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.
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 David Lovejoy: ex-President Divine Light Mission, Australia & Great Britain
David Lovejoy, one time President of Divine Light Mission, Australia and Great Britain is an editor of the Byron Bay Echo, a local newspaper
published in the resort town of Byron Bay in New South Wales, Australia. Does this look like a man who has meditated for 35 years? (Click on left image to enlarge)
He has been closely associated with Michael McDonald and John MacGregor and wrote this letter purporting to refute MacGregor's and Michael MacDonald's (current editor, Byron Bay Echo) criticism of Prem Rawat and his "Knowledge" in 2001 though it
actually refuted a "straw man" argument of Lovejoy's in a rather nasty manner. It was answered by both Michael McDonald and John MacGregor rather
successfully.
He has written a "memoire" about his life which most people would find extremely boring but is of interest to his friends, family and anyone wishing to read
about the "hippies" who became followers of Prem Rawat in India circa 1971 and the Divine Light Mission in Australia in the 1970's. There is a review by McDonald at the Echo archives.
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In early 2007, he posted a few times on www.ex-premie.forum giving both a plug to his book and a more recent viewpoint re his feelings and beliefs about Prem Rawat. He seems to have a natural bitchiness
and much of his defense of Prem Rawat consists of snide ad hominem attacks on Rawat's critics which is the dominant method that Rawat's followers use. Phrases such as "You may have entrenched and immovable ideas",
"it is evidence of inveterate prejudice against him.", "will always be examined through a lens of loathing", "It may be negative energy, but it is still obsessive" are the norm.
In most circles, it is considered that criticism of charlatans, shams and deceitful and hypocritical religious leaders are moral and ethical acts. Mr Lovejoy seems to have internalised the Elan Vital
view that such criticism of Prem Rawat is necessarily a sign of a damaged, obsessed, "hate-filled" person and should not be done even though he claims he no longer worships and adores him (bhakti yoga) but seems to feel the
true judgement of Rawat's career as a divine incarnation of God should be his own apathy.
Lovejoy may yet continue to progress and grow in his understanding of Prem Rawat. He's certainly come a long way since 1971.
"Of course Brian's question of where I stand now must be answered if I post on this site. Premie or ex-premie? Well, I would say ex-premie, if that merely meant that I have moved on and adopted new
ways of thinking about Maharaji and Knowledge. I am certainly not practising bhakti (devotional yoga) any more!"
Most of the men at this meditation retreat had been revealed Prem Rawat's techniques of meditation for 20 years when this photo was taken. See if you can spot the "students", the "apostates" and the
ignorant by the radiant glow of inner peace shining from the appropriate faces.
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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.
