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.

Prem Rawat's Brother: Satpal Maharaj, "Godman" and Politician

Since 1974 Bal Bhagwan Ji, as he was then known, or Satpal Maharaj as he became has enjoyed a successful career as both an Indian "Godman" (gurus are popularly called "godmen" by speakers of Indian English) and a politician and influential person in Dehra Dun and the Uttaranchal area, a family man with two sons, the head of a large organisation of millions of devotees, Manav Utthan Seva Samiti. He worked closely with his mother until her death in 1991. His success has been affected by the popularity of the Congress Party led by the Nehru/Ghandi dynasty to which he is attached and the rise of the BJP. His youngest brother, Prem Rawat, has a pretend career as an internationally renowned Master of Peace based upon press releases put out by the Prem Rawat Foundation and is a minor philanthropist using money donated by his followers to try to buy him some positive publicity and respectability. Satpal, on the other hand, has used his power base of followers to leverage into a real career as a big man in the Dehra Dun elite and actually became a Minister of the Indian National Parliament if only for a limited time. This achievement is somewhat similar to Prem Rawat becoming Governor of California.

There is a section discussing his career and organisations in Divine Enterprise by Lisa McKean written in 1988 which includes a section on "Maharaji and the Holy Family", a series of questions and answers which she submitted in writing to Satpal, Mata Ji and Satpal's wife, Amrita Rawat.

The family break-up and some background to the "Knowledge" they both claim to reveal is discussed in The World of Gurus by Vishal Mangalwadi. There is a more indepth discussion in Gurus, Godmen and Good People edited by Kushwant Singh who interviewed the young Guru Maharaj Ji in April, 1973 for the New York Times in which the child god repeated his claims about His incarnation and Singh gave valuable background information on gurus in India.

Various newspaper articles referring to Satpal's political career are collected here.

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.