Prem Rawat and Jesus Christ Are One And The Same
Prem Rawat has spoken about Jesus Christ in his teachings many times and explained that Jesus revealed the same Knowledge as himself, his father and all the other Perfect Masters and all are able to inspire their followers with the same Grace to experience the pure energy of God but only a living Master can help a living person. In a Question and Answer session Prem Rawat taught this about Jesus:
Q. If I call myself a Christian and I believe in the things Jesus taught, would I want to receive Knowledge from you?
GMJ: Jesus taught this Knowledge.Q. It wouldn't be like denying Jesus then?
GMJ. Jesus taught this Knowledge. Yes! Jesus taught this Knowledge. You won't be denying, you will be going further on the path, you'll be realizing who Jesus was. People think Jesus was a human being, but then they realize who Jesus was when they receive this Knowledge. We are looking at Jesus the same way as those crucifiers saw him, the same way, because we don't have what he was giving, we just have a memory of him, that's all. But when we receive that Knowledge, we really know what he gave to those twelve disciples.So how are we going to recognize God as He comes on the earth? Are you going to ask to see His identity card or passport? See, if it says, "Name … God. Occupation … Generator, Operator, Destroyer." That is foolish! Or are you going to recognize Him only if He fits in with your mental picture of Him, what you have picked up from the scriptures and other impressions, what you imagine Jesus or Krishna looked like? But even two Christians will have different impressions of what Jesus looked like. So what will be recognized by one will not be recognized by the other. But the test of the Perfect Master will be that which is undeniable to everybody and that is the experience of himself which he can give, and that is the true Knowledge.
On April 7, 1979 Prem Rawat explained "Guru Maharaj Ji", that Jesus is Guru Maharaj Ji and that only Guru Maharaj Ji can be 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. … 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.
Prem Rawat attended a Catholic school but knows very little about Jesus Christ, the Bible and Christianity. He has many times stated that the eponymous authors of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were disciples of Jesus even though it is well known these scriptures were written decades after Jesus died by anonymous authors. He has taught that only 12 people recognised Jesus in his life time. He has mistaken John the Baptist for the author of the Gospel of John.
Prem Rawat explained at Millenium that Jesus taught the same Knowledge which was keeping the disciples alive then as he teaches what is keeping us alive now: "Because whatever Jesus taught to his disciples has not disappeared, it's still there. Because that time if those people staying alive is because of the same Knowledge and if this time people are going to stay alive it's because of the same Knowledge. You're alive because of that same Knowledge."
The previous Perfect Master, Prem Rawat's father Shri Hans wrote about the unity of religions and the life of Jesus:
"On the surface it may seem as though the paths taken by various saints are different from one another, but they all lead to this same place. The same state of consciousness which Buddha attained by following the path of devotion, and which Christ reached by following the path of devotion can also be reached by the active path, karma yoga. lthough the enlightened one, Buddha, was a karma yogin, and Jesus was a pious devotee, both of them reached the same state."
On Christmas Day 1980 Prem Rawat, (then known as Guru Maharaj Ji) gave satsang (holy talk) to his followers (premies) who were working and living in Miami at that time. Many followers were
involved in the Deca project which involved a total refurbishment of a second-hand Boeing 707 in accordance with Prem Rawat's
orders, including the installation of a gold plated toilet. In this talk Prem Rawat discusses the importance of the Perfect Master, the need to have faith
in Guru Maharaj Ji, the current Perfect Master (himself) and how Jesus Christ was viewed in his time. The following are excerpts of that talk,
click on the play button to hear the actual excerpts.
"But what was the meaning to like the devotees of that time of the Perfect Master, what were the meanings to them? And it was incredible because there was this point you know where Peter just got up and said to Jesus, he said "You are, you know, you are the Son of God, you are the Savior" and Jesus turned to Peter and said "You know, you're really lucky, you're really fortunate. And obviously no mortal man has told you this but this is very fortunate for you to understand that, it's very fortunate for you to realize that. And all of a sudden the, the importance shifts, the emphasis shifts from gifts and Christmas trees and Christmas lights and everything and for a devotee centers around being saved, it centers around to have that devotion, to have that love. All of a sudden it takes on a meaning that's real, that's substantial, that has truly a meaning because is a meaning. It has meant something, it has given that person, that devotee, a hope in life. It has given that devotee a chance just to exist because you look at it and life itself and, and just the way I perceive it is that life itself is, it's like a flower. Is the flower beautiful? Huh! Maybe to some people it is, maybe to some people it isn't. That all depends how we look at it."
"The religions existed at the time when Christ came but what was the meaning of those religions to those devotees? You know when every single Perfect Master has come in this world, and obviously every time he has come he has done this miraculous thing and we call him the Savior. He has saved us again and again and again because we need to be obviously saved. But he saves us. And he not only saves us but he saves us from what we need to be saved which we have no idea of what we really need to be saved from. The thing is that we acquire all this knowledge, we presume that this is what we really we need to be saved from, this is what we need to be saved from. And all our concepts one day fail."
"Yet what a Perfect Master brings is not speculation but to take away the speculation, to bring an experience, a simple experience, an experience not tied by words, an experience not tied by any kind of a secondary thing to it, an experience which which in itself is real and complete."
" but a spontaneous experience, a spontaneous grace, being given by Guru Maharaj Ji to all the premies, that's it. It is a, I don't have to live in my concepts to have an experience of Guru Maharaj Ji's grace. If I live in my concepts then I am having the experience of my concepts itself. I'm not having that experience, then all I'm doing basically is day-dreaming."
"… because what is the most important thing, do you think was, the difference, the basic, basic difference between Judas and the rest of them. You know people calling he betrayed Jesus or he did this or he did that or he was crazy or he was in his mind or he was into his concepts. Sure! Who wasn't? (laughter) What was the basic, basic difference? To me, that those devotees accepted Jesus as their Lord, and stayed with it. That's it, that was their experience, there was a gratitude, there was an experience, then there was an acceptance and that's why there was even an experience. But for Judas it wasn't Jesus, just Jesus and it wasn't Knowledge, just Knowledge, and him, just him but there was a whole lot of other things involved. What were they? His concepts, his dreams, his fantasies."
"Because what does my Guru Maharaj Ji bring? What does my Guru Maharaj Ji bring? Guru Maharaj Ji you know takes me to this wonderful, wonderful garden. And in this garden it's full of the most beautiful, beautiful flowers I've ever seen. And the most incredible, incredible sight that I can even imagine, ever, ever imagine and Guru Maharaj Ji takes me to this garden and says now open your eyes of faith and look at it. That's all you need is faith in me."
"Because I, if I have that faith in my Guru Maharaj Ji which I know every minute of the life I live I need to have that faith. Here it is not a matter of a self made man, it's not a matter of self-reliance, it's not a matter of having faith in myself. "
"But the faith in Guru Maharaj Ji somehow I know brings that faith in me to be just that devotee because that experience is flowing, that experience is coming from him. I don't have to fumble with my intellect and I don't have to fumble with books and I don't have to fumble with anything. Just have that solid faith in Guru Maharaj Ji. And why? For my own good. Because that is my vision, through that I can see Guru Maharaji. And Guru Maharaj Ji comes in this world. I mean, we think it's kind of easy to believe Jesus came in this world and he perform all these incredible miracles and so that's why we should believe in Jesus. Didn't Judas see all the miracles?"
Prem Rawat has explained why he is not recognised today: "And so, this whole quest, this whole chase of humanity is just going to go on. I mean, obviously, Jesus came, Ram came, Mohammed came, Buddha came, and today we follow their footsteps. Great. Fantastic! Do we also know what happened at that time? People rejected. People refused. Now, have we taken preventive measures? Have we been quarantined against this? Have we had our innoculations? So that when Lord comes this time everybody is going to say, "Right on! I accept you." … No! Just simply, people haven't."
In his Christmas Satsang in 1980 in front of 4 or 500 premies he explained the meaning of Christmas and life: "But what was the meaning to like the devotees of that time of the Perfect Master, what
were the meanings to them? And it was incredible because there was this point you know where Peter just got up and said to Jesus, he said "You are, you know, you are the Son of God, you are the Savior" and Jesus turned
to Peter and said "You know, you're really lucky, you're really fortunate. And obviously no mortal man has told you this but this is very fortunate for you to understand that, it's very fortunate for you to realize
that. And all of a sudden the, the importance shifts, the emphasis shifts from gifts and Christmas trees and Christmas lights and everything and for a devotee centers around being saved, it centers around to have
that devotion, to have that love. All of a sudden it takes on a meaning that's real, that's substantial, that has truly a meaning because is a meaning. It has meant something, it has given that person, that devotee,
a hope in life." You can listen to this whole satsang: Christmas Satsang, December 25, 1980 (16 MB) and Side 2 (7MB)
Prem Rawat explicitly stated that Jesus was Guru Maharaj Ji: "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 Knowledge to them, gave them that experience. Nobody remembers that. Because Christ came. His purpose, was for sat chit and anand. What he came in this world for, what he revealed in this world, was this Knowledge, that love, that devotion."
In the Divine Times, in 1978, page 33 an article explained how Maharaji deserved the luxurious lifestyle he has and his followers have donated for him. It was ordained by Jesus as quoted in the Gospel of John 12:3.
Judas was shocked when Mary Magdalen poured her precious ointment onto the feet of Christ. He told her that it could have been sold, and the money distributed to the poor. But Christ said that she had done well, that the poor were always around, but that he would not be with his disciples much longer. In a similar way, people question the disciples of Guru Maharaj Ji because we give him tiny presents, cars, aeroplanes, flowers. Yet somehow the message manages to get across to those who need to hear it.
3. THE LIVING MASTER quotes from Guru Maharaj Ji © 1978, Divine Light Mission, Inc. P.O. Box 532 Denver, Colorado 80201
4. Christmas Satsang, December 25, 1979, as published in THE DIVINE TIMES, January/February, 1980.