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.

Can you imagine all the trips all of us combined have been through? All of us. We've been through so many things, so many different things, going almost infinitely out there. And we all come to that point of going, "Is this it?" There is something that is really calling us deep within. We feel that it's God, it's a power, it's an energy, a force, or whatever you call it, that's sustaining our lives, and somehow we're really drawn to that because it is all-powerful, and we know that we are just human beings. All men are really, really drawn to that, seeking for something that's perfect. Maybe we go out externally, but the one who is that energy and that power and that love lets us realize that it's not out there. It's something that is with us all the time. We always have it, it's just that we didn't know.

One of my favorite stories is about the musk deer, which is a deer that has the scent of musk in its navel. The scent is very, very alluring to the deer. He always smells it, and he knows it's really near, so he just goes to this tree, or to this branch, or right over here, and he's always running and running. He goes, "I know it's really close. It must be in this," or, "It must be over here," "It must be over here," and, "It must be over here." He keeps running until finally he just completely exhausts himself. His search goes on and on and on.

The funny thing (well, it's not really funny), is that the musk is in its own navel. He had it within him, but he never really realized it. And we have something within us that is so beautiful, so calm, so powerful. it's something that is really attractive to mankind. He searches for it in so many different ways, and he touches on it. But now in this time, Guru Maharaj Ji has come, and he's the musk deer who knows where the musk is. So he just goes around and says, "Why are you searching, searching, searching? Out here, you're just gonna run yourselves to death, and then that's the end, and what have you accomplished?" He comes and tells us what this thing is that we're looking for, and where it is. It's not "out there." We don't have to go somewhere to get to it. It's within us. it's within every human being -- every man, every woman, every child, every living being in this world. And we have the opportunity to find out what this is and then to go into it and really feel the satisfaction that this secret brings.

You know, we call it a secret, but it's really no secret. it's the simplest thing, the most beautiful thing, the most practical thing. And it's just so easy. Every human being, no matter who they are, can really understand this, can really get to a point where they realize that this is within them.

When we went on this tour of the Pacific, it was a really beautiful experience. Everywhere we went, people would look at Premlata, and if we were in, say, the South Pacific islands, they'd say, "Oh, you're a Samoan baby," or, when we were in Japan, people would say, "Oh, she's Japanese." They would look at Maharaj Ji and do the same thing. Every country would relate in that way to Maharaj Ji. But he's not here to establish sects that we put ourselves in, whether it's religion, or caste, or color, or creed, or whatever you want to call it. Guru Maharaj Ji is saying, "Forget all that. Those are just barriers. Those are just concepts that we've formed about ourselves and about each other." We group ourselves in these little things because we feel secure when there is more than us, and we kind of cling to it. But Guru Maharaj Ji is saying, "Just forget all concepts. You're not black. You're not white. You're not yellow.

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You're not pink. You're not a color. That's not you. You're not an American, you're not a German, you're not an Indian; you're not a certain thing that sometimes we think we are."

We have this identity that we think we are, and Maharaj Ji comes and just lays it all down. He gives us something that is really real, something that doesn't change from day to day. Our concepts and our idea of who we are is really changeable. it's in time, and as each new situation comes, it changes. But Maharaj Ji has shown us something that's really real, that doesn't change. And that's this Knowledge. This is it. That's all we can say. Sometimes I feel like I just want to share this so, so badly with everyone. When I experience something really beautiful, it's like, okay, it's really beautiful, but if it's really, really wonderful, I just want to share it. I just want to say, "Hey, come here. Look at that. Isn't that beautiful? Look at that sunset," or "Look at this." It's just so beautiful to share it with someone, and then the two together feel like they're really into something together, and they're experiencing something together.

This Knowledge is the thing that we really, really can experience together, because it's the thing that is everlasting. It's something that is always with us. It doesn't change. And it gets so beautiful that we feel like it can't get any more beautiful; this is too much. Yet it still keeps getting more beautiful. It's like we've finally found someone who really, really loves us.

In a lot of relationships we call "love," we say, "Well, I love you," and then something happens and we get mad, we get angry. Where did that love go? That's why there's so much separation in this world, or divorce, or whatever you want to call it. People are only loving the surface, so when it's gone, it's just gone. Then they say, "Where is it?"

But this love that Guru Maharaj Ji shows us, that is within us, this is something that is always there. And it gets more beautiful, and more beautiful, and more beautiful all the time. It's like he opened the door to our hearts, and it just comes pouring out. It keeps going and going. It's never-ending and ever-giving. It's really just too much to try to talk about.

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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.