As a young adult he visited many holy men in the nearby mountains and pilgrimage towns in the area now the Pakistani provinces of Sindh, Baluchistan and Punjab.
He was reportedly disenchanted with these and turned to the Arya Samaj, a popular movement formed to remove caste prejudices and idolatry from Hinduism.
His talks at the time were strongly influenced by the egalitarian and reformist philosophy of the Arya Samaj, and he reportedly accepted anyone as his student, irrespective of caste, religion or status.
[2] In 1944, as the number of students grew, Hans purchased a small, two-floor house on the bank of the Ganges canal outside Haridwar, and named it "Prem Nagar" ("Town of Love").
Four years later, he reportedly purchased his first car, a green Austin Somerset, that assisted him in visiting nearby towns and villages in his effort to reach more people.
As a consequence of that, and based on an understanding that Swarupanand reportedly had told him that "one day he [Hans] will have a son who would play an important role", he took a second wife in Rajeshwari Devi in 1946.
[12] As Hans Rām's message was spreading throughout northern India, several initiatives were taken to facilitate his work, including the publishing of a monthly magazine named Hansadesh in 1951, and the formation of the Divine Light Mission (DLM).
[14] By the early 1960s there were students in most large cities, towns and villages in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, and Rajasthan, as well as within the Indian communities in South Africa.
Several ashrams were opened during that time, including a small one in Rajasthan and another larger one called Satlok ("Place of Truth") located between Delhi and Haridwar.
[12][20][21][22][23][24] For the next eight years Hans's family supported Prem Rawat as his successor but the latter's decision to marry a Westerner in 1974 precipitated a struggle for control of DLM.
The Western "premies" remained loyal to Prem Rawat but the marriage led to a permanent rift within the family and was also credited with causing a profound disruption in the movement.