Ole Grünbaum: The Ghostwriter
Ole Grünbaum is a long time premie and was the stalwart of Prem Rawat's mission in Denmark. He is an author and journalist who has edited Rawat's speeches for publication since 2006 and is the editor of ADI magazine, the book The Greatest Truth Of All and No Ordinary Box which are made up of speeches initially printed in ADI magazine .
He was the National Director of DLM in Denmark in the 1970's and received the phone call announcing the birth of Rawat's first child, Premlata:
Ole Grübaum in Copenhagen drops the phone and runs through the ashram shouting the news. A few moments later a chorus of "Bholi Shri's" burst out, and then Ole is on the phone again saying that he got so excited he had to tell everybody right away.
He was quoted in an article about the European Guru Puja festival in Essen in 1975:
Perhaps Ole Grünbaum, National Director of Denmark, best summed up the feelings on that first day: "When we see each others' faces after a year apart, we recognize how much closer we are to one another. Guru Maharaj Ji is our life, and the closer we come to Maharaj Ji, the more love we have for each other, and the more love we have for the whole world."
In July 1976 Ole wrote an open letter attempting to put a positive spin on the collapse of the ashrams and the decimation of DLM staff in Denmark leaving only Ole and one other working in the office and only 40 premies attending satsang meetings in Denmark. He did not attend the Frankfurt Conference in November during which Rawat harangued his European administrators trying to get DLM back on his track. Grübaum had committed the organisation to infrastructure that was not met by the growth in followers that would pay for it. They had a residence and boat for Rawat should he ever return to Denmark (he spent a few days there in 1974), an ashram, offices and a restaurant all of which had to be gotten rid of. Rawat had been told that DLM in Denmark was "finito" but his only concern was that he didn't have a chance to buy the boat at the firesale price it went for.
In 1996 Ole wrote a story for the 25th Anniversary Divine Times (a magazine that had not been printed since 1979) published by the English premies. Here are some excerpts:
I received Knowledge from an Indian instructor. And it worked. I had an experience, I could believe in. I was very thankful. For the two weeks since the Knowledge session I had practiced several times every day, partly struggling with a wild mind and partly giving in to a longing heart. But I had no idea who Maharaji was. Not the slightest.
Maharaji, with his characteristic energetic stride, came on the stage and sat under the rainbow decoration. As soon as he began to speak, I was shocked. I had never heard anything like this before. It was not the words: it was where they came from. Within a few minutes I realized that this was the first time in my life I heard a person who drew all his authority from himself. What a pleasant shock. And to think, that I would be 27 years old before I heard someone speak who knew what he was saying. And yet I'm sure there are people who will never experience that in a whole lifetime.
I was alone in the hallway when a door opened. Out came Maharaji. I was standing looking down the corridor at him. It was like a cowboy movie. The empty road, and just the two of us facing each other. I didn't know what to say and just stared at him. He looked at me with such a directness. I had never experienced anybody being so frank. That was the second shock of the day. It was such a challenge to my own being, so well hidden behind layers of intellect. … He turned to go back into his room. I was still standing half paralyzed. Maharaji turned and looked at me. I was full of frustration, because I just couldn't rise to his level and communicate with him as some sort of equal partner. I couldn't even show him love. And then he did the most incredible thing. He smiled to me and shook his own hands several times in front of himself.
Today people go to know the giver before they receive the gift, that is so much more practical. But anyway what a wonderful journey. Thank you, Maharaji. You are the truest friend.
In 1971 anyone could be initiated by requesting "the Knowledge" from one of the young Rawat's Indian 'mahatmas' without ever seeing Rawat as Grübaum explains. In 1996 a structured program requiring the watching of many tedious videos of Rawat's speeches was demanded before the initiation could occur. Needless to say, the number requesting this "gift" from the "giver" had fallen dramatically as Rawat is not and was not in 1996 a very attractive figure.
Grünbaum wrote a short article for the Young Peoples' Initiative website despite being in his late 60's.
The 'mahatma' who initated Grünbaum in 1972 squeezed his eyes very hard and told him to push his thumbs into his ears, to think about his breathing and to turn his tongue backwards and up past his uvula for 2 hours a day. It's embarrassing to say I did this for 7 years before I realized I was wasting my time but during that time I was experiencing something true. Everything you experience is true even if the things you believe about it are false. It's embarrassing to say I did this for 7 years before I realized I was wasting my time but during that time I was experiencing something true. Everything you experience is true even if the things you believe about it are false. Once it became obvious to me that the changes in consciousness that had been promised in the early 1970's were not eventuating (and this has been conmfirmed by the last 35 years of living with premies) then I did not consider the practices were worth continuing. Grünbaum did not believe Rawat was a friend. He believed he was the Lord of the Universe, God incarnated in a human body and many other absurd and ridiculous ideas. I am sure that if he was English rather than Danish I would have printed confirmation of this. Gurnbaum spent all day and night in Copenhagen meditating when Rawat's wife was in labour with their first child and on hearing of the birth he "drops the phone and runs through the ashram shouting the news. A few moments later a chorus of "Bolie Shri's" burst out, and then Ole is on the phone again saying that he got so excited he had to tell everybody right away." - Golden Age magazine No. 19 APRIL, 1975
Who needs convincing that they're joyful. Someone who isn't! I don't need convincing that I am joyful because I am. Anynoe who needs a sure sign that you're joyful is actually quite miserable and so it is obvious "Knowledge" hasn't worked for Grünbaum even after 40 years dedicated effort and belief.
Practicing the simple techniques of Knowledge takes me aback with a feeling of life that comes from within myself. I instantly knew this feeling to be true when I learned the techniques thirty years ago. I knew it was not a feeling of my own ego, not a feeling generated by anyone else or anything else, but simply the feeling of life. It became the core of my existence. And Maharaji became a very dear friend who told me again and again that I am full of joy. The hardest thing to be convinced about: that I am full of joy! But the proof was in the practice of the techniques.
Ole demonstrates the conundrum that premies face. They have to make positive statements about the wonderful experience they get from meditation using Rawat's instructions but they also reveal what a drag it really is having to do the hours of meditation. Grünbaum imagines that all people who do not obey Rawat are constantly frustrated. I not only don't practise Rawat's Knowledge but I openly state they are pretty well worthless and Rawat is an ignorant and nasty shit and I enjoy my life enormously and experience very little, if any, frustration:
I sit down and use the techniques nearly every day. I know they work. I have witnessed it thousands of times. Yet, I am a busy person living in a busy world. I work as a writer for newspapers and sometimes I write books. To experience, I have to sometimes muster the effort to kiss the world goodbye and go within myself. When some of the days I neglect that possibility, I find myself frustrated and constantly thinking, probably like everyone else in this world.
Grünbaum has been listening to Rawat's speeches for 40 years but Rawat has not been hammering away at his concepts. He has been constantly reiterating the same concepts that Rawat is the most important person in the universe, that Grünbaum's life is worthless without Rawat and his Knowledge and that Grünbaum cannot even continue to do this meditation if it wasn't for Rawat. It's a never-ending saga because the carrot is always out of reach of the Danish donkey's mouth and it is a never ending experience because every time you think about your breathing it is still happening up to the moment when you die and by the look of Grunbaum's photo, the end may not be all that far away. At least he looks better than Rawat and he is 12 years older but practising Rawat's meditation certainly appears to have no beneficial health effects.
But Maharaji has been there, through the years, sometimes ruthlessly – and always humorously – hammering away at every concept and idea in my head, so I can wake up and smell the reality. But most times just very sweetly reminding me of the possibility of enjoying my existence. I know that without him I would never have been able to proceed with Knowledge. And without Knowledge I would not be able to learn so much from him about the art of living. It has turned out to be a never-ending saga about a never-ending experience.
Ole G.- Copenhagen- Denmark Practicing the simple techniques of Knowledge takes me aback with a feeling of life that comes from within myself. I instantly knew this feeling to be true when I learned the techniques thirty years ago. I knew it was not a feeling of my own ego, not a feeling generated by anyone else or anything else, but simply the feeling of life. It became the core of my existence. And Maharaji became a very dear friend who told me again and again that I am full of joy. The hardest thing to be convinced about: that I am full of joy! But the proof was in the practice of the techniques. I sit down and use the techniques nearly every day. I know they work. I have witnessed it thousands of times. Yet, I am a busy person living in a busy world. I work as a writer for newspapers and sometimes I write books. To experience, I have to sometimes muster the effort to kiss the world goodbye and go within myself. When some of the days I neglect that possibility, I find myself frustrated and constantly thinking, probably like everyone else in this world. But Maharaji has been there, through the years, sometimes ruthlessly- and always humorously- hammering away at every concept and idea in my head, so I can wake up and smell the reality. But most times just very sweetly reminding me of the possibility of enjoying my existence. I know that without him I would never have been able to proceed with Knowledge. And without Knowledge I would not be able to learn so much from him about the art of living. It has turned out to be a never-ending saga about a never-ending experience. - Ole G.
Grünbaum has edited the ADI magazines, No Ordinary Box and The Greatest Truth Of All - You Are Alive for WOPG.
The word 'adi' means ancient in Hindi. ADI magazine was published in 10 issues beginning in 2007 and each issue was available as a pdf for $4.50. It consists of some selected speeches of Rawat's, heavily edited and formatted to make them appear interesting and important. Edited by the indefatigable Ole Grünbaum they feature the standard Rawatist team use of strong colors and large fonts to accent sections of his teachings that are presumably considered the most important and formatted as "poetry." The effort of producing meaningful texts from Rawat's ramblings could have helped turn the energetic young Danish counter-culture intellectual and writer into the aged premie Grünbaum looking decidedly the worse for wear (as seen at right). It may just have been his 40 year career trying to get Danes to accept Guru Maharaj Ji as their Lord and Saviour and Prem Rawat as their inspirational speaker that did the damage though. All those years pressing his fingers into his eyeballs and his thumbs into his ears can't have helped either.
No Ordinary Box is a compilation of extracts of Prem Rawat's recent (2013) speeches edited by the indefatigable but aging Ole Grübaum. It is an ADI book published by Words of Peace Global. It is similar in concept to The Greatest Truth Of All with many quotes from the text highlighted with large fonts and bold print in an attempt at an edgy, urban look. Click here to see these selected highlights, hopefully that won't break copyright rules.