Prem Rawat or Maharaji ("The Ultimate Ruler") as he likes to be addressed or Guru Maharaj Ji as he called himself until the 1980's has no compunction stating he is a unique person with power possessed by nobody
else alive. The language he uses to decribe what his power is and who he is has changed but this group of pages that collect Rawat's teachings about Guru Maharaj Ji, the Perfect Master, the
Savio(u)r, the Lord, the Master, the Living Master, the Incarnation of the Master who come(s) in(to) the world show that Rawat uses all these descriptions to refer to himself. His public claims about himself have become more circumspect and vaguer in language but have remained the
same throughout his career. In public, especially on the few occasions he appeared on television, he claimed to be just a humble servant of God though his lifestyle and claims when with his followers
directly contradicted that. On April 7, 1979 while pontificating on the glories of Guru Maharaj Ji, he stopped, explained for any aspirants that he wasn't talking about himself and then went on to
contradict that with the rest of his explanation.
The following are just some quotes from his speeches in which he discusses this concept. Where possible, the full text of the speeches are linked to each quote and date of the speech and the publication
in which the transcript was published are recorded.
Boulder, Colorado, August 18, 1971
What is the difference between a Satguru and an Avatar?
Same. What is the difference between H2O and water? Some people say "Mercy," "Lord of Mercy." Some only say "Lord," some say "God," some say "Lord Christ." Same thing.
And It Is Divine, Winter 1977, Volume I, Issue 2 |
 |
Montrose, Colorado, July 26, 1972
I was an ordinary child. And then I used to come back home, and there was Guru Maharaj Ji, there was my father, who was, as a matter of fact, the incarnation of his time. He was true. He was perfect. And then the
whole company was holy; the whole company was Truth.
Divine Times, September/October 1978, Volume 7, Number 6 |
 |
Denver, Colorado; October 12, 1974 Highly edited, next quote is original
It's been said that Guru Maharaj Ji comes, or God comes into the world, when there is a decline in religion. God comes, Guru Maharaj Ji comes, and helps the world. Why? Realize how much importance there is to it when Guru Maharaj Ji comes and tries to help you through; how much importance there is to it; how small you are compared to the whole world, and the whole world to the whole universe, and that whole universe to something called infinity. We have no idea how big it is, and how small it is.
The Living Master: Quotes from Guru Maharaj Ji |
 |
Denver, Colorado; October 12, 1974
Premies, you know when its told to premies that why does Guru Maharaj Ji come, why does God come into this world, is anytime there is a decline in religion He comes, Guru Maharaj Ji comes and helps. This is why you know premies just get blissed out and say that's so fantastic.
But that's about it. But realise how much importance there is to it. When Guru Maharaj Ji comes and tries to help you through. How much importance there is to it. How small you are compared to the whole world. Then the whole world to the universe, and that whole universe to something called infinity. That we have no idea how big it is and how small it is.
The Golden Age No. 15, November, 1974 |
 |
Interview at Lucknow, India, April 14, 1975
"It is funny and ridiculous to say they have removed me from office as if it is is a public office to which I was elected or appointed," Maharaj Ji said.
"Nobody creates a guru. He is self existent. Nobody can make a guru except the Guru Maharaj Ji himself."
However, he declined to answer his mother's charges that he had started drinking alcoholic beverages, had begun eating meat instead of remaining a vegetarian, and had shown too much interest in sex.
The guru, who flew into Lucknow on Saturday after a journey from the United States, showed visible dismay when he talked about his mother.
"Mothering means caring and loving," be said "If my mother denies that to me, then my goal becomes supreme and takes over.
" I am not leaving my job. These accusations have not changed me. These will result in only further perfecting of the perfect master.
The guru said he planned to return to the United States soon without going to see his mother. The Divine Light Mission, which has its U.S. headquarters at Denver, Colo., claims 500,000 American followers and eight million in India.
Associated Press Writer, RANGASWAMY SATAKOPAN |
 |
|
Guru Puja, Tucson Arizona, Sunday, July 16, 1978
And only that pure and humble soul can then in fact turn around and surrender to Guru Maharaj Ji. Because Guru Maharaj Ji is that perfectness.
Guru Maharaj Ji is that purity. Guru Maharaj Ji is that Knowledge. Guru Maharaj Ji is infinite. And nothing finite can come into infinite
and still stay finite. That finite thing has to become infinite before it can actually merge in infinite.
The Golden Age No. 48, September/October, 1978 |
 |
|
December 10, 1976, Guru Maharaj Ji's birthday, Malibu mansion
Satsang, service, and meditation. That's what I've been saying. Love and understanding. You see, a lot of people have concepts about Guru Maharaj Ji. But Guru Maharaj Ji is there for one purpose and that is to supervise the
process of satsang, service, and meditation. There are three or four ways of looking at it, but the real way of looking at it is as a car and a driver. It doesn't matter how perfect the car can be, you need a driver for it,
and Guru Maharaj Ji is the driver of that car. It doesn't matter if you buy a thirty thousand dollar automobile, if you don't have a driver for it, it's not worth anything. I mean, you can push the accelerator down, put it
in gear, and let it go, and before you know it, it will crash. Guru Maharaj Ji is that driver who we really need, because he supervises that process. Knowledge is infinite, and we finite, so we need a bridge, we need a
translator, who is infinite and finite at the same time, who can really bring us together, and that is Guru Maharaj Ji. In my realisation of Knowledge, I know that if it hadn't been for Guru Maharaj Ji, Knowledge alone
wouldn't have done wonders for me, because the wonders that Knowledge was doing already existed - I was alive! After that it was going to go nowhere. I was alive, I was breathing, playing around and so on, but when Guru
Maharaj Ji came into my life, everything became different, it became real. I couldn't lose the importance of Guru Maharaj Ji at that point and say, "Well, maybe I can just do it on my own." Because it's literally impossible
to do it. A lot of people have tried to do it, and a lot of people have tried to do it the other way around, without going through Guru Maharaj Ji at all, just going back to nature. Trying to be tuned with Knowledge in this
whole life, but I can tell you one thing, it doesn't work. They have wasted their lives completely. That's just not blunt advice, because Guru Maharaj Ji is here, and that's what makes it real for all of us. Because we can
all come together and have that huge gap covered.
The Golden Age February 1977 Number 36 and Guru Maharaj Ji's World booklet, 1980 |
 |
Hans Jayanti Festival, Kissimmee, Florida, afternoon November 11 1978
And it's so incredible. Because Guru Maharaj Ji - I know. Guru Maharaj Ji, physically, only has two ears. He can listen to one thing at one time. Two ears: but can only listen to one thing. Two eyes: can only see one thing. But it's incredible. Because everybody's prayer is heard. And as soon as it becomes sincere …
I mean, there is Guru Maharaj Ji, just waiting and waiting and waiting. Those hands that can create the world -- that can ruin the world -- are waiting on a steering wheel to drive you away from that misery and take you away from the conditions of heaven and hell and whatever, and take away all the misery.
Listen! That's incredible!
Elan Vital Volume III Issue 2 Summer 1979 |
 |
|
Holi Festival Miami Beach, Florida, April 7, 1979
I remember once hearing that Guru Maharaj Ji sends his devotees first before he comes, so there can be some devotion which can bring him down, which can bring him into this world. And so the devotees come in this
world first. And then comes the Perfect Master. And maybe those devotees who come first aren't really devotees yet, but are destined to be devotees. And when the Perfect Master comes into this world, it's just like two
great big magnets. The attraction becomes faster and faster and faster and then "klunk." It happens.
And what an opportunity, what a setup, what a stage is then, in fact, created. We all come. All the devotees get together and with that sincere love, pray to Guru Maharaj Ji, pray to that Savior, pray to that Perfect
Master to help us.
And it's like the prayer of the devotee, "O come, save us, save me in this world." And Guru Maharaj Ji then comes. Okay, maybe there are some aspirants here and when I say Guru Maharaj Ji you might directly look at me
and say, "He's talking about himself." But no, I'm talking about Guru Maharaj Ji. What does Guru Maharaj Ji mean? Guru -- the revealer of Light. Gu -- darkness; ru -- Light. One who takes us away from the darkness and
brings us to Light is "Gu-ru." Guru Maharaj -- maha: the ultimate, raj: the ruler. The ultimate ruler. Guru Maharaj. And Ji is like the expression "sir." And you look at it, and by that I mean Jesus was Guru Maharaj Ji. He
was! Didn't he take people away from darkness and bring them to Light? So he was Guru Maharaj Ji. Obviously he was Guru Maharaj Ji. Have you heard of the word Issa-Masi? And if you haven't, that's what Indians call Jesus
Christ: Issa-Masi. And if you tell that to very staunch Christians, they'd go, "What? Never heard of this thing, Issa-Masi." But that's how you refer to Christ in India. And there is a very particular definition. The word
Guru Maharaj Ji does not fall into any category of noun, because it is not noun. Anybody may not become Guru Maharaj Ji, period. It is not like Michael. Anybody may be called Michael. Anybody may be called Marilyn. But that
is definitely not the case with Guru Maharaj Ji. Anybody is not Guru Maharaj Ji. Anybody just cannot become Guru Maharaj Ji. It is Guru Maharaj Ji himself that is Guru Maharaj Ji. And the word is a title for an action. Guru
Maharaj Ji will only be called Guru Maharaj Ji, Guru Maharaj Ji will be only called Guru Maharaj Ji, when he actually does what the word says: reveals the Light and takes away the darkness. Only then. And can you sincerely
call Guru Maharaj Ji, Guru Maharaj Ji? Before that it's not Guru Maharaj Ji. It just isn't. And when that reality becomes real, Guru Maharaj Ji becomes real. But when you can in fact say Guru Maharaj Ji and it is right,
it's because something has happened to you. You have been taken away from that darkness. And the Light has been shown to you. In yourself. And then the one who has done it is automatically Guru Maharaj Ji! And premies, Guru
Maharaj Ji comes into this world, every time. Jesus came. Mohammed came. Guru Nanak came. Shri Maharaj Ji came. Guru Maharaj Ji. For his devotees, everything. God is a myth. Guru isn't. Because in the whole realm of God,
there can be people who believe in God and people who don't believe in God. But in the case of Guru Maharaj Ji, it isn't like that. Like I said, it isn't a word.
I know that there are a lot of premies who have tried to get rid of their minds. Not only haven't they got rid of their minds, but they also have confused other premies. What do you say to that? That's how tricky that mind
can be. But only when there is a total faith in Guru Maharaj Ji, only when there is a true faith in Guru Maharaj Ji, only when there is a "let go" to Guru Maharaj Ji, that there is, in fact ... See, there has to be a
displacement. And when your heart gets filled with Guru Maharaj Ji's faith and love and devotion, then that asks for more space than the mind, in fact, holds. And just because it is stronger than the mind is, it asks mind
to just split. And that concept, the craziness, the imagination, and the wildness come out. So just to surrender to Guru Maharaj Ji, to have faith in Guru Maharaj Ji, to have that devotion, to have that love -- that's
something even Guru Maharaj Ji applauds. That's something to which even Guru Maharaj Ji says, "Alright. Okay. Beautiful. Perfect."
Elan Vital, Volume III, Issue 2, Summer 1979 |
 |
Miami, Florida December 25, 1979
It's very simple because there you are. There's Guru Maharaj Ji, Be a devotee, have the flow of devotion, and that's all. Period. No doctrines, no dogmas, no nothing is involved. That's all that's ever required for you to be a devotee. Guru Maharaj Ji is Guru Maharaj Ji. Guru Maharaj Ji always will be a Guru Maharaj Ji. You, the variable factor, have to stabilize, and become a devotee and stay a devotee.
Because that's all that's left of Christmas. Nobody thinks about why Jesus came into this world. Nobody thinks of that: what's really true of Knowledge, why Jesus came as Guru Maharaj Ji for those devotees, revealed that Knowledge to them, gave them that experience - I mean, a wonderful experience. Nobody remembers that.
Divine Times, January/February 1980 |
 |
Millenium 2000 festival
By putting all the other things aside and focus on the one way, you don't need to run anywhere else, the human being starts to run in that one direction where his Creator truly resides,
where his Creator truly resides, where his true bliss is there. He doesn't know what's in front of him, what's behind him, what's above him, what's below him, that person goes to that place,
he's in that place where everything is still, everything is beautiful and there's nothing else besides that bliss, besides that peace and the Master (Hindi: Guru Maharaj Ji) has opened that door,
opened that path for the person to go to that place. What a beautiful thing, what is the difference? Truly, for that person who has this Knowledge (Hindi: premie)
when he realises that every step is so precious and he makes the effort to try and understand this, the world doesn't even try to understand this but people who have this knowledge
can try to make this effort, even a little bit of effort every single day that they want to fulfil their lives. Therefore the Saints and Masters have said "Blessed are those,
blessed are those whose focus is in that direction of where there is that truth, consciousness and bliss where there is that Supreme Bliss, where is that,
where there is that peace but also walk in the remembrance of that.
Elan Vital '4 Days in November' video, 2000 |
 |
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.
Prem Rawat's Teachings about "Guru Maharaj Ji" - In His Own Words
