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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