Prem Rawat's Teachings about Reincarnation - In His Own Words
Prem Rawat, or Maharaji ("Ultimate Ruler") as he calls himself, rarely used the word 'reincarnation' or it's forms after his early initial, successful phase of recruitment in the West. He defined 'reincarnation' in a very specific, personal and unique way. Of course he claimed to be the unique manifestation and embodiment and incarnation of God on the planet at this time as well. He is the Master, the Savio(u)r, Guru Maharaj Ji, the Perfect Master, the Lord, the Living Master, the Incarnation of God who come(s) in(to) the world to reveal the Knowledge and save mankind. Later in his career he claimed to know nothing about the possibility of 'reincarnation'. Why Rawat has chosen to remove this explicit explanation of the source of the power he claims to embody is unknown.

Peace Bomb Speech, India Gate, Delhi, Hardwar, India, November 1970
So devote yourself wholeheartedly, sacrifice your life to propagate this Name. You can serve the world afterwards, you can fill this stomach eating and drinking later, but if you sacrifice yourself now for the devotion of God, I say that people will spread out golden carpets for you. Oh! Sacrifice yourself! Why didn't you hear the bhajan just now that said if you miss the chance, you will not get a human life again! This human life is not available time and again. So, arise! Now is time. It is time to awake and know the Word

Guru Maharaj Ji answers questions in Boulder, Colorado on August 18, 1971
Q: Would you speak on the subject of reincarnation?
A: See, reincarnation means that a realized soul, which is one at a time, comes and reveals that Truth to people. Ram, Krishna, Buddha, Kabir, Nanak, Guru Govind Singh … and also Christ - and there are many. They are all called incarnations. They come to give this Knowledge to people so that they may be done with all the sufferings of this world. Like Krishna says, "When there will be a decline in the true religion, I will come to save it and form one religion." Which he did. And "religion" means realization. "Religion" has started from a word "realization."
Élan Vital, Volume 4, Issue 1, Spring 1980

Denver Ashram, Colorado, 18 September 1971
Hell and heaven are on earth, and liberation is just beyond all these points. There are two types of liberation. One is not to be concerned with this world. The other liberation is to be concerned with this world, but not this world directly, but to the Perfect Master: to be a devotee. Devotion. When you go to the Judge and He weighs your balance, right? and only your one balance is good, only good, and bad has been finished away with this Knowledge, He will ask you, "Okay, what do you want, liberation or devotion?" People who ask liberation just go there and sit there. They can do nothing. But people who ask for devotion come again onto this earth, but they don't suffer. It is always heaven for them, and they always stay with Perfect Masters. It is so very beautiful to be with the Lord.Whenever a Perfect Master will come, they'll come with Him.
And It Is Divine, Volume 1, Issue 1, November 1972

Cosmopolitan Hotel, Denver, Colorado, 28 April, 1974
Because it's only one time that we receive this gift, this body and we have to do something now. Otherwise, forget it. You never know! There are people who come to me saying, "Maharaj Ji, what do you think about reincarnation?" I'll tell you nobody has seen it till now. Nobody saw a soul fly from one body, go up in the heaven then go up in the hell and drop back to the earth. It's all concept but now you have this body. You are alive! There is some purpose for it. God is not a fool who gave you this body just like that. There is definitely some purpose and now that we have realized this Knowledge, the purpose is to go and tell people about it, to make 'em understand, to make 'em realize and premies if you need to become stronger because I understand some premies do need to become stronger before they can go out and do whatever I am saying. I am gonna hold programs every night, from seven to nine. Every night till I am gonna be here and if you want to come, there will be satsang there, I'll come and satsang will go on every night and if you don't want to take privilege of it, look, there is so much sweet water in this world that you have no idea but if you are not with it, it's gonna do you no good.
The Golden Age Number 6, Thursday, May 23, 1974 and Audio Tape

Guru Puja Celebration, Caracas, Venezuela, July 24th 1975
It's like, we come into this world, the soul is brought forth into this world, and the purpose of it has to be recognized. We have to find out why we are here, and which is the main thing that really drives us, which is the main part of us that really drives us. When we recognize that, and when we are one with that, that is when the true happiness, the true peace comes to us.
So premies, this is why Guru Maharaj Ji comes into this world, so he can awaken everybody and tell them that, "This is the time. Understand; realize." Because you see, whoever we are, and whatever we think, it is not necessary that we are going to get a lifetime again. This very well might be our last lifetime.
And It Is Divine, Volume 2, Number 10, September 1975

Hans Jayanti Festival, Orlando, Florida, 7 November 1975
Not only do premies feel, but we feel that Grace, that power, just lighting up our hearts, our souls.
It's so beautiful because we have waited for such a long time for this to happen.
We have waited for years; we have waited for centuries. Who knows how many people there are right now who have reincarnated into this world for the very purpose of realizing this Knowledge? And who knows why the Lord has to come into the darkest of all times? But something sure happens. And the Lord comes, and we realize the Knowledge. We feel that experience and we realize that experience. Premies, this is what all our festivals are all about.
Golden Age, Number 27

Hans Jayanti Festival, Orlando, Florida, Evening 9 November 1975
How many times are we going to deny our Lord? I mean, I can't even imagine how man can be as crazy as he is! The Lord Himself reincarnates, reincarnates, reincarnates Himself for the very purpose of saving us. And we do not even realize who gave us the authority to refuse Him! Who are we anyway? From which field do we come that we can reject, that we can refuse, that we can deny our Lord? That is something that I cannot answer. And we do it every time! Because we have got a stupid ego. Because of one simple reason - we have got our stupid mind that's always telling us. For one simple reason - we do not understand, we cannot comprehend His beauty, His perfection. … The Lord will always be there but the opportunity for you to seek Him, to find Him, is not always going to be there because Lord is unlimited and you are not. You are very limited. Maybe our lifetime of fifty years, one hundred years, one hundred and twenty years, is a split second on our Lord's watch. He is always going to be there. He's always got opportunities. He's always come to, going to come after one decade after another, after another. Are we? Let's be practical about it. Let's forget about reincarnations for a second. Let's just be practical about it because I don't think anybody has gone and died and come back again and said, "Yeah. There is something like reincarnation." Let's just be practical about it. Maybe there is reincarnation, maybe there isn't. I think it makes more sense to be practical about things. So let's be practical about it. Are we going to be there? Or are we not going to be there?
Divine Times, Volume 4, Issue 10

Argentina, 7 January 1976
"We come and we go, we come and we go. But never do we really sit down and look for ourselves and say, "We come and we go." We have this lifetime now, but we might not have the next one. Who knows? A lot of people come to me and say, "Guru Maharaj Ji, what about reincarnation?" My answer is, "Look I don't know, because I have never died and come back again. I don't know, I am living right now, and that's about all I know. And what the Scriptures say, I don't say, because I don't know. I haven't written them, and I am not going to guarantee what they say. I can guarantee Knowledge, but I cannot guarantee anything about reincarnation." So, why don't we just forget about reincarnation? Knowledge is not going to hurt you. We all need salvation, we all need this Knowledge anyway. Whether or not we are going to be reincarnated, we all need this Knowledge - in this lifetime, now. And so let's do that."
And It Is Divine Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 2

Holi Festival, Miami, Florida, Friday evening, 18 March 1977
So premies, this is really an opportunity for us. We have no barrier. I and you have no barrier, simply because you're my premies and I'm your Guru Maharaj Ji, and there's only one reason why we are here. You might
have a lot of different reasons, I might have a lot of different reasons. You might be able to explain them, I might be able to explain them. But when it comes to Knowledge there's something we have really understood to be
as true as it is; in this world there is only one reason. And that one reason why we are all here is because we love each other. Is because I love you and you love me is the greatest reason in this whole universe to be
here, and to always show up again and again and again, in time immemorial, as Guru Maharaj Ji and devotees, 'til there is the blue sky, until there is a brown earth, until there the ocean roars.So premies, let it go
on, let it flow. It always - all the premies in the whole lifetime have wanted to have satsang, have wanted to have darshan. Well, we went through a lot, well, we're back again, and we're back again home. I'm here and you
are there. I don't want anybody in between, and I'm pretty sure you don't want anybody in between. If you want to unite with me, you have now an opportunity to do so by satsang, service, and meditation, and by the
opportunities provided by these satsang programs to you now, premies.
The Golden Age May/June 1977 Number 38

Holi Festival, Florida, March 20, 1977
I was watching a cartoon in Los Angeles, and it was "Bugs Bunny" cartoon. …
So every concept, every imagination that we have in this world, and that one goal we have in this world, we have to really find out what that goal really is in our lives that we have to accomplish. And that goal so far I
have understood there's a lot of ways to explain that goal of our life, of our lifetime. But it's to complete one cycle from where we were born, from where we originated, from where that inner strength, that inner force
came unto us - to go back to it, to become one with it, to me, is the goal of our life. And of course, you can break it down into a lot of different topics, and I'm not talking about birth. But no, birth into that life
that never begins and never dies. I'm talking about birth into that eternal eternity, where there is complete harmony, where there is complete satisfaction. …
And the only method that is most successful, and the only method there is, is satsang, service, and meditation. And to give it all a super dose, there is darshan, and these programs, the way they're happening.
The Golden Age, May / June 1977, Number 38

Hans Jayanti Festival, Rome, Italy, Friday, November 11, 1977
You want to get liberated? Oh, yeah, that's really nice. Get liberated." From what? Get liberated from what?
Some people say, "From this world." Well, when you're going to die you're going to get liberated from this world. You have no other option but to get liberated from this world. Even if you come in your next lifetime as a pig. Not that I'm saying that I believe staunchly in reincarnation. But if you come as a pig, or you come as a cat, or you come as a dog, you really think your son is going to go up to you and say, "Oh daddy, how nice that you come back."? Or your pundit or your astrologer or somebody like that's going to come running up to you and say, "I'm sorry, you didn't get liberated."? I mean, is that what's going to happen?
Or is it really, in fact, an open-and-shut case?
Divine Times, November 1979, Volume 8, Number 6 and The Golden Age, March 1978, Number 43

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 27th August, 1978
There is the experience that you have experienced in Knowledge. There is that experience you've experienced in service, in
And we have to make that step really happen in our lives, so we get out of that chakra. To me, I would be less bothered
-- I am less bothered -- about anybody becoming a mule. a horse, an insect, or going through the 840 million thousand
-- whatever it is -- forms of life. That's nothing. Oh, I've seen a dog smile. I have! Nellie, at the Malibu residence, smiles. I'm not bothered about that. That's probably
really neat for her You look at some of the dogs -- they travel better than most of the people in this world! Look at Gin-Gin. You look at Nisa.
Traveled in a private airplane all the way: a little cat. I mean, we have the group of Nisa (that's a beagle). Galvin (that's a Siamese cat), and Dudley (a pug dog). This cat (Galvin) has been there for a very long time. And he thinks he's a dog, this cat. It plays with the dogs. Dudley licks Galvin and Galvin licks Dudley. They both go around eating out of the same place. No fight. Nothing. And they have a dandy time. What have they got to bother about? I know of people … I mean, you look at Nisa. She's always in a great mood, jumping around everywhere, doing what she wants to do. Then you look at Bill Patterson who walks into my office sometimes. I mean, he's got more to bother about than Nisa does. And if you call that hell or if you call that a stage of suffering, it's not too bad. It's better than the human life. It really is!
The Divine Times January/February 1978

Hans Jayanti Festival, Kissimmee, Florida, November 5, 1978
But one wish that we have to make, one determination that we have to make in our life is that we want that Grace. We want Guru Maharaj Ji. And that's something that is good enough for us. That is something that is what is going to save us in this world. Because it's like, "If I do this, maybe next time this will happen to me." I was giving this example yesterday: "What is going to happen to us in our next lifetime?" But Guru Maharaj Ji says, "Listen! I can take you away from the evolution of life and death. I can take you away from the revolution of pain and suffering. I can take you away from the ferris wheel of all this illusion! But only if you confide in me. Only if you have faith in me. Only if you have trust in me. And then I will take you away from this illusion."
Élan Vital, Spring 1979, Volume III, Issue 1

Hans Jayanti Festival, Kissimmee, Florida, November 11, 1978, afternoon program
Once there was a king. And this king came to Guru Maharaj Ji's court, and everybody was sitting there. Guru Maharaj Ji was giving satsang. So he just came in, sat down. And Guru Maharaj Ji was saying that the power, the Grace of Guru Maharaj Ji, can make anything happen. It's incredible. It's so powerful, that even Guru Maharaj Ji's Grace, the darshan of Guru Maharaj Ji, can take the sins of his past life and clean it all up.
Élan 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.
Élan Vital, Volume III, Issue 2, Summer 1979

Contact video, 1988
Knowledge stays the same, the holy curiosity and curiosity is holy, stays the same, the desire to want to know stays the same and when that fulfillment happens in one's life the joy of that fulfillment stays the same but we change, our attitudes change, the way we look at things changes and what that Master does, amazingly enough that it takes that thing, that experience, that Knowledge and makes it real, tangible, comprehendible to the people of his time so that they may experience that as if the same thing was being experienced by any other generation and therefore Knowledge is kept alive and not thrown in the doctrine, not thrown in the dogma but is kept totally awakened, alive and separated by that teacher. When that teacher is not there it immediately firms and becomes a dogma and a doctrine. When the teacher comes back he takes it back out of dogma and doctrine and makes it a living experience for the living people and that's what it's all about.
Contact video, 1988

Visions International booklet 1994
What have you been doing in your life as far as you can remember? Nobody taught you to do it, but you did it anyway and you are still doing it. It sounds like a puzzle, but it's not. You have been breathing. A breath in and a breath out. That's what you have been doing. Do you have any idea how long you are going to be doing that? Until the very end. Think about it. Everything will change for you. Talk about reincarnation - it finally hit me. We are all reincarnated, but in the same lifetime. You get another chance, but in the same lifetime. It's not that you die and you are born again. No. Chapters are closed and chapters are opened every day. So, yes you are reincarnated, but you are reincarnated here. In this lifetime.
Maharaji's world wide addresses