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.

Assorted rabbits, devils, yogis, Martians and gorillas assembled with one love in common to celebrate Durga Ji's 25th birthday. The Koala Motor Inn hummed and rocked as the two bands, Harbinger and Band of Angels, had a crowd of ??? premies and friends dancing in fancy dress ???. The cake was near the front of the stage; everything awaited the guest of honour.

The back entrance to the hall was a long, concrete passageway. On a pre-arranged signal, a premie ran onto the stage and waved everyone into silence. This was Maharaj Ji's surprise to Durga Ji. As they stepped from behind the curtains, the crowd erupted into cheers, cries of "Surprise!" and a resounding chorus of "happy Birthday To You". Durga Ji smiled and laughed. She began to cut the cake and placed a slice in Maharaj Ji's mouth. Roses and streamers fell at their feet. The Angels launched into "Holy Name" and after the first buzz and rush of excitement had subdued to a loving concentration on the divine pair, Durga Ji explained her reluctance to go out that evening,

"I was really tired and I couldn't figure out why I was so tired and I remembered we turned the clocks up two hours or back two hours. I said "Oh, you don't want to go out, do you?" and they all said "Yes, yes, let's go out" and I said "I'm really tired". "That's OK, we don't care, let's go out". I was yawning in the car and I was almost ready to fall asleep. They said "We're going to go underground" and I went "Oh brother, I'm not going to make it".

But this is really wonderful, this is really beautiful. Thank you very much and tomorrow Maharaj Ji and I will both give satsang and we'll celebrate again because actually my birthday's loinorrow, too. It's today here and it's tomorrow in the States. So, it's two birthdays. Thank you very much."

They left to cries of "We love you" and Maharaj Ji's exhortation to Mahatma Padarthanand Ji to give satsang.

The birthday cake was distributed as prashad and after a few songs from Harbinger, Mahatma Ji gave satsang about satsang: how it was the first gathering-point for us all, and that along with service and meditation if led us to the climax, darshan. And after darshan? More satsang. The road goes ever on. Smiling with delight, Mahatma Ji explained that by Maharaj Ji's amazing Grace he was able to be in fancy dress 24 hours a day. The foxes and bears and angels cheered, and the tired but blissful premies danced and sang into the night, so happy for the first glimpse of their Lord and Lady in Australia.

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.