Excerpt from Guru Maharaj ]i's satsang on the fifth night of Hans Jayanti, Rome, Italy on November 12th, 1977.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 ]i's satsang on the fifth night of Hans Jayanti, Rome, Italy on November 12th, 1977.
So I know that there are a lot of premies here that I just haven't seen for a long, long, long time. Welcome back! And the only thing I can say this time is: Don't think you're too smart and try to jump off the running boat because you think it's never going to make it. I mean, it's like that example I was giving about the boat.
Here is the situation. They think that the boat is going to drown. I mean, it's wild speculation. Nothing else except wild speculation. They think the boat is going to drown. The boat's running fine. No problems with it. You can see the captain just walking around and you're just having a nice, smooth journey. Wild speculation, wild mind, comes along and says, "This boat's drowning. This boat is sinking." And then all of a sudden you start to hear voices. Voices like, "Help!" Nobody is yelling help. Everybody is saying, "Wow!" But somehow, "Wow!" turns into "Help!" Captain is saying, "Welcome aboard. Stay on board. Relax. Let go. Surrender." Somehow all that gets changed to: "Abandon ship!" Ocean is calm, smooth, and there is nothing there. All of a sudden that changes into storm and rough weather and all that. And you say, "Oh boy, I'd better abandon ship!", never asking the question: "Okay, look, if this boat is really, really sinking, then why don't I just wait a little while? If it's sinking it's going to hit water, right? Water is going to be on deck. If the water is going to be on deck I'm going to find out. When that happens I'm going to grab myself a lifeboat and split." No. They have to bail ship when it's moving full speed ahead. Nice and calm and smooth.
And then, what is the ocean full of? Sharks. This mind. And as soon as you jump in there if just eats you up. So don't get into that mind, because Guru Maharaj ji … And there is only one reason. See, Guru Maharaj Ji's purpose in this life, Guru Maharaj Ji's coming in this world is not only for just giving you Knowledge and that's it and goodbye and shake hands and say, "Okay, you will get my bill tomorrow." No. It's not that. It's nowhere close to that. Guru Maharaj Ji's purpose in this life is to make sure that you hear satsang, get interested in Knowledge, receive Knowledge, and after you have received Knowledge, to see you through to your destination. And that's the purpose of Guru Maharaj Ji. And no bills involved.
But the thing is, to see you through to the next destination, you have to trust in Guru Maharaj Ji. You have to have faith in Guru Maharaj ji. And Guru Maharaj ji will take you there. But if you do not have trust in Guru Maharaj ji - this is the thing. Sometimes mind comes in and says, "Man, what if this is just the biggest hoax? I have put all my trust in there and I have put all my faith in there, and I do this and I do that. What if this is the biggest hoax?
The thing is, is there a bigger hoax in this world than this world itself? I mean, a child is born. I have seen Premlata, and I have seen Hansi, and it's such a beautiful experience to see them come, and they're so pure. The last thing you think about is bills. The last thing you think about is complications. The last thing you think about is problems. No, it's just so beautiful. It all comes into this world and it's just that first breath that happens; all of a sudden a whole life just pours in. And all you can do - you can't fight it. You just surrender to it and it just all happens, and the only thing is, by surrendering to it, you also get a little bit of experience out of it.
So premies, I have seen that happen. And then this baby grows and grows and grows and grows and grows and grows, and the interest grows. More the interest grows, frustration grows. More the frustration grows, more temperament there comes in. More temperament there comes in, more eagerness is developed. More eagerness is developed, more involvement is developed. And more involvement is developed, the guy's had it. He's just got no chance from the beginning. And it's so beautiful and it's so fortunate that Guru Maharaj Ji's here to be able to protect us, to be able to save us. That is why, in that movie that you saw, said Shri Maharaj Ji's the Saviour, the Creator, the Lord. It's because I got saved. The same thing could have happened with me. And it was almost like destined to happen like that. But then it all got changed, because he saved me. He saved me from the craziness of this world.
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.