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.

Savoldelli (left) and Jacques Sandoz filming in India (November 1971) Stella Da Falla

In 1971 a young Swiss, Reto Andrea Savoldelli, arranged to make a film called "Stella Da Falla" with himself as the eponymous hero and funding from national Swiss Television SF. He hired Jacques Sandoz as the cameraman and they wrote a quest film about a young man on a wondrous and strange trip around the world has more in common with medieval mystery plays than with most modern films, as it is rich in symbols and low in explanatory materials.

In some unexplained past, Stella Da Falla (Andrea Savoidelli), riding horseback and hunting with a bow and arrow, meets with his father, who is wearing armor, and tells him it is time for him to experience the world. In a more modern setting, he is in Nepal with a teacher-figure. Later, he goes on a mysterious river journey, meeting what appear to be hippies. Many more amusing and enigmatic adventures take place up to his final meeting with his father, who by now is dying.

Stella Da Falla Title Stella Da Falla Scene
Stella Da Falla Filming The production team of Stella da Falla in a room in Hemberg, where some months later 'Knowledge' was given.

As Savoldelli and Sandoz had "received Knowledge" they filmed in Prem Nagar Ashram (Hardwar), in the Rawat's familiy home with Mata Ji in Dehra Dun, and at festivals in Delhi and Patna. Rawat, Gurucharanand and Ashokanand stayed for some days at Savoldelli's place of film business in Hemberg, Switzerland in October 1972. Naturally the young Master went on a shopping trip to Zürich where he bought sunglasses and opened a Swiss Bank Account. Sandoz then took the freshly developed 16mm film from the Laboratory Cinegram in Zürich to make the film "The Lord of the Universe" for Shri Hans Productions.

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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.