Satpal Maharaj | |
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Constituency | Garhwal |
Personal details | |
Born | 21 September 1951 Haridwar, Uttarakhand |
Political party | INC |
Spouse(s) | Amrita Rawat[1] |
Satpal Maharaj (Satpal Singh Rawat, also called Maharaji,[2] formerly also known as Bal Bhagwan Ji, born 21 September 1951[3]) is a member of the lower house of the Parliament of India (15th Lok Sabha) for the Indian National Congress party.
He is also the guru of the Manav Utthan Seva Samiti, an off-shoot of the Divine Light Mission.
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Satpal Maharaj was born in Kankhal,[4] in the Haridwar district, the eldest son of Hans Ji Maharaj, leader of the Divine Light Mission (DLM), and Hans Ji Maharaj's second wife, Rajeshwari Devi, also known as Mata Ji.[5] Satpal Maharaj was educated at St. George's College, Mussoorie.
On Hans Ji's death in 1966 Satpal's youngest brother, Prem Rawat (called "Balyogeshwar" at the time), became the spiritual leader of the DLM at age eight.[5] Satpal and Mata Ji acknowledged the young Prem Rawat as the "perfect master",[5] but acted as regents on account of his age.[2][6] The young Prem Rawat became known internationally as Guru Maharaj Ji, while Satpal was known as Bal Bhagwan Ji at this time.
At age 22, together with American antiwar activist Rennie Davis, Satpal was a key organizer of the DLM's Millennium '73 festival held in Houston, Texas, which was reported to be a dismal failure and precipitated changes in the mission.[7][8] Following Prem's marriage to a westerner, Mata Ji removed him as DLM leader and made Satpal its head and Satguru. Legal disputes between the brothers resulted in a settlement giving control over the movement in India to Satpal in 1975, later renamed Manav Utthan Seva Samiti (MUSS), while the Western movement remained under Prem's control.[5]
The self-published history of the Manav Utthan Seva Samiti reports a smooth transition and succession to his father, and omits any mention of the scandal around the family feud that split the movement.[9]
Today, Maharaj is the head of the Manav Utthan Seva Samiti.[2] He teaches the meditation techniques called "Knowledge".[2] The movement has students and ashrmas all across the globe having its head office in India. It claims millions of members and has events that regularly draw 100,000 people or more to its ashrams in Haridwar and New Delhi.[2] According to Lise McKean in the book Divine Enterprise: Gurus and the Hindu Nationalist Movement, in the Samiti cult of the holy family, Maharaj, his wife Amrita Rawat and their two sons are worshipped as divine beings, with individual members of the holy family held to represent diverse aspects of divinity.
The MUSS has an associated volunteer organisation, the Manav Sewa Dal, founded by Maharaj in 1976.[10][11]
Maharaj is a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) party. He was elected to parliament from Garhwal in 1996 for the 11th Lok Sabha, serving two years. He served as Union Minister for Railroads in 1996 and for Finance in 1997. He was elected again in 2009 for the 15th Lok Sabha[4] In 2010, he was the head of the 20-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence.[12]
His wife Amrita is also in politics, currently holding a seat for the INC on the Pauri Garhwal Legislative Assembly.[13]
In 1988 the MUSS Premnagar ashram in Hardwar was given to the INC for a training camp for party workers that was attended by Rajiv Gandhi.[14]
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