In fact, any old excuse to be "devoted" to someone or something, or perhaps like in the case of Rawat, your fantasy of who, or what, he is, will do.   Even something as ridiculous as "knowledge" can work.

And when you are devoted, you do experience "devotion," which, like everything else has some positive things about it, but in the case of devotion to someone you don't even know, and who is, in fact, a megalomaniac really just into the whole game for the money and validation of the sick notion of who he thinks he is, it is very, very costly to have this "devotion."

The other problem with being "devoted" to a guru or "master" and getting this supposed experience of "devotion," is that it is inherently an authoritarian system, and hence is essentially pathological and damaging to the individual who engages in it.  Many ex-premies have seen that to be true, I know I certainly have, but for a more thorough discussion, I suggest the book "The Guru Papers," by Kramer and Alstad. That book explains it very well, and was a huge eye-opener to me.

Finally, of course, Prem Rawat is currently lying through his teeth about what "knowledge" really is, and of course, the premies know he is lying about it because they know it's about "devotion," as well, and that "knowledge" of the meditation techniques, and the supposed experience of "peace," are really just the bait to get people to devote themselves to Rawat.  That used to be said openly in the Rawat cult, but now it is covered up, lest all the new people be scared away.

Of course, since they also believe Rawat is divine, he can deceive people as much as he wants and the premies think it's just fine. This is how "devotion" to a charlatan "master" can warp your values as well as a lot of other things.