The Sleazy Divine Light Mission Underclass

Decades after events took place some books and articles were published that showed a different aspect of life in DIvine Light Mission (and to a certain extent in Elan Vital).

 

Both of these books critically record squalid and sordid family lives in Divine Light Misson in England in the 1970s as does Ms Cainer. The guru himself lived a far more sordid and secret life of drugs, luxury and lies but in public, he always taught that his followers should not take drugs, live orderly, somewhat regimented lives and be responsible, loving parents and that following his rules and practising the secret techniques of meditation his organisations taught would keep them on the straight and narrow through bliss, love and higher consciousness. These ideas were proven to be nonsense quite quickly.

The Museum of Lost and Fragile Things: A Year of Salvage by Susan Joinson

Jane Whittington's memoire "Escape of a Whild Child" was depressing enough but at least she was an adult when she chose to become involved in Divine Light Mission & Prem Rawat's "Knowledge" but Suzanne Joinson was a child and had no say in the matter. It is, at times, difficult to believe she is talking about her family's life in Divine Light Mission as I knew it. Australia premies could live quite comfortably on the dole and the sunny climate makes things easier. Maybe I would have seen an underbelly as well if I had ever lived in a city.

It appears her parents were almost in a cult within the cult with their initiator/instructor/controller "Bill" pulling all the strings and preaching a form of DLM dogma that is idiosyncratic and extreme to say the least. He appears to be from a higher class background and claimed he was a chauffeur to the young guru on his second trip to England and is able to select people to "receive Knowledge" or make them think he can. What a scumbag.

To be fair to Prem Rawat, when he was the young Guru Maharaj Ji, he definitely told his followers not to take illicit drugs. Was it just Bill's harem/premies who ignored that agya (the Perfect Master's instructions)? Joinson's father appears stupid, witless, constantly stoned, mouthing rubbish like "Draw him like he's your special friend. That way you can talk to him in your mind. You can call him Master. With each stroke of the pencil, you start to know you love him. Feel it? You know you are ready. Nothing else makes sense, everything else is dust. You can do that through drawing, you know, right?" He even teaches her the meditation techniques. She's a disturbed child. Who wouldn't be in this household? She even tries having her frenulum cut by some other stoned non-premie crazy in a London squat to which she has run away.

Fortunately her father does at least one good thing when she ran away from home. He was waiting around the corner from a squat in London to rescue her when she needed rescuing. Her mother even apologised and at least "Bill" was now sent packing from their lives. Her mother comes across lost, depressed, angry, hateful and spends decades accusing the daughter with suicidal threats.

Joinson gets most of her quotes from my site but seems to have looked for ones that resonate with the happenings in their life. She makes some mistakes in the events of DLM's history that ring true, from memory.

"Nineteen eighty-something. Dusk coming in. … "Don't look so sad, Suzy-Sue," Dad said, sucking on a rollie. "It's just paper and dust. Let it all go. It doesn't change how we feel inside." He'd been told to destroy anything with Guruji's face looking too 'Eastern'. Maharaj Ji was changing his look, or, as my dad said, his vibe. Shaking off the whiff of the seventies. "No Mansons, Jonestowns, all that," I'd heard my dad say. "We can still kiss his feet, but in secret now, because it looks too whacky. Don't mention it at school, okay?"

Earlier, he'd burned all his copies of the Divine Times. Then the meditation pamphlets, satsang programmes and rules for ashram living. All gone. But what I couldn't understand was why our photographs had to go."

There had been no commandment to burn personal photos but her father was a fool. There had been instructions to destroy all Divine Light Mission publications and recordings.

"Maharaj Ji," she says, "has declared himself human. Not the Lord. The One. Perfect Master." "What are you supposed to call him now?" I say. "Ultimate Ruler." I laugh. Even Mum laughs and meets my eye, but Bill is fuming.

"Cunt Fucker, Fucking Shit," Bill sighs. He puts his arm around Mum and squeezes her towards him. "I miss the ashram days. You knew where you were, you got the free tea and the special privileges. Ultimate Ruler is just not as romantic, you know?"

As in Whittington's book, once the 80's rolled on there was no longer a pretense of ascetic bliss and peace through meditation but an arrogant attitude that these losers were somehow special through their tenuous association with Maharaj Ji, their secret God. In this book and "A Wild Child's Escape" life in DLM England appears gray, rainy and desolate. The men are sexist, lazy and try to rape a 12 year old girl if it's at all possible and the women are depressed, angry and controlled.

I'm sure there were wealthy, happy premies who enjoyed themselves and very sensibly kept well away from the premie underclass. At least, I hope these stories came from a premie underclass of bongos and are not indicative of the majority of the English Divine Light Missions premies.

A Wild Child's EscapeA Wild Child's Escape by Jane Whittington

Blurbs: This is a true story. It illustrates how a young woman, Jane, gets involved in the dynamic changes happening in the 1960s, and how she gets immersed in a new way of living. She follows the 'hippy trail' to Nepal where she lives with a Nepalese family in their mud hut, and becomes part of the family, fetching water, wood etc., and gaining an insight into living with nature as all cultures did at one time. On her return to the UK, Jane gets involved with an Eastern Cult. The book intimates Jane's mental health difficulties and how these extreme ventures exacerbate her stability even more. It is a frank look at the stark changes of the time and an insight into mental health difficulties and how Jane overcomes these obstacles.



Many of the premies, dedicated followers of Guru Maharaji -> Prem Rawat lived regular lives conforming to the directions of their guru, no drugs, regular meditation and voluntary service to his organisations. A minority spent up to 10 years living a strictly regulated life in Rawat's ashram system which included mandatory 2 hours meditaiton, nightly satsang meetings and celibate poverty.

Jemima Cainer: My Astrologer Dad Visited Me After His Death