Satgurudev Shri Hans Ji Maharaj Originally Published by Divine Light Mission, B-19/3, Shakti Nagar, Delhi 7, India - 1970, 8th November, 1970
He was a fearless, realized saint who followed the path of all great seers, shunning traditions, superstitions and rituals. He emphasised the worship of the living Guru. … But the relation of the Guru and the disciple transcends human relations, and are based on eternal bond of the jiva and God. Every individual soul is destined to achieve salvation through the grace of a living Guru. … Knowledge of the soul cannot be attained simply by reading the holy books. It is only a living spark that can give us light. The truth can only be imparted to us from the living spiritual master. … Guru and God are one and the same entity. One is given form while the other is formless. "I and my father are one." (John, 10; 30) Thus, the knowledge of the self can be attained only at the feet of a living spiritual master. … The Divine Light has been variously named by different spiritual masters. … It is possible for every man to experience this Divine Light through the grace of the living master. … The Word can only be known at the feet of a living Spiritual Master. It is only a burning lamp that can kindle other lamps. Only he who knows the Word and is fully God realized can be called a Spiritual Master. … The living spiritual master is Balyogeshwar Param Hans Satgurudev Shri Sant Ji Maharaj. … It is a spiritual law that there can be no divine knowledge without the grace of the living Satguru. … The Satguru is the living embodiment of grace, and the very ocean of mercy.
Satgurudev Shri Hans Ji Maharaj

Prayer of Shri Hans Ji Maharaj Ji to His Perfect Master Sarupanand Ji Maharaj
O my Guru Maharaj Ji, Lord of all Lords, I ask nothing more than to serve You day and night. If only I might see my living Master, I would tell Him all my sufferings, weeping, and rest my head on His Holy Feet. I would tell Him everything.
Affinity, June 1979, Issue 52

Questions & Answers, Boulder, Colorado, August 18, 1971
Q: Will the world always be provided with a perfect Guru to show the way?
A: The world is never empty. Because when the world becomes empty of a perfect Guru, it collapses. It is finished.
Q: But will there always be a living perfect Guru?
A: Yes!
Élan Vital, Volume IV, Issue 1, Spring 1980

Questions & Answers, Morgantown, West Virginia, August 31 1971, Noon Session
Q: When did you become a spiritual master? Did you feel any kind of a spiritual calling that made you decide to become a Guru? How did you get into this?
A: See, after one Master, the power of his spirit is transmitted. That holy spirit of Knowledge is transmitted to another body, whom the first body thinks is capable. Are you feeling thirsty? Can you see that photo of Lord Shiva? You see the water coming out from the top of his head? Drink that water. Drink, drink! Can You? You can't drink that water. It is a picture. You need everything living. If you have doubts, you cannot ask Lord Krishna questions. That's why you need a living Master, for the circumstances of the world today. When Jesus was here there were no nuclear bombs. But now there are nuclear bombs, and the Perfect Master, the Perfect Savior, has come to save you from nuclear bombs.
Élan Vital, Volume 4, Issue 3, Fall 1980 and The Questions, Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji? and Light Reading, 1980

Johannesburg, South Africa, 29th April, 1972
People today are so sophisticated they have become foolish because they cannot believe that the Perfect One is here. Even if they have some religious feeling, some inner understanding of truth, they cannot conceive of the Living Master. If you only read the scriptures properly you will see that they all talk about a Living Master. No scripture exists which does not talk about true Knowledge, or divine experience, being imparted to a disciple by a Living Master.
We read the scriptures without understanding what they are saying. Indian people read the Bhagavad Gita and in this Lord Krishna, the Living Master of His time, said clearly, "Don't recognize me by my external appearance for this is perishable. My true form has no beginning and no end. Believe it or not, the fact is that God is supreme and pure: The people are lying on a bed of ignorance and dreams and doubts. They expect God Himself to come (they pray for it, they ask for it, they announce about it) but when He comes, they fail to recognize Him. And not recognizing Him in His physical form, they cannot recognize Him within themselves.
The Golden Age, July 1979, Number 54 and Satsangs, Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?

Montrose, Colorado, on July 25, 1972
Jesus came into this world and gave this Knowledge to people. Mohammed came into this world and gave this Knowledge to people. Krishna gave this Knowledge to people. Ram gave this Knowledge to people. But now we must look for a living Master to show us the Light once again. Because the sun comes and goes away and we don't look for the light of the sun which has just gone. We look for the new rising sun. The sun is the same but it rises in a new way, in a new, beautiful way and we look for that. In the same way, God is the same, but now we must look for His coming and for His Knowledge.
Light Reading, 1980

1972
Why does a Perfect Master have to have a living body to give Knowledge? Why is it necessary?
Are you feeling thirsty? Can you see that photo of Lord Shiva? You see the water coming out from the top of his head? Drink that water. Drink, drink! Can You? You can't drink that water. It is a picture. You need everything living. If you have doubts, you cannot ask Lord Krishna questions. That's why you need a living Master, for the circumstances of the world today. When Jesus was here there were no nuclear bombs. But now there are nuclear bombs, and the Perfect Master, the Perfect Savior, has come to save you from nuclear bombs.
The Questions, Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?

Interview, 1973
Q: The Knowledge can be realized through that spirit?
AL No. It has to be revealed. By a Perfect Master.
Q: By a living Perfect Master?
A: By a living Perfect Master. I was going to give you an example of Kennedy and Johnson. When Kennedy left his body, they didn't say all right, Kennedy is still going to be President. They put Johnson in.
Light Reading, 1980

Divine United Organization PROCLAMATION

Whereas, Knowledge of the aim of human life is being revealed to all people of the world by the living Perfect Master and spiritual head of Divine Light Mission, Paramhans Satgurudev Shri Sant Ji Maharaj, thus eliminating the cause of ignorance and misery;
The Golden Age, October 1979, Number 55

Divine Light Mission even published a book called The Living Master: Quotes from Guru Maharaj Ji in 1978 though strangely it did not include any quotes about the necessity of a Living Master:
This book is a compilation of excerpts from discourses, known as satsangs, of Guru Maharaj Ji. Guru Maharaj Ji was born on December 10, 1957, in Hardwar, India, the youngest of four sons. He was declared Perfect Master at the age of eight by his father, Param Hans Satgurudev Shri Hans Ji Maharaj, the living Perfect Master of his time.
But here are the words of the living Master. And what he is offering is more than just words; he can reveal the practical experience of what our existence is all about.
The Living Master: Quotes from Guru Maharaj Ji

Interview with Miami Magazine, June, 1979
Q: Why do people need a Perfect Master in the first place? If God is within, can't people experience God without the help of someone else?
A: God being within is one thing, and experiencing God is another. Just like having water in front of you in one thing, and drinking is another. God is within you. God is omnipresent. But, without the help, without the assistance, without the guidance of the true Living Master, the experience of God is not only very, very hard, but impossible. For the true teacher can make that experience manifest.
The Golden Age, July 1979, Number 54

Guru Puja, Miami Beach, Florida, Saturday, 21st July, 1979
You know it seems so evident that by now everybody would understand, that everybody would understand all the mistakes human beings have made in the past with the Perfect Masters and would not commit the same mistakes again. Too many stories and too many examples. The cost of every living Perfect Master who has incarnated into this Earth. Look at Krishna. Look at Ram. Look at Mohammed. Look at Buddha. Guru Nanak.
You know, we think there are so many experiences out there. But every living Perfect Master has come to reveal one experience. After all, there is something behind it. Isn't there? And how simple does Guru Maharaj Ji make it? Tell me, how simple did Jesus make it when he came?
The Golden Age, October 1979, Number 55

Rome 1980 Ashram Satsang
"A premie is not just somebody who has received Knowledge. The word 'premie' again is a Hindi Word - premie mean lovers - but what is a premie? What is, what is a premie in this day and age and what has been a premie since ever since a human being was created? What is a, what is a premie, what is the definition of a premie? And the definition is one, you know, who has received the gift that Guru Maharaj Ji has bestowed upon that being, practices that gift, has that love, has that faith, and has surrendered in his heart towards Guru Maharaj Ji, towards the living Master of his day. Then you may say that's getting close enough to a definition of 'premie'."
Rome 1980 Ashram Satsang

Festival Of Knowledge, Brussels 8th December 1989
We're gonna come together and we're gonna talk about Knowledge, we're gonna talk about this life and we're gonna talk hopefully about how thankful we all are. Why? Because that feels so good, that's why. (clapping) You know I suppose that dead people could try to talk about life but they would have a really hard time. Living people, don't you realize what the most important thing. Life! (frenzied) So what makes more sense than the living people coming together and talking about a living experience brought to them by a living teacher through the living Knowledge.
Festival Of Knowledge video

Shri Sant Yogashram, New Delhi, Vaishakhi Celebrations (Evening Session), 13th April, 1991.
We need a living Master, a living king and a living physician in every age and time. Whenever the Master came, people could not understand him. Do you know why they could not understand him? Everything is written in the book of history. Why did people not understand him? Should I tell you? Because, it was written that would happen in a certain way. And those stupid people read this and interpreted it in their own way.
'Life Force', Volume 7, Issue 4 October-December, 1991

Charanand (formerly "Mahatma Gurucharanand") recalls
Prem Rawat's most senior and respected disciple, Charanand, (formerly Mahatma Gurucharanand") testifies that Shri Hans (Prem Rawat's father and predecessor) said "Only the living Master after me will impart this Knowledge…. Only a living doctor can help a patient, only a living leader can take care of the situations, problems in this country, and only a lamp that is lit can light other unlit lamps."
Passages video

Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?, People, testimony of Joan Apter
This is a testimony. But really, without exaggerating, it is a scripture, for I have been graced and the Living Lord has found me, and so my experiences with Guru Maharaj ji are the eternal experiences written by every soul in the past and will be written by every soul in the future who meets the embodiment of truth, pure consciousness, and bliss, receives his Knowledge, and lives under his universal shelter.
Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?, People, testimony of Joan Apter