Prem Rawat's (Maharaji) Early Success in the West

Prem Rawat had no special power, charisma or talents that enabled him to gather tens of thousands of Western devotees and worshippers. He was part of the rise of Eastern "spirituality" in the West and was just one of hundreds if not thousands of charlatans, gurus, yogis, etc who had similar success. Prem Rawat achieved more publicity because the arrogant pomposity of a flabby 14 year old boy claiming to be Guru Maharaj Ji - the current Incarnation of God and World Saviour - was so ridiculous. Rawat also preached instant gratification from meditation. This made him an object of scorn from serious seekers but did create a bandwagon effect among the more LSD-deluded.

When he arrived for the first time in London on June 17, 1971, Prem Rawat (Maharaji) then calling himself Guru Maharaj Ji had a handful of Western devotees. He gave his first public address in the West at the Conway Hall in London on the 19th June, 1971 and spoke at a large rock festival at Glastonbury where he received a decidely mixed reception. He arrived in Los Angeles on July 17, 1971 and returned to India in time for the "International Congress on Spiritual Peace", Ram Lila Grounds, New Delhi. 500,000 gathered to hear his speeches and celebrate the annual Hans Jayanti Festival. One 747 jet was chartered to carry Westerners to attend the program, about 300 people.

Within 18 months it was claimed there were as many as 50,000 US and 20,000 English "premies" as DLM administrators were counting the number of people being initiated, not those who were converted by their initiation, so although these numbers were wildly exaggerated, over 2,500 Westerners flew to India for the Hans Jayanti festival in 1972. 15 members flew from Bennington, Vermont alone. In November 1973, the Divine Light Mission held the Millenium '73 festival in Houston Texas. Estimates of the number of devotees varies but a figure of 15,000 premies seems probable and while you would expect all the devotees to attend what the young Guru Maharaj Ji billed as "the most holy and significant event in human history" there were undoubtedly many who could not afford to fly to the US. I had just started attending satsang in Sydney, Australia and assumed that the many references to the Millenium I heard were about a future millenial event until the night when there were only 5 or 6 premies left in Sydney.

Importance of Indian "Mahatmas" To Prem Rawat's Early Success

Mahatma Padarthanand One of the most important factors was that DLM had a large number of Indian 'mahatmas', supposedly celibate men and women who lived in ashrams and dedicated their lives to practice and recruitment of the "Knowledge".

The idealistic and ignorant young Westerners believed these people to be "liberated", "realized souls", "yogis", "swamis", above normal consciousness and existing on a higher plane. And certainly the few mahatmas that came to Austalia put on a pretty convincing show in this regard. Prem Rawat preached that only mahatmas were able to "reveal Knowledge" ie Guru Maharaj Ji gave them the connection to Him that allowed the grace to initiate people. On a more mundane level, it was a reasonably time-consuming process and many mahatmas were required to indoctrinate and initiate so many people.

Despite all attempts to convince people of Rawat's importance before initiation and during the "Knowledge Session", there was always a large early drop-out of people once they had been taught the Rawatism system of meditation. Many of them were disillusioned by being taught to squeeze their eyes, stick their thumbs in their ears, concentrate on their breath while repeating "soham" and curling their tongue backwards. Others might try the techniques but saw no reason to worship the young Rawat because of that.

There is, at least, no doubt this is how Mahatma Padarthanand was perceived in Australia and without him living there for 3 years there would have been little or no success for DLM here.

Street Parades During The Guru Puja Festival In London, July 1973

Trafalgar Square

The highlight of this early success, at least picturesquely, was probably the Guru Puja festival held in London in July 1973 with thousands of young hippiely dressed Westerners parading with banners through the pavements of London and meeting in the Alexandra Palace. 15,000 people attended the "Festival of Love" though there was sometime very little action. Were these people stupid or just silly?