Becoming Lord Of The Universe
This is a collection of the scenes in the Passages (2001) video purporting to explain how the 8 year old Prem Rawat became the Guru Maharaj Ji, the Lord of the Universe of Divine Light Mission and his subsequent career. If you remove all the claptrap and over-the-top meaningfullness of the dialogue then the bare-bones of the story is accurate.
On June 17th, a 13 year old boy stepped off a plane from India at London's Heathrow airport on a journey that would touch the lives of thousands of people. "He was Maharaji, and he was already the central figure in a truly remarkable and timeless story.
History tells us there have always been Masters or teachers who have helped people experience an innate beauty in their lives. Maharaji's father, Shri Hans Ji Maharaj, had been the student of such a Master named Swarupanand. On Swarupanand's passing, Shri Hans Ji Maharaj became Master in 1936, he spent the next 30 years of his life spreading the Knowledge his Master had shown him.
At a very young age Maharaji had shown an extraordinary interest in his father's work and in the practical techniques called Knowledge which lay at the heart of his teaching. His interest had developed to the point where his father was allowing him to speak to large audiences when Maharaji was only 4 years old.
Hans Rawat was using the young Rawat as a cute mascot to attract listeners to his speeches and enthuse his followers.
*** Holy Family Alert *** A glimpse of Bhole Ji slipped through the censors
"Shri Maharaji did gave the words many times saying when he was telling him stand up and give satsang to the audience and when he was finishing many times he was saying, "See how young he is and how beautifully he presents the Knowledge. Imagine when he will be grown up how beautifully he will present this beautiful Knowledge around the world to the human beings."
Fortunately for the world at large Prem Rawat presents his father's "Knowledge" so poorly that the response has been underwhelming.
On July 19th, 1966 Shri Hans Ji Maharaj left his body. He was 66 years old.
This is the polite Indian way of saying that a guru died. Bihari Singh had been at the young Rawat's side in the early years of his career but lost his inner circle position when he wavered at the time of the family split. Around 2005 he was active in passing on stories of Rawat's Indian childhood to the short-lived A Voice For peace website and to the "biography" Peace Is Possible by Andrea Cagan for which the Prem Rawat Foundation paid her $60,000. In this Singh was quoted as saying that Rawat's mother, Mata Ji, had refused to believe her husband was dead and ordered his body packed in ice until he returned from 'samadhi'. This was probably just part of an ongoing campaign to belittle his mother. The young Rawat testified on the 31st July, 1966 that he heard his dead father talking to him and was visited by and conferred with him after his death.
"We were standing on the roof of the house where Shri Maharaji used to stay and it was full moon and Maharaji said to me he said 'Look at the moon, I feel Shri Maharaji's presence everywhere' and he just ?? whether we are we lost in our sorrow or we still remember the dearest thing to him, that was propagation of Knowledge. Are we you know thinking about that feeling about that to continue his mission and I said "Yes Maharaji you are right, I feel the same." And I was so deeply touched when I heard him expressing his feelings and concern about that in a very innocent way. He was only 8 years old at that time and next day he spoke and everything was so clear that yes he's the one who is going to do what Shri Maharaji many times proclaimed about him."
Few could have expected the strength and determination with which Maharaji took on a role which was to shape the rest of his life.
"He stepped forward and he gave the hope to thousands of people who were crying and wondering and he promised then, "Don't worry, your Master is with you with you always," and he said "I will take care of Knowledge. I will try to spread the same Knowledge as Shri Maharaj Ji was doing it."