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.

When The Teacher Comes Back

"Knowledge stays the same, the holy curiosity and curiosity is holy, stays the same, the desire to want to know stays the same and when that fulfillment happens in one's life the joy of that fulfillment stays the same but we change, our attitudes change, the way we look at things changes and what that Master does, amazingly enough that it takes that thing, that experience, that Knowledge and makes it real, tangible, comprehendible to the people of his time so that they may experience that as if the same thing was being experienced by any other generation and therefore Knowledge is kept alive and not thrown in the doctrine, not thrown in the dogma but is kept totally awakened, alive and separated by that teacher. When that teacher is not there it immediately firms and becomes a dogma and a doctrine. When the teacher comes back he takes it back out of dogma and doctrine and makes it a living experience for the living people and that's what it's all about." (Heartfelt, awed applause from the "students" of Prem Rawat)

Excerpted from the video "Contact", a Visions International (a division of Elan Vital Inc) production, released in 1988. It is based upon the "Rejoice events" that occurred the year earlier when Prem Rawat began to reinvigorate his moribund organisation after his years "underground". It is, as is usual in these videos, a combination of footage of his speeches or "satsangs", footage of him going to and from meetings and airports, personal testimony from some of his younger and/or more attractive devotees or "students", footage of him flying his personal jet, the nearly obligatory dancing scene and ends with pictures of he and his devotees laughing over a soundtrack of an inspirational, devotional ballad, in this case 'Need To Feel It'. It also includes footage of him in India with Wet Dhoti Holi scenes, flying his helicopter and of his $125,000 glider in flight, presumably as a metaphor for the flight of his students' souls in blissful devotion to their Master.

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.