Rawat, Prem 363 J
under the name Mayavati. In still other versions,
Rati, in the guise of Mayavati, raises Kamadeva to
life and they are married once again.
Further reading: Cornelia Dimmitt and J. A. B. van
Buitenen, Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the
Sanskrit Puranas (Philadelphia: Temple University
Press, 1978); John Dowson, A Classical Dictionary
of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History,
and Literature, 12th ed. (Ludhiana: Lyall Book Depot,
1974).
Ravana See RAMAYANA.
Rawat, Prem (Guru Maharaj Ji) (1957– )
head of Divine Light Mission and creator of Elan Vital
Prem Rawat, or Guru Maharaj Ji, is a teacher in
the Sant Mat tradition who won a large follow-
ing in the United States in the 1960s and early
1970s.
Prem Rawat was born on December 10, 1957,
near Dehra Dun in Uttaranchal state, India, the
youngest son of Sri Han Maharaj Ji, an established
spiritual teacher. Prem received formal education
at St. Joseph’s Academy, but his spiritual direction
was from his father. At age three, he began speak-
ing to audiences about inner peace. When his
father died in 1966 he became spiritual leader of
the Divine Light Mission (DLM), a foundation Sri
Han had established in the 1930s.
Under his leadership the mission continued to
teach his father’s main techniques, derived from
the SANT MAT tradition. The tradition teaches
that knowledge, as the energy and source of life,
is obtained through four forms of MEDITATION,
each of which focuses attention on inner life.
Maharaj Ji presented the teaching as a cultiva-
tion of inner peace through maintaining silence,
watching the process of breathing, and focusing
the senses inward. Devotees who take initiation
into DLM are said to “gain knowledge” and are
called “premies.”
Many members of the counterculture in the
United States were impressed by Maharaj Ji’s mes-
sage of peace during his tours in the later 1960s,
when he was still a teenager. In 1971, after his
visits to Los Angeles and Boulder, Colorado, the
United States DLM was established in Denver,
Colorado. By 1972 the movement spread across
the country. Ashrams were established in major
cities and the publications Divine Times and It is
Divine distributed.
In 1973 the DLM rented the Houston Astro-
dome for a gathering of peace coinciding with the
birthday of Sri Han. The event failed to generate
large attendance and became a financial loss. Pro-
grams and ASHRAMS were soon closed in order to
pay off debt and many premies began to leave the
movement. In 1974 Guru Maharaj Ji married a
Western premie named Marolyn Johnson, a mar-
riage that created conflict between Maharaj Ji and
his mother. The fracture caused further troubles
for the DLM when his mother returned to India
and reestablished the DLM under her eldest son’s
name.
In the late 1970s the DLM reorganized and
moved its headquarters to Miami, Florida. Maha-
raj Ji distanced himself from the religious asso-
ciation to make his teachings more universal.
In the 1980s he encouraged followers to leave
the monastic life and to regard him simply as a
humanitarian leader. By 1983, he had ordered all
Western ashrams to close.
In the mid-1980s, the DLM was renamed
the Elan Vital and discarded all religious affilia-
tion. Guru Maharaj Ji changed his name to Prem
Rawat, believing that the divinity ascribed to him
obstructed his message. Elan Vital became a much
smaller organization. He increased his speaking
engagements and produced video and sound
recordings to spread his ideas.
Elan Vital, now headquartered in Agoura Hills,
California, retains its status as a charitable organi-
zation, organizing events for Prem Rawat, raising
funds, producing and distributing tapes of his
messages, and archiving the history of his work.