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.
NewsBank NewsLibrary
Paper: THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Date: February 6, 1987
Jerusalem
A government committee has urged a crackdown on mystical religious sects that are accused of luring thousands of young Israelis from Judaism.Miriam Glazer-Tassa, a member of the Knesset (parliament) who chaired the panel, described the sects yesterday as a "plague on our society." She accused them of extortion, brainwashing and illegal hypnosis.
Among the sects are the Copenhagen-based Emans, Scientology, Transcendental Meditation, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, Hare Krishna and groups associated with Werner Erhard, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Ananda Marga and Guru Maharaj Ji.
Glazer-Tassa said that 5,000 Israelis have joined these groups since 1973. Israel, with only 3.5 million Jews, "cannot afford to give up any of our young people," she said.
The panel, which included social workers and psychologists, found that Israelis have been increasingly attracted to these sects since the 1973 war in which more than 2,000 soldiers were killed. "People are looking for an easy fix of happiness," Glazer-Tassa said.
The committee urged tougher measures against the sects, such as enforcement of a law restricting hypnosis and denial of tax breaks given to churches and mosques.
Associated Press
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.