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.

TVTV Lord of The Universe Video

This video, titled 'Lord of the Universe', (not to be confused with a movie made by Divine Light Mission with the same name) was shot as a television documentary at a time when Prem Rawat's followers had full confidence that any examination of the guru, his 'Knowledge' and his followers would be positive. This false confidence, (confidence that a worried young Prem Rawat did not share and allayed by secret drinking of alcoholic beverages) was rudely destroyed by extremely negative reporting of the "most holy and significant event in human history" and it's attendees and organisers. The documentary makers were allowed full access to the event held at the Houston Astrodome and to the followers, especially to Rennie Davis who was then the major spokesman for the movement. It contains footage of Guru Maharaj Ji but only in public, events from the Millenium festival, premies involved in 'Soul Rush' a pre-festival publicity campaign, interviews with premies and Prem Rawat's oldest brother, Bal Bhagwan Ji and his mother, Mata Ji.

Lord of the Universe' was first broadcast on PBS on February 2, 1974, and released in a VHS format on November 1, 1991. The documentary chronicles Maharaj Ji, his followers and anti-Vietnam War activist Rennie Davis who was a spokesperson of the Divine Light Mission at the time. A counterpoint is presented by Abbie Hoffman who appears as a commentator. It includes interviews with several protagonists, including followers, ex-followers, a mahatma, a born-again Christian, and a Hare Krishna.

The production team of Top Value Television produced the fifty-eight minute documentary, using Portapak video cameras. The TVTV team followed members of Divine Light Mission across the United States over a period of six weeks, but were unable to have direct access to the self-proclaimed Guru Maharaj ji, the Perfect Master, the Lord of the Universe. It is the first independent video documentary shown on national public television.

It contains footage of the last real interview that Prem Rawat ever gave.

The documentary was generally well-received, and garnered its TVTV production team the 1974 Alfred I. du Pont/Columbia University Award in Broadcast Journalism. The documentary was reviewed in all the major US newspapers including The New York Times and the Oakland Tribune . There is an extensive section on Lord Of The Universe in Wikipedia.

The documentary producers were extremely negative about virtually all aspects of the young guru, his "Holy Family", his organisation, his "Knowledge" and his followers except for Diana Stone, a "blue-blood" ambassador's daughter. According to the producer Michael Shamberg, premies "seem like zombies", Blue Aquarius was "the world's worst rock and roll band" and "99% of the Premies were genetic defects in their other life, your traditional lost souls" and as to the organisers "with the exception of Diana, they're all on power trips". These judgements should be taken with a grain of salt as Mr Shamberg was a person who believed sitting around and sucking on a nitrous oxide tank was the perfect way to spend your evenings.

They have released some of the documentary documentation:

• Divine Light Mission Press Invitation
• TVTV Lord of the Universe Pre-Briefing
• TVTV Lord of the Universe Production Plan Proposal

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.