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.
NEW DELHI (AP) - A teen-age Indian guru has been blocked from personally dispensing "perfect knowledge" around the world because Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's government has taken his passport.
There was no indication when, or if, the document would be returned to guru Maharaj Ji, spiritual leader of the Divine Light Mission, which claims 40,000 followers in the United States and tens of thousands of devotees in Europe and Australia. The guru claim 5 million Indian followers.
Informed sources said the government took possession of the passport two weeks ago, apparently to insure he does not leave the country until an investigation is completed into the guru's movement, first exported to the West in the spring of 1971.
Inquiry Launched
The government launched the investigation after Indian customs agents seized pending customs clearance, $40,000 worth of foreign currencies, jewelry and watches in a briefcase brought to New Delhi from New York last, month aboard a chartered 747 jumbo jet that also carried the guru and 350 American disciples.
The jumbo was one of seven chartered from the United States and Britain to bring about 3,500 devotees to India for a month of meditating in the Himalayas under the guru's direction.
A Finance Ministry spokesman said that early in the investigation the government has instructed immigration authorities not to let the guru, who celebrated his 15th birthday last week, leave the country for the time being.
Surrenders Passport
Arthur Brigham, a disciple from Denver, Colo., who serves as the movement's public relations director, said the guru had voluntarily surrendered the passport to help with the investigation, which he termed a routine check of where the guru has been.
Informed Indian sources said, however, the guru's passport was taken to prevent his leaving the country. If authorities wanted to note the countries he had visited, they added, all that had to be done was to make a list of visas.
The guru himself denied any personal connection with the briefcase that contained the money and jewelry.
When the controversy first broke the Divine Light Mission issued a statement saying the money was to be used for financing the Western devotees' stay in India and the jewelry and watches were gifts for the guru and his family.
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.