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 in the Media

As part of his attempts to promote a public image of himself as a respected and renowned internation teacher and philanthropist Prem Rawat has used the full gamut of techniques available to a wealthy person of dubious reputation.

He has had staff whose role has been to solicit "Keys to the City" and other "honours" from around the US and internationally. A partial list of these is available at his Foundation's web site. Since 2004 he has had followers mounting an organised, well-funded campaign to "build the public's appreciation for Maharaji as a leading voice for peace". Rawat has proclaimed his mission to bring World Peace since his arrival in the West but his method is as useless as it is simple: Everyone should worship him and practice his Knowledge and that will bring world peace.

In recent years, a steady stream of Press Releases have been issued by his Press Relations team, none of which have ever been taken up by the mainstream press, let alone by quality newspapers of renown such as the New York Times or the London Times which haven't considered him worthy of mention since the days in which they debunked his claims to divinity and bringing "Peace to the World".

One of the methods he uses to try to establish his role as a voice for peace is to hire halls at major universities, make a speech there to his followers and then advertise the speech as, for example, Prem Rawat address distinguished audience at Oxford University or Maharaji at Griffith University. They've also hired halls at The Australian Parliament House and ones used by various small United Nations' Associations where for a relatively small cost, Prem Rawat can have his name linked to worthy causes. In 2007 the Prem Rawat Foundation donated £25,000 so that Prem Rawat aka Maharaji could give a speech at the London Lord Mayor's Annual Appeal dinner.

Click here to read real articles about Prem Rawat in major Newspapers.

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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.