Elan Vital (Organization)

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Elan Vital was the name of organizations that supported the work of Prem Rawat , also known under the honorary title of Maharaji. These associated organizations were subsequently dissolved again. Their functions were transferred to the successor organizations The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) and Words of Peace Global (wopg.org).

Prem Rawat ("Maharaji")

Elan Vital Organizations existed in several countries with the purpose of organizing Prem Rawat appearances and obtaining the necessary funds. Elan Vital televised Prem Rawat's public speeches in some countries. Although these organizations had similar goals and cooperated with one another, they formed independent units, each headed by a separate board of directors. According to Glen Whittaker, a former spokesman for the English Elan Vital, the organization no longer had any connection to its original religious background of Hinduism or Sikhism . According to the Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements , Elan Vital stated not to be a religion and that Prem Rawat's teaching was culturally independent and not tied to Indian traditions.

Elan Vital was the legal successor to the Divine Light Mission (DLM) since 1987 . From the point of view of scholars who dealt with Divine Light Mission or Elan Vital, this term was used as a synonym for the organization of Prem Rawat. The followers were referred to as premies (from “ prem ” (hindi) = love) and some of them still call each other that way.

aims

Elan Vital supported the dissemination of material related to Prem Rawat's message, and supported an archive project with the aim of restoring and cataloging over 30 years of film, video and audio material showing Prem Rawat's work over this period. Elan Vital stated that Prem Rawat did not receive any income from Elan Vital.

structure

The president of Elan Vital USA was Russ Henderling, who chaired a panel of four honorary directors. Elan Vital had a staff of five full-time employees managing the television programs. Most of their work was done by volunteers. Elan Vital USA was sustained through donations and material sales, with 1,964 volunteer contributors in the US. Elan Vital United Kingdom was a registered not-for-profit organization with goals and concerns similar to its US counterpart.

In Australia, Elan Vital was also a non-profit organization with similar goals. It was stated that the organization consisted almost entirely of volunteers who, through their investment of time, skills, and donations, supported the effort to make Prem Rawat's teachings as accessible as possible to those interested.

Elan Vital Germany was liquidated from 2001 and finally dissolved in 2003, similar to the Elan Vital organizations in other European countries. The tendency was that the Prem Rawat Foundation ( The Prem Rawat Foundation, TPRF ), established in 2001, increasingly took over its functions, while Elan Vital lost its importance. At the same time, independent local action groups of sponsors of Prem Rawat's teaching had spontaneously formed in a decentralized manner in order to promote its dissemination in various ways.

Teaching

The article Prem Rawat deals with the intellectual-historical background of the teaching . Similarities between the teaching and the line of Sant Mat are recognizable and are particularly clearly reflected in lectures and publications from the years 1970 to 1980. Maharaji's teaching also shows similarities with the Radhasoami movement. According to scholars z. As well as the Sikhism from a series of Sant - gurus emerged.

The common moment of the above teachings is the presence of a living Master. It was only after the death of the original masters (“Sant”) that respective religions were created by surviving students, while at the same time and independently subsequent living masters - often unrecognized - endeavored to present and impart non-formulable or codifiable “knowledge” .

This knowledge ( "Knowledge") could by Prem Rawat by regularly practicing the four he learned concentrative techniques are acquired, their effectiveness will however only result from the interaction with other conditions: contact with the Master through participation (in the form of DVDs and the like) in his courses, furthermore participation (assistance or donations for Prem Rawats projects). The aim is to guide the students into a lifelong development process with the aim of permanent experience of knowledge .

It is an inner knowing. Prem Rawat states that expectations of the outer world with its ephemeral happiness are obstacles on the way to knowledge . Conceptual thinking ( "mind" ) is unsuitable for experiencing inner reality and needs to be supplemented by one's own mentally undisguised feeling. You can only know for sure what you feel yourself. The knowledge enables the student to gain clarity in this regard. While in the Indian / Hindu tradition great importance is attached to the fact that teachers or gurus can show a long series of predecessors as proof of tradition and authenticity, Prem Rawat at most refers to his father and teacher Shri Hans Ji Maharaj and gives more suggests that he does not derive his actual legitimation from origin or tradition, but solely from the actual personal experience of fulfillment and inner peace, which he can convey to anyone who comes to him with an open heart. He does not teach religion, philosophy or way of life.

Anyone interested in Prem Rawat's teachings can have a multilingual website, the "keys" (keys) Request. These consist of a six-stage teaching program, which was created by Prem Rawat to prepare for the introduction to the techniques. Each “key” contains several hours of video material on DVD. The sixth “key” is a DVD on which Prem Rawat shows and explains the actual techniques. The introduction to the techniques is free.

practice

Prem Rawat lives with his family in the USA and travels around the world for most of the year. Trying to be culturally neutral, he concentrates on what he calls the “Universal Message of Peace”. The use of mentors and instructors in smaller groups has been abandoned in favor of recorded or live-streamed personal instruction from Rawat. Students must be of legal age. The Prem Rawat Foundation states that the practice of knowledge has no connection or compatibility issues with religious or spiritual belief systems.

Techniques of knowledge

The techniques of knowledge consist of four different concentration exercises, which should be practiced one after the other in a certain order for 15 minutes each. According to Prem Rawat, they represent a way "to turn all the senses that have been directed outwards for a lifetime, to turn them inwards in order to feel and experience oneself". The techniques were taught to him by his father, Shri Hans Ji Maharaj . He had it from his teacher Swarupanand . The website “Maharaji.org” (1999) contained a series of “masters” tracing back to 1780 who referred to the techniques of knowledge , including Tota Puri , Anandpuri Ji , Dayal Ji , Swarupanand Ji and Shri Hans Ji Maharaj . Before that, the origins of the techniques are lost to the archaic roots of yoga teaching (" Raja Yoga "). According to George D. Chryssides , this knowledge is based on self- image , gives the practitioner balance, peace and contentment. Prem Rawat emphasized that this knowledge was by its nature not Indian but universal. Stephen J. Hunt writes that every individual should seek this true self within themselves and that this can only be achieved with the help and guidance of a teacher. Prem Rawat's students do not see themselves as members of a religion, but as followers of a teaching system that emphasizes the greatest possible enjoyment of life as the goal.

The experience of knowing is described by practitioners as highly internal and individual. According to students, Prem Rawat instructs them to practice the techniques for at least one hour a day to get the full benefit. In introducing the techniques, the student is required to make three promises to Prem Rawat: a) to keep in touch with him, b) to give the knowledge a fair chance, and c) not to show these techniques to anyone. If the student agrees, the techniques will be explained in detail and practiced in a 2½ hour session.

Prem Rawat and his students emphasize that the experience of knowledge is not possible with the techniques without guidance and preparation by the master . The techniques alone are not the knowledge , but only the possibility of access to an unlimited lifelong inner development. It is strongly recommended to use the "key" (see above, "teaching") to prepare for the introduction to the techniques.

history

In the 1970s, ashrams (monastery-like living communities) according to Indian tradition were initially opened as bases for the dissemination of teaching and also in terms of a protective environment . The condition for moving into an ashram was to commit oneself to non-possession and sexual abstinence for the duration of the stay. Elan Vital attaches importance to the statement that these conditions had nothing to do with the actual experience of knowledge , but were only considered as requirements for life in the Ashram.

With the onset of reforms to which Prem Rawat had been subjecting the movement since the early 1980s, the ashrams were closed. The initially clearly Hindu superstructure including vocabulary was abolished. Events were internationalized and freed from Hindu elements and rituals. Rawat's title Guru Maharaj Ji was changed to Maharaji ; the earlier mahatmas (initially mostly from India, who followed a monastic lifestyle, were teachers of Prem Rawat) were mostly dismissed or withdrew to India with Prem Rawat's mother and brother. The helpers who remained or were newly appointed in the West, who were initially authorized to introduce the techniques, were called initiators or instructors , without any rules of the order. For some years now, however, this introduction has only been carried out by Prem Rawat himself or by video software he created under the supervision of voluntary helpers.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Rawat and Elan Vital began to appear more intensely. Since then there have been ongoing efforts to raise Prem Rawat's public profile through charity work ( The Prem Rawat Foundation ) and support from academic and political circles. In summer 2008 z. B. Rawat gave lectures on peace and the like. a. in the Sicilian cities of Palermo and Corleone , sponsored by the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano .

Organizations

  • The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) was founded in 2001 , whose task, in addition to humanitarian aid, is the production of audiovisual and other material.
  • Words of Peace Global (WOPG) was founded in 2008 as an international non-profit foundation and registered in Holland. The task of WOPG is to spread Prem Rawat's teaching. WOPG hosts live events and provides the "keys" as well as written and audiovisual materials. WOPG is financed through donations and the sale of materials and, according to its own information, consists of a network of volunteers in 82 countries worldwide.

Controversy

In 1973 the first groups of disappointed ex-students organized in the USA. Most of the current criticism is based on a group of former followers who call themselves "ex-premies". According to Prem Rawat's biographer Andrea Cagan and other sources, this group has been trying to disrupt Prem Rawat's work since 1997, mainly through the use of the internet and populist media for disinformation and defamation. In the foreground is the claim that he exploits his students in order to enrich himself personally. In contrast, Elan Vital and the Prem Rawat Foundation, which supported his work, reported that Prem Rawat and his family did not receive financial support from these organizations or through attending events or selling materials. He maintains that he entertains himself and his family from private funds as a successful investor and co-founder of new companies. All tax investigations carried out by several countries into tax law and non-profit status, triggered by reports from the ex-premium group, did not result in any charges. Elan Vital was registered as a non-profit organization in the UK. This status was retained even after an official review (due to repeated reports of individual opponents).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Colorado Secretary of State, Business Center.
  2. ↑ Publication of the liquidation of Elan Vital eV in the Hessian State Gazette of March 11, 2002 No. 10/2002 No. 2784
  3. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated December 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. key @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / thekeys.maharaji.net
  4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrRAx88mg-w
  5. ↑ name = "Stephen J. Hunt"> Hunt, Stephen J .: Alternative Religions: A Sociological Introduction, pp. 116-7, Ashgate Publishing Ltd., (2003) ISBN 0-7546-3410-8 .
  6. ↑ George D. Chryssides: Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements pp.210-1 , Scarecrow Press (2001), ISBN 0-8108-4095-2 .
  7. ↑ Dignità e prosperità per la pace, La Sicilia , July 2nd, 2008
  8. ↑ Andrea Cagan: Peace is possible. Prem Rawat - his life, his way (2007), pp. 328-332, ISBN 978-3-85219-031-0
  9. ↑ http://www.indopedia.org/Criticism_of_Prem_Rawat.html

literature

Web links