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.

ITALY

FROM A CLEAR PLACE

Excerpts from Prem Rawat's satsang in Riva de Garda, Italy 18 May 1976.

p09 (49K) We can really make it beautiful. Our main objective is to understand Knowledge and if we can understand and come from a really clear place, from a really beautiful place, from the place where we should be, then our directions will be clear, then we will know what to do. Then when we'll be given an agya, when we'll be given a service, we will really know how to do it well. So we have to come from a clear place ourselves, and to be able to come from a clear place ourselves, we have to do meditation, and we have to understand Knowledge, because everything revolves around Knowledge.

Divine Light Mission was founded by Shri Maharaj Ji so many years ago, because he wanted to spread this Knowledge, and if we're not coming from a clear place today, then what is going to happen is that this world is not going to realize Knowledge. If we're coming from a wrong place, if we are coming from a completely wrong place, not from a clear place, then it's going to delay everything more and more and more and more, and as I said, too many people are involved in it. As a matter of fact, many people around the world are involved.

So, if all the premies come from a clear point, then they can really become the instruments to help spread this Knowledge all around the world. It's like a dirty lens is not going to take very good pictures, and so we all have to become clear, we all have to realize, and we all have to really look in our hearts, understand Knowledge, do meditation and get clear, so that we can be in peace and henceforth bring the whole world into peace.

Thank you very much.

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.