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.

Gurus Who Are Not the Perfect Master

Prem Rawat claims there is only ever one Perfect Master.
He said in an interview with John Wood of the Boston Globe:

'You see - here I want to be very frank - people come to me and ask me about this, and they say, "What's your opinion about a Perfect Master? Is there one, is there two?" I tell them my opinion, that there is only one Perfect Master. Because perfectness is one, not two, not three So, there is one Perfect Master in this world. And because he is perfect, that's it. He is perfect. You just can't divide perfect. I think it's funny saying that; it's just as funny as saying that the car had tires on top, and car had tires on the bottom. That's just like saying there are two Perfect Masters. You are just dividing perfectness into two - you can't do that. There has to be one Perfect Master, because perfectness is infinite, you just can't divide it. It has to be one.'

Prem Rawat teaches that only followers of a living Perfect Master can experience true spiritual experience, they can 'know God' through personal experience rather than just believe in God. He claims he reveals an experience and not a set of beliefs or a religion.

Prem Rawat's greatest disciple, Charanand, testifies that Shri Hans said "Only the living Master after me will impart this Knowledge. ... Only a living doctor can help a patient, only a living leader can take care of the situations, problems in this country, and only a lamp that is lit can light other unlit lamps."

Some gurus and their followers appear more attractive and inspiring than Prem Rawat and his students. Many have attracted far more followers.

Dalai Lama Krishnamurti Prabhupad Yogananda Chinmoy Meher Baba Rajneesh Sai Baba Ram Dass

Vivekananda Swami Muktananda Maharishi Bhagawan Nityananda Mahamandaleshwar Nityananda Ramana Maharshi Nirmala Devi Neem Karoli Gurumayi

Moon Dalai Lama Trungpa Rinpoche Sogyal Rinpoche Ajahn Chah

Leadbeater Madame Blavatsky Annie Besant Paul Brunton Gurdjieff Ouspensky JG Bennett Pak Subuh

Ron Hubbard Bubba Free John Werner Erhard Koresh Moses David Applegate

Alan Watts Ammachi Pappa Ji Poonja Ji Siva Ram Dass Anandamayi Ram Dass Anandamayi Ananda Murti

While some of these gurus have attracted as much controversy and criticism as Prem Rawat, others are universally respected. Despite these gurus having millions of followers, none of them is or was able to reveal the true Knowledge deep within inside or inspire the true experience in their followers according to Prem Rawat and his followers. They claim the Gift of Knowledge is only available from Prem Rawat and anyone who listens to him to develop and sustain the right understanding, who daily practices the techniques of Knowledge, allows themselves to be transformed, develops a relationship of trust with Prem Rawat and makes a commitment for a lifetime will undoubtedly experience the profound peace that resides within.

If these claims are true then even though many of these gurus were sincere, they have prevented millions of sincere seekers of truth from coming to the Lotus Feet of the true Perfect Master of our times.

 The Lotus Feet of Prem Rawat (Maharaji)

Gurus can be members of a spiritual tradition who have achieved recognition because of their practise and development of wisdom and charisma and because they manifest spiritual power or they can be self-proclaimed or they can inherit their position without having to spend years in prescribed practices. Prem Rawat was publicly proclaimed by his family as a divine guru when he was 8 years old. His father had met his guru when he was an adult and had practised meditation for many years and was accepted by his Master and his peers as a mahatma, a person who had realised basic truths about life and was believed to have a total experience of life that was on a higher level of existence than normal human beings. The controversy at the death of Shri Swarupananand was not because his peers believed Shri Hans to be an immature child who knew nearly nothing of life and true religion but because they believed there were others better qualified. Shri Hans was not the son of his Master and Shri Swarupanand was not the son of his Master. Father to son transmission of the power of the Satguru was definitely not the historic norm even within the Sant tradition of India.

There is no outside evidence that Shri Hans proclaimed his youngest son as the next Perfect Master. He was set up as the Master by his mother and her close associates, though years later Rawat claimed that his family did not accept him as the Master. When he was younger he publicly stated he was always in God-consciousness and told of how it felt to be the Perfect Master. From the age of 8 he was revered and treated as divine. He became a spoiled, fat brat and his actions since coming to the West fit that explanation better than the rationalisations of his devotees.

It has been claimed by many of his apostate, closest accomplices and administrators that he does not meditate at all and that he abuses tobacco, alcohol and marijuana. Certainly his obesity and general appearance tend to validate these accusations and there do not appear to be any physical or mental health benefits to be gained from practising the techniques of Knowledge under his guidance even though he claims he reveals the universal source of life, the Elan Vital, within each person, the energy which is keeping you alive.

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.