The Lord of the Dance: Prem Rawat Dancing Like a Flabby Hippopotamus

One of the strangest quirks in the career of Prem Rawat has been his public dancing, often dressed in the costume of Krishna. Ron Geaves, an academic of religion and a dedicated devotee of Rawat wrote:

"The period from 1977 to 1982 was marked by a re-opening of the ashrams and a series of international events in which Prem Rawat inspired personal loyalty and devotion from the already committed through a number of highly charismatic appearances in which he would dance on stage."

Prem Rawat Inspirational Speaker creates and destroys universes

The key words here are "already committed." Even a brief look at the videos on this page shows Rawat (Maharaji) looking ridiculous, ugly, obese with man boobs and quivering fat, devoid of rhythm, ungainly, etc. Acceptance of Rawat's dancing as charismatic and inspiring can best be explained by using Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance. Rawat is the Perfect Master and his followers continually describe him as gorgeous, beautiful, perfect. But by normal standards he is the opposite. Accepting his ugly and ungainly arm waving as beautiful is just one of the many hurdles that those premies who had remained committed throughout the 1970's had to cross over and which cemented their belief and faith in him that much more. For myself, that was a hurdle I could not cross and the dancing was one of the 2 major reasons for my apostasy.

There had been a few times circa 1974/75 where he had briefly "danced." In the Keep on Truckin' film there was a brief scene where his new, and much cooler though older wife, Marolyn Johnson specially renamed by him Durga Mata Ji cajoles him into a few lively steps though he's probably worried about choking on the gum or paan he's chewing.

Prem Rawat's wedding video
Prem Rawat's wedding video
 

In 1975 in Essen, Germany a brief scene was recorded where he bopped around for a while as shown in the Keep on Truckin' film. A friend told me there was also a similar moment in the Sydney Opera House that year but I might have been looking at the ground at the time.

Guru Puja, 1975
Guru Puja, 1975
Guru Puja, 1975
Guru Puja, 1975

At the end of 1976, Prem Rawat found himself in trouble. The majority of his management group had decided that Divine Light Mission and his followers could not afford to maintain him at the level of luxury he considered was essential and the foot soldiers and officers of his Mission that provided the free labour and most of the funds had deserted the ashram in great numbers and donations had plummetted. Such ingratitude! Such dis-understanding! Prem was not the brightest divine spark in the pack of Eastern gurus scrambling for a piece of the youthful Western market but he was smart enough to go back and imitate his father and role model. His father had single-handedly created the following that bestowed divinity and luxury on the young Rawat and he had done it through dressing up, dancing and boasting about being God and the source of infinite love and mercy and so Prem faithfully followed this route for the next 5 years or so until he felt comfortable and safe and rich enough to try his own ideas again.

1978 to 1981 were the peak years in which Prem Rawat cut loose with public dancing usually dressed in some bizarre costume as Krishna showing quite a lot of skin but having his floppy boy boobs covered. It was common in the West after 1978 after Rawat took control of DLM in 1977 and has continued through much of his career. To an outsider it looks quite ridiculous. Prem Rawat is an extremely short and obese person and when dressed as Krishna his rolls of fat are only partially covered. His movement is poor and lacking in rhythm which initiators excused in the 1970's by saying he had told them that universes were created and destroyed when his arms rose and fell.

Prem Rawat, Ready To Dance Holi 1979

He danced his way into being accepted as the current Perfect Master but he was much younger and thinner then. Undoubtedly many people interested in the Knowledge and some of his followers (myself included back in 1978) were nonplussed, appalled and disenchanted by this behaviour but the response from the majority of his followers was enthusiastic if not orgiastic. Grown men screamed and fainted (well a few) at his first appearance in his mala in 1978. Scenes of him dancing were included in the Divine Light Mission videos produced at the time and we have scenes from Hans Jayanti 10th November 1979, You Are My Savior - 1980 on this website.

Below are some video clips of these astonishing moments which have continued to, at least, the year 2000. I do not have any official video of Rawat dancing at Hans Jayanti at Kissimmee in November 1978 but recently (2015) I got a copy of a brief video filmed by an enthusastic devotee from the crowd. I suspect some tweaking has been done to the film as he has a fluidity and rhythm in this clip (though it is taken from a distance) that is certainly not evident in the better quality video filmed from close-up. There was a tremendous build-up throughout the premie communities before this festival with word that Guru Maharaj Ji was saying something incredible would happen there being repeated. An astonishing percentage of premies from Australia attended despite the distance and the cost.


Hans Jayanti festival, November 1978 Vic Marsh, initator from Australia, expressed himself in a rather un-Australian manner on Rawat dancing in 1978 in The Secret and Open Pictures of God:

The Love affair which grew hour by hour climaxed when Guru Maharaj Ji danced with us. After dancing in the Krishna suit on Saturday night, blowing our hearts with little touches like Hansi handing him the Krishna flute, Maharaj Ji pushed the festival into an extra day and took us absolutely flying with him by dancing again on Sunday night, this time in a beautiful flower mala. The measured, full majesty of his dance, the power and authority in his every movement, lifted us higher and held us there as he continued to dance. Now from the chair, he invited us all with gestures, motioning us to rise up to him, to keep going, to dance on, to go beyond ourselves and join him.

To me Rawat's dancing in those nights was ridiculous, unrhythmic, out-of-time, embarrassing and ponderous. Thankfully, while my mind fought on for a while trying to keep me doing satsang, service and meditation my heart had seen the light and I gave up the practice of Rawat's "Knowledge" shortly thereafter and began to enjoy life in all it's richness.


Guru Puja Festival, 1979

Dance, Dance, Dance
by Rich Neel with One Foundation

Maharaj Ji you are the Lord
You've shown us by your Word
You've taken us from darkness to Light
Your wish is our delight

Prem Rawat, Guru Puja, Miami, 1979
Prem Rawat, Guru Puja, Miami, 1979
Prem Rawat, Guru Puja, Miami, 1979
Prem Rawat, Guru Puja, Miami, 1979

Cheering - Bolie Shri Satgurudev Maharaj Ki Jai! Bolie Shri Satgurudev Maharaj Ki Jai!

All Night Long - One Foundation
The only thing that I can feel within my heart to play
As long as there is air that I may breathe
Is the praises of my Lord, my everything to me
And the joy of merging in his feet
All night long, Let us stay with you Lord, All night long, Let us play with you Lord
All night long, Let us worship you Lord, All night long, Let us gaze at your Form
All night long, Let us sing to you Lord, All night long, Let us dance with you Lord
All night long, Till we're totally gone

 
Prem Rawat, Guru Puja, Miami, 1979
Prem Rawat, Guru Puja, Miami, 1979
Prem Rawat, Guru Puja, Miami, 1979
Prem Rawat, Guru Puja, Miami, 1979
 
Prem Rawat On Stage and Dancing
Prem Rawat On Stage and Dancing
 

Holi festival, Miami Florida, 11th April 1980

Whatever It Is That's Between Us
Whatever it is that's between us
Take it all away
For the loneliness and the longing for You
Is growing more every day
Like the waves of an ocean
I feel Your love washing over me
Whispering Your Holy Name to purify me

Prem Rawat Inspirational Speaker dances on stage as Krishna
Mahatma Guruchananand and Mahatma Jagdeo the pedophile in crowd Premies watch Prem Rawat (Maharaji) dance in total awe

the Completely Stunned Audience moving in time …
Prem Rawat's two closest Indian devotees, Mahatmas Jagdeo Ji and Gurucharanand Ji at front of audience. They "received the four techniques of Knowledge of Inner Peace" from Prem Rawat's father. They lived as supposedly celibate monks for many years but while living in the Malibu residence of Prem Rawat for over a decade, Jagdeo used his position in supervising the education of premie children to sexually abuse some of them. He was sent back to India after the scandal became public but no legal criminal action was taken against him.


Guru Puja festival, July 25, 26 & 27 1980

At Divine Light Mission religious festivals he danced to different tunes, usually after an initial coy period. Excitement built as the crowd waited the return of their Master dressed in a bizarre costume and the beginning of their Guru Maharaj Ji's performance. They expected some divine darshan dancing because the band would be playing 'I Just Want To Dance With You' or something similar. Prem Rawat returns to the stage dressed in one of his Krishna costumes with a frontal section designed to hide his flabby man boobs, bows his head in "meditation" for 2 or 3 seconds, fiddles with some controls built into his throne, then chews on some courage enhancers or his lips while looking uncomfortable for some minutes before standing up and commencing waving his arms and moving slightly from side to side while the band continue to play 'I Just Want To Dance With You' even though everybody is dancing with him. He seems to be waving his arms to the beat of a different drummer, maybe to the sound of universes being created and destroyed.

Prem Rawat Inspirational Speaker dances on stage, 1980
Prem Rawat Inspirational Speaker dances on stage, 1980

Then the band breaks into something South Americanish and everybody knows that even short, fat, exhausted little Indian guys can't resist that rhythm when they're the Lord of the Universe. He's up and dancing again after only a brief rest, standing up and commencing waving his arms and moving slightly from side to side but faster and totally embodying the South American feel and rhythm as you can see from the pictures below or click on any of them to see the video.

Prem Rawat Inspirational Speaker is the Savior
Prem Rawat Inspirational Speaker is the Savior
Prem Rawat Inspirational Speaker is the Savior
Prem Rawat Inspirational Speaker is the Savior
 
The almost obligatory dancing scene from the Contact video, India 1988
It seems very unlikely that practising the techniques of meditation revealed in Maharaji's Knowledge could directly alter the artistic or aesthetic sense of Prem Rawat's devotees. It appears that their extremely enthusastic, orgiastic reaction to his dancing and public singing is conditioned by their religious faith and concepts about the supernatural qualities of his person.

India, 1988, the Birthday Gift film. A full moon satsang ends with the Lord dancing (only just) while many of his devotees, especially up front near the stage, dance deliriously and then it ends with Rawat's head dissolving into the Divine Light on stage. Now that's not something you see every day.

 

Prem Rawat dancing in Indian clothing taken from the 1996 video Silent Dreams.

 

Prem Rawat does not only dance in Indian clothing or dressed as Krishna. In 1996 he ends his 25th Anniversary of Coming to the West celebration dancing in a suit. The 'premies' are now mature age 'students' but they think they can still get down and boogie

Prem Rawat Coming To The West 25th Anniversary

Prem Rawat Coming To The West 25th Anniversary
Prem Rawat Coming To The West 25th Anniversary
 

Below are pictures from the 1996 Boundless video of Maharaji dancing in the USA. The video clip of Rawat dancing to the song Dance, dance, dance is probably from the 1979 Hans Jayanti festival.

Prem Rawat, the Lord of the Dance
Prem Rawat, the Lord of the Dance
Prem Rawat, the Lord of the Dance
Prem Rawat, the Lord of the Dance

Below is the dancing scene from the 1997 World of Knowledge video of Maharaji dancing in India and at the 25th Anniversary of Maharaji Coming To The West Celebration in 1996. You remember it don't you? It was bigger than the Olympics, the World Cup and The Orange Bowl all put together.

Prem Rawat, the Lord of the Dance Prem Rawat, the Lord of the Dance

Prem Rawat, the Lord of the Dance
Prem Rawat, the Lord of the Dance
Prem Rawat, the Lord of the Dance
Prem Rawat, the Lord of the Dance

Prem Rawat, the Lord of the DanceAt Long Beach California in 1996 Rawat danced to the "rhythm of life."

You're dancing and you're only dancing for your Guru Maharaj Ji.

"You're dancing and you're only dancing for your Guru Maharaj Ji. You're not dancing for the guy right next to you or behind you or anything. And it's truly dancing for Guru Maharaj Ji. And Guru Maharaj Ji is dancing for his devotees. There is nobody involved and devotees can see, which makes their hearts dance. Then Guru Maharaj Ji dances, and it's an endless saga. I guess that's what you call satisfaction, in one sense."
Guru Maharaj Ji Hans Jayanti, Kissimmee, Florida Friday, November 9, 1979, evening