1. The Lord of the Universe
When Mr. Rawat came to the West in the early 1970's, he proclaimed himself to be an Incarnation of God, equal to Jesus Christ and Buddha, the Satguru, the Avatar, the Perfect Master of our times. He claimed that salvation depended on complete surrender to his grace. Mr. Rawat now tries to cover-up and mitigate these earlier claims. He blames others for misrepresenting him. But hundreds of direct quotes from Mr. Rawat put the blame squarely on himself. See the ex-premie website for a collection of these quotations.
2. Finances
Throughout the history of DLM/Elan Vital, Mr. Rawat has continually demanded monetary "contributions" from his followers in order to support his obscenely lavish lifestyle, complete with several mansions, private jets, etc.
3. The Ashrams
For many years in the 70s and early 80s, Mr. Rawat demanded that his followers completely surrender their lives to him. At that time, this was the central message of many of his speeches, with him often screaming this message. He also made it clear that the way to do this for people without children was to move into one of his ashrams where the rules required them to abandon all family, sexual relations, education, and career goals to devote their lives entirely to his service. When the ashrams became a financial liability to him, he closed them, leaving many of the ashram members in debt and poorly prepared to return to society.
4. The Jagdeo affair
There is compelling evidence that makes it implausible that Mr. Rawat was unaware that his instructor Jagdeo was sexually molesting and raping children while he was working for Mr. Rawat. Mr. Rawat did not prevent Jagdeo from continuing in his service, traveling around the world, with access to more children. Read a summary of the evidence of Mr. Rawat's complicity, and full details, on the ex-premie website.
5. The four techniques
Mr. Rawat teaches what he calls Knowledge, which consists of four techniques of meditation. He claims to have the sole privilege of teaching these techniques. But in fact, these techniques are centuries old and are now taught by hundreds of gurus in India, and by several Western gurus.
6. The false history and lineage of DLM/Elan Vital
Mr. Rawat claims to be the current master in a direct and unique lineage of masters. His website indicates that this lineage proceeds from the Master Dayal Ji (born 1846), to Swarupanand, to Shri Hans (Mr. Rawat's father), to Mr. Rawat himself. But this is a false claim. Swarupanand did not name Shri Hans as his successor and Swarupanand's devotees did not follow Shri Hans after Swarupanand's death. Instead, Shri Hans broke off from this organization and started his own new mission elsewhere. Swarupanand's mission was continued by several other mahatmas. Currently, several organizations claim a direct heritage to Swarupanand, including the Advait Mat, the Shree Nangli Sahib, the Radhasoami group, and the Manav Dharam.
7. X-rating
Mr. Rawat has always enjoyed a lifestyle exactly opposite of what he taught for the first ten years of his mission in the west. Even since he stopped instructing his followers on how to live, he went to great pains to hide from them how he lived. The followers who are invited into his inner circle are "x-rated", meaning that they are privileged with the information of Mr. Rawat's true materialistic and reckless lifestyle, promising to never divulge the information to the rank and file members of the Elan Vital cult. Former x-rated devotees have posted their experiences on the ex-premie website.
8. Several sexual affairs with premie women
Mr. Rawat is known to have had several sexual affairs with his own female followers from 1984 to the present, including a long standing affair with Monica Lewis.
9. Hit and run
Mr. Rawat accidentally killed a man in an automobile accident. He instructed one of his followers to take the blame for the accident, and he himself fled the scene. A first-hand, eye-witness account of this accident is available at the ex-premie website.
10. Alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs
Mr. Rawat has been a regular user of alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. In particular his heavy use of alcohol has continued from the mid 70s to the present day. Eye-witness accounts of his drinking, drug use and his drunk driving are available at the ex-premie website.
11. The yacht
Mr. Rawat recently purchased a 7-million-dollar yacht, named "Serenity", yet he continues to charge substantial fees for his lectures and programs. Full information about the yacht is available at the ex-premie website.
12. Front row seats and darshan for sale
What is mostly unknown to the rank and file member of Elan Vital, is that front row seats to Mr. Rawat's talks are for sale for thousands of dollars. Also, there are regular, previously secret, meetings, for big donors. Read about one such meeting, including the foot kissing ritual, here.
13. The inner experience
Mr. Rawat encourages his followers to believe that anything they experience in meditation is due to his grace and influence. He teaches them to depend on him for all inner experiences for their entire lives.
14. Human relationships
Mr. Rawat tells his followers that they should rely solely on the "inner friend," and that all other love relationships are secondary, imperfect, and not to be trusted. By following this teaching, his followers develop a toxic relationship with their own humanness.
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