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.
THE NEWS, Frederick, Md. A-4 Saturday, December 5, 1981
DENVER (AP)-A Maryland couple has pleaded guilty to a charge of false imprisonment to the abduction and "deprogramming" of their 23-year-old daughter, a member of a religious group in Denver.
Dr. Leonard Deitz, 55, and Esther Deitz, 48, of Silver Spring, Md., entered the pleas Friday in Denver District Court. Judge Edward Carelli sentenced them to two years' probation for the kidnapping of their daughter, Emily Deitz, a member of the Divine Light Mission.
As a condition of their probation, the couple was ordered to make no further attempts to "interfere with the lifestyle" of Ms. Deitz whom they claim they have not seen since she escaped from her parents last April.
According to court records, the April 8 abduction of Ms. Deitz from a Denver alley was the third time the couple had attempted to sever their daughter's ties with the mission.
Mrs. Deitz, who lectures on what she perceives as the destructive influence of cults on young people, told Carelli she and her husband "stood by helplessly and watched as our beloved child became mesmerised and sank deeper into the world of cultlsm."
"Emily was rescued in her own best interest," Mrs. Deitz contended. "We were not motivated by a desire to control our daughter but to set her free."
Ms. Deitz, a former straight-A student who dropped out of college after joining the followers of Guru Maharaj Ji, was living in Denver last winter when her parents located her and made arrangements for her abduction.
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.