Divine Light Mission and Elan Vital Videos

Prem Pal Rawat, who claims to be a descendant of Indian Royalty, arrived in West as the 13 year old, "Guru Maharaj Ji", the Lord of the Universe, Perfect Master and Satguru whose titles included Balyogeshwar Param Sant Ji Maharaj. From the beginning his organisations have used visual media as a major tool of proselytisation for new followers and for the teaching of his devotees. In 1982 in one of the most audacious and naive attempts at controlling his image ever attempted by a cult leader he ordered his followers to destroy all copies of the printed, audio, video, and film publications about him in the West.

He closed the ashrams in which many of his followers lived, terminated the nightly public meetings they held and then disappeared from public view for many years years while his followers maintained a low-key organisation. No public advertising of public meetings was allowed for many years. He reinvigorated his organisations in the late 1980's with an increased number of worldwide meetings for his followers calling himself Prem Rawat or Maharaji having dropped the 'Guru' from his self-created title. His close followers gave a revisionist explanation for his earlier persona and actions blaming all controversial aspects of his "Knowledge" on his followers and exonerating him. Since then he has been trying, in a very low key way, to change his public image from boy guru to respected, philanthropist, international teacher of Inner Peace living off his investments. Fortunately some videos of his earlier incarnation remains.

In late 1972 the Divine Light Mission produced this film, titled 'Satguru Has Come', at a time when the young Prem Rawat, the Perfect Master, known as Guru Maharaj Ji was riding a wave of success, as DLM was swiftly growing in the West. It encapsulates the proudly proclaimed central dogmas of the Rawatism religion: Prem Rawat was the incarnation of God, come back to Earth with more power than ever before and about to usher in the Millenium. It also contains numerous scenes where His face fades into a circular light object, centered between his eyes. This is because the Light meditation technique that was part of the "Knowledge" required you to squeeze your eyes with your index finger and thumb producing this sort of effect (if you squeeze hard enough).

In November, 1973 the Divine Light Mission organised Millenium 73, "the most significant event in human history" according to Guru Maharaj Ji as Prem Rawat was then known to the world. This video, titled 'Lord of the Universe', (not to be confused with a movie made by Divine Light Mission with the same name) was shot as a television documentary at a time when Prem Rawat and his followers had full confidence that any examination of the guru, his 'Knowledge' and his followers would be positive. The documentary makers were allowed full access to the event held at the Houston Astrodome and to the followers, especially to Rennie Davis who was then the major spokesman for the movement. It contains footage of Guru Maharaj Ji, events from the Millenium festival, premies involved in 'Soul Rush' a pre-festival publicity campaign, interviews with premies and Prem Rawat's oldest brother, Bal Bhagwan Ji and his mother, Mata Ji. It is still available at Amazon and is a must for anyone with an interest in 1970's Divine Light Mission.

During this early period of confidence in Divine Light Mission before the Millenium 73 fiasco, before Prem Rawat's marriage to a devotee of his who was nearly 10 years older and 4 inches taller than him and before his disinheritance and disowning by his mother, footage from an early Divine Light Mission movie and interviews with Rennie Davis were given to film-maker Don Como for a documentary on gurus and 'New Religious Movements' that were proselytising in the USA. This movie was finally released on video as 'Mysterious Miracles, Aliens from Spaceship Earth, A Spiritual Odyssey'. It contains some early footage of Prem Rawat in the West, some even earlier footage of his father and his "Holy Family" in India, some background material with voice-overs by the folk singer Donovan who was not a follower of Guru Maharaji but of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi of Transcendental Meditation, and some footage of darshan lines in the USA and England with premie music.

Some clips from the 'Guru Puja 1979' video. This 1979 Divine Light Mission film contains some different scenes of Prem Rawat dancing, encoring his dancing and "sharing satsang" ie giving extemperaneous speeches in his inimitable style and surprisingly unpleasant shouting. Unfortunately, age has diminished the quality of the picture and sound though everything is completely legible. Despite later Elan Vital propaganda stating that Prem Rawat at no time believed or encouraged beliefs in his own divinity or identity to the God Krishna, this video taken at nearly the zenith of the "super-devotional" period of Divine Light Mission 2 years before it was renamed Elan Vital shows him openly making such claims.

This video filmed on 25th June, 1980 records a speech made by Prem Rawat, or Guru Maharaj Ji as he then called himself, in Rome to ashram premies and premies wishing to move into an ashram. Much of it is ephemeral but some of the central dogmas of his teachings are restated. In it he "gives satsang" for about an hour and then answers questions from the audience - these are his most devoted followers who have no idea that within a few years all the ashrams will be closed and they will have to find careers after as much as a decade in full-time, unpaid work called "service" for Rawat's organisations. Despite later Elan Vital propaganda stating that Prem Rawat at no time believed or encouraged beliefs in his own divinity or identity to the God Krishna, this video taken at nearly the zenith of the "super-devotional" period of Divine Light Mission 2 years before it was renamed Elan Vital shows him openly making such claims and demanding total surrender, and loss of personal identity.

This video, titled 'You Are My Saviour', a Divine Light Mission release, was produced in 1980. It was filmed at the 1980 Guru Puja Festival and contains scenes of Prem Rawat dancing, encoring his dancing and "sharing satsang" ie giving extemperaneous speeches in his inimitable style and surprisingly unpleasant shouting. Unfortunately, age has diminished the quality of the picture and sound though everything is completely legible. Despite later Elan Vital propaganda stating that Prem Rawat at no time believed or encouraged beliefs in his own divinity or identity to the God Krishna, this video taken at nearly the zenith of the "super-devotional" period of Divine Light Mission 2 years before it was renamed Elan Vital shows him openly making such claims. It features 3 songs 'You Are My Saviour', 'I Just Want To Dance With You' and a South American style tune all of which feature the interpretative dance of Guru Maharaj Ji as he was then known or Marahaji or Prem Rawat as he now calls himself. There is part of the inspirational ballad 'I Surrender to my Satguru' played while Prem Rawat changes into his Krishna costume.

This video, titled 'Contact', a Visions International (a division of Elan Vital Inc) release, was produced in 1987/8. It contains footage of a festival in India with Holi, Darshan and divine dancing, sound-bites of premies, some satsang given in Australia and flight footage not just of the jet-of-the-day but his helicopter and his glider as well and the big ballad has scenes of Rawat producing the recording of 'I Need To Feel It' which is the featured big, inspirational ballad. There is a very definite exposition of Rawat's position in the lineage of Perfect Masters and their role as the unique giver of true experience rather than doctrine and dogma.
This video, titled 'Windows In Time', a Visions International (a division of Elan Vital Inc) release, was premiered at the 'Festival of Knowledge' in Miami, July 1989. It contains historical footage from India and an optimistc and upbeat view of Rawat's early career in the West. In the 1970's the press had been nearly 100% critical and derisive of the 'fat boy guru'. There is extensive footage of an "interview" with Prem Rawat in the back seat of a car from the late 80's and some of his 'students' providing revisionist spin on his early days in the West and rare footage of his childhood in India. It ends with an inspirational series of clips of his life over 'Teach Me Devotion' with late 1980's lyrics. Don't miss the super clear explanation of the commitment required to practise Knowledge, at least, that's what I think it's about.
This video, titled 'The Journey is the Destination', a Visions International (a division of Elan Vital Inc) production, was released in 1994. It includes Rawat answering the questions: Is Knowledge the only Path? Should we be Vegetarians? How does Spirituality Correlate to Knowledge? and Rawat reading from Kabir. There are pretty graphics. The audience response during the answer to 'How does Spirituality Correlate to Knowledge?' is interesting.
This video, titled 'Like The Rain', a Visions International (a division of Elan Vital Inc) release, was released in 1996. It contains the 'Blessing of the Master' sermon, Maharaji dancing briefly, a Holi festival where some people are collecting the charanamrit and a quick glimpse of a darshan line.

This video, titled 'Boundless', a Visions International (a division of Elan Vital Inc) video, was released in 1996. It is part of a series that includes 'Windows In Time', 'I Have This Knowledge' and 'Passages'. They give a "revisionist" history of Divine Light Mission and Elan Vital and show a highly edited and singular vision of Prem Rawat's history in the West, very upbeat, ignoring the family fiascos, bad publicity about Rawat's ulcers and money grabbing and failure of the 1970's drive to "bring peace to the world".

This video, titled 'Fulfillment', a Visions International (a division of Elan Vital Inc) video, was released in 1998. Fulfillment is a short (15 minutes) long introductory video made in 1998. It combines professional sounding voice-over explanations of Prem Rawat's claims about his life, philosophy and teachings with snippets of Rawat's "satsangs". Though intended to be shown as an introduction to "Maharaji" or Great King as his followers call him, it still contains those central dogmas of his religion that have remained constant through the decades.

This video clip is obviously a Visions International (a division of Elan Vital Inc) video, though I am unsure of its release date or title. It looks to have been compiled around 2000. It is basically a slideshow set over a recording of Rawat comparing his organisation to a river that starts as raindrops and finally becomes a mighty thundering river. This is a very hopeful metaphor for Rawat's followers whose numbers are only a fraction of their 1973 peak. In language and style that his followers probably consider poetic and skeptics find laughable, Rawat impores his followers to tell other people about him and his "Knowledge" so that his unique power to transform lives can find new converts. His magic, he claims, "only happens where the students come together and the Master comes together", a magic "which has been played out on the face of this Earth many, many, many, many times". He has spoken about this concept of the reincarnation of the Perfect Master (Satguru) and His devotees many, ... times.

This video, titled 'Introducing the Possibility of Knowledge', a Visions International release, was produced in 2000. It contains scenes from two training sessions Elan Vital held to teach Prem Rawat's students how to introduce people to the "possibility of Knowledge" and a speech in Miami. The "invited guests" paid dearly for the chance to be at these sessions as their Master was going to be there. Nearly all of them had been devotees of Maharaji for up to 30 years and so the idea that they needed such training was extraordinary enough in itself. What made it even more remarkable is that most of them had been doing such personal and public proselytisation in the '70's quite successfully until Rawat had ordered them to cease and desist in 1982.

This video, titled 'Four Days In November', a Visions International (a division of Elan Vital Inc) release, was released in 2000. It includes footage of his meetings in Delhi, India in late 1999, the last program he appeared in during the 20th century. It's highlight is the first known public performance of Prem Rawat singing in a duet with his daughter, Daya, of a bhajan and includes some ad-libbing by him and some group singing with the large audience. Unfortunately, there are only a few testimonies from premies regarding his singing and their explanations of it's effect upon them as they are very interesting.
This video, entitled I Have This Knowledge, is a video that allows premies to reminisce watching small clips and still photos from the early 70's Divine Light Mission archives. The soundtrack is an upbeat, edited "satsang" of Prem Rawat's talking about his early life in the West, some "interviews" with members of his inner circle and pointed comments about "Indian cultural" artifacts mistakenly taken up by young Westerners of the time that Prem Rawat has "removed" from Elan Vital doctrines.
To mark the 30th anniversary of the arrival of Prem Rawat (aka Maharaji) to the West in 1971, Visions Internationa l (a division of Elan Vital Inc) published a video during 2001 giving a potted history of Maharaji's life, his family, his organizations and his "message". Several prominent followers of Maharaji were interviewed for the video giving their various thoughts on critical aspects of Maharaji and his mission. This video, entitled Passages - A Masters Journey, was first shown at an Elan Vital program held in Nottingham UK in 2001, then sold for a period of time and broadcast via Satellite. The video is now no longer available for purchase or distribution via Elan Vital or their sister organizations. It contains some early footage of Prem Rawat in the West, some even earlier footage of his father but definitely not of his "Holy Family" in India, interviews with about a dozen of his most trusted followers and some background material with a professional doing the voice-overs explaining the new interpretation of his past and his Knowledge in an attempt to counter accusations against him on the internet.
This video, entitled Receiving Knowledge, was copied from a broadcast via Satellite. It contains some footage of Prem Rawat in a Pre-Knowledge session, speaking and answering some questions. It also contains interviews with some people before receiving Knowledge (aspirants), directly after receiving Knowledge and up to a year later. We have only received two clips from this video for now. In one he gives his definition of 'religion' and in another answers the question: "But can they be happy?"

Various Amaroo video clips.

Musician Author Poet Lyricist Inventor Patenter Gardener The Speaker Inspirational Speaker World Renowned Teacher of Inner Peace Master Teacher Of Devotion Perfect Master Satguru Indian Royalty Bhole Shri Satguru Dev Maharaji Ki Jai