Did Prem Rawat Say "I Am The Lord of the Universe"?

There is little doubt that when Prem Rawat first came to the West he was publicised by his followers as a God-like, divine figure. They acclaimed the tubby teenager as the "Lord of the Universe" and he starred in an eponymous movie. Countless times they sang to Him "The Lord of the Universe has come to us today, And He's come to show us the light, And He's come to show us the way, …" and he never once said he wasn't the Lord of the Universe. However over the past decades Rawat and his current followers and organisations have been falsely claiming that he did not use the title, the Lord of the Universe, and his well-publicised, exalted status was a mistake caused by the influence of "Indian ideas" or even poor translations from Hindi and was mainly promulgated by his family and the Indian "mahatmas." If so, why didn't he explain the truth to them then?

Strangely, the very people who claim Prem Rawat never said he was the Lord of the Universe are the very people who most stridently and publicly proclaimed him the Lord of the Universe in the 1970s and he never once corrected them. He definitely seemed to enjoy it. He even called himself, his mother and siblings, the Holy Family and sold his Rolls so he could travel with all the Holy Family in a Mercedes 600. This must have hurt as he talks about Rolls Royce 3 times more often than Mercedes Benz.

Greater Than God Why would they even bother to try to say that someone calling himself the Ultimate Ruler, the Incarnation and Manifestation of God, doesn't also refer to himself as the Lord of the Universe. It is unlikely that Rawat ever said the words "I am the Lord of the Universe" in the one sentence but when he was asked how it felt to be the Lord of the Universe he didn't reply that he wasn't the Lord of the Universe but explained how it felt to be the Lord of the Universe from personal experience. - Élan Vital Summer 1978

Q: Guru Maharaj Ji, what does it feel like to be the Lord of the universe?
Rawat: What should I tell you about it?
Q; Just what it's like. Rawat: What it's like? Nothing. Because you are not in yourself; something else; somewhere else; one with someone else.
Q: How is it to be like a puppet?
Rawat: You don't know…. Do you? When you become Lord of the universe, you become a puppet, really! Nothing else; not "you." Not "I," not "you," no egos, no pride, nothing else. One with humbleness; servant. Very, very beautiful. Always in divine bliss. Creating your own environment -- wherever you go, doesn't matter. Like my friends used to play and I used to sit right in the corner of my ground and meditate (laughter). - Élan Vital Summer 1978

He did say that he was the King of the Whole Universe.

Q: Guru Maharaj Ji, what do you owe to your father?
Rawat: I won't tell you what I owe. If I took all the birds, the sun, moon and everything that exists in trying to repay my father, I wouldn't even be able to repay a single pennyworth. You know He has given me such a lot. Such a lot that He has made me king of the whole universe. So how can I repay Him? - Affinity magazine, June 1979

He starred in the Divine Light Mission film "Lord of the Universe" and did not demand it be retitled nor did he claim a documentary made about him titled "The Lord of the Universe" was defamatory.

The Lord of the UniverseA record album of songs was produced called "The Lord of the Universe" which included a song of the same title. There were times in front of an audience of his followers he discussed "the very popular song" about him called "The Lord of the Universe." He didn't say it shouldn't be called the Lord of the Universe, he seemed to take it for granted that everybody hearing it would be dancing and clapping in total bliss.

It is like this that I clap and I want to ask you a question like if somebody sings a song here, a really beautiful song or something like "Lord of the Universe" very popular (laughter) most of the premies will get up and start clapping and if I ask a person and say "Why are they clapping?" and they can ??? their answers because they like this rhythm and they want to play to this rhythm so they're clapping and because they-you want to clap that is why you are clapping and what is making you clap is the rhythm because you like it and you want to sing to it and you want to play to it but then there is something behind it which it that person does not even know about because it does not come into our, into our sense. - Perfect Master Tape 011

There was that beautiful song, Lord of the Universe, going on, and everybody got up and started clapping and started singing, and everybody was blissed out. But if there was a person who was deaf, to him everybody who stood up and danced would seem crazy. Because he wouldn't hear anything. All he would see is people suddenly getting up, and clapping. - Élan Vital Autumn 1977

When he was coming to America for the first time a press release was created by his devotees and widely distributed.

"Dear Brothers & Sisters. Jai satchitanand: Wake up! Wipe the hazy illusion from your eyes and realize what is happening. In one month, all the Western premies will be bombarded by the Darshan of the Holy Family of Our Lord as our Divine Mother, Mata Ji, and our Most Holy Brothers Shri Bal Bhagwan Ji, Shri Bhole Ji, and Shri Raja Ji will come to make us more aware of the magnificence of the Lord of Universal Peace. Such a blessing that is being bestowed on us we cannot even imagine. Salutations at the Lotus Feet of Guru Maharaj Ji, Lord of the Universe."

UPI (United Press International) reported his return to India. This was one of numerous times journalists reported he was called the Lord of the Universe by his followers and he never once refuted the title.

NEW DELHI (UPI) - Teenage guru Maharaj Ji, called "Lord of the Universe" by his followers, landed at New Delhi's airport Tuesday and was met by 10,000 devotees, some of whom rushed to touch and kiss his feet as he was swept through customs. The crowd, including some 3,000 young Americans and other foreigners, sang "The Lord of the Universe Has Come to Us," as they waited for the plane carrying their leader to arrive from New York.

TimeEven Time Magazine reported that he was worshipped as the Lord of the Universe by his devotees, the very people now claiming he didn't refer to Himself as the Lord of the Universe:

He may look like just another plump, pubescent lad, but the 17-year-old Guru Maharaj Ji is worshiped as the "Lord of the Universe" by devotees of the Divine Light Mission in many countries round the world. Nowhere is the boy guru's universe better furnished than in the U.S., to which he brought his movement in 1971: a string of 45 ashrams (retreat houses) and information centers in 110 cities across the country tend to the spiritual needs of the Divine Light flock, whose tax-exempt offerings have furnished the teen-age Lord with, among other things, an $80,000 pad in Denver, a $400,000 estate in Malibu and an armada of limousines and racing cars.

Prem Rawat Dressed as Former Incarnation of GodPrem Rawat's teachings about himself and God are particularly complex because Prem Rawat is Greater than God because he reveals God to human beings immersed in ignorance but he is also the Incarnation of God in a human body for the present age and Prem Rawat says "my Knowledge is God" and he also says He is Knowledge. He says he has come to earth with more powers than ever before and so quite possibly he is the only person able to completely understand this multi-dimensional paradox. You have to be there.

Prem Rawat has never written a book or clearly and concisely defined his concepts. Virtually all his teachings have been imparted in speeches that are mainly extemperanus though there is considerable repetition. Quotes taken out of context can be bandied about and prove nothing without an overview of his teachings. In Prem Rawat's teachings "God is energy," it cannot be created and cannot be destroyed and Guru is Greater than God because he can reveal that power that creates the universe, sustains it and destroys it when appropriate and this has been going on since time immemorial. A spark of that energy exists within inside each human being and is the source of life, the energy keeping you alive and the Élan Vital though it cannot be found by mere scientists. The purpose of each human life is to return to that energy and as humans are controlled by their Minds and are sunk in illusion, the lineage (parampara) of Perfect Masters or Masters or Guru Maharaj Jis or Satgurus incarnate, manifest, come into this world or are embodied whenever necessary (which is all the time) to teach humans the Knowledge and to save them. Those verbs are self-explanatory and Rawat also talks about God which is formless and God with a form ie with a human body. Prem Rawat has never exactly defined how this identity of God, the infinite eternal power and the incarnation as a human being occurs and is maintained but then it is a very difficult thing to explain and understand and as far as I know he hasn't tried. Countless thousands of human beings have already been killed trying to agree on this very topic. Among the past Masters are Ram, Krishna, Jesus, Mohammed and Prem Rawat's father, Hans Rawat. Rawat said that Guru Maharaj Ji (The Revealer of Light and Ultimate Ruler) could just appear as a giant disembodied head in the clouds and appear to all human beings at once and order them to receive and practise Knowledge or go to hell but he has never done that and never will because that's just the way it is.

The following links are to collections of his teachings about his divinity (ergh His Divinity) - in His own words:

Prem Rawat Dressed as Former Incarnation of God Prem Rawat has also given extensive teachings about being the one and only living guru:

Many newspaper and magazine stories mentioned Prem Rawat was the Lord of the Universe. This is just a sample I got too bored to add any more: