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.
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I just, I just wanted to tell the premies that I just feel like we're all sharing so much love today. I know, I know I am. I just - it's a completely amazing day. Just - love's completely taken over and I, I can tell that it's just happening everywhere, that premies all over are feeling that it's just a very special day. I'm just happy we're all experiencing it together. Jai Satchitanand. |
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Just three months after the incredible sequence of North American programs began, Guru Maharaj Ji stepped aboard a small private jet in Miami and winged his way to Europe to give the premies there a big dose of the love he had been showering here. |
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It's A Little Game Guru Maharaj Ji's Satsang in Montpellier, France on April 3, 1977 Because I tell you, I've been trying to think of this one committee maybe we could make, where everybody would just like pay a certain amount of money to this committee, and then this committee could arrange the program. We could cut down the price of registration. Maybe we could cut down everything, so that maximum premies could attend. Maybe we could do something ultra-fantastic, so that every premie in the whole world could come and attend every program. Not just one. Not just two. But every program. (cheering). But the thing is, that's not a dreamt dream; it can be real. It can become a reality. |
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Moving Ahead - The European Conferences - "Our general direction, first of all, should be straight. What are we trying to do? What are we trying to accomplish? Well … what are we trying to accomplish?" Maharaj Ji asked, just before providing the answer. "To me, clearly, one of our clear dreams is that most of the people receive Knowledge."
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Be Surrendered Guru Maharaj Ji's Satsang in Munich, Germany on April 10, 1977 What makes, what makes Shri Maharaj Ji, what makes Guru Maharaj Ji, so superior? If what He's revealing is not realistic, if it doesn't exist? How come …" And it was like, to me, he was my father, and there was an extreme genuine respect. And it was like everyone in our family, everybody had a lot of respect. And all of the premies who lived at the residence had a lot of respect. And everything was pretty much kept straight on the nose. But there was a lot of respect, there was a lot of love, and then there was something else, you know? There was fatherly, and there was - that relationship that we had - it was there and it was extremely beautiful. There was fear. Fear of love. Fear because we respected him. But besides all that, there was something far more superior that that when he came to a satsang program, thousands of these premies realized, thousands of these premies gave in, and it was immaculate, you know? |
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"We want that one dollar, that one cent, that one dime, that that person gives to us to be out of complete surrender. That is how it is going to be successful."
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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.