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.
The Golden Age
A phone-call from Denver gave us the news. Guru Maharaj Ji and Durga Ji's second child, a boy, Hans Pal Rawat Singh, was born on Friday September 17th, at 4:59 p.m. Los Angeles time (about 10 o'clock Saturday morning in Sydney). As with Premlata's birth in March last year, the baby was born at home in Malibu, California-English premie midwife Judy Osborne was there to help. The baby weighed 3.5 kg (approximately 8 lbs) at birth.
Guru Maharaj Ji is planning to hold a Hans Jayanti festival on November 23, 24 and 25 this year for the African premies. The program will be in Swaziland, a little country on the border between Mozambique and South Africa. South African premies - who number several thousand, mostly of Indian descent - haven't seen Maharaj Ji since 1972.
On his way to and from Africa, Maharaj Ji plans to meet with premie representatives from Latin America, Europe and India. As well as the National Directors of the countries in these regions, some community coordinators and community premies have been invited to attend. This is in keeping with Maharaj Ji's desire to foster more communication with premies in general, and specifically with those taking responsibility for his Mission around the world. Before the festival, he plans to meet with the Latin American representatives in Lima, Peru; the post-festival conference with the European and Indian representatives is scheduled for Frankfurt, Germany. Derek Harper and Julie Collet will be representing Australia at the Frankfurt gathering.
It is expected that these conferences will provide an opportunity for everyone to share their concerns about the development of Guru Maharaj Ji's Mission in each of their countries, and then to have Maharaj Ji address these concerns in an open dialogue.
All of which means that the timing for our South Pacific Convention has moved back: Guru Maharaj Ji will probably visit Australia early next year. At present it seems likely that two small programs will be held-perhaps in Sydney and Melbourne-rather than the one large gathering originally planned. Guru Maharaj Ji has been holding smaller programs lately, and both on the European and the North American tours they have proved very successful. Having a smaller number of premies at each program seems to make for a more intimate atmosphere, allowing everyone to feel closer to Maharaj Ji.
After attending a conference in Denver, the initiators are travelling again, and initiating people into Knowledge. At present, no initiator is scheduled to come to Australia.
Three Australian DLM centres have recently experienced a change of community coordinator. In Brisbane, Jill Turner has taken over from Lindsey Stockdale, who is happily out working at a job. Dort Burley is replacing Gregg Sherwood in Hobart - Gregg will be returning to Sydney to live. And while Paul Mayberry returns to teaching, Terry MacKinnell will be doubling as Sydney's community coordinator and assistant national director - at least for the time being.
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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.