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.

SOME PAST MASTERS … excerpted from The Sayings of Guru Maharaj Ji

Guru Govind Singh, India, 17th century Mahavir Swami, India, 6th century B.C.

Jesus is living now, Ram is living now, Krishna is living now, Buddha is living now, but they all have been united. All their powers have been united into one very, very, very, very powerful power. And when this power spreads its hand, you know, something is going to happen. All the things that are going on wrong in this world are going to be abolished.

When the sun arises, what proof have you got that the sun has risen? You don't take big searchlights, do you? Or candles, do you? When the sun rises, do you take candles and lamps to find out where the sun is? Do you? No. In the same way, when you approach a real Satguru and you gain this Knowledge, you have no need of extra things to find out, or to test it. It is complete and perfect.

7

Ravidas, India, 16th century India, Ramakrishna, 19th century

First you have to understand Knowledge to understand who Guru Maharaj Ji is.

I would have been satisfied to be a mischievous little boy. I would have been satisfied to be the humblest servant of the Satguru and not be one myself.

When somebody's with the Perfect Master who is heaven Himself -- heaven is where He is -- then there is no question of a person going to heaven.

Many people say, "Oh, you are a fake! " And the only thing I can do is to just give 'em a big smile. … I just want you to realise God. I just want you to be in perfect harmony. If you are, well and good, continue. Why look at me?

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Jesus Christ, Galilee, 1st century, Guru Nanak, India, 15th century

I have to tell people that I am not a prophet. I am just an ordinary human being, with two legs, two eyes, and I work, and I have voluntarily put myself here so that I can reveal this Knowledge to people, because I think people need it, because people have forgotten what this Knowledge is. So I am just teaching them perfectness and that's why they call me the Perfect Master. And as a matter of fact, I am the Perfect Master, because I can reveal this peace. I am not saying I am perfect because of this reason or that reason, but simply for one reason and that is because I can reveal this Knowledge nwhich is perfect.

Maybe you won't all be able to become Perfect Master but at least you will be able to have the realisation of the Knowledge.

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Krishna, India, c3000 B.C., Moses, Middle East, c1500 B.C.

If I cannot believe in the source of Knowledge, how am I going to believe in Knowledge? I have to trust the source. Only then can I really trust in Knowledge and really believe in it. If I don't care about, if I don't concern myself with, if I don't see, if I don't have any faith in, if I don't love, the source of Knowledge, He who has given me this Knowledge, if I don't believe in Him, how am I going to believe in Knowledge? There can be no way. That's just the way it works.

Our future is within our hearts, it is with the Perfect Master who can guide us into the most beautiful place in the world.

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Saint Kabir, India, 16th century, Confucius, China, 6th century B.C.

The Satguru is the giver of Truth. Is there anything bigger than Truth? I am just asking your opinion.

You have only to go to the Perfect Master for just one second and He will reveal the whole universe which is inside you.

This is Mission Impossible. So we'd better get our work done. And at the right time, the right moment, we should accept the leadership of the right man. We need someone who can guide us every moment so we can get to the point of truth, of realisation.

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Chaitanya, India, 19th century, Buddha, India, c500 B.C.

If you think I'm really a smuggler, then Lord Krishna was a smuggler too, Jesus Christ was a smuggler too, and Lord Rama was a smuggler too, because they were smuggling the same Knowledge. And maybe I'm a bigger smuggler because I carry it from one part of the world to another. So I don't say I'm a Perfect Master, I say I'm a smuggler.

Understand that the Lord has to manifest Himself in this human form because if He tries to talk to us when He is hidden, probably we'll get very, very confused, we'll probably freak out. So He comes in a human body; He manifests Himself in a human body, and blesses us with this Holy Knowledge.

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.