Prem Rawat (Prem Pal Singh Rawat) whose devotees call him Maharaji (meaning Ultimate Ruler) first came to attention in the West as Guru Maharaj Ji - the self-proclaimed Perfect Master and Lord of the Universe ridiculed in the media as a fat, squeaky-voiced God boy. He had inherited his titles and position as the Satguru, The True Revealer of Light and Spiritual Master of the Divine Light Mission, India (Divya Sandesh Parishad) when his father died in 1966. His father, Hans Rawat, was a successful Indian guru, self titled HRH (His Royal Highness) Yogiraj Param Sant Satgurudev Shri Hans Ji Maharaj. As a child the youngest Rawat son was informally called Sant Ji, more formally Balyogeshwar ("Born King of the Yogis") and even more formally Param Sant Satgurudev Shri Sant Ji Maharaj. In the West Rawat dropped these more verbose titles in the early 1980's and instructed his followers to call him Maharaji. He has also changed the names of his organisations many times: Divine Light Mission (DLM), World Welfare Association (WWA), World Peace Corps (WPC) and Divine United Organisation (DUO) became Elan Vital in the early 1980's and in 2001 The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) was created and from 2010 his major orgs are Words Of Peace Global (WOPG) registered in Holland, Words of Peace International (WOPI) in the USA, HDSK (Human Development through Self Knowledge) in Great Britain and Raj Vidya Kender (Royal Knowledge Society) in India. He no longer claims to be an Incarnation of God but an internationally famous humanitarian leader and teacher of peace. He's neither.

TPRF Thank You 2005

This CD was sent out to followers of Prem Rawat whose financial contributions to The Prem Rawat Foundation during the previous year met a minimum standard.

Transcripts of Rawat's speeches cannot do justice to Rawat's astonishing delivery, they have to be heard to be appreciated. Mp3 copies of these excerpts are recorded at high quality (256Kbps) to ensure no whispered nuance or frenzied climax is missed.

• Track 1: "Who am I? A person who is given an opportunity to exist, to exist, to be, no holds barred, a book with many pages but all blank, and a pen, write, write on this book what you want to write, write carefully, be articulate, place your commas well, place your commas well because that space is needed in life. Respect your periods, don't put too many and don't put too few. Resolve in this every paragraph of life, resolve all conflicts. Make it read well because this is your book, this is your book, this is your life, this is our existence and sometimes we forget, we forget what is under process here, what is being created here, what is being made here. This construction site is no ordinary construction site. Done well it will be better, done well it will be better and more beautiful than Mona Lisa, done well and chezooled (chiselled) well it will be more grand that the statue of David. It'll be more magnificent that the Sistine Chapel and who will be the judge of this? Who will be the admirer, who will be the one who will stand back and say "Yep, this looks good!" None other, than you. None other, than you. Then prepare yourself to have those eyes of simplicity that can truly admire the magnificence that is possible here. Then prepare those eyes of simplicity, that heart and that understanding of simplicity so when you stand in front of that portrait that you have managed to paint then you will be able to admire it. Admiration and simplicity are the guardian angels of this beautiful experience called peace. They are the towers because without that admiration of what I have been given, who I am, what I have, how do I begin, what do I write because my general in this life cannot be of all the disappointments. It is not a question of being optimistic, it is a question of being a realist and of all the things that have come and gone in my life there is one ting that keeps coming and coming and coming every day and it is this breath. What can I say? It comes. Where it comes from I don't know, where it goes I don't know and it brings me this gift of life as it comes as it touches me again and again and again and I have, if I listen to my heart, it wants to thank, because it has touched (music)"
  
  
• Track 2: "We appease and work on appeasing so many in our family. We have our children, we have our relatives and, you know, that's a function we have to do, appease them. And if we do it right, perhaps they will try to appease us. It's a trade, (embarrassed laughter) let me scratch your back, maybe one day you'll scratch my back. But what if I have not appeased that part of me, the fundamental part of me. A gentleman once said to me, it was actually in an interview and he came home one day and as he entered his home his eldest son heard that he had walked in and he said, "Dad, I'm not going to school tomorrow unless you get me new shoes and unless you get me a new bag." And when his younger son heard the elder son make the demands, he came out with "Dad, I'm not going to school unless I've got new shoes and I've got a new bag." And when the wife heard two of the sons talking to the husband, she came out and she said "Here is the list and if you don't get the stuff, I'm not cooking for you tomorrow."The man had had, had a relatively hard a at work and he sat down and he started crying. And he started crying cause he said to himself, "I work so hard to make them happy but if I'm not happy, how am I going to make them happy?" You see, the things I talk about, you know. I'm not here to talk about your deficiencies. . I'm not here to talk about how you can be made better. There's a lot of people who go around doing that, recognise, identify deficiency, provide a formula how you can be better. My message to everyone is "You're the best You're amazing. You're not about Made in Taiwan or Made in China or Made in America or Made in Australia." You're about made by somebody absolutely amazing, who absolutely knows what they're doing. And made for . The biggest question, made for, what? What is it one thing, you hears in history books and "it was a time of prosperity" and followed by "and people were happy", people were happy, people liked the king, people were happy. When a person feels that peace in their lives, believe me, happiness is not far behind. It's there. And as that gentleman said "How can I make them happy if I am not happy? It is true. Of all the things you do, all the things you do, if you find yourself not in that place, yes, you can do what you do but fundamentally something in that equation will be missing. The sum of everything that is going to happen in your life, the sum. There's no one who's not going to make mistakes, we all do. We're gonna do wonderful things, we're gonna do good things, we're gonna do some . not so good things. There's gonna be some things we really wish everybody talked about, and we're gonna do things we wish nobody would talk about. And it's not about those days that are bad, it's about the sum of all that we have done. The sum of what did we really accomplish as a human being cause that's what we were when we first came, not a name, but this being and that had it's unique set of needs, hunger, sleep, thirst and we went through the evolution of growing up and growing up may sound evolutionary but really it was always a revolution. Something, something, something, something, something, something. And we learnt and we forgot and we understood and somehow, in certain areas we became stronger and in certain areas we became weak and always to plough ahead, always to move ahead, always to have that opportunity in our lives for one more time, one more opportunity, one more day and to make it good and to make it right and not just live in a routine, to be free. The thought of freedom, not contrived freedom, not a defined freedom but a true freedom, to be free."
  
  
• Track 3: "What have I done, what have I done today to make my day content? After all what I have been given is not a joke. I have been given the power to feel and we know that human sorrow can be mighty, human pain can be mighty and we also know that human joy can be mighty. What have I done today to secure my prosperity towards joy, to secure that happiness for myself, what have I done today? Have I begun to listen to those fundamental needs that I have, needs, that say "Be content." What was the essence of those words that said "Know Thyself"? Indeed, we know our neighbours better than we know ourselves. When neighbour does something, it's like "I know that, that's predictable." When we do things it's like, "Whoa, what happened? How did I, how did I do that? I can't believe I did that" and here the neighbour does everything from, you know, 9 o'clock to 5 o'clock and you know everything "Yep, yeah that's my neighbour, yeah I know everything, that's, that's him, he's taking a shower now he's falling down the stairs, now he's making his coffee, now he's doing this, now he just fell off the roof. Ha ha." That's what Shakespeare said, "Nothing is more pleasing than watching your neighbour fall off the roof." And what about you? "Whoa, I don't know what happened today, I don't know what happened today. What was that? It's like, I know that I am getting older memory is getting questionable, questionable at best, sometimes you just look around a go "Hmm, have I been here before?" What have I done? What have I did today? And if all the things that I can do and if all the things that I could have possibly done, if I did that one thing to acknowledge my thirst in my life then I did something to secure that joy in my life. Good, good. Just recently I was speaking in London and I came, I gave an ex, an analogy of practice and this was a little Chinese story that I came across when I was in China and there was an archer, he came to town and he was exhibiting his talents and he was showing off and he was wonderful, he was right, incredible marksman, right, one arrow after another, righ on the dot and there was a guy standing in the back of the crowd and instead of cheering him kept saying "Ah it's just a matter or practice, just a matter of practice, just a matter of practice. Well certainly this archer thought a lot of himself and did not like this comment. He was, he was expecting praise and he did nto like the comment, "just a matter of practice, just a matter of practice." So he got fairly turned off and went over the the guy and said "What do you mean?" really upset, "What do you mean it's just a matter of practice. Can you do what I can do?" He goes, "Well no but let me show you something and so he took because this guy used to sell oil, he took a bottle which had a very narrow opening, long tube and then a bowl in the bottom and he was able to take this big container of oil and pour the oil where it went right through that little opening, right through that bottle and not a drop spilt. And he looked at the archer and said "Can you do that?" And the archer realised that no, he couldn't do that, he hadn't, he hadn't any practice doing that, and he goes "I can't shoot that arrrows like you but you can't pour the oils like me, it's a matter of practice." No, what's the point of telling that story. The next question is, what do you practice? Cause unvariably whatever you practice you're gonna get good at it and this isn't a question of good ro bad. If you practice cheat and deceit, you're gonna get good at cheat and deceit. If you practice complaining, you're gonna get very good at complaining. I mean you'll be ablt to complain about everything. Without batting an eye or having a second thought, it will be a flow. When all your friends are standing there looking at the big harvest moon, beautiful night and everybody in almost tears and in awe of this beautiful, beautiful evening you'll be able to pull out of your hat without a second thought something to complain about. "Yeah, but it's so dark." So what so you practice in your life because if you practice peace in your life, you're gonna get good at it, you're gonna get very good at it. If you practice joy in your life, you're gonna get very good at it. If you practice happiness in your life, you're gonna get very, very good at it. If you practice knowing yourself in your life, you're gonna get very, very good at it and you will know who you are."
  
  
• Track 4: "Somebody once said, and it's very true, that all our lives we are very busy making money. In fact so busy making money that we lose our health so that we can make money only to turn around and spend all that money in trying to gain back our health. Justifications are many, rationales are many but realities are few. Rationales do not change reality. Explanations do not change the truth and your existence is incredibly precious and regardless of whether you pay attention to it or not. But today, today the sun rose and you awoke and what did you think of? Your part about your responsibilities. How do I know? How do I know this? How do I know this? Cause that's what we all do. We all, I'm not excluding myself. You see, I'm not excluding myself. I'm not saying I don't need peace. I'm here to tell you about peace. I don't need peace. I'm not excluding myself. I'm saying, I need peace, too, like you do. I am in the same boat as you are, and that's what makes me infinitely more qualified to talk about it. If I were in some other boat, this would just be wise ideas, theories, but I am in the same boat. And then you hear about the frailty. Yesterday, I got up, everything was going Okay, okay. Trying to get my emails, trying to log onto the computer and then somebody came and said to me that a very good friend of mine passed away. And I stopped and thought about it. And I said "Did you say that?" And I understood in that moment - once again I understood in that moment - how precious life is and once again I understood in that moment that no day can be wasted. And once again I understood in that moment that of all the gifts I have been given in my life, the greatest gift that I have been given is the gift of this breath as it comes into me every moment. It is the most non-judgemental gift that I receive. I judge the world and the world judges me and we all play a nice judgement game. "So who are you? And what are you? And what have you accomplished? And what have you not accomplished?" And we have our signs, believe me, we have our signs. Sometimes if I wear really casual clothes I blend in so much wherever I go that people don't pay any attention to me. I like that cause I can disappear. I go to Mexico and people think "He's definitely a Mexican." One time I was in Mexico and I asked directions and the person got very upset becasue I didn't speak to him in Spanish and he was like, "How come you kids go out and come back and you don't speak your own language." But to me I know that I wear the suit and I wear the tie and I'm empowered. People look at me "Oh, somebody important." But I cannot get lost in that because every evening I have to take this off as powerful as it is, as incredibly good as it is, as nice as it is, I can't sleep in it. So you see, it's like every day is like one lifetime: the sun rises and I am born. And then all these things happen. And some things happen and I'm in control of them and some things happen and I'm not in control of them. Some thing happens I like them, some things happen I don't like them. But rather than make judgements, whether good things happen, bad things happen, right things happen, wrong things happen, the sun does set and the eyes do close and and I fall asleep. For me I want every day, this is my ambition, this is not open to the practicalities of whether this is possible or not. Achievement, the truest achievement in this life doesn't happen because somebody overcame some odds but it happens when a person understood in their life that no was not an answer, compromise was not a solution. The greatness of this life, the peace in this existence, the greatness of what we have been given can truly be manifested, when each one of us, each one of us begins to understand that no is not an answer, that compromise is not a solution to realising the greatness of this existence. Some people say immediately "What do I have to sacrifice to do that? I don't have time!" Let's understand the value of time, very humbly I propose to you that time has you, not the other way around. We sometimes in our arrogance forget who's got hold of whom, who's got hold of whom. It's a bit like a big tiger that has you by the neck and you're saying "I got the tiger, see!" (laughter) "I got the tiger!" No, you don't have the tiger, the tiger has you. And we forget that we are influenced by this time. We have only seen one aspect of time and the aspect of time we have seen is age which we, we wanna be all young, spend a lot of money trying to be young, specially in the Western culture that's a major obsession. Young, young, youth, youth, youth. There is another element to time and that's your frailty or your strength. To understand, to see the mortality can either give you, make you weak or make you strong. What do you want to be? What do you want to be? Peace in your life, What do you want it to be? Do you want it to be chaos or do you want it to be peace? Because both are possible, the potential exists for both in every person's existence."
  
  
• Track 5: "In our society we basically build a wall and this wall is what we call the wall of comfort zone. Everything we can make sense out of is on this side and everything we cannot make sense out of belongs on the outside of the wall and its called 'mysterious.' 'Mysterious' is a compromise in understanding the un-understandable so if you want to simply understand the un-understandable you ??? mysterious. How can your life be mysterious? How can your car be mysterious? How can your airplane be mysterious? No, when it comes ot these things we want a qualified pilot up ahead who knows exactly where he's going and what he's gonna do and well-trained by the way, well-trained and knows his business and an aircraft that has been adequately maintained, properly maintained because we are not going to take any risks and when it comes to understanding who we are, it's mysterious, mysterious and I'm sitting there at the window looking out at the wing all of a sudden a part fell off. It was mysterious. Looking at the engine and then this orange glow came out, enveloped the en, just completely enveloped the whole engine and I heard the shudder and I don't know everything was okay then cause we were still flying. Mysterious. That wouldn't be mysterious. There I was sitting and all of a sudden this yellow thing presented itself to me and I looked, where did it come from? No, no, no, no, no, no that's not how we operate when we come to flying an airplane, one little bump and the metals go gloop. Same people who go around riding upside down in these fun rides, sitting in an aircraft going "Eeoorgh, no, no." Hey, you paid, you paid for your trip, for your journey, the fun part is free, the turbulence, the going up and down, going nearly inverted, no charge, compliments of MOther Nature. No. We want to be certain, we don't want to live in uncertainty, we want to be certain and how certain are we about ourselves? How certain are we about this existence? People find this very challenging. I don't because I think when you really look at our basic fundamentals that is where we need to be. We need to be in certainty about ourselves, not uncertainty. We need to be not caught up in mystery but know, in no uncertain terms, know the value of this existence. In no uncertain terms, know the value of this breath. In no uncertain terms, know the desire for peace that we carry in our hearts in no uncertain terms. If I told somebody, please only use half of your body, preserve the other half, use only one hand, one leg. Take the other one, bind it up. Don't use the other one. Close one eye and put an ear plug in the ear. Wyold you do that? It's ridiculous. Ridiculous. And when we talk about the heart, people go "Well, what is that?" That's part of you too. That heart is a part of you too and have you heard it? Have you listened to it? Have you acknowledged it? Or have you just bound it up and said "Well, I'm preserving it." There is another part, the part of the wisdom, the part that again and again and again and again in our lives has beckoned us to be in peace. That part that when we find ourselves in total turmoil says "Hey this is no good, you don't wanna be here. This is not acceptable." That very thing that the child feels, the child cries cause it feels the need and when the need is fulfilled the child no longer cries. What is that? And that same thing is happening to us all the time because that child never died. Remember that one year old isn't dead yet, it's part of you, it still lives. And it's part of you and that two year old is not dead, it's still there, part of you and the three year old and the four and the five and the six and the seven, just as curious, just as fascinated, just as demanding, it's all there and it begins with that one understanding, "I shall have no compromise. That peace can be felt."
  
  
• Track 6: "Because there is the joy, because what you feel in your life from Knowledge, to be able to express it because if it doesn't get expressed then it is a painting that never got painted then it is a song that never got sung,, then it is an instrument that never got played. That feeling has to be expressed, that love has to be expressed and that is important."
  
  
• Track 7: "Because there is the joy, because what you feel in your life from Knowledge, to be able to express it because if it doesn't get expressed then it is a painting that never got painted then it is a song that never got sung,, then it is an instrument that never got played. That feeling has to be expressed, that love has to be expressed and that is important."
  
  
• Track 8: "Because there is the joy, because what you feel in your life from Knowledge, to be able to express it because if it doesn't get expressed then it is a painting that never got painted then it is a song that never got sung,, then it is an instrument that never got played. That feeling has to be expressed, that love has to be expressed and that is important."
  
  

Prem Rawat's "Knowledge" has three parts: regularly listening to his speeches, doing voluntary work for organisations serving him or donating money and daily meditation correctly practicing the four techniques he recommends. The techniques are so simple it's hard to see how they could be practiced incorrectly. First technique ("Divine Light") involves sticking your thumb and middle finger on your eyeballs (NB: with eyes closed) and your index finger between your eyebrows. Second technique: ("Heavenly Music") poking your thumbs into your ears and listening. Third technique: ("Holy Name") thinking about your breathing (NB: continue to breathe). Fourth technique: ("Nectar") curling your tongue backwards and tasting. Rawat's father taught slightly different techniques but either way it's difficult to see how these could produce the benefits claimed for them especially as Rawat claims His Knowledge is the only method of attaining real happiness and love in this life.