The fastest growing
religious movement in the world must be the Divine Light Mission, which
in England alone has grown from 10,000 to 60,000 converts in two years.
What the Mission means to six million devotees around the world is the
promise of universal peace through individual inner serenity given to
"all-who ask for it".

As in traditional Hindu
belief this peace will be provided by a saviour who according to
Krishna's promise will reappear "whenever the knowledge of God is
becoming lost". The new saviour will be strictly nonsectarian since
Buddha, Christ and Moses "were all empowered to give knowledge".

At the dawning of the Age
of Aquarius, the Messiah of our time (and we doubtless deserve him) is
a gross 15-year-old Westernized Hindu with a penchant for Rolls-Royces
and clumsy parables. Mahara Ji is probably the richest boy in India
(his Mission holds £100,000 in England alone) but he advocates total
self denial for his followers.

This does not seem to worry
his devotees, or "premies " who have given everything they have to the
Mission. As one premie explained: "When Jesus came people were
expecting him to come as a king. Now the saviour comes as a king, and
he is expected to come as a pauper. People never recognize the saviour."

Premies who have recognized the Messiah this time, receive both "Knowledge" and Satsang.
When taking "Knowledge" novices concentrate for several hours on "the
music of the vibes" and chant over and over again that Guru Mahara Ji
is perfect and has been sent by God to reveal His presence.

Suddenly the novice is
jabbed sharply in the eyes by the Mahatma and sees, so it is said, the
Divine Light of God himself. This, as described by Dr William Sargant
in Battle for the Mind, is the "breaking point" of brainwashing when
after hours of repetition on a single theme, an emotional crisis is
precipitated by an unexpected physical pain.

If the conversion is
successful, and it usually is, the premie is then taught to meditate by
repeating the True Name of God (known only to the Mission) over and
over to himself.

This auto-suggestion is
complemented by group-suggestion at Satsang, Divine Light services held
every day, where each premie in turn is expected to repeat in every
conceivable way that the world is a dark place desperately needing the
Light which only the Guru can provide. After a few months of this, the
Mission could probably get its converts to do almost anything.

Most of the premies I
talked to had drifted through tedious clerical jobs or factory work,
and were aware of being constantly bombarded with information which,
before their conversion, they could not meaningfully assimilate. Divine
Light digests everything for them and since it reduces all
contradictions down to a simple Knowledge/ignorance polarity it does
not posit any new system of good or evil but just reunites premies with
the moral system of their parents: frugality, honesty, hard work and
monogamy.

It must be an enormous
emotional relief for these refugees from McLuhan's Global jungle to
have all disagreement, nastiness and confusion firmly locked outside
the spotless room dedicated to the Worship of the One Perfect Being
empowered to take the whole world on His shoulders. After Vietnam or
Watergate what a relief to know that: “For a stable politician you must
find the Living Perfect Master of your time. He is the only one whom
power cannot corrupt."

After taking "Knowledge"
most premies join an ashram, one of the small Divine Light communes
scattered across the country. As these premies will be expected to give
everything they earn to the Mission, the next logical step is for the
Mission to set up its own employment and cut out the middle-man.

Increasingly this is what is happening, as readers of Divine Sales International
will know. The DSL is a newspaper which is distributed internally
within the English Mission, but is certainly not distributed to the
public, who might get the wrong impression.

This is a fair extract
therefrom: "The objective of the import/export division is to stabilize
the economy of the world. We are in a position to do this, brothers and
sisters, because our aim is to serve humanity and by doing this we are
not taking any wages for ourselves so there is no labour cost."

Altruistically or not,
Divine Sales international is already serving humanity at 34 branches
in 15 countries, with words for the converts like: "Winged Messengers
of God: the true nature of Divine Jumble Service is to notify humanity
that their Lord Shri Guru Mahara Ji has come. So spread your wings and
come fly, with Divine Sales Rummage Collectors every night at six o
clock."

On this sort of basis the
Mission has set up in England alone: two clothing factories, a fashion
department, a nursery, a new brand of "vegetarian, non pollutant"
cosmetics (labelled Just Revelations) and an import/export business in India and Hongkong gee gaws (not to mention the old jumble sales which are still expanding).

Judging from the scale of
work being done on the new Palace of Peace, a converted cinema in East
Dulwich, the plans for the construction of a Divine City in Nevada, and
the number and high quality of the Mission's publications, there is no
shortage of ready money coming into the organization. The fact that the
Mission is a registered charity (although its activities are under
investigation by the Charity Commission) doubtless does not make the
Light shine any less brightly.

The Divine Sales
International proclaims that: "To forget is a crime. To be lazy is a
greater crime. To neglect work and offer excuses is the greatest crime.
Action without delay is the soul of efficiency." It is no accident,
therefore, that Divine Sales are growing so rapidly ; those who are at
present organizing - the Second Coming obviously do not lack a sound
sense of business.

Bart Milner

®Times Newspapers Ltd, 1973.