A Pictorial History of Prem Rawat: Top Gun
Prem Rawat Looking Like Tom Cruise - In His Own Mind *
August 1972: Prem Rawat Begins Learning to Fly
September 1973: Gulfstream G2 Dream Turns to Nightmare
"the next point we are making this like it's going to be like one month of tour right round the world and we are getting this G2 which is going to make it completely flexible for us to do that because right now it's it's impossible" - Prem Rawat Palace Of Peace, London, 23rd September 1973
Poor Prem didn't realize that reality was about to dump a steaming pile of sh*t on him and that his upcoming Millenium '73 festival was not going to be the success he expected. In fact it would be decade and a few more bumps in the road before his long-suffering premies could afford a feasible jet. In 1987 4,000 premies donated $l,100,000 towards a down payment on a Learjet 55. A $2½ million bank loan and the $1½ million annual running costs still needed to be repaid. Of course Prem decided that that jet was unsatisfactory and so the stairway to heaven has been a long and expensive road and that Gulfstream G650 is still a pie in his eye in the sky.
Prem Rawat's Boeing 707: The DECA Project, 1979
In 1979 the acquisition and customization of a Boeing 707 for Prem Rawat's exclusive use became the dominant focus within the then Divine Light Mission. The headquarters of DLM was moved to Miami and large numbers of the most skilled and dedicated ashram premies were moved to Miami into run-down, rat-filled hotels. Work on the 1961 Boeing 707 was completed in 1980 but it's emissions exceeded legal limits so the plane was soon sold to the more famous and much, much richer Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (he had begun his career working as the accounts clerk for a major Indian religious leader, so he could handle legal details like not letting your family steal your inheritance.) The plane was used by Rawat for a US tour and a trip to Australia and New Zealand and a holiday in Tahiti.
Prem Rawat's Devotees Lease A Lear 35 (1984)
Prem Rawat's Devotees Buy A Lear 55 (1987)
Prem Rawat realizes He Needs a Canadian-Made Challenger 601 (1990)
Some people are never satisfied and so Prem Rawat has had his plane upgraded a few more times and at staggering cost. These aircraft are not purchased by Prem Rawat but are leased from the actual owners by a cabal of Prem's rich devotees. Leasing an aircraft apparently has major tax benefits for people wealthy enough to make use of them.
Prem Rawat Is Upgraded To A Gulfstream Aerospace G-IV (1997)
Gulfstream Aerospace G-IV - cost about $25 million

Prem Rawat Is Upgraded To A Gulfstream Aerospace GV (2000)
Prem Rawat Is Upgraded To A Gulfstream Aerospace GV-SP (2007)
His Most Blissful Peacefullest Moment - Prem Rawat Is Upgraded Up To A G650 (2013)
The Prem Rawat Foundation took delivery of Gulfstream N650PR at Bradley International Airport on 19 November 2013 - cost app. $65 million
The Ultimate Humiliation - Prem Rawat Is Downgraded Back To A G550
Biggin Hill - EGKB on Jun 20, 2017
DeKalb Peachtree Airport on Mar 31, 2018
His Loyal Worshippers Can't Pay for the Running Costs and Maintenance on a G650
After all He's done for them …
From the Boeing 707 project and the first lease of the Learjet 35 Prem Rawat's rapacious demands for yet another faster, more confortable, more powerful jet have stretched his followers' wallets further than they can actually go. Like Rawat Himself they have been on a treadmill with the carrot just beyond their collective noses and yet for such a relatively small group they have provided quite astonishing amounts of money in the last 50 years for very little apparent reward. For over 30 years I knew a large number of Rawat's followers as friends amd acquaintances. They weren't the happiest, most satisfied, most exciting, peaceful people I've ever met. They were relatively normal though they tended to the more depressive side of humanity with a significant minority having drug and alcohol problems.
Tom Cruise is actually a not very tall actor not a Top Gun pilot