The circumstances of violence between Satpal and Prem's respective Indian followers occurred (but may not have been confined to) the 74-76 period. Although on at least one occasion the police were directly involved there are no published contemporary reports that identify the warring factions as belonging to the camps of the brothers Rawat. Both sides seem to have engaged 'deniability'.

I am aware of one western premie who had first hand experience of an attack by one set of followers on an ashram held by the 'other side' - and this seemed to be the pattern of the 74-76 conflict. The UK WPC (World Peace Corp) that was 'attached' to Raja Ji in the mid to late 70s was 'briefed' on this inter ashram violence - this included reports of attackers using guns and knives with resulting serious injuries and deaths.

It seems unlikely that any direct proofs of these events will now surface unless someone can show that contemporary police and newspaper reports can be linked to the Prem or Sat Pal ashrams of the time. What is important though is to disperse the myth of religion, belief, meditation or devotion as being prophylactics against violence. Communal religious violence in India is rife and the Rawat religion is not immune - the individual violence of mahatmas Fakiranand (hammer attack), Jagdeo (child rape), Sampurand (human trafficking) is symptomatic of an underlying malaise that ran unaddressed through all level of the Divine Light Mission. It must be remembered that Hans Ji was for a time associated with the militaristic Arya Somage and although he broke with the AS his own creation, the WPC was developed on AS organisational principles - and Hans Ji never seems to have given any balancing prominence to the Gandhian principles of non violence and tolerance.

As for Prem - his early orations were frequently aggressive in tone and the (at least subliminal - Rawat as Krishna) reference to the Bhagavad-gita - a work predicated on the divinity of war -, set up a paradigm in which personal 'peace' was 'priced' on the inevitability of public conflict.

It's not difficult to see Prem's own violence (albeit a violence that is mostly characterised by a clinical removal from physical contact) - the trainings, the concentration camp of DECA, his sexual predation on devotees, his sustained infidelity toward his wife - as being part of this same paradigm of personal peace (sociopathic gratification) set against an acceptance of violence experienced by others who are mere ciphers of a shadow reality.

Makes you glad you had all those soooo soooo bea-utiful experiences doesn't it ?

Nik