On May 20th 1974, at 8 pm, Guru Maharaj Ji (Prem Rawat) was wed to Marolyn Lois Johnson in a small chapel in the Colorado Rockies. When the ceremony was over, and Maharaj Ji and Marolyn began walking back, Maharaj Ji stopped and Marolyn, his brand new wife, and a few other premies were allowed to kiss His feet. Yes, stopped and let his newly wedded wife and other guests kiss His feet, what a considerate husband and Master.
Prem Rawat had been preaching the desirability, even necessity, of celibacy for his true believers for years so this wedding was a complete surprise and shock to his followers. All DLM publications claimed that there was total joy among his followers with the marriage but 25 years later some of Maharaji's inner circle admitted the truth, they had been dismayed. While we cannot know the individual reasons 40 to 80% of ashram residents left the ashram shortly thereafter which was another financial and administrative blow to DLM following on the reaction to the failure of Millenium '73. The shock wedding raised a lot of questions which were never asked, at least not in public, amongst his followers.
Prem Rawat and his bride walk down the aisle before she kisses his feet.
These audio clips of songs from the soundtrack of the "Wedding Video" were made from an old copy that was overlooked during the destruction of Divine Light Mission publications in the early 1980's. Unfortunately it was later destroyed by a zealous "student" of Prem Rawat's.
A recording of the ceremony can be downloaded below. NB: the actual wedding ceremony probably did not include a background soundtrack
They had a second wedding in India a year later while Prem tried and failed to get legal possession of his father's estate in the courts.
The Wedding got considerable Press
The Press seemed to enjoy publishing stories about Prem Rawat with a twist
To download a recording of the full wedding ceremony:
Click here for MP3 (7MB)
To download a recording of the first song:
Click here for MP3 (2MB)
To download a recording of the ceremony:
Click here for MP3 (3.5MB)
To download a recording of the second song:
Click here for MP3 (2MB)
NB: the actual wedding ceremony probably did not include a background soundtrack