteers who helped refit the plane went on to establish careers in aviation-related industries.

Towards the end of the 1970s, large international events - 'festivals' as they were called at the time - were held at indoor and outdoor locations, sometimes lasting up to a week. Many people traveled from one festival to the next, finding short term employment to support their lifestyle.

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Ashram residents pooled their funds and bought discounted airline tickets to attend major international events. Over 20,000 people attended outdoor festivals in Florida, one during 1978 and another in November 1979.

In India, Prem Rawat's father had been famous for singing and dancing through the night with his students. Hoping that Prem would do the same, some musicians wrote a song, "Dance all Night Long", and a ceremonial Krishna costume was prepared for the occasion. He put on the costume, and after a great deal of coaxing, got up and danced.

Immensely enjoyable though this era was, it did not last long. Prem Rawat wanted to take his message to a wider audience and began working towards that goal.

By 1981, he had obtained the necessary pilot's ratings and was able to fly the 707 himself, traveling to more than 40 cities and speaking on 120 separate occasions.

That year, he toured North and South America, Europe and India, and traveled to additional events in Nepal, Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia. (p228, Peace is Possible, Cagan) New aircraft noise regulations came into effect that year in the US. The 707's home base could no longer be used, and the plane had to be sold. A smaller and more economical executive aircraft was then obtained.

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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.