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.
Guru Maharaj Ji was thirteen when he spoke these words beside the Pacific Ocean, on August 5, 1971.
The nature of sea is very calm. Very calm. But when the seashore comes in front of the sea, the calmness is hidden away back.
And you can see great waves on the seashore. That ocean is filled with mercy. Kindness is there. And truth is always there. It is so calm that when a drop mixes with that… such satisfaction of mind, such peace, you can't even think of it. So fantastic.
And that ocean is endless. Endless. This ocean we can see in maps, but that ocean is endless. And what is this? When a wave rises and falls on human beings who are trying to bathe, mercy comes over them. Mercy comes. They feel mercy of God, they feel kindness of God.
When a man actually tries to read this nature, he'll find. The beautiful fruits, beautiful birds, kind green nature, nature, and beautiful sunset, beautiful sunrise and birds chirping, the blue heaven, with calm and quiet nature, and the whole thing, the whole atmosphere, so kind, so nice; nobody can experience that. But when man just tries to enter…
Feel a leaf, so smooth, so soft, so kind. It is nature. Smell a eucalyptus tree. So nice. Smell a rose and try to enjoy the beauty of rose. So nice. These are the little drops of His mercy that He has given to us. The beautiful red apple, filled with sweetness. Flowers filled with scent. So many. Jasmine, rose, and every one having a different, different, different. So many colors. Without a brush, without a tube, but beautiful colors. And changing colors. This is nature.
And in a little seed, many apples and a huge tree. Hidden in a little seed. That is its nature. That is little drops of His mercy. And His little drops of mercy, we can't even imagine them. How can we imagine that ocean where it is always mercy? But there are the little drops.
When we are eating apple, we feel something very nice. Leave it, O.K. But where there is always mercy, and no end of mercy. And I, what am I? Many big, big saints even, can't write His glory of that ocean.
This ocean, big huge wave will come and overturn that ship. But in that ocean, if a ship is overturned, it will be made O.K. That is His kindness.
A saint has said that He has done a very wonderful thing in this world. I can't be judge over it, I'm just writing my idea. That over a little idea, He wrote the whole story, and over the story, He made it true. And what a man could imagine to be a fairy tale, to be a magical thing, He brought it to be the natural thing.
So this is His mercy. Many, many books, big fat books are notable to describe His mercy or that ocean where the soul has to plunge. How can I describe that? Have you seen beautiful birds? How beautiful they look. Have you seen that blue sky, blue heaven? How beautiful it looks. These are only little drops of that ocean.
Impressions.
But even then it looks so beautiful.
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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.