A Prem Rawat family member publicly acknowledged that Prem and Marolyn Rawat sexually abused two of their own children. His account is backed by a recorded conversation in which Prem and other family members acknowledged the abuse. The entire family knows what happened and yet, except for one of the victims and his wife, the family continues to solicit tax deductible donations and promote Prem Rawat and self-knowledge as if nothing happened. Followers who become aware of this often do more to defend Prem Rawat than they do to support the victim.
These tragic events occurred behind closed doors while thousands of followers were at that moment worshipping Prem Rawat as a divine being or perfect master who had come with more powers than ever before to bring peace to the entire planet. All of this calls into question the efficacy of Prem Rawat's self-knowledge, the family's fidelity to it, their motivations and their moral charachter.
Anything I write pales in comparison to these disturbing facts as well as everything previously uncovered and written about on websites such as ex-premie.org, prem-rawat-bio.org, resourcesforthetruthaboutpremrawat.org, this forum and others. Nevertheless, I will continue writing in hopes that together with others, it might help someone in need of support, much like this forum helped me when that help was needed most.
From time to time, I try to reduce my thirty-six year involvement with Prem Rawat down to a sentence or even a word. This time I settled on one word: deceived.
My involvement with Prem Rawat began in 1973 as a balanced two-way street: "give me your love and I will give you peace." It was sincere, joyful, exhilarating and above all, seemingly real. Although the exhilaration fell by the wayside, my sincerity, committment and especially my effort remained solid. I kept my end of the bargain. Unbeknownst to me, something changed. What changed was Maharaji. Two events occurred that I was never made aware of at the time.
The first was in 1976 when according to Michael Dettmers (a close confidant of Prem Rawat), Bob Mishler (the late President of Divine Light Mission) and others confronted Prem Rawat about "out-of-control spending that was destroying his organization and making it impossible to fulfill its mission." After Prem consented to changing the "culture" of the organization, a consensus emerged that it would be more effective if he would present himself as a humanitarian (fast forward to today) and step down or move away from his divine being/perfect master status. Michael believed Prem was receptive to the idea. That period included a brief loosening of the austere ashram lifestyle during which serious consideration was given as to whether or not it was even necessary.
As the story goes, Prem recoiled, snapped back from his initial receptivity, rejected all of it and said something to the effect of "how will I be supported?" He went on to say, angrily according to Michael, that "Knowledge without devotion to Maharaji is nothing and that all of us have forgotten that." Thus began seven more years of actual and ritualistic "heavy" devotion to Prem Rawat and, perhaps unnecessarily, seven more years of the austere ashram lifestyle for many hundreds of mentally captive and dependent followers.
The second event was the San Ysidro conference in 1984. According to Michael Dettmers, Will Shultz (Sp?), a professional business consultant and facilitator, summed-up his observations in part by saying that "of all the groups he had facilitated, he had never experienced as much fear as was exhibited by our group. He added that, in his opinion, Maharaji had received too much, too soon and that he really had to start practicing what he preached. Finally, Will alerted Maharaji to the dangers of having so many people so dependent upon him."
As the story goes, Prem withdrew into himself. Soon thereafter, he became "...as arrogant as before and imbued with cynicism. He continued to abuse alcohol and he began his sexual exploitation of his female devotees."
Out-of-control spending that was destroying his own mission?
Concerned about how he would be supported if he stepped down from his pedestal and closed the ashrams?
Insistence on followers devoting themselves to him and his Maharaji persona?
A group characterized by and objective observer as consumed by fear?
Time to practice what he preaches?
Arrogant and cynical?
Alcohol abuse?
Exploitation of female devotees?
Give me your love and I will give you peace?
Although pages have been written about the details and circumstances surrounding these two events, I'm confident that I've accurately captured enough to support what I'm about to say:
1. In 1976, against the advice of his organizational leaders and closest confidant, Prem Rawat deliberately chose not to step down from his diving being/perfect master pedestal. In so doing, he deliberately chose to continue reigning supreme over the lives of his followers as the "superior power in person."
2. Prem Rawat disregarded warnings of the dangers of having so many people so dependent upon him.
Indeed, what changed was Maharaji.
The change was Prem Rawat's breach of trust and failure to protect when, instead of stepping down, he deliberately, consciously, cynically and angrily chose to carry on as a divine being/perfect master and do nothing whatsoever to disabuse his followers of their dependency on him, even after he was warned of the dangers. He did nothing to dissuade his followers from basing their most important life decisions on their devotion to him. To the contrary, he did everything he could do to reinforce their devotion and dependency.
After taking-up procured women, cigarettes, excessive quantities of alcohol, recreational drugs, profligate spending and an opulent western lifestyle, he went on to sexually abuse two of his own children as evidenced by a recorded conversation in which Prem and other family members acknowledged the abuse.
Consequently, I believe that since those events occurred, every global monetary unit donated and every hour of unpaid labor constitutes theft by fraud and deception. After all that, it was no longer a matter of speculation about what made Prem Rawat tick; everything from sincere to deluded to sociopathic to influenced by his upbringing and so on. No, it was calculated. Pure cynical corruption. It was his choice. He knew exactly what he was doing. He knew exactly what he wanted. He knew exactly how to get it. And he put himself above the best interests of his followers - and two of his own children - for his own gratification.
How does one even begin to contemplate what justice might look like when, as I believe, Prem Rawat is accountable not only for those donations and unpaid labor, but every global monetary unit of his followers lost income due to undereducation, underemployment and underachievement; loses resulting from sacrifices they made in all aspects of their lives by placing devotion to him above their own self-interests. And that doesn't even begin to account for his adverse effects on the children and families of his followers.
Prem Rawat is also accountable for the indescribable pain, humiliation, emptiness and disorientation that ensues when a person recognizes the extent to which they were deceived and exploited on the deepest level of their being.
How could I, or anyone not caught in the grip of this cult's indoctrination, conclude otherwise?
Again, anything I write seems insignificant in the face of everything that has transpired in countless individual lives over more than fifty years, and especially in light of the tragic and disturbing circumstances surrounding Prem Rawat's family and its ongoing efforts to solicit funds and promote someone described by one of his own children as a child sexual abuser.
