Prem Rawat was born on December 10, 1957, in the town of Kankhal in the Northern Indian province of Uttar Pradesh. He was the youngest of 4 sons of Hans Ram Singh Rawat and Rajeshwari Devi. During early childhood he was given the nickname Sant Ji, after the Sant spiritual adepts of Northern India, and upon his father's death, the honorary title Maharaji. Today he is known by millions as both Maharaji and Prem Rawat.
Nestled at the foot of the Himalayas where the Ganges and Jumna rivers flow, in ancient times Uttar Pradesh was at the forefront of the Aryan Settlement and was the center point of the Vedic Age, where saints and sages traveled and countless religious observances and ceremonies were held. The region had been exposed to the ideas of the great religions of the world: Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and, with the Mogul Empire, Islam. With the arrival of the British in India, Christianity was added to this diverse mix of religions, sects, belief systems and philosophies.
Prior to 1936, Prem Rawat’s father, Hans, had helped his teacher Sarupanand in the Lahore and Sind area, now part of the new Pakistan. After Sarupanand's death, Hans traveled throughout Northern India as Sat Guru {truth teacher} to thousand of students. From an outside observer's position, Hans might be categorized as a teacher in the Sant tradition of Northern India. But these teachers were not easy to categorize or define. They offered to show a fundamental inner peace, free of rites, rituals and religious trappings. Many of their students saw no reason to leave their cultural and religious traditions, and to Hans these were never obstacles to their receiving his Knowledge.
On one occasion, Hans spoke to a Soviet diplomat in Delhi. The diplomat abruptly told Hans that he was an atheist and that his fellow Russians didn't believe in God either, so they didn't have anything to talk about. Hans’ question to him was, "Do you believe in peace?” The diplomat agreed that he did, and Hans continued, “The names we use for that feeling are immaterial. What we are looking for is peace and satisfaction – no matter what we call it.”
Hans was wary of organizations, knowing that they could assume a life and direction of their own, out of step with the purpose of their creation. However, in 1960, a group of students finally convinced him to head an organization called Divya Sandesh Parishad (Divine Light Mission).
Hans Rawat's vision was to be a strong and lasting influence on his son as his life unfolded. When Prem was only 2 weeks old, Hans took his young family on a short trip north to Dehra Dun. Prem Rawat’s journey had begun. But where Hans traveled throughout India, Prem would travel throughout the world.
Prem was described as an extraordinary child who was contented and playful. He interacted with his family and his father’s students with a level of maturity beyond his years. His father's journeys to see his students included 480-km round trips to his Shakti Nagar Ashram in Delhi. Prem was often taken on shorter journeys through the region. He first spoke on stage at the age of 3 during one of these trips.
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