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 Openly Devotional Period 1977-83

During this period Prem Rawat openly espoused his divinity and berated his followers continually for lack of devotion and surrender. As he had already been publicised as a failed Messiah and was considered passé by the media, there was very little reporting of him and his followers during this time apart from a brief period circa 1979 following the Jonestown massacre when he was quite correctly lumped in with other cult leaders. Around 1983 Rawat tried to have all evidence of that time removed by ordering the destruction of all DLM published materials by his followers. Below are filmed excerpts from speeches Prem Rawat made in 1978 - 1980 at "Guru Puja, Holi or Hans Jayanti festivals". 'Puja' means worship and this festival was the annual highlight of Divine Light Mission activities. It was in the period 1977 to 1983 that Prem Rawat openly and continually propagated the myth of his divinity to his followers. He taught the concepts of himself as a unique Divine Being incarnated in the lineage of avatars following from his guru and father. He claimed His Knowledge revealed God (the energy that is the source of the universe and life) and the only meaning of life was surrender to Guru Maharaj Ji (a term used for both the infinite God, the Creator and Rawat himself God incarnated in human form.

During these years various Indian rituals and practices were promoted and practised:

• arti a song of praise to Rawat as the Divine Incarnation of God in a human body was sung twice daily by his followers
• charanamrit which involved devotees drinking the diluted water in which Prem Rawat's feet had been washed
• darshan involving being in his presence and each of his followers bowing down and touching or kissing his
• "Lotus Feet" as often as possible and
• pranaming which is lying on the ground before Rawat or a photograph of him and hopefully touching or kissing his feet;
• holy breath where Rawat would blow into each new devotee's right ear with his holy breath
• holi where his followers gathered annually to revel in ecstasy while being sprayed with coloured water from a giant high-powerd water pistol
• dancing where Rawat dressed as the god Krishna and half-naked would "dance" (shuffle around waving his arms) on stage in front of his adoring followers
• singing of bhajans which are Indian songs of extreme worship sung by his followers to him
• the setting up of altars to him in premie homes and
• ashrams where devotees lived communally obeying rigid rules and timetables with all their finances except the minimum required to keep them alive going to Rawat personally or Divine Light Mission
• photographs of Rawat or his feet were sold to his followers for use on these altars
• the writing and singing of songs in various genres dedicated to Rawat by various bands made up of devotees that presented idealised forms of devotion to Rawat

These rituals and practices were done regularly in communities throughout the "West" and were highlighted at 'festivals' where his followers were encouraged to gather in their thousands to hear his speeches and worship him (eg Guru Puja festivals held every July, 'puja' means 'worship'). Rawat preached that atendance at these festivals (later called 'events') was more important than maintaining regular employment which meant that the most dedicated followers invariably worked in low paid, low-skilled jobs despite nearly all of them coming from middle class backgrounds.

Because you are already in London. And if your boss is going to get mad at you or not mad at you, you're going to find that out on Monday. So as long as you've got Saturday and Sunday, you might as well enjoy yourself and get into satsang, service and meditation. And you can find out on Monday if he's really mad at you or not. But you'll have plenty of time for that. I see a couple of premies going like this (gesture) because their bosses are going to get mad at them for coming. It's all okay, so far the greatest Boss doesn't get mad at us, little bosses can always get mad at us! - London, England on Saturday, March 4, 1978

During this period his wife, Marolyn Rawat, nee Johnson newly christened as Durga Ji, and his Western "initiators" (the most dedicated of his followers) took an active role in the declaration of his divinity, the proselytisation of his religion and the inspiring of his followers. Publicly, this stopped in 1982-83.

"If you have a Perfect Master you can't do anything but worship him every day of your life. You tell me, if you really have that Perfect Master in your life, what can you do except to worship him every day? Get up and worship him, pray, know, surrender. Every day of your life!"
"Guru Maharaj Ji is that Supreme Power. Is, was and always will be!"
Durga Ji, Marolyn Rawat nee Johnson, crowns Prem Rawat who called himself Guru Maharaj Ji with the crown of Krishna and does pranam, kissing his feet, to the shouts of "Bhole Shri Satguru Dev Maharaj Ki Jai" of the blissed-out premie audience.
"Guru Maharaj Ji comes again and again and says 'Wait, there's nothing here! Let's go. Let's go my place. Let's go to my world. Where you can live, you can really live, where you can really experience, where you can be away from doubt.'"
"This is, this is the whole essence of creation in front of us! What is there more? What can be there more?"
"Because Guru Maharaj Ji can show that to us now in this lifetime while we are still alive. Guru Maharaj Ji can give us that love, Guru Maharaj Ji can give us that realisation now. We have to just let go to Guru Maharaj Ji, give ourselves to Guru Maharaj Ji, not in a theory, not in a song, not in an Arti that we sing every night. I give you my heart, for in you it will mellow, Maharaji my Lord, my life is your play. I mean those are pretty heavy duty statements, you know. You are my mother, you are my father. What, what, what are we saying? And yet do we even have an essence of meaning to it? What we sing is right, it's true, it is an expression of a devotee. This is what a devotee would understand of his Guru Maharaj Ji. That you are my all, he doesn't have to go into specifics about your brother, sister, mother, father, cousin, uncle, aunt. And yet in a very humble and beautiful way we are trying to express that you are my all, every relations, you are my all, you are above and beyond. You know, and really the whole essence of prayer is let me really give myself to you, (the song "Always There" joins in the soundtrack) let me surrender to you, you have come singing the glories of Guru Maharaj Ji is what Arti is all about. Oh Guru Maharaj Ji you are my father, you are my mother, you are friend. I see you in those respect, you need to teach me a lesson, you need to give me the fathering, you need to give me that mothering, you need to give me that support and yet you are my all, my Lord to me."
Warning: This file is 40 megabytes long and includes scenes of Prem Rawat dancing and some off-key singing background crowd chanting: "Bhole Shri Satguru Dev Maharaj Ki Jai" All Night Long The only thing that I can feel within my heart to play As long as there is air that I may breathe Is the praises of my Lord, my everything to me And the joy of merging in his feet Chorus: All night long, Let us stay with you Lord, All night long, Let us play with you Lord All night long, Let us worship you Lord, All night long, Let us gaze at your Form All night long, Let us sing to you Lord, All night long, Let us dance with you Lord All night long, Till we're totally gone It is said the ???? will always be with us to keep But precious are the moments you are here What for is this universe if your devotees wish And to be with you each precious hour Chorus: This hour we have the chance to gaze upon your golden form And slip beneath your precious Lotus Feet The time we fill from now until eternity my Lord And let this night with you never end Chorus:
"Really experience Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace!" Meditating on Your Love The world stops when I look into your eyes Always takes me by surprise Feels so familiar, like I've already been there To another world, so still, no place I'd rather be Feel your gaze just melting me Bringing me from all my fantasies Just disappear, leaving me here Meditating on your love Me in my place Meditating on your love Me in your Grace I'm riding on the rhythm of I love you This is no place on earth that you're taking me to But the heaven in your heart Keeps me right where you are So now, I managed to walk away from you I don't know what drove me to In a moment I'm miles away Lost in the wild blue yonder Is it any wonder That you try with all your might Just to keep me in your sight Cause you know what's right for me All through the day, all through the night Meditating on your love Makes life complete Meditating on your love You make life so sweet I'm riding on the rhythm of I love you This is no place on earth

"The level of Prem Rawat's incoherence and megalomania cannot be appreciated by viewing the short clips that have been selected to elucidate the most controversial points of his doctrines. The constraints of the Internet and copyright prohibit us from displaying his awfullness in it's true glory. However we have a few longer clips here from the Guru Puja 1979 festival to give you an idea. Prem Rawat discusses the purchasing of Rolls-Royces (28meg) Prem Rawat discusses his devotees as permanent "Ugly Ducklings" (43meg) Prem Rawat discusses the meaninglessness of a non-premie's life (46meg)

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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.