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.
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The Path to Enlightenment
In a small basement flat in West Kensington the explosive was brewing that would propel some of the inhabitants of 341 halfway round the globe.
David Thorp was the first to discover it. He knew an acidhead, Brian Kitt, who had taken off for India a year or two previously. One day early in 1970 David saw Brian in the street dressed in a long, flowing saffron gown. This was not a surprise, anybody could be wearing anything in those days without you thinking twice. What was surprising was Brian's apparent change of personality. From being the intense, driven sort of individual David remembered, Brian had become almost absurdly relaxed and happy, and very glad to share his revelation with anyone who would listen.
First David, then Glen, then I made trips to the West Kensington pad, curious to discover what Brian, now known as Saphalanand, was on.
There we met Mahatma Charanand. Mahatma Ji was a man from northern India in his mid forties. His head was shaved, he wore the same saffron robes as Brian, and his smile was the widest and sweetest I had ever seen. He had considerable grace and profound psychological acuity, but his manner was simple and childlike.
His English was rudimentary, a fact I didn't grasp at first because at the meetings in the little flat, where a dozen people would sit at his feet, his talks were easy to understand.
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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.