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.

The light show that is supposed to recreate the appearance of Divine Light and Sound as seen through Prem Rawat's meditation techniques. It demonstrates why no-one would practice these techniques more that once or twice if they didn't believe they had some spiritual value as, quite simply, it's boring even though it's much more colourful and tuneful than the meditation in real life.

I am unsure whether the poor quality of the nature scenes is due to the film fading over the last 30 years sitting in cans in an attic or whether our standards have risen dramatically because of the wonderful quality of television nature documentaries available over the last 30 years. The connections that Divine Light Mission and Elan Vital films try to make between Rawatism and the beauties of natural world are completely spurious. All the specific activities of followers of Rawat's have no connnection with "nature". They include sitting in halls watching DVDs of Rawat's speeches, sitting under blankets meditating and clerical, administrative and money-raising activities.

The cartoon section gives a standardised retelling of a "typical" journey of a person through birth, growth, questioning, life experiences and the coming to "Knowledge"

The lotus flower is another important spiritual symbol in Hinduism and especially so in Divine Light Mission where Prem Rawat's feet were kissed by his followers in darshan lines and were called the Divine Lotus Feet ie they stood in the dirt but remained completley pure and divine. The Lotus flowers' roots are deep in the mud (maya) but it's flowers float above the water at all times. IN DLM's 1970's incarnation, Rawat taught that the techniques of meditation his followers were taught would actually change them into people who would rise above the "maya."

Rawat's early Western speeches (satsangs) often contained an apocalyptic message though with the optimistic extra that God in the form of the Perfect Master (and you know that is) was on the planet and would probably save humanity and usher in the Golden Age of love and peace whereas in India he spoke of these times as Kali Yuga.

"Man, (click here for video) we can finally understand that what man has got in his brain is to destroy the whole world. He does not understand that if he tries to cut the same branch he is sitting on he will also fall down. He doesn't understand that so he is trying to cut the same branch on which he is sitting. He is trying to cut away the same world he is sitting on he is on. Now if this will be destroyed then where the man will live?"

A series of scenes of poverty, urban overcrowding, violence, war, repression, natural disasters and urban decay fades into the lone swan (symbol of purity and truth, the Satguru or Perfect Master) swimming about in perfect peace and then fades into an idyllic scene of the fat, teenage Godboy Guru MaharaJ Ji (Prem Rawat) walking down a country path leading his blissful and worshipful devotees.

See  Site Policy  for statement regarding copyright for this material.

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.