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.

Divine Times - June/July 1978 Volume 7, Number 4

Front Cover
Contents Page
Why Are We Here? - Guru Maharaj Ji's satsang by Telephone, from Malibu, California, May 28, 1978 And you just sit there, and all of a sudden you just sort of get lost, all of a sudden you start doing something, or just sitting there, relaxing or something like that, and you lose the focus. I mean, not that you're supposed to maintain that focus 24 hours of your life. But you know, there's so many things going on in this world at this time. And only our commitment, only our dedication to what we really want, is through Guru Maharaj Ji, is through that Master … Because, he has that key! He doesn't even have the key; let's put it this way: He has the solution. He has what we want. Because in him lies the solution. He is the solution.	3
Guru Puja 1970-1977 "A time is coming soon when this world is going to see a great, strange thing happening. A really far out thing is going to be happening. The time is approaching; it's very near. And soon, maybe this world will be able to realize: who is God. Not only believe in Him, but know God exists." "You see, maybe I have been graced to experience this Knowledge all the time, and graced to have this agya to continue giving this Knowledge to people. It's so beautiful; it's just very blissful. I have got every Grace; I have got everything. And to some people, I am their Perfect Master; I am their Lord."	10
One Step Beyond - Raja Ji at the Guru Puja Festival Miami Beach, Florida, July 31, 1977 This person was traveling with Shri Maharaj Ji, and it was during a period when we didn't have any cars. Cars existed, but Shri Maharaj Ji didn't own one, didn't have access to one. And so, they gave a program at a certain place and Shri Maharaj Ji and this person were standing on the road hitchhiking. And Shri Maharaj Ji looked at this person and said, "You know, my car is coming." And suddenly this big car stopped, a big limousine, a Dodge or something. (In India, they always have more prestige than in this country.) And Maharaj Ji just looked and smiled and said, okay, let's go. They sat in the car and they went to their destination, which in this case was a small principality in India."	18
Guru Puja - Satsang and Stories Then Shri Maharaj Ji walked in the room, and that premie got shy; he thought that without agya he should not dare to teach Shri Maharaj Ji's children. So he did pranam, and he said, "Maharaj Ji, I'm very, very sorry. I wouldn't have dared, but he asked me to." Then Shri Maharaj Ji said, "You can teach all of them, but never try to teach the one who is crawling on the floor. Nobody in this world has the power to teach him!" The Young Satguru or Perfect Master, Prem Rawat (Maharaji) I tell you, it's so beautiful that when everybody was freaking out about the family a few years ago, that premie was just weeping in front of premies saying, "Please don't forget who Guru Maharaj Ji is." Then he told us that story, saying that Shri Maharaj Ji had given him this recognition.	22
The Final Step - Guru Maharaj Ji's Satsang at the Shower of Grace, Malibu, California, June 11, 1978 And still, in Ramayana it says that all the gods long to have this body, to be able to experience that Lord, that Guru Maharaj Ji. Look, it's beyond liberation. It's beyond all those things. Beyond all our concepts. In this lifetime, we have the opportunity to realize, to be with, Guru Maharaj Ji. Be it not Guru Maharaj Ji -- you know, maybe they didn't call him Guru Maharaj Ji -- maybe they called him Lord. Anything. To be with that power. To be with that thing. To be not infinite, and yet to be with the infinite. To be here as individuals, and yet to be able to be next to the person who is everything; in which everything is, and he is in everything. Guru Maharaj Ji. The Lord. All-powerful. We are here. And only by Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace can we realize that, and see how divine this whole plan really is.	28
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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.