During the 1970s, Maharaji usually had a photo of his father behind him on a stage.  But, Prem Rawat was sitting on his throne.  There's a lot of symbolism there that is lost on someone who never was a premie.  Premies understood very well that the living Perfect Master, Prem Rawat, was the live guy sitting in the chair and not the photo behind him of his father, Shri Hans.

When we sang Arti to Maharaji, we were singing it to Prem Rawat, NOT his father.  Also, all of the altars within premie communities and ashrams did NOT have photos of Shri Maharaji on them -- only large photos of Prem Rawat.

This is a very, very important point and distinction that I hope you can understand.  We were not supposed to be, as premies, dedicating our lives to Shri Hans. No way!  Our dedication was to Prem Rawat.

Additionally, even when Shri Hans died and little Sant Ji (Prem Rawat) said to the followers in India, "Why are you crying, Guru Maharaji is here."  He STILL was referring to himself -- the little child that was upon the stage.  That's how it was always explained to aspirants in the old days and that's how it was explained to me when I was an aspirant in 1975.

Cynthia