In addition to the light, God-as-life-force is sensed by those who have received knowledge in interval sounds and vibrations, and in a nectar, supposedly identical to the "living waters" mentioned by Christ.
The guru's teachings as a whole stress immediate experience, avoiding abstraction to the greatest possibly degree. Much of the appeal of the guru's movement is based upon the follower's ability to summon the light at will. "The light is something I can't deny," one devotee said. "It's there every morning when I get up."
The guru's personal appeal is also rooted in the power of direct experience. Maraj Ji is said to be the latest in a long line of Perfect Masters, which include Moses. Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Krishna and Rama.
There is said to be one Perfect Master present on earth at all times. As the world's only living Perfect Master, Maharaj Ji claims that his teachings reveal the basic aim of aal the world's religions.
"You can't run the country with a dead president," said one Mahatma in a warm-up satsang before Majaraj Ji's Saturday address. "To get peace, you must go to a living Perfect Master."
Light-Energy
It is meditation upon the divine light-energy which brings happiness and peace, claims Divine Light Mission. "Life is bliss," said a Mahatma a Friday night MIT satsang. An empty throne, reminder of Maharaj Ji, sat on the stage as he spoke, an Elijah's cup woth microphone attachment.
"Liberation is knowing everything correctly," he added. "What is mortal, you must treat as mortal." The intellect and its ideas are mortal, he explained, and therefore must be subjugated to the one immortality--God.
"Put aside your debates, arguments and cynicism," said a Divine Light official Saturday night. "This is something that can change your life. The aim of life is to follow the Creator and obey him."
Devotees do not believe the guru's teachings to be anti-intellectual. When one receives knowledge, "the mind finds its true place," and ends its "aimless wandering," said a member of the publicity staff of Boston's Divine Light Mission.
The guru has framed a uniquely marketable philosophy. There are no complicated or subtle beliefs, no long reading lists, much room for personal interpretated or subtle beliefs, no long reading lists, much room for personal interpretation and no conflict with existing beliefs. Most importantly, there is the daily reinforcement of meditation--the experience of the Divine Light, which claims no intellectual content, and therefore cannot be challenged by the intellect. Maharaj Ji likens the receiving of knowledge to a pinch--something that cannot be understood until it is experienced.
Divine Light crowds most resemble gatherings of slightly subdued Jesus freaks. (One devotee said that "Jesus freaks are the hardest people to talk to. They say the Bible is the word of God. But there was God before the Bible."
The followers listen closely to the rambling and often repetitive discourses of the Mahatmas, enthusiasm surfacing only in the chants they shout at the beginning and end of each speech. Sitting bolt upright, they seem to hang on to every word with a fascination that is almost childlike in its intensity. Their faith, founded on a common experience, is apparently unassailable as long as the experience remains.
Under it all, there runs a barely detectable consciousness of the improbability of the Divine Light claims. "No one can appreciate more than me how outrageous this whole thing is," ex-radical leader and now devotee Rennie Davis, told a Harvard audience this June. "But it is happening."
Incongruous Americanisms
