… But have we ever tried to really realize why we left that source that we belong to? To be able to go
back to it; to be able to realize, and to be able to go back to it.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.
Excerpt from Guru Maharaj Ji's satsang on the last night of the Toronto program, November 1974:
… But have we ever tried to really realize why we left that source that we belong to? To be able to go
back to it; to be able to realize, and to be able to go back to it.
And it's like, whenever we come by all these illusions in this world, by all these things that we have created ourselves, we completely get lost. You know, that's when it turns out the most beautiful. The child is lost, completely, completely lost. Well, just imagine that parent, the father, has his arms wide open. And he is running. He is running and running and running, and this small child has now realized that his father is right there, and that he can reach to his father. So the small child is also running with his hands wide open. And it's so beautiful.
That relationship, though maybe it's only for a little while, is not finished after that little while. But that moment of beauty, when the father has seen his child, and he is reaching and approaching to catch him, to save him, to protect him, and the child has realized that that's his father, and is running for his shelter, to be able to be protected by him, to be able to be safe by him, is very, very beautiful. This is the joy, this is the wonderful, beautiful experience those saints had, those fortunate premies had, who were able to realize the Perfect Master. Like John was able to realize Christ. Like Arjuna was able to realize Krishna. Like Hanuman was able to realize Ram. They could understand that their Saviour, that their Father, that their shelter was still there, and that they could still run to it.
Premies, it's said that in this world we have always needed a Saviour, because this world has constantly been changing and changing and changing and changing. And nobody knows - it's very, very hard to imagine - how much more it's going to change. And if we keep involved in it, we are also going to change and change and change, without knowing if we are going to change for the best or if we are going to change for the worst. But if we have the shelter, if we have that one finger to hold on to, to catch on to, I mean, it's so amazing. If you have ever walked with a little bitty child, he holds on to that finger, and he holds on tight. He's looking around, and he is laughing, and he is smiling, and he has one finger. He says, "I want that balloon," "I want that toy." But he's very, very hard; very, very firmly holding on to that finger. The father takes him through that big place where he could have gotten lost like in a second. But because he is holding on to that finger, he does nor get lost. And it's so beautiful.
In this world we come, where there is so much illusion, and so much delusion, and we completely get lost. And here comes our Father, and he says, "Hey, sonny, here. Hold on to my finger." If you can just hold on tight, there is nothing in this whole world that can detach you, that can put you back into the same illusion where you started from. But only if you can hold on to that finger
Excerpt from Guru Maharaj Ji's satsang in Orland, Florida on November 9th, 1975.
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.