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.
If we just try to simulate reality in our lives, then believe me, reality is not going to come in front of us the way we want. Reality is going to stay reality, and that is why there is so much dissatisfaction in this world, because people want to simulate satisfaction, people want to simulate that great happiness they once experienced in their lifetime. That is why they go off doing whatever they do in this world, to have that power they think is happiness. No, no, no. Power is not happiness. Maybe I think if I own everything, that is happiness; or maybe I think if I just leave everything, then that is happiness. But happiness is happiness. And we have to realize the way happiness comes, that there is a certain pattern to it.
That pattern - which is satsang, service, meditation, and our effort - is not going to happen, it's really not going to take place, until we have evaluated our lives, "Do we really want happiness, do we really want peace, that inner peace, do we really want satisfaction?" And if we want satisfaction, then, yes, it all begins for us, right from that point.
But if we are just a comedian or an extremely nosey person who just wanted to know what was going on in that hall that night, then I don't know at what point we're going to end up, I really don't know. But I know that if you have sincerely told yourself and really do believe that you want happiness and that you want satisfaction, then you are going to dedicate that step in doing so. And then, if you have made that decision, not because, as I said, you were just a nosey person or a comedian, but because you really wanted to do so, then it's going to start snapping in your life. Then you're really going to dedicate yourself to satsang, service and meditation. And the true decision is going to start happening. We can go on from that point, but first we have to realize the importance of Knowledge, that, "Yes, this is what I want." Then we have to understand the three parts: "Well, what is satsang? What is the importance of satsang? What is service? What is the importance of service? What is meditation and what is the importance of meditation?"
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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.