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.

######### Page 12 Daily Mirror - Friday, June 18, 1971

Worshippers greet the boy guru 'straight from Heaven'

THIS was a moment of supreme joy for these worshippers yesterday ... the moment when they gathered together to welcome a boy they call "A Lord from Heaven."

The boy is Balyogeshwar Sri Sant Ji Maharaj. He is thirteen years old. And he is barely 5ft. tall.

But to the 200 worshippers who turned out to meet him at London's Heathrow Airport he is rather a cut above other little boys.

He is their Guru - their spiritual teacher.

And he has come to Britain, they say, to save them from themselves.

But it was the mini-sized Guru himself who needed a bit of saving yesterday.

He had to have a police escort to help him to make his way past his excited devotees, most of them English.

Straight from Heaven ... the boy Guru at the airport yesterday Garlands

They fell in homage at his feet. They threw garlands of carnations round his neck. They smothered him with petals taken from a massive sack.

One follower, a white-robed Indian, said that the Guru came from Heaven although the youngster's body, he admitted, came in fact from the Himalayas.

The Guru, whose devotees belong to the Divine Light Mission, is to spend thirteen days in Britain.

He plans to make appearances in London, Leicester, Exeter and Glastonbury, Somerset.

His arrival yesterday was a big success. But it did not exactly convert one airport official.

He said sternly : "They may say he is the Lord, but as far as we are concerned he is just an ordinary passenger."

Pictures by:
VICTOR CRAWSHAW

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.