CONTENTSPrem 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.
CONTENTS
| Introduction (E. Dietz) | 3 |
| What We Seek Is Perfection (M. Smith) | 6 |
| This Is The Reality (A. Brigham) | 8 |
| Light! (R. Davis) | 19 |
| I Was Looking For Rest (J. Apter) | 58 |
| An Intellectual's Pursuit (M. Bowden) | 61 |
| Who Are You? (Interview with Guru Maharaj Ji) | 64 |
| One Central Point (A. Goldstein) | 71 |
| A Purpose to Life (L. Baker) | 72 |
Satsangs of Guru Maharaj Ji
Satsang literally means "company of Truth" and is also used to refer to discourse about the experience of Knowledge which Guru Maharaj Ji reveals.
| Knowledge Is The Answer | 4 |
| What Is The Word? | 10 |
| Why Are We Here? | 21 |
| Guru Maharaj Ji Answers Questions | 36 |
| The Missing Peace | 49 |
| What Can This Knowledge Be? | 74 |
Light Reading is published by Divine Light Mission, P.O. Box 390959, Miami Beach, Florida
33139 © 1980, Divine Light Mission, Inc. All rights reserved. Editorial offices: 1753 Alton Road, Miami Beach, Florida 33140.
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Light Reading is light reading. It doesn't play heavily on your emotions like Newsweek or a thrilling novel and it won't give you "brain strain" like a physics book. The lightness lies in the perspectives and the message of the speakers and writers whose words are contained within. Neither religious nor philosophical, political nor academic, their message is refreshingly simple. Our daily reading of political accounts, exhilarating fantasies, intellectual knowledge, and perhaps a few beautiful words is entirely different than the opportunity to become acquainted with the existence of one's soul. One is common, the other is rare. One takes place in time, the other is dimensionless. And - the obstacle that most of us have difficulty overcoming - one is socially acceptable and the other is not. Society informs us that our security is to be found on Wall Street, in families, and in insurance policies. Some have rebelled against this, yet few have found significantly more peace in newly-adopted values (having grown up in this generation, I know). Light Reading suggests that the only security seriously worthy of your investment is the well of life that springs from within your own heart. More fundamental than anything you could ever hope to know, it is the experience of perfection. A religious person would probably call it God. A scientist might refer to it as pure energy. Actually it eludes conceptualization. Present long before man started naming it, it is self-existent. It will continue to exist long after you, me, this magazine and Wall Street return to dust. Indeed, concealed in the simplicity of Light Reading is a message about the power of the universe. Still, it is "light reading" because that power manifested in human experience is joyous and full of childlike abandon. In Light Reading you won't actually be revealed this energy, for no amount of words can create the experience. Perhaps the remarkable approach to life - so evident in the following pages - can simply demonstrate that it is possible. The experience? It is called "Knowledge." The giver? His name is Guru Maharaj Ji. E.D. |
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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.