Prem Rawat's (Maharaji) Early Activities in the "West" (early 1970's)

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.

Prem Rawat's Early Activities in the "West" (early 1970's)

The young guru talks of revealing the practical method of experiencing God, the source of life and how his soul is pure. He rhapsodises about the holiness and perfection of his Knowledge and how only one spark is enough to perfectify anything it touches. This period, during which Divine Light Mission grew astonishingly, ended with the Millenium '73 festival in November 1973 which became a publicity and financial disaster. Numbers continued to grow though slowly in 1974 until his marriage, his disinheritance and deposing by his family and his loss of his Indian infrastructure and followers, especially the Indian "Mahatmas" ended the first phase of Rawat's career. The media and the public lost interest in the 16 year old "washed-up" guru and former "Lord of the Universe."

You Are My Only Light Guru Maharaj Ji You are my only light You gave me direction The way is clear and bright And I love you I love you I love you, my Lord
"It's the first time I saw him and I mean I had so many concepts of what this person should look like and act like and be like and Maharaji didn't fit any of those concepts." - Linda Pascotto, President, Prem Rawat Foundation "He treated us with incredible respect, so much love and respect." - Sandy Collier The picture shows some of the early inner circle of British premies: Mike Finch, Ron Geaves, Glen Whitaker and Mahatama Param Saphlanand. Mike Finch and the former Mahatma Saphlanand now publicly state that Prem Rawat is a bogus guru whose Knowledge is worthless at best and mentally and emotionally damaging. Ron Geaves and Glen Whitaker continue to be students of Prem Rawat and consider him their Master.
And, and they had a great high chair We were just a bunch of hippies trying to do a big setup for a big program you know with no mike, no proper mike stand, big chair, the ubiquitous white cloth draped over, we thought everything had to be white in those days.
Q: "You're described as the bringer of Peace to the world. Now, how are you going to do that?" A: "Well I think I'm doing that right now."
"The Knowledge is everywhere, the God is everywhere. We have to only discover the God. I won't make a God for you and show you the God. Everybody wants perfect peace. A man who wants to realise that Holy Name, he will have to need a teacher for it, otherwise he can't hear it. To see your personal face, your personal face is with but can you see it? The God is within you but until you have the mirror of practical knowledge you can't see it, you won't be able to see it. When God is within you, how can you find it outside? It is within you and you have to get your mind, your ideas that are going outside and if we just control them and out them inside that's ???. The importance of the Knowledge is for everyone and I've come to bestow the knowledge in London and if you want it I can give you because it is within yourself. I will only show the mirror and you can see the … thing. I am going to … all these persons …?"
"Wherever just one spark of this Knowledge shines up, absolutely perfect. So that Knowledge I'm, I've got it here."
"Peace is within inside of us. The realisation is within inside of us but it has to be revealed. We do not know it."
Peace and bliss is Satguru Somewhere beyond all reason Far from all time and space Is a valley deep with wisdom And a mountain high with grace Stop before you try to imagine You can never comprehend The peace and glory deep inside With no beginning and no end We love Guru Maharaj Ji Know His Name, it's strong and true Ask Him for His Perfect Knowledge Peace and bliss is Satguru
And this Knowledge is so Holy, so Perfect that one spark that comes out of this Knowledge is so perfect, so, so perfect, wherever it goes it hits, it makes it perfect and wherever it goes, again hits, it makes it perfect. Wherever just one spark of this Knowledge shines up, absolutely perfect. So that Knowledge I'm, I've got it here."
"Right from London, flew over North Atlantic ocean, right to ???, right to Los Angeles"
His first U.S. satsang: "We have this human body but we have to even realise why that Supreme Being, that Lord has given us this human frame."

"This Knowledge, because it is a very sweet fruit, whoever takes a bite feels the sweet and wants to take it more and more. It's not a thing that I'm a spiritual master, I can preach the knowledge then I should not retire. My soul is pure but not my body, it's a body same like you have got, I have got."
An interview on morning television M: And the same energy is making us alive, see, and that energy, which is within inside of us, the realisation of that energy is called Knowledge. Bliss and the realisation of energy. M: Yes, it's bliss, truth and consciousness. Bliss, truth and consciousness. Right now what is the truth? M: The truth is something again it's infinite, you see, and it's not discoverable, if I want to tell you the experience of a pinch Of a M: pinch pinch? M: Yes, it's going to quite hard for me to tell you that, you know. Without actually pinching me. M: Right, because it's practical, see, so until we really understand what is truth and realise what is Knowledge it'll be quite for hard for us to understand and for me to speak what really it is because it's the experience of something that is infinite you see, trying to put it into something that is completely finite. Well, thank you very much for joining us this morning. I've enjoyed our conversation. M: Pleasure. And we'll be back after this message.
Spread This Knowledge Then we'll all know satchitanand And heaven will be here "Spread This Knowledge".

"The purpose of this mission, the aim of this mission is to establish peace in this earth and we want that we should be helped by all brothers and sisters because if we are humans, if we are real humans, we would very much like that peace should be on this earth. And thus we would like to help somebody who can establish peace. Well, here I am and I can I say I can establish peace in this world."
Q: "It's hard for some people to understand how you personally can live so luxuriously in your several homes and your Rolls Royce and stuff and why don't you spend that money on feeding people?" A: "And that's a really good question. Let me tell you this that life you call luxurious ain't luxurious at all because any other person gets the same life I get, he is going to blow apart in a million pieces in a split of a second."
Q: "Guru, are you the Perfect Body?" A: "Oh no." (Sustained laughter)
"I'm trying to accomplish peace in this world. That's what I'm trying to do."

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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.