Prem Rawat's Extravagant And Dissolute Lifestyle

Prem Rawat's extravagance and greed became obvious in the 1970's even to the press whose interest in him was already waning. In a court case in Vancouver DLM financial documents were tendered as evidence showing the young Rawat was spending 60% of DLM's gross receipts on himself and his inner coterie. That was around $1,200,000 per annum though the money began to dry up quickly shortly thereafter. Some of those press stories are published here.

Prem Rawat's (Maharaji) Malibu Mansion Click here to see a well researched article about Prem Rawat's extravagant lifestyle and click here to see pictures of his unbelievable Malibu Mansion.

However, it wasn't until later when his former, long-time personal assistant, Michael Dettmers, revealed a lot about Rawat that wasn't covered by a non-disclosure agreement that the extent of his drug use and sexual abuse of some of his female devotees, became known to any but his inner coterie.

Sophia Collier, who had been a journalist in the Denver headquarters working for Divine light Mission, and others were told by Bob Mishler, the President of Divine Light Mission, that the 15 year old boy guru was "sloshed" at the Millenium '73 festival and she saw his brother, Raja Ji, drunk at first hand, more than once. Mishler discussed the fact that Rawat didn't meditate himself but got drunk to relive his tensions in a radio interview and some newspaper articles.

Mike Donner, ex-President of Divine Light Mission, and Mike Dettmers ex-President of Divine Light Mission and personal assistant to Prem Rawat for over a decade both recounted stories of regular marijuana smoking and drunkeness by Prem Rawat in the Malibu "residence" on the internet in the 1990's after they had become disillusioned with Rawat and his "Knowledge".

Boeing 707From the time he was a young child Prem Rawat has been obsessed by flying and as early as 1972 he wanted his own plane. He put his following under a tremendous strain to buy and refurbish a Boeing 707 in 1980 though this plane was inadequate, too expensive to run and fell foul of new environmental regulations. From the 1980s his devotees began leasing a series of ever larger and more expensive jets which ordinarily are the playthings of billionaires. He has had a glider and was involved in legal fight with the local Planning Commission attemptng to get approval for 36 helicopter landings a year at his Malibu compound.

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mega yacht SerenityHe got his first jet helicopter in 1979. He has acquired a fleet of cars and has an 18 car garage at his Malibu mansion. For some years he kept a $7 million dollar mega yacht, 'Serenity' which was sold in 2004.

Sometime in the later 1980's I met an old friend whose "service" had been looking after the audiovisual materials in Divine Light Mission in Brisbane, Australia and he gave me some material that had been overlooked and not destroyed. Unfortunately my ex-wife destroyed most of this before I could digitise it. However on an old audio tape I found this recorded interview with a young Rawat and like most people who grew up in the '60's I immediately recognised Rawat's condition.



Click here to download mp3 of Rawat's stoned interview

CognacAround 2000 I spoke to a long time Australian devotee who had finally become disillusioned when she had been doing service at Amaroo (ie doing voluntary labour at Rawat's cult compound in South East Queensland that masquerades as a convention centre.) She was a long term trusted devotee so she was given the role of cleaning Rawat's private holiday home there perched on a forested hill above the valley. As Rawat was often alone there she realized that the empty bottles of cognac left for her to dispose of must have been drunk by the "Perfect Master" who, if nothing else, had built up quite an alcohol tolerance.

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