Millennium '73
Encyclopedia
Millennium '73 was a three-day festival held on November 8–10, 1973 at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas
, United States, by the Divine Light Mission
(DLM). It featured Prem Rawat
, then known as Guru Maharaj Ji, a 15-year-old guru
and the leader of a fast-growing new religious movement
. Organizers billed the festival as the most significant event in human history which would usher in a thousand years of peace
.
The festival's official schedule described the three evening addresses by Guru Maharaj Ji as the highlights of the event. Big-band music, rock bands, religious songs, choral works, a dance performance and speeches by other DLM leaders filled the program from noon to 10 pm. Media events included press conferences and an impromptu debate.
Millennium '73 received wide publicity. Rennie Davis
, a prominent anti-war activist and member of the Chicago Seven
, helped draw attention to the event as a spokesman for the DLM. Notable journalists attended, some of them acquaintances of Davis from the New Left
. It was later described by some scholars and journalists as among the major events of 1973 and the 1970s, the high point of Guru Maharaj Ji's popularity, and the most important development in the American DLM's history.
Attendance was estimated from 10,000 to 35,000, compared to the projected 100,000. Many scholars and journalists generally depicted the event as a disappointment. That, along with other factors including a large debt, led to changes in the DLM's structure, management and message. The following year the movement split into branches headed by Maharaj Ji in the West, and his mother and brother Bal Bhagwan Ji
in India.
, who taught secret meditation techniques called "Knowledge", founded the Divine Light Mission
(DLM) in India in 1960. Hans Ji, called "Guru Maharaj Ji", died six years later and was succeeded as spiritual leader and Perfect Master by his eight-year old youngest son, who adopted his father's title. As the young Guru Maharaj Ji was a minor, his mother, Mata Ji, and the eldest son, Bal Bhagwan Ji, managed the DLM's affairs. By 1971, when the 13-year-old Guru Maharaj Ji made his first tours of the United Kingdom and United States, the Indian DLM claimed over five million members (known as "premies"). Within two years the DLM had as many as 50,000 members in the US, with thousands more in the UK and other countries and as many as six million in India. Most of the Western followers were young people from the 1960s counterculture
.
The DLM celebrated three annual festivals, the largest of which, "Hans Jayanti", commemorated Hans Ji Maharaj's birthday on November 9. The Hans Jayanti festivals held in India in the early 1970s were well-attended, attracting audiences of up to a million people, including Westerners. Mata Ji and the 22-year-old Bal Bhagwan Ji decided that the 1973 Hans Jayanti should be held in the United States; it was the first to be held outside India.
The movement invested all of its resources in the event, with an overall budget of close to US$
1,000,000, including $75,000 to rent the Astrodome and $100,000 for publicity. The DLM paid for many of the international charter flights that brought followers to Houston. DLM members were under pressure to contribute money to support the event. Organizers invited hundreds of reporters from all over the country, hoping to achieve positive media exposure for Maharaj Ji.
s, believed that the world was on the verge of a new era, the Age of Aquarius
. This new age was expected to be characterized by peace and love, harmony and understanding. By the late autumn of 1973 there was an "apocalyptic chill in the air", as headlines dealt with the Vietnam war
, the Watergate scandal
, the Agnew
resignation, a war in the Middle East
, an energy crisis
, mass murders in Houston and California, and UFO sightings across the South.
Sociologist James V. Downton
wrote that the millenarian
appeal of the DLM prior to the festival sprang from a belief that Guru Maharaj Ji was the Lord, and that a new age of peace would begin under his leadership. These hopes appealed to the counterculture youth
of the time, who were disillusioned with earlier attempts at political and cultural revolution and who were turning their aspirations in a spiritual direction. Downton describes these aspirations as encouraging millennial beliefs within the DLM, including the "psychological trappings of surrender and idealization." He states the guru's mother, whose satsang
was "full of references to his divine nature", aided these beliefs, as did the guru himself, "for letting others cast him in the role of the Lord." Maharaj Ji's appeal to followers to give up beliefs and concepts did not prevent them "from adopting a fairly rigid set of ideas about his divinity and the coming of a new age."
In a meeting with members, DLM President Bob Mishler denied that the event would start the millennium and said they called it "Millennium '73" because the word "millennium
" evoked the "vision of one peaceful world based on spiritual values".
defendant Rennie Davis
, who had first met Guru Maharaj Ji in February 1973. Davis was appointed vice president of the organization a short time later and served as general coordinator for the Millennium festival. His conversion was the topic of numerous newspaper articles, as it reportedly shook the New Left
from coast to coast. An energetic promoter of his new guru and of Millennium '73, Davis traveled across the United States on a 21-city tour, speaking to what he said were about a million people a day through radio and television interviews. He told people that Guru Maharaj Ji was the solution to civilization's problems. Davis was not always well-received, particularly by his former comrades in the peace movement (one Berkeley newspaper had the headline "Rennie Unites Left – Against Him"), and was heckled at some of his appearances. The Chicago Seven retrial was underway in the fall of 1973, and the judge gave Davis a dispensation to attend the festival. Several associates of Davis from the left also attended, some as journalists.
A two-week, eight-city, 500-person tour, called "Soul Rush", was organized to promote Millennium '73. At a stop in Washington, D.C.
premies (DLM members) gathered in front of the White House
and invited President Richard Nixon
to attend the festival and receive Knowledge. One reporter for the Village Voice who traveled in the tour wrote that they had little press coverage and poor attendance but showed obvious energy, and that the tour itself went remarkably smoothly with expressions of love among the members. At each city, the touring group and local premies paraded in the morning, and a drama troupe performed in the afternoon. The main event was the free evening performance by "Blue Aquarius", a 50 to 60-piece band led by Bhole Ji, Maharaj Ji's 20-year-old brother, referred to as the "Lord of Music" by Davis and others. The band was composed of professional and amateur musicians who donated their efforts, and its leading member was drummer Geoff Bridgeford, formerly of the BeeGees. It went on to anchor the Houston festival.
Press releases and a festival poster announced that the event would mark the beginning of "a thousand years of peace for people who want peace", the idea being that peace could come to the world as individuals experienced inner peace. A flyer said, "Now the turning point in human civilization is here. ... The Dawn of the New Age." In a letter to premies inviting them attend the festival, which had only been celebrated in India up to that point, Guru Maharaj Ji said, "This year the most Holy and significant event in human history will take place in America". The "Call to Millennium" announcement published in the DLM publication And It Is Divine said that "Guru Maharaj Ji has proved to us that an age of peace is possible, now, ... Peace is needed. And peace shall be obtained. ... [Guru Maharaj Ji] will present to the world a plan for putting peace into effect."
, and some followers expected dramatic change or even the Second Coming of Jesus
. In a letter to premies inviting them to attend the festival, Guru Maharaj Ji said, "This is a festival not for you or me. It is for the whole world and maybe the whole universe." He urged them to support the festival, saying, "Isn't it about time you all get together and help me bring peace to this Earth?" Rennie Davis promised that a practical plan for world peace would be revealed.
Sociologist Thomas Pilarzyk wrote that devotees made "bizarre, 'cultic'" predictions, and suggested that their excitement validated the significance of the event. A member remarked that even normally realistic followers were swayed by the collective fantasies. Sophia Collier
, a teenaged member who later left the movement and published a memoir, said that a minority of members, mostly limited to Houston, became victims of a "Millennium Fever" promoted chiefly by Bal Bhagwan Ji. The majority of the premies repeated Bal Bhagwan Ji's ideas out of astonishment, but some actually believed him. Journalists noted that some followers perceived the predicted appearance of Comet Kohoutek
as an omen, as a spaceship on its way to Houston, or as the return of the Star of Bethlehem
.
A frequently repeated prediction, attributed to Maharaj Ji, was that the Astrodome would levitate. Davis and others made often-reported predictions, repeated in half-jest, that extraterrestrials would attend the festival. Bal Bhagwan Ji is said to have predicted the festival would be preceded by earthquakes in New York and Denver, along with a dive in the stock markets. Sociologist Downton wrote that there were runaway expectations about attendance. Public predictions of attendance grew larger: from 100,000 to 144,000 (the number foretold in the Book of Revelation
for the Second Coming
), to 200,000 and even 400,000. (The capacity of the Astrodome was 66,000.) Davis told one audience that millions would attend.
Bob Mishler, the founding president of the DLM in the United States, later said he had tried to slow the growing expectations. He said he had only expected 20,000–25,000 and that he toured the country explaining to members that the festival would be significant because of what happened there, not because of the number of attendees. He said he tried to remind them that the aim was to establish peace on Earth, not to travel to another planet.
. One reporter wrote that he never saw a premie lose his temper. Another noted that the workers seemed to be "model human beings, perhaps even on their way to becoming the 'new evolutionary species' that they claim will establish heaven on earth".
and compared to the Big Lie
. An observer was quoted as saying, "These people were mad with a sense of divinity-authorized power. It was like descending into the ninth ring of hell."
cartoons who, blinded by the prize he is chasing, runs off the end of the cliff and falls.
An unsigned article, titled "Prophets of the Millennium", referred to prophecies from the Book of Isaiah
, Hindu
scripture, American Indians
, Edgar Cayce
, Jeanne Dixon, and others. The article noted that prophecies tend to come true, that there are many predictions that the savior will be a child or will come from the East. It concluded by asking whether Guru Maharaj Ji might be that prophesied "Great Savior".
with flowers. A follower told a reporter they wanted him to have the best because he is like a king, as opposed to Christ who was like a beggar. After his late arrival, Maharaj Ji spoke for a few minutes, saying to the assembled,
The premies were smiling and radiant, a state they called "blissed out". One reporter said that to "look at a blissed-out premie is to peer into an empty house through spotless windows". The phrase "blissed out" was used in many reports of the festival, even in their titles, which are cited by the Oxford English Dictionary
for the phrase's first uses.
The Rawat family stayed in the Astrodome's six-bedroom, $2,500 Celestial Suite. Rennie Davis commented on the cosmic appropriateness of the names of the suite and of the master bedroom, and of the faucets shaped like swans (the guru's symbol). Davis said that the Astrodome was built for the festival, a sentiment which an Astrodome manager said was shared by every religious group that held an event there.
.
Projected on huge white screens above the set were rainbows and images of the turmoil of the 1960s. The Astrolite, Astrodome's enormous electronic signboard, flashed animated fireworks (the same that were shown during ballgames), representations of Maharaj Ji, and a variety of slogans, scriptural citations, and announcements:
, called an "ancient devotional song of praise to the Perfect Master". According to reports before the festival, its three themes were to be "Who is Guru Maharaj Ji", "Guru Maharaj Ji is Here", and "The Messiah Has Come", though the official schedule in November had a different list.
Maharaj Ji watched the proceedings on closed-circuit television in his suite, and sent his bodyguard down with a can of pink foam confetti to spray the crowd on his behalf, reported as an example of lila, or divine play. In addition to the main program, mahatmas were conducting initiations into Knowledge at local ashrams, and the guru and his family were offering darshan
, or holy presence, to initiates.
Day 1 – "What is a Perfect Master?"
The first day of the festival was Thursday, November 8, 1973. The program listed the topic of the day as "What is a Perfect Master?" It started at noon with an oratorio
composed for the occasion by Erika Anderson. Rennie Davis opened the program by telling the audience that, "All I can say is, honestly, very soon now, every single human being will know the one who was waited for by every religion of all times has actually come" The masters of ceremony were Joan Apter, an early US convert and one of Maharaj Ji's secretaries, and Charles Cameron, one of the guru's earliest converts in the UK and editor of Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?
Cameron told stories of previous Perfect Masters. After that came a pageant reenacting scenes from the life of Jesus Christ. In the afternoon Bal Bhagwan Ji delivered a spiritual discourse, or satsang
.
Rhythm and blues
musician Eric Mercury
performed during the dinner interval. Stax Records
had negotiated an agreement with the DLM to make a recording of the event in exchange for showcasing Mercury, one of their new acts. They had already released an album titled "Blue Aquarius" in 1973 that was on sale at the event. Mercury, a Canadian of African ancestry and the only non-member who performed, played before an audience of 5,000 or fewer. Stax recorded the performance and Mercury said at a press conference that he would give 50 percent of his royalties from the album to the DLM. He later told a reporter that while he was interested in the message initially, he was put off by the pressure to join for what he perceived as an effort to gain ethnic diversity.
Following Mercury was a speech by Bob Mishler and then an hour-long set by the Blue Aquarius orchestra. The highlight of the evening was a satsang by Maharaj Ji:
Maharaj Ji said to the crowd, "Try it, you'll like it." (This was the catchphrase from a popular 1971 ad
campaign for Alka Seltzer.)
Day 2 – "The Perfect Master is Here"
The second day of the festival, Friday, November 9, had the theme of "The Perfect Master is Here". It featured speeches by mahatmas and by Maharaj Ji's mother, Mata Ji. The Divine Light Dance Ensemble performed a dance piece, Krishna Lila, noted for being well-choreographed. Music included another choral composition by Erika Anderson, another long set by Blue Aquarius, and a performance by the Apostles, a devotional rock band. Maharaj Ji wore a red Krishna
robe and later put on a jeweled crown of Krishna, the "Crown of Crowns for the King of Kings". His satsang that night included this story:
Day 3 – "World Assemblage to Save Humanity"
The third and last day of the festival, Saturday, November 10, was called a "World Assemblage to Save Humanity". A talk by another brother, Raja Ji, and more performances by Blue Aquarius and the Apostles filled the schedule. Plans for the Divine United Organization and the Divine City were announced. Rennie Davis gave a speech that one reporter called the oratorical high point of the festival. "I tell you now that it is springtime on this earth!" Jerry Rubin
, a co-defendant in the Chicago Seven
trial, said he had never heard Davis sound more dangerous.
The climax of the event was the final satsang by Maharaj Ji, in which he laid out his plan for peace. According to one reporter his basic message was, "You want peace? Give me a try. Let me have a try. I'll establish peace. It's a simple deal." One analogy by Maharaj Ji that several reporters noted compared the techniques of Knowledge to a fuel filter
:
After the satsang he was presented by grateful premies with a golden sculpture of a swan and a marble plaque depicting a lion and a lamb lying down together. The event concluded after a short performance by the Blue Aquarius orchestra. After the program, volunteers hurried to clear the field of the stage and carpeting in time for a football game the next afternoon.
, Rennie Davis
, and Timothy Gallwey
. Journalists, writers, observers, and guests included James Downton, Marjoe Gortner
, Robert Greenfield
, Paul Krassner
, Bob Larson
, Wavy Gravy
, Annie Leibovitz
, Jerry Rubin
, Robert Scheer
, Michael Shamberg
, John Sinclair
, and Loudon Wainwright III
. Overall attendance was predominantly estimated at 20,000, with other estimates ranging from 10,000 to 35,000. Chartered planes brought followers from several dozen countries; with designated seating sections for attendees from France, Sweden, India, Spain, and even, as a joke, Mars. In addition to the seats reserved for the ETs within the stadium, a corner of the parking lot was set aside for their ship. Bal Bhagwan Ji reportedly told a follower who asked about the low attendance that there were actually 150,000 beings there.
The premies were reported to be cheerful and friendly. Unlike most youth gatherings of the era, there was no scent of marijuana
or tobacco
, only incense. Though the movement's membership included former street people, radicals, and drug users, they now appeared clean-cut and neatly dressed. Male followers wore suits and ties, and women wore long dresses. When Maharaj Ji was present, his followers raised their arms towards him, and chanted "Bolie Shri Satgurudev Maharaj ki jai!" ("All praise to the Perfect Master, giver of life"). One reporter called them cheerleaders. Four journalists compared it to scenes at the Nuremberg
stadium.
Four hundred parents of DLM members sat in a special section high above the floor of the dome. Many parents appreciated Maharaj Ji for rehabilitating their prodigal children. One mother explained how her son had stopped using drugs and was happier after receiving Knowledge, and that she had been initiated, too. A follower said some of the parents looked a little embarrassed.
, Jesus Freaks, Children of God and the Jews for Jesus
protested loudly and sought converts. Members of the Christian Information Committee drove from Berkeley, California
. A Christian evangelical
anti-cult group, Spiritual Counterfeits Project
, had its origin in the event.
The picketing groups fought with each other, harassed attendees, and vandalized cars owned by DLM members. Organizers called the police to clear Hare Krishna protesters who were blocking the arena entrances and as many as thirty-one of them were arrested for disorderly conduct. The Hare Krishnas protested that Maharaj Ji was being called an incarnation of Krishna, while the Jesus Freaks protested that Maharaj Ji was a false messiah and the Antichrist
. In response, Maharaj Ji said at one of his satsangs, "They must be drunk. When the real Antichrist comes they won't even recognize him. He'll be too professional."
would cover it live). The New York Times and Rolling Stone
both sent two reporters each, and it was also covered by the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune
, the Los Angeles Times
, the Los Angeles Free Press
, the Detroit Free Press
, the Village Voice, The Rag
of Houston, and the Houston Chronicle
. Magazines covering the festival included Time
, Newsweek
, the New York Review of Books, Ramparts Magazine, Creem
, Texas Monthly
, The Realist
, Crawdaddy, Playboy
, Penthouse
, and Oui
. Journalists Marilyn Webb, Robert Scheer, Robert Greenfield, and Ken Kelley had been following or even living with the DLM for weeks or months prior to the festival.
KPFT-FM, a local progressive radio station, covered the event: Paul Krassner, John Sinclair, Jeff Nightbyrd, and Jerry Rubin were co-anchors. They reportedly mocked the festival and its attendees. Not realizing this, the festival organizers piped the signal throughout the Astrodome until the nature of the coverage became apparent. Loudon Wainwright III, who made a guest appearance on KPFT, later said that Maharaj Ji partly inspired his song "I am the Way".
Top Value Television (TVTV) chose the Millennium '73 festival as a topic for a documentary, titled Lord of the Universe
. TVTV was a documentary production company that had just received acclaim for its groundbreaking piece on the 1972 Republican National Convention. They used Portapak
cameras and newly developed recording technology that allowed them to shoot handheld video of broadcast quality. Two teams followed a member and the Soul Rush tour prior to the event. Led by producer Michael Shamberg
, five camera teams recorded 80 hours of video at the festival itself. Chicago Seven codefendant Abbie Hoffman
, who did not attend, provided commentary. Premie Sophia Collier wrote that the TVTV crew seemed to start filming whenever someone said anything fanatical or ill-conceived. PBS television stations across the US broadcast the documentary in the spring of 1974 and again in the summer. The documentary went on to win a DuPont-Columbia Award
in 1974 for excellence in broadcast journalism.
Reporters were angered and alienated by their treatment. Rules and passes for media access were changed daily with no apparent logic. A female reporter wrote of being shoved a few times by WPC members. Another reporter said the DLM assigned him a guide to accompany him at all times to answer questions. Robert Scheer later wrote of being told by a press agent that the Venusians were landing and he could be the first to cover them if he hurried out to the parking lot. According to Collier, journalists found the event to be a confusing jumble of poorly expressed ideas. One reporter complained of the lack of content.
The national press was more concerned with finances and organization than with "feeling the Knowledge", by one account. Collier complained about the coverage in general and especially about an article by the Village Voices Marilyn Webb that featured her, saying that the article was inaccurate and misrepresented her beliefs. Davis told reporters that he was aware of the perceptions of the event by outsiders, and admitted that the huge stage, flashing lights, and a kid giving parables about cars did not make for a good show.
In June 1974, the DLM's Divine Times newspaper printed an analysis of the press coverage. It criticized articles written about the festival, saying they portrayed Maharaj Ji as materialistic whose followers were misguided. The only article it approved of was in a children's magazine. The review also admitted that the DLM had made a number of mistakes and that the press relations were improper and inept. Carole Greenberg, head of DLM Information Services, said, "We took something subtle and sacred and tried to market it to the public." She said the press had done the movement a favor by holding up a mirror that showed "the garbage we gave them". The article went on to say that the greatest botch was Guru Maharaj Ji's press conference.
complained that the evasive responses reminded him of a recent Watergate press conference with White House Press Secretary
Ron Ziegler
, while another observer called it "Nixonian".
The conference, which lasted nearly an hour, ended shortly after descending into a shambles when reporters pressed for information about the Detroit incident, in which a reporter who had thrown a pie at Maharaj Ji a few months prior was subsequently beaten by two DLM members. As of 1976, it was Maharaj Ji's last press conference.
repeatedly challenged Rennie Davis to a debate and Davis finally agreed. It was held in the adjoining Astrohall convention center on the third day, Saturday, November 10, and attended by 30 reporters. The question was, "Resolved: That Davis has copped out to turn kids away from social responsibility to personal escape". Ken Kelley was the moderator and KPFT-FM broadcast it live. Repeating accusations he had been making through the summer, Krassner said that the movement was part of a CIA-directed conspiracy. He called it a neo-Fascist discipline, said Maharaj Ji was a mystic hired to seduce the youth movement into oblivion, and called him the spiritual equivalent of Mark Spitz
. He asked, "Did the Maharaj Ji give Richard Nixon a secret contribution?", to which Davis replied, "Yes – he gave Richard Nixon his life."
Davis said the most important point was that "the Lord is on the planet and he has the secret of life", and that Maharaj Ji would lead "the most serious revolution ever to take place in the history of the world". He said the main battleground now is "the struggle between the mind and the soul" in each person. Reporters said that Davis stayed poised while Krassner heckled.
called the festival the zenith of Maharaj Ji's popularity. The festival did not live up to expectations of establishing peace or world transformation. According to reports, the Astrodome did not levitate, no UFOs landed, and no ETs attended. Journalists and scholars called the festival a dismal failure, a fiasco, a major setback, a disastrous rally, a great disappointment, and a "depressing show unnoticed by most". According to James T. Richardson, the event left the movement "in dire financial straits and bereft of credibility". Religious scholar Robert S. Ellwood wrote that Maharaj Ji's "meteoric career collapsed into scandal and debt" after the event.
Maharaj Ji gave no public indication that he was disappointed, although one reporter said he appeared to be nonplussed by the turnout. He remarked privately on how perfect it was and called the event fantastic. Three months after the event Davis said that it was significant despite the low attendance, noting that only a small number of people were at the Sermon on the Mount
or the Last Supper
. In a June 1974 interview, Mishler said that the love which filled the Astrodome was the beginning of the human race, and that only those who came to it with expectations were disappointed.
Some members expected world transformation and there were many reports of members being disappointed. According to sociologists Foss and Larkin, some members saw the failure to meet expectations as another example of lila. Downton, who attended the festival, said the followers tried to find nice things to say about the event but that it appeared to him they were trying to hide ruined dreams. One member said that the excitement was over and that followers could not believe that the world had not changed. A member from an Orthodox Jewish background was disenchanted and began to doubt that Maharaj Ji held all the answers, according to his sister's memoir. Janet McDonald
, an African American
woman attending Vassar College
, said that her "faith was brutally dashed to bits" at the festival because of its failure to meet her expectations of miracles and by her embarrassment at lining up for hours to kiss the white-socked foot of Mata Ji. She left the movement soon after. Sophia Collier said that she woke up on the bottling plant floor the next morning wondering why she was there, though she decided to try to repair the movement's public image.
The festival was financed with short-term credit that began coming due right after the event. Seeking payment, creditors, including the Astrodome management, pursued the DLM and repossessed property belonging to the mission. By mid-1974, NBC reported that about $150,000 was still owed and that 25 vendors had received no payments at all. Members of the DLM took on extra work in order to raise money at Maharaj Ji's suggestion. The debt forced the sale or closure of the DLM's printing and other businesses, the temporary shutdown of their newspaper and magazine, the disbanding of Blue Aquarius, and the shelving of new initiatives. In 1976, a DLM spokesman said that the debt had been reduced to $80,000 and that the mission was on a sound financial footing.
opined that the movement ultimately failed in achieving its millennial dream of world peace. The failure to meet expectations, along with the debt and bad press, led to significant changes in the movement.
Scholars describe 1973 as the peak year of the movement, or mention a significant drop in new followers. However, Roger E. Olson wrote that "the movement continued to attract large numbers of mainly counterculture followers" despite the disappointments. The financial crisis required retrenchment and reorganization. After the festival, Maharaj Ji began taking greater responsibility in the movement; he took administrative control of the DLM's US branch within a month of turning 16. The following year he got married and became an emancipated minor. Disagreements between Maharaj Ji and his family led to the movement being split between a Western branch, led by Maharaj Ji, and an Indian branch, run by his mother and Bal Bhagwan Ji.
The failure of Millennium '73 led the Western branch to shift away from Indian influences and trappings, according to some observers. Sikh scholar Kirpal Singh Khalsa wrote that the DLM "no longer projected itself as a movement that would include all of humanity in its membership." The Western DLM moved away from its ascetic, "world-rejecting" origins and adopted a "world-affirming position". Beginning in 1982, Guru Maharaj Ji changed the DLM into the more loosely organized Elan Vital
. Michael York wrote that, as result of poor attendance and financial failure, Maharaj Ji changed the name of the movement and "distanced himself from his status as a divine guru". He became known as Maharaji or Prem Rawat and was presented as an inspirational speaker and teacher. Bal Bhagwan Ji became known as Satpal Maharaj or Satpal Rawat, and his branch is now known as Manav Utthan Seva Samiti. Both branches have celebrated Hans Jayanti again since 1973.
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, United States, by the Divine Light Mission
Divine Light Mission
The Divine Light Mission was an organization founded in 1960 by guru Shri Hans Ji Maharaj for his following in northern India. During the 1970s, the DLM gained prominence in the West under the leadership of his fourth and youngest son, Guru Maharaj Ji...
(DLM). It featured Prem Rawat
Prem Rawat
Prem Pal Singh Rawat , also known as Maharaji and formerly known as Guru Maharaj Ji and Balyogeshwar, teaches a meditation practice he calls Knowledge....
, then known as Guru Maharaj Ji, a 15-year-old guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
and the leader of a fast-growing new religious movement
New religious movement
A new religious movement is a religious community or ethical, spiritual, or philosophical group of modern origin, which has a peripheral place within the dominant religious culture. NRMs may be novel in origin or they may be part of a wider religion, such as Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism, in...
. Organizers billed the festival as the most significant event in human history which would usher in a thousand years of peace
Peace
Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...
.
The festival's official schedule described the three evening addresses by Guru Maharaj Ji as the highlights of the event. Big-band music, rock bands, religious songs, choral works, a dance performance and speeches by other DLM leaders filled the program from noon to 10 pm. Media events included press conferences and an impromptu debate.
Millennium '73 received wide publicity. Rennie Davis
Rennie Davis
Rennard Cordon “Rennie” Davis is a former, prominent American anti-Vietnam War protest leader of the 1960s. He was one of the Chicago Seven....
, a prominent anti-war activist and member of the Chicago Seven
Chicago Seven
The Chicago Seven were seven defendants—Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, and Lee Weiner—charged with conspiracy, inciting to riot, and other charges related to protests that took place in Chicago, Illinois on the occasion of the 1968...
, helped draw attention to the event as a spokesman for the DLM. Notable journalists attended, some of them acquaintances of Davis from the New Left
New Left
The New Left was a term used mainly in the United Kingdom and United States in reference to activists, educators, agitators and others in the 1960s and 1970s who sought to implement a broad range of reforms, in contrast to earlier leftist or Marxist movements that had taken a more vanguardist...
. It was later described by some scholars and journalists as among the major events of 1973 and the 1970s, the high point of Guru Maharaj Ji's popularity, and the most important development in the American DLM's history.
Attendance was estimated from 10,000 to 35,000, compared to the projected 100,000. Many scholars and journalists generally depicted the event as a disappointment. That, along with other factors including a large debt, led to changes in the DLM's structure, management and message. The following year the movement split into branches headed by Maharaj Ji in the West, and his mother and brother Bal Bhagwan Ji
Satpal Maharaj
Satpal Maharaj is a member of the lower house of the Parliament of India for the Indian National Congress party....
in India.
Background
Hans Ji MaharajHans Ji Maharaj
Hans Ram Singh Rawat, known as Shri Hans Ji Maharaj was born in Gadh-ki-Sedhia, north-east of Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India. His parents were Ranjit Singh Rawat and Kalindi Devi...
, who taught secret meditation techniques called "Knowledge", founded the Divine Light Mission
Divine Light Mission
The Divine Light Mission was an organization founded in 1960 by guru Shri Hans Ji Maharaj for his following in northern India. During the 1970s, the DLM gained prominence in the West under the leadership of his fourth and youngest son, Guru Maharaj Ji...
(DLM) in India in 1960. Hans Ji, called "Guru Maharaj Ji", died six years later and was succeeded as spiritual leader and Perfect Master by his eight-year old youngest son, who adopted his father's title. As the young Guru Maharaj Ji was a minor, his mother, Mata Ji, and the eldest son, Bal Bhagwan Ji, managed the DLM's affairs. By 1971, when the 13-year-old Guru Maharaj Ji made his first tours of the United Kingdom and United States, the Indian DLM claimed over five million members (known as "premies"). Within two years the DLM had as many as 50,000 members in the US, with thousands more in the UK and other countries and as many as six million in India. Most of the Western followers were young people from the 1960s counterculture
Counterculture of the 1960s
The counterculture of the 1960s refers to a cultural movement that mainly developed in the United States and spread throughout much of the western world between 1960 and 1973. The movement gained momentum during the U.S. government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam...
.
The DLM celebrated three annual festivals, the largest of which, "Hans Jayanti", commemorated Hans Ji Maharaj's birthday on November 9. The Hans Jayanti festivals held in India in the early 1970s were well-attended, attracting audiences of up to a million people, including Westerners. Mata Ji and the 22-year-old Bal Bhagwan Ji decided that the 1973 Hans Jayanti should be held in the United States; it was the first to be held outside India.
The movement invested all of its resources in the event, with an overall budget of close to US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
1,000,000, including $75,000 to rent the Astrodome and $100,000 for publicity. The DLM paid for many of the international charter flights that brought followers to Houston. DLM members were under pressure to contribute money to support the event. Organizers invited hundreds of reporters from all over the country, hoping to achieve positive media exposure for Maharaj Ji.
Millenarian appeal
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, many people in the US, especially hippieHippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
s, believed that the world was on the verge of a new era, the Age of Aquarius
Age of Aquarius
The Age of Aquarius is either the current or new age in the cycle of astrological ages. Each astrological age is approximately 2,150 years long, on average, but there are various methods of calculating this length that may yield longer or shorter time spans depending upon the technique used...
. This new age was expected to be characterized by peace and love, harmony and understanding. By the late autumn of 1973 there was an "apocalyptic chill in the air", as headlines dealt with the Vietnam war
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, the Watergate scandal
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
, the Agnew
Spiro Agnew
Spiro Theodore Agnew was the 39th Vice President of the United States , serving under President Richard Nixon, and the 55th Governor of Maryland...
resignation, a war in the Middle East
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
, an energy crisis
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...
, mass murders in Houston and California, and UFO sightings across the South.
Sociologist James V. Downton
James V. Downton
James Victor Downton, Jr. is a sociologist known for his research on charismatic leadership, activism, and new religious movements. He received his PhD...
wrote that the millenarian
Millenarianism
Millenarianism is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming major transformation of society, after which all things will be changed, based on a one-thousand-year cycle. The term is more generically used to refer to any belief centered around 1000 year intervals...
appeal of the DLM prior to the festival sprang from a belief that Guru Maharaj Ji was the Lord, and that a new age of peace would begin under his leadership. These hopes appealed to the counterculture youth
Counterculture of the 1960s
The counterculture of the 1960s refers to a cultural movement that mainly developed in the United States and spread throughout much of the western world between 1960 and 1973. The movement gained momentum during the U.S. government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam...
of the time, who were disillusioned with earlier attempts at political and cultural revolution and who were turning their aspirations in a spiritual direction. Downton describes these aspirations as encouraging millennial beliefs within the DLM, including the "psychological trappings of surrender and idealization." He states the guru's mother, whose satsang
Satsang
Satsang in Indian philosophy means the company of the "highest truth," the company of a guru, or company with an assembly of persons who listen to, talk about, and assimilate the truth...
was "full of references to his divine nature", aided these beliefs, as did the guru himself, "for letting others cast him in the role of the Lord." Maharaj Ji's appeal to followers to give up beliefs and concepts did not prevent them "from adopting a fairly rigid set of ideas about his divinity and the coming of a new age."
In a meeting with members, DLM President Bob Mishler denied that the event would start the millennium and said they called it "Millennium '73" because the word "millennium
Millennium
A millennium is a period of time equal to one thousand years —from the Latin phrase , thousand, and , year—often but not necessarily related numerically to a particular dating system....
" evoked the "vision of one peaceful world based on spiritual values".
Promotion
The Mission's most prominent member was anti-war activist and Chicago SevenChicago Seven
The Chicago Seven were seven defendants—Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, and Lee Weiner—charged with conspiracy, inciting to riot, and other charges related to protests that took place in Chicago, Illinois on the occasion of the 1968...
defendant Rennie Davis
Rennie Davis
Rennard Cordon “Rennie” Davis is a former, prominent American anti-Vietnam War protest leader of the 1960s. He was one of the Chicago Seven....
, who had first met Guru Maharaj Ji in February 1973. Davis was appointed vice president of the organization a short time later and served as general coordinator for the Millennium festival. His conversion was the topic of numerous newspaper articles, as it reportedly shook the New Left
New Left
The New Left was a term used mainly in the United Kingdom and United States in reference to activists, educators, agitators and others in the 1960s and 1970s who sought to implement a broad range of reforms, in contrast to earlier leftist or Marxist movements that had taken a more vanguardist...
from coast to coast. An energetic promoter of his new guru and of Millennium '73, Davis traveled across the United States on a 21-city tour, speaking to what he said were about a million people a day through radio and television interviews. He told people that Guru Maharaj Ji was the solution to civilization's problems. Davis was not always well-received, particularly by his former comrades in the peace movement (one Berkeley newspaper had the headline "Rennie Unites Left – Against Him"), and was heckled at some of his appearances. The Chicago Seven retrial was underway in the fall of 1973, and the judge gave Davis a dispensation to attend the festival. Several associates of Davis from the left also attended, some as journalists.
A two-week, eight-city, 500-person tour, called "Soul Rush", was organized to promote Millennium '73. At a stop in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
premies (DLM members) gathered in front of the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
and invited President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
to attend the festival and receive Knowledge. One reporter for the Village Voice who traveled in the tour wrote that they had little press coverage and poor attendance but showed obvious energy, and that the tour itself went remarkably smoothly with expressions of love among the members. At each city, the touring group and local premies paraded in the morning, and a drama troupe performed in the afternoon. The main event was the free evening performance by "Blue Aquarius", a 50 to 60-piece band led by Bhole Ji, Maharaj Ji's 20-year-old brother, referred to as the "Lord of Music" by Davis and others. The band was composed of professional and amateur musicians who donated their efforts, and its leading member was drummer Geoff Bridgeford, formerly of the BeeGees. It went on to anchor the Houston festival.
Press releases and a festival poster announced that the event would mark the beginning of "a thousand years of peace for people who want peace", the idea being that peace could come to the world as individuals experienced inner peace. A flyer said, "Now the turning point in human civilization is here. ... The Dawn of the New Age." In a letter to premies inviting them attend the festival, which had only been celebrated in India up to that point, Guru Maharaj Ji said, "This year the most Holy and significant event in human history will take place in America". The "Call to Millennium" announcement published in the DLM publication And It Is Divine said that "Guru Maharaj Ji has proved to us that an age of peace is possible, now, ... Peace is needed. And peace shall be obtained. ... [Guru Maharaj Ji] will present to the world a plan for putting peace into effect."
Expectations and rumors
Official DLM literature predicted the dawn of a new age of peace, the Age of AquariusAge of Aquarius
The Age of Aquarius is either the current or new age in the cycle of astrological ages. Each astrological age is approximately 2,150 years long, on average, but there are various methods of calculating this length that may yield longer or shorter time spans depending upon the technique used...
, and some followers expected dramatic change or even the Second Coming of Jesus
Second Coming
In Christian doctrine, the Second Coming of Christ, the Second Advent, or the Parousia, is the anticipated return of Jesus Christ from Heaven, where he sits at the Right Hand of God, to Earth. This prophecy is found in the canonical gospels and in most Christian and Islamic eschatologies...
. In a letter to premies inviting them to attend the festival, Guru Maharaj Ji said, "This is a festival not for you or me. It is for the whole world and maybe the whole universe." He urged them to support the festival, saying, "Isn't it about time you all get together and help me bring peace to this Earth?" Rennie Davis promised that a practical plan for world peace would be revealed.
Sociologist Thomas Pilarzyk wrote that devotees made "bizarre, 'cultic'" predictions, and suggested that their excitement validated the significance of the event. A member remarked that even normally realistic followers were swayed by the collective fantasies. Sophia Collier
Sophia Collier
Sophia Collier is an American author and entrepreneur. In 1977, at 21, Sophia Collier developed Soho Natural Soda in her kitchen in Brooklyn, New York and co-founded the American Natural Beverage Corp to distribute the product. The company grew to $25 million dollars in soft drink sales before the...
, a teenaged member who later left the movement and published a memoir, said that a minority of members, mostly limited to Houston, became victims of a "Millennium Fever" promoted chiefly by Bal Bhagwan Ji. The majority of the premies repeated Bal Bhagwan Ji's ideas out of astonishment, but some actually believed him. Journalists noted that some followers perceived the predicted appearance of Comet Kohoutek
Comet Kohoutek
Comet Kohoutek, formally designated C/1973 E1, 1973 XII, and 1973f, was first sighted on 7 March 1973 by Czech astronomer Luboš Kohoutek. It attained perihelion on 28 December that same year....
as an omen, as a spaceship on its way to Houston, or as the return of the Star of Bethlehem
Star of Bethlehem
In Christian tradition, the Star of Bethlehem, also called the Christmas Star, revealed the birth of Jesus to the magi, or "wise men", and later led them to Bethlehem. The star appears in the nativity story of the Gospel of Matthew, where magi "from the east" are inspired by the star to travel to...
.
A frequently repeated prediction, attributed to Maharaj Ji, was that the Astrodome would levitate. Davis and others made often-reported predictions, repeated in half-jest, that extraterrestrials would attend the festival. Bal Bhagwan Ji is said to have predicted the festival would be preceded by earthquakes in New York and Denver, along with a dive in the stock markets. Sociologist Downton wrote that there were runaway expectations about attendance. Public predictions of attendance grew larger: from 100,000 to 144,000 (the number foretold in the Book of Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
for the Second Coming
Second Coming
In Christian doctrine, the Second Coming of Christ, the Second Advent, or the Parousia, is the anticipated return of Jesus Christ from Heaven, where he sits at the Right Hand of God, to Earth. This prophecy is found in the canonical gospels and in most Christian and Islamic eschatologies...
), to 200,000 and even 400,000. (The capacity of the Astrodome was 66,000.) Davis told one audience that millions would attend.
Bob Mishler, the founding president of the DLM in the United States, later said he had tried to slow the growing expectations. He said he had only expected 20,000–25,000 and that he toured the country explaining to members that the festival would be significant because of what happened there, not because of the number of attendees. He said he tried to remind them that the aim was to establish peace on Earth, not to travel to another planet.
Rainbow Brigade
During the summer prior to the festival, 380 followers worked full-time in Houston preparing for the event. Known as the "Rainbow Brigade", their motto was "Work Is Worship". The total staff for the festival eventually numbered 4,000. Fifteen hundred festival volunteers stayed at a former Coca Cola plant, renamed the "Peace Plant" for the occasion, where they slept on folded blankets over the concrete floor. Another thousand stayed at the Rainbow Inn motel. Reporters wrote that the volunteers maintained a tight and professional operation, and showed the egalitarian obedience of the Israeli Army or a monasteryMonastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
. One reporter wrote that he never saw a premie lose his temper. Another noted that the workers seemed to be "model human beings, perhaps even on their way to becoming the 'new evolutionary species' that they claim will establish heaven on earth".
World Peace Corps
The World Peace Corps (WPC), headed by Maharaj Ji's 19-year-old youngest brother, Raja Ji, was the DLM's security force at the event. Raja Ji said its job was "to make sure that whatever is happening, happens correctly". One of the security group's main tasks was keeping followers away from the guru. Journalists reported being pushed around and threatened by the mostly English guards. The guards were seen by one reporter as exemplifying "the inevitable violence of any millennial sect hell-bent on abstract purity and infinite happiness". The World Peace Corps' name was called doublespeakDoublespeak
Doublespeak is language that deliberately disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words. Doublespeak may take the form of euphemisms , making the truth less unpleasant, without denying its nature. It may also be deployed as intentional ambiguity, or reversal of meaning...
and compared to the Big Lie
Big Lie
The Big Lie is a propaganda technique. The expression was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, about the use of a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously." Hitler asserted the technique was...
. An observer was quoted as saying, "These people were mad with a sense of divinity-authorized power. It was like descending into the ninth ring of hell."
And It Is Divine special issue
The DLM's magazine And It Is Divine published a special edition for the event. The 78-page magazine, with Maharaj Ji listed as the Editor-in-Chief, included an invitation to the event, the festival program, and a history of the festival. One article profiled the "Holy Family" (Guru Maharaj Ji, his mother, and three older brothers), illustrated with individual portraits and a group photograph. The festival invitation said, "Three years ago, at the 1970 Hans Jayanti, the present Guru Maharaj Ji proclaimed he would establish world peace. This year at Millennium '73 he will set in motion his plan to bring peace on earth ... for a thousand years." An article compared the nations of the world to the coyote in the RoadrunnerWile E. Coyote and Road Runner
Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from a series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. The characters were created by animation director Chuck Jones in 1948 for Warner Bros., while the template for their adventures was the work of writer Michael Maltese...
cartoons who, blinded by the prize he is chasing, runs off the end of the cliff and falls.
An unsigned article, titled "Prophets of the Millennium", referred to prophecies from the Book of Isaiah
Book of Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, preceding the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Book of the Twelve...
, Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
scripture, American Indians
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
, Edgar Cayce
Edgar Cayce
Edgar Cayce was an American psychic who allegedly had the ability to give answers to questions on subjects such as healing or Atlantis while in a hypnotic trance...
, Jeanne Dixon, and others. The article noted that prophecies tend to come true, that there are many predictions that the savior will be a child or will come from the East. It concluded by asking whether Guru Maharaj Ji might be that prophesied "Great Savior".
Hobby Airport arrival
The arrival of Guru Maharaj Ji and his family on Wednesday, November 7, 1973 was the first big event of the festival. A crowd of 3,000 young, clean-cut followers waited for two or three hours at Hobby Airport, a delay that annoyed impatient reporters. While they waited, premies covered Maharaj Ji's emerald-green Rolls-RoyceRolls-Royce (car)
This a list of Rolls-Royce motor cars and includes vehicles produced by:*Rolls-Royce Limited *Rolls-Royce Motors , which was owned by Vickers between 1980 and 1998, and after that by Volkswagen...
with flowers. A follower told a reporter they wanted him to have the best because he is like a king, as opposed to Christ who was like a beggar. After his late arrival, Maharaj Ji spoke for a few minutes, saying to the assembled,
It's really fantastic and really beautiful to see you here, the Millennium program will start tomorrow and it'll really be fantastic, it'll be incredible ... and soon people will get together and finally understand who is God. ... There's so much trouble in the world, Watergate is not only in America, it exists everywhere.
The premies were smiling and radiant, a state they called "blissed out". One reporter said that to "look at a blissed-out premie is to peer into an empty house through spotless windows". The phrase "blissed out" was used in many reports of the festival, even in their titles, which are cited by the Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
for the phrase's first uses.
The Rawat family stayed in the Astrodome's six-bedroom, $2,500 Celestial Suite. Rennie Davis commented on the cosmic appropriateness of the names of the suite and of the master bedroom, and of the faucets shaped like swans (the guru's symbol). Davis said that the Astrodome was built for the festival, a sentiment which an Astrodome manager said was shared by every religious group that held an event there.
Stage, signs and effects
Architect and follower Larry Bernstein said he designed the stage not for the audience in the Astrodome, but for the TV cameras. The 35 feet (10.7 m)-high multilevel set fit easily at one end of the field under the dome's 300 feet (91.4 m) roof. The set, made of glowing white Plexiglas, was described as striking in appearance, yet, it was reportedly dwarfed by the vast size of the Astrodome. At the highest level was the guru's throne. Lower levels held the "Holy Family", the mahatmas (sometimes described as the priests or apostles of the DLM), and the Blue Aquarius band led by Bhole Ji Rawat, who wore a silver-sequined suit while conducting. Red carpeting covered the AstroTurfAstroTurf
AstroTurf is a brand of artificial turf. Although the term is a registered trademark, it is sometimes used as a generic description of any kind of artificial turf. The original AstroTurf product was a short pile synthetic turf while the current products incorporate modern features such as...
.
Projected on huge white screens above the set were rainbows and images of the turmoil of the 1960s. The Astrolite, Astrodome's enormous electronic signboard, flashed animated fireworks (the same that were shown during ballgames), representations of Maharaj Ji, and a variety of slogans, scriptural citations, and announcements:
- Sugar is Sweet/So are You/Guru Maharaj Ji
- The Holy Breath will fill this place/And you will be baptized in Holy Breath
- All premies interested in doing/Propagation in Morocco please contact/Millennium Information at the Royal Coach Inn
- Happiness is not in the material world. It is the property of God
- Attention, Attention/Please do not run and dance/Thank you, Guru Maharaj Ji
- Realize heaven on earth
- You will sit in your assigned places, please
Program
Each day's program opened and closed with the singing of AartiAarti
Aarti , also spelled arathi, aarthi is a Hindu religious ritual of worship, a form of puja, in which light from wicks soaked in ghee or camphor is offered to one or more deities...
, called an "ancient devotional song of praise to the Perfect Master". According to reports before the festival, its three themes were to be "Who is Guru Maharaj Ji", "Guru Maharaj Ji is Here", and "The Messiah Has Come", though the official schedule in November had a different list.
Maharaj Ji watched the proceedings on closed-circuit television in his suite, and sent his bodyguard down with a can of pink foam confetti to spray the crowd on his behalf, reported as an example of lila, or divine play. In addition to the main program, mahatmas were conducting initiations into Knowledge at local ashrams, and the guru and his family were offering darshan
Darshan
or Darshan is a Sanskrit term meaning "sight" , vision, apparition, or glimpse. It is most commonly used for "visions of the divine" in Hindu worship, e.g. of a deity , or a very holy person or artifact...
, or holy presence, to initiates.
Day 1 – "What is a Perfect Master?"
The first day of the festival was Thursday, November 8, 1973. The program listed the topic of the day as "What is a Perfect Master?" It started at noon with an oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
composed for the occasion by Erika Anderson. Rennie Davis opened the program by telling the audience that, "All I can say is, honestly, very soon now, every single human being will know the one who was waited for by every religion of all times has actually come" The masters of ceremony were Joan Apter, an early US convert and one of Maharaj Ji's secretaries, and Charles Cameron, one of the guru's earliest converts in the UK and editor of Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji?
Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji? (book)
Who is Guru Maharaj Ji?, published in 1973 by Bantam Books is a non-fiction book about Guru Maharaj Ji, now known as Prem Rawat. Edited by Charles Cameron, the book claims to be an "authentic authorized story", and was written when Maharaj Ji was aged 15. The initial printing was of 125,000 copies...
Cameron told stories of previous Perfect Masters. After that came a pageant reenacting scenes from the life of Jesus Christ. In the afternoon Bal Bhagwan Ji delivered a spiritual discourse, or satsang
Satsang
Satsang in Indian philosophy means the company of the "highest truth," the company of a guru, or company with an assembly of persons who listen to, talk about, and assimilate the truth...
.
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
musician Eric Mercury
Eric Mercury
Eric Mercury is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and musician. He was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario into a family of musicians. He performed with groups including The Pharaohs and Eric Mercury and the Soul Searchers in the 1960s, and moved to Chicago in 1968 to perform by himself. His debut...
performed during the dinner interval. Stax Records
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee.Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the name Stax Records was adopted in 1961. The label was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul music styles, also releasing gospel, funk, jazz, and...
had negotiated an agreement with the DLM to make a recording of the event in exchange for showcasing Mercury, one of their new acts. They had already released an album titled "Blue Aquarius" in 1973 that was on sale at the event. Mercury, a Canadian of African ancestry and the only non-member who performed, played before an audience of 5,000 or fewer. Stax recorded the performance and Mercury said at a press conference that he would give 50 percent of his royalties from the album to the DLM. He later told a reporter that while he was interested in the message initially, he was put off by the pressure to join for what he perceived as an effort to gain ethnic diversity.
Following Mercury was a speech by Bob Mishler and then an hour-long set by the Blue Aquarius orchestra. The highlight of the evening was a satsang by Maharaj Ji:
You want to be the richest man in the world? I can make you rich. I have the only currency that doesn't go down ... People think I'm a smuggler. You betcha I am. I smuggle peace and truth from one country to another. This currency is really rich. But if you think I'm a smuggler then Jesus Christ was a smuggler and so was Lord Krishna and Mohammed.
Maharaj Ji said to the crowd, "Try it, you'll like it." (This was the catchphrase from a popular 1971 ad
Mary Wells Lawrence
Mary Wells Lawrence is a retired American advertising executive. She was the founding president of Wells Rich Greene, an advertising agency known for its creativity and innovative work, and the first woman CEO of a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.In the late 1940s, Mary Wells...
campaign for Alka Seltzer.)
Day 2 – "The Perfect Master is Here"
The second day of the festival, Friday, November 9, had the theme of "The Perfect Master is Here". It featured speeches by mahatmas and by Maharaj Ji's mother, Mata Ji. The Divine Light Dance Ensemble performed a dance piece, Krishna Lila, noted for being well-choreographed. Music included another choral composition by Erika Anderson, another long set by Blue Aquarius, and a performance by the Apostles, a devotional rock band. Maharaj Ji wore a red Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
robe and later put on a jeweled crown of Krishna, the "Crown of Crowns for the King of Kings". His satsang that night included this story:
Imagine if you wanted a Superman comic real bad. And you go all over asking people if they've got one. You go to all the bookstores and to all the kids in the colleges, and all the people on the streets and no one has one anywhere. And you're real depressed and you're sitting there in the park and this little kid comes up and says "Hey man, how'd you like a Superman comic." And you say, "G'wan. You don't have one." And this kid pulls it from out of his shirt and it is a genuine; a gen-u-ine Superman comic: and you look at it and say, "Hey man; this must be very expensive", and he says, "No, take it, it's yours. It's free." And you don't believe him but then you take it. He just gives it to you. Well if you can imagine that, you can imagine what Knowledge would mean to you.
Day 3 – "World Assemblage to Save Humanity"
The third and last day of the festival, Saturday, November 10, was called a "World Assemblage to Save Humanity". A talk by another brother, Raja Ji, and more performances by Blue Aquarius and the Apostles filled the schedule. Plans for the Divine United Organization and the Divine City were announced. Rennie Davis gave a speech that one reporter called the oratorical high point of the festival. "I tell you now that it is springtime on this earth!" Jerry Rubin
Jerry Rubin
Jerry Rubin was an American social activist during the 1960s and 1970s. During the 1980s, he became a successful businessman.-Early life:...
, a co-defendant in the Chicago Seven
Chicago Seven
The Chicago Seven were seven defendants—Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, and Lee Weiner—charged with conspiracy, inciting to riot, and other charges related to protests that took place in Chicago, Illinois on the occasion of the 1968...
trial, said he had never heard Davis sound more dangerous.
The climax of the event was the final satsang by Maharaj Ji, in which he laid out his plan for peace. According to one reporter his basic message was, "You want peace? Give me a try. Let me have a try. I'll establish peace. It's a simple deal." One analogy by Maharaj Ji that several reporters noted compared the techniques of Knowledge to a fuel filter
Fuel filter
A fuel filter is a filter in the fuel line that screens out dirt and rust particles from the fuel, normally made into cartridges containing a filter paper. They are found in most internal combustion engines....
:
The thing is that this life is a big car, and inside the car there is a big engine. And in the engine there is a carburetor, which is hooked up to a fuel line. In some cars, before the fuel line hits the carburetor, there is a thing called a filter that makes sure the fuel going into the carburetor is pure. So in this life, the filter for our minds is the Knowledge, and if we are not being filtered properly, many dirty particles enter our minds and eventually the whole engine is destroyed.
After the satsang he was presented by grateful premies with a golden sculpture of a swan and a marble plaque depicting a lion and a lamb lying down together. The event concluded after a short performance by the Blue Aquarius orchestra. After the program, volunteers hurried to clear the field of the stage and carpeting in time for a football game the next afternoon.
Attendance
Notable members attending the event included Sophia CollierSophia Collier
Sophia Collier is an American author and entrepreneur. In 1977, at 21, Sophia Collier developed Soho Natural Soda in her kitchen in Brooklyn, New York and co-founded the American Natural Beverage Corp to distribute the product. The company grew to $25 million dollars in soft drink sales before the...
, Rennie Davis
Rennie Davis
Rennard Cordon “Rennie” Davis is a former, prominent American anti-Vietnam War protest leader of the 1960s. He was one of the Chicago Seven....
, and Timothy Gallwey
Timothy Gallwey
W. Timothy Gallwey is an author who has written a series of books in which he has set forth a new methodology for coaching and for the development of personal and professional excellence in a variety of fields, that he calls "The Inner Game." Since he began writing in the 1970s, his books include...
. Journalists, writers, observers, and guests included James Downton, Marjoe Gortner
Marjoe Gortner
Hugh Marjoe Ross Gortner, generally known as Marjoe Gortner , is a former revivalist who first gained a certain fame in the late 1940s when he became the youngest ordained preacher at the age of four...
, Robert Greenfield
Robert Greenfield
-Career:Greenfield began his career as a sports writer. He has published book reviews in New West magazine and The New York Times Book Review.From 1970 to 1972 Greenfield was employed as an associate editor with Rolling Stone magazine's London bureau...
, Paul Krassner
Paul Krassner
Paul Krassner is an author, journalist, stand-up comedian, and the founder, editor and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine The Realist, first published in 1958...
, Bob Larson
Bob Larson
Bob Larson is an American radio and television evangelist, currently based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Larson has authored numerous books on the subjects of rock music and Satanism, written from a Christian perspective.-Life and career:...
, Wavy Gravy
Wavy Gravy
Wavy Gravy is an American entertainer and activist for peace, best known for his hippie appearance, personality and beliefs. His moniker...
, Annie Leibovitz
Annie Leibovitz
Anna-Lou "Annie" Leibovitz is an American portrait photographer.-Early life and education:Born in Waterbury, Connecticut, Leibovitz is the third of six children. She is a third-generation American whose great-grandparents were Jewish immigrants, from Central and Eastern Europe. Her father's...
, Jerry Rubin
Jerry Rubin
Jerry Rubin was an American social activist during the 1960s and 1970s. During the 1980s, he became a successful businessman.-Early life:...
, Robert Scheer
Robert Scheer
Robert Scheer is an American journalist who writes a column for Truthdig which is nationally syndicated by Creators Syndicate in publications such as The Huffington Post and The Nation...
, Michael Shamberg
Michael Shamberg
Michael Shamberg is an American former Time-Life correspondent and current film producer.-Life and career:His credits include Erin Brockovich, A Fish Called Wanda, Garden State, Gattaca, Pulp Fiction and The Big Chill...
, John Sinclair
John Sinclair (poet)
John Sinclair is a Detroit poet, one-time manager of the band MC5, and leader of the White Panther Party — a militantly anti-racist countercultural group of white socialists seeking to assist the Black Panthers in the Civil Rights movement — from November 1968 to July 1969...
, and Loudon Wainwright III
Loudon Wainwright III
Loudon Snowden Wainwright III is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, folk singer, humorist, and actor. He is the father of musicians Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche, brother of Sloan Wainwright, and the former husband of the late folk singer Kate McGarrigle.To...
. Overall attendance was predominantly estimated at 20,000, with other estimates ranging from 10,000 to 35,000. Chartered planes brought followers from several dozen countries; with designated seating sections for attendees from France, Sweden, India, Spain, and even, as a joke, Mars. In addition to the seats reserved for the ETs within the stadium, a corner of the parking lot was set aside for their ship. Bal Bhagwan Ji reportedly told a follower who asked about the low attendance that there were actually 150,000 beings there.
The premies were reported to be cheerful and friendly. Unlike most youth gatherings of the era, there was no scent of marijuana
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
or tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
, only incense. Though the movement's membership included former street people, radicals, and drug users, they now appeared clean-cut and neatly dressed. Male followers wore suits and ties, and women wore long dresses. When Maharaj Ji was present, his followers raised their arms towards him, and chanted "Bolie Shri Satgurudev Maharaj ki jai!" ("All praise to the Perfect Master, giver of life"). One reporter called them cheerleaders. Four journalists compared it to scenes at the Nuremberg
Nuremberg Rally
The Nuremberg Rally was the annual rally of the NSDAP in Germany, held from 1923 to 1938. Especially after Hitler's rise to power in 1933, they were large Nazi propaganda events...
stadium.
Four hundred parents of DLM members sat in a special section high above the floor of the dome. Many parents appreciated Maharaj Ji for rehabilitating their prodigal children. One mother explained how her son had stopped using drugs and was happier after receiving Knowledge, and that she had been initiated, too. A follower said some of the parents looked a little embarrassed.
Opposition groups
Local Baptist churches took out a full-page newspaper advertisement warning of false prophets. A group of Christians stationed themselves outside the Astrodome and prayed. Hare KrishnaInternational Society for Krishna Consciousness
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness , known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava religious organization. It was founded in 1966 in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada...
, Jesus Freaks, Children of God and the Jews for Jesus
Jews for Jesus
Jews for Jesus is a conservative, Christian evangelical organization that focuses on the conversion of Jews to Christianity. Its members consider themselves to be Jews – either as defined by Jewish law, or as according to the view of Jews for Jesus. Jews for Jesus defines “Jewish” in terms of...
protested loudly and sought converts. Members of the Christian Information Committee drove from Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
. A Christian evangelical
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
anti-cult group, Spiritual Counterfeits Project
Spiritual Counterfeits Project
The Spiritual Counterfeits Project is a Christian evangelical parachurch organisation located in Berkeley, California. Since its inception in the early 1970s it has been involved in the fields of Christian apologetics and the Christian countercult movement. Its current president is Tal Brooke...
, had its origin in the event.
The picketing groups fought with each other, harassed attendees, and vandalized cars owned by DLM members. Organizers called the police to clear Hare Krishna protesters who were blocking the arena entrances and as many as thirty-one of them were arrested for disorderly conduct. The Hare Krishnas protested that Maharaj Ji was being called an incarnation of Krishna, while the Jesus Freaks protested that Maharaj Ji was a false messiah and the Antichrist
Antichrist
The term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, refers to a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner...
. In response, Maharaj Ji said at one of his satsangs, "They must be drunk. When the real Antichrist comes they won't even recognize him. He'll be too professional."
Media coverage
Between fifty and three hundred reporters covered the event. It received extensive coverage from the print media, though not the national television news coverage that organizers expected (there had been predictions that Walter CronkiteWalter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
would cover it live). The New York Times and Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
both sent two reporters each, and it was also covered by the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, the Los Angeles Free Press
Los Angeles Free Press
The Los Angeles Free Press , also called “the Freep”, was among the most widely distributed underground newspapers of the 1960s. It is often cited as the first such newspaper...
, the Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press
The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is entitled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...
, the Village Voice, The Rag
The Rag
The Rag was an underground paper published in Austin, Texas from 1966-1977. The sixth member of the Underground Press Syndicate, The Rag was one of the most influential of the early underground papers, known for its unique blend of radical politics, alternative culture and humor.- Early history...
of Houston, and the Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA, headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building in Downtown Houston. , it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...
. Magazines covering the festival included Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, the New York Review of Books, Ramparts Magazine, Creem
Creem
Creem , "America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine," was a monthly rock 'n' roll publication first published in March 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor Tony Reay. It suspended production in 1989 but received a short-lived renaissance in the early 1990s as a glossy tabloid...
, Texas Monthly
Texas Monthly
Texas Monthly is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Austin, Texas. Texas Monthly is published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. and was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy, Texas Monthly chronicles life in contemporary Texas, writing on politics, the environment, industry, and education...
, The Realist
The Realist
The Realist was a pioneering magazine of "social-political-religious criticism and satire," intended as a hybrid of a grown-ups version of Mad and Lyle Stuart's anti-censorship monthly The Independent. Edited and published by Paul Krassner, and often regarded as a milestone in the American...
, Crawdaddy, Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
, Penthouse
Penthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
, and Oui
Oui (magazine)
Oui is a men's adult pornographic magazine published in the USA and featuring explicit nude photographs of models, with full page pin-ups, centerfolds, interviews and other articles, and cartoons.- Playboy years :...
. Journalists Marilyn Webb, Robert Scheer, Robert Greenfield, and Ken Kelley had been following or even living with the DLM for weeks or months prior to the festival.
KPFT-FM, a local progressive radio station, covered the event: Paul Krassner, John Sinclair, Jeff Nightbyrd, and Jerry Rubin were co-anchors. They reportedly mocked the festival and its attendees. Not realizing this, the festival organizers piped the signal throughout the Astrodome until the nature of the coverage became apparent. Loudon Wainwright III, who made a guest appearance on KPFT, later said that Maharaj Ji partly inspired his song "I am the Way".
Top Value Television (TVTV) chose the Millennium '73 festival as a topic for a documentary, titled Lord of the Universe
Lord of the Universe
Lord of the Universe is a 1974 American documentary film about Prem Rawat at an event in November 1973 at the Houston Astrodome called "Millennium '73". Lord of the Universe was first broadcast on PBS on February 2, 1974, and released in VHS format on November 1, 1991...
. TVTV was a documentary production company that had just received acclaim for its groundbreaking piece on the 1972 Republican National Convention. They used Portapak
Portapak
A Portapak is a battery powered self-contained video tape analog recording system that can be carried by one person. Earlier television cameras were large and relatively immovable, but the Portapak made it possible to record television images while moving around...
cameras and newly developed recording technology that allowed them to shoot handheld video of broadcast quality. Two teams followed a member and the Soul Rush tour prior to the event. Led by producer Michael Shamberg
Michael Shamberg
Michael Shamberg is an American former Time-Life correspondent and current film producer.-Life and career:His credits include Erin Brockovich, A Fish Called Wanda, Garden State, Gattaca, Pulp Fiction and The Big Chill...
, five camera teams recorded 80 hours of video at the festival itself. Chicago Seven codefendant Abbie Hoffman
Abbie Hoffman
Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman was a political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ....
, who did not attend, provided commentary. Premie Sophia Collier wrote that the TVTV crew seemed to start filming whenever someone said anything fanatical or ill-conceived. PBS television stations across the US broadcast the documentary in the spring of 1974 and again in the summer. The documentary went on to win a DuPont-Columbia Award
DuPont-Columbia Award
The Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award is an American award that honors excellence in broadcast journalism. The awards, administered since 1968 by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City, are considered a broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize, another...
in 1974 for excellence in broadcast journalism.
Reporters were angered and alienated by their treatment. Rules and passes for media access were changed daily with no apparent logic. A female reporter wrote of being shoved a few times by WPC members. Another reporter said the DLM assigned him a guide to accompany him at all times to answer questions. Robert Scheer later wrote of being told by a press agent that the Venusians were landing and he could be the first to cover them if he hurried out to the parking lot. According to Collier, journalists found the event to be a confusing jumble of poorly expressed ideas. One reporter complained of the lack of content.
The national press was more concerned with finances and organization than with "feeling the Knowledge", by one account. Collier complained about the coverage in general and especially about an article by the Village Voices Marilyn Webb that featured her, saying that the article was inaccurate and misrepresented her beliefs. Davis told reporters that he was aware of the perceptions of the event by outsiders, and admitted that the huge stage, flashing lights, and a kid giving parables about cars did not make for a good show.
In June 1974, the DLM's Divine Times newspaper printed an analysis of the press coverage. It criticized articles written about the festival, saying they portrayed Maharaj Ji as materialistic whose followers were misguided. The only article it approved of was in a children's magazine. The review also admitted that the DLM had made a number of mistakes and that the press relations were improper and inept. Carole Greenberg, head of DLM Information Services, said, "We took something subtle and sacred and tried to market it to the public." She said the press had done the movement a favor by holding up a mirror that showed "the garbage we gave them". The article went on to say that the greatest botch was Guru Maharaj Ji's press conference.
Press conference
Maharaj Ji's press conference, hastily arranged for the morning of Friday, November 9, was noted for leaving the reporters frustrated and hostile because of what they described as flippant, manipulative, and arrogant answers, and because of an effort to pack the room with supporters. Several dozen followers, mostly foreign, jostled reporters, asked long and complimentary questions, and shouted "Boli Shri" or "Jai Satchitanand" following the answers. According to the Divine Times some of the reporters acted like "district attorneys interrogating a hostile witness". A reporter from NewsweekNewsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
complained that the evasive responses reminded him of a recent Watergate press conference with White House Press Secretary
White House Press Secretary
The White House Press Secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the government administration....
Ron Ziegler
Ron Ziegler
Ronald Louis "Ron" Ziegler was White House Press Secretary and Assistant to the President during United States President Richard Nixon's administration.-Early life:...
, while another observer called it "Nixonian".
- Question: Are you the messiah?
- Answer: Please do not presume that. I am a humble servant of God, trying to establish peace in the world.
- Q: Why is there such a great contradiction between what you say about yourself and what your followers say about you?
- A: Well, why don't you do me a favor ... why don't you go to the devotees and ask their explanation about it?
- Q: It's hard for some people to understand how you personally can live so luxuriously in your several homes and your Rolls-Royces
- A: That life that you call luxurious ain't luxurious at all, because if any other person gets the same life I get, he's gonna blow apart in a million pieces in a split of a second. ... People have made Rolls-Royce a heck of a car, only it's a piece of tin with a V8 engine which probably a Chevelle ConcourseChevrolet ChevelleThe Chevrolet Chevelle is a mid-sized automobile produced by the Chevrolet division of General Motors in three generations for the 1964 through 1977 model years. Part of the GM A-Body platform, the Chevelle was one of Chevrolet's most successful nameplates. Body styles include coupes, sedans,...
has. - Q: Why don't you sell it and give food to people?
- A: What good would it do. All that's gonna happen is they will need more and I don't have other Rolls-Royces. I will sell everything and I'll walk and still they will be hungry.
- Q: Guru, what happened to the reporter in Detroit who was badly beaten by your followers? [Following the question, Maharaj Ji's press aide tried to change the subject, accusing the questioner of hogging the floor.]
- A: I think you ought to find out what happened to everything.
The conference, which lasted nearly an hour, ended shortly after descending into a shambles when reporters pressed for information about the Detroit incident, in which a reporter who had thrown a pie at Maharaj Ji a few months prior was subsequently beaten by two DLM members. As of 1976, it was Maharaj Ji's last press conference.
Krassner–Davis debate
Paul KrassnerPaul Krassner
Paul Krassner is an author, journalist, stand-up comedian, and the founder, editor and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine The Realist, first published in 1958...
repeatedly challenged Rennie Davis to a debate and Davis finally agreed. It was held in the adjoining Astrohall convention center on the third day, Saturday, November 10, and attended by 30 reporters. The question was, "Resolved: That Davis has copped out to turn kids away from social responsibility to personal escape". Ken Kelley was the moderator and KPFT-FM broadcast it live. Repeating accusations he had been making through the summer, Krassner said that the movement was part of a CIA-directed conspiracy. He called it a neo-Fascist discipline, said Maharaj Ji was a mystic hired to seduce the youth movement into oblivion, and called him the spiritual equivalent of Mark Spitz
Mark Spitz
Mark Andrew Spitz is a retired American swimmer. He won seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, an achievement only surpassed by Michael Phelps who won eight golds at the 2008 Olympics....
. He asked, "Did the Maharaj Ji give Richard Nixon a secret contribution?", to which Davis replied, "Yes – he gave Richard Nixon his life."
Davis said the most important point was that "the Lord is on the planet and he has the secret of life", and that Maharaj Ji would lead "the most serious revolution ever to take place in the history of the world". He said the main battleground now is "the struggle between the mind and the soul" in each person. Reporters said that Davis stayed poised while Krassner heckled.
Afterwards
Two sociologists described Millennium '73 as the youth culture event of the year. Journalists listed it among the notable events of the 1970s. Indian writer Vishal MangalwadiVishal Mangalwadi
Vishal Mangalwadi is an international lecturer, social reformer, political columnist, and author of thirteen books. He is currently working on a historical documentary that seeks to demonstrate the Bible's role in providing the essential ideological basis for the political freedoms of the West...
called the festival the zenith of Maharaj Ji's popularity. The festival did not live up to expectations of establishing peace or world transformation. According to reports, the Astrodome did not levitate, no UFOs landed, and no ETs attended. Journalists and scholars called the festival a dismal failure, a fiasco, a major setback, a disastrous rally, a great disappointment, and a "depressing show unnoticed by most". According to James T. Richardson, the event left the movement "in dire financial straits and bereft of credibility". Religious scholar Robert S. Ellwood wrote that Maharaj Ji's "meteoric career collapsed into scandal and debt" after the event.
Maharaj Ji gave no public indication that he was disappointed, although one reporter said he appeared to be nonplussed by the turnout. He remarked privately on how perfect it was and called the event fantastic. Three months after the event Davis said that it was significant despite the low attendance, noting that only a small number of people were at the Sermon on the Mount
Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...
or the Last Supper
Last Supper
The Last Supper is the final meal that, according to Christian belief, Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. The Last Supper provides the scriptural basis for the Eucharist, also known as "communion" or "the Lord's Supper".The First Epistle to the Corinthians is...
. In a June 1974 interview, Mishler said that the love which filled the Astrodome was the beginning of the human race, and that only those who came to it with expectations were disappointed.
Some members expected world transformation and there were many reports of members being disappointed. According to sociologists Foss and Larkin, some members saw the failure to meet expectations as another example of lila. Downton, who attended the festival, said the followers tried to find nice things to say about the event but that it appeared to him they were trying to hide ruined dreams. One member said that the excitement was over and that followers could not believe that the world had not changed. A member from an Orthodox Jewish background was disenchanted and began to doubt that Maharaj Ji held all the answers, according to his sister's memoir. Janet McDonald
Janet McDonald
Janet McDonald was an American writer of novels for young adults as well as a memoir, Project Girl, about her own upbringing and education. Her best-known children's book is Spellbound, which tells the story of a teenaged mother who wins a spelling competition and a college scholarship...
, an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
woman attending Vassar College
Vassar College
Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
, said that her "faith was brutally dashed to bits" at the festival because of its failure to meet her expectations of miracles and by her embarrassment at lining up for hours to kiss the white-socked foot of Mata Ji. She left the movement soon after. Sophia Collier said that she woke up on the bottling plant floor the next morning wondering why she was there, though she decided to try to repair the movement's public image.
Debt
The DLM leadership had expected that a huge attendance would be followed by generous donations. Millennium '73 was free, unlike other DLM festivals that charged sizable fees. Despite fundraising before the event, lower than expected attendance and mismanagement left the DLM in serious debt, estimated at $682,000. Individual members also carried debts incurred for traveling expenses.The festival was financed with short-term credit that began coming due right after the event. Seeking payment, creditors, including the Astrodome management, pursued the DLM and repossessed property belonging to the mission. By mid-1974, NBC reported that about $150,000 was still owed and that 25 vendors had received no payments at all. Members of the DLM took on extra work in order to raise money at Maharaj Ji's suggestion. The debt forced the sale or closure of the DLM's printing and other businesses, the temporary shutdown of their newspaper and magazine, the disbanding of Blue Aquarius, and the shelving of new initiatives. In 1976, a DLM spokesman said that the debt had been reduced to $80,000 and that the mission was on a sound financial footing.
Impact
Thomas Pilarzyk described the festival as the "most important development" in the American movement's history. James V. DowntonJames V. Downton
James Victor Downton, Jr. is a sociologist known for his research on charismatic leadership, activism, and new religious movements. He received his PhD...
opined that the movement ultimately failed in achieving its millennial dream of world peace. The failure to meet expectations, along with the debt and bad press, led to significant changes in the movement.
Scholars describe 1973 as the peak year of the movement, or mention a significant drop in new followers. However, Roger E. Olson wrote that "the movement continued to attract large numbers of mainly counterculture followers" despite the disappointments. The financial crisis required retrenchment and reorganization. After the festival, Maharaj Ji began taking greater responsibility in the movement; he took administrative control of the DLM's US branch within a month of turning 16. The following year he got married and became an emancipated minor. Disagreements between Maharaj Ji and his family led to the movement being split between a Western branch, led by Maharaj Ji, and an Indian branch, run by his mother and Bal Bhagwan Ji.
The failure of Millennium '73 led the Western branch to shift away from Indian influences and trappings, according to some observers. Sikh scholar Kirpal Singh Khalsa wrote that the DLM "no longer projected itself as a movement that would include all of humanity in its membership." The Western DLM moved away from its ascetic, "world-rejecting" origins and adopted a "world-affirming position". Beginning in 1982, Guru Maharaj Ji changed the DLM into the more loosely organized Elan Vital
Elan Vital (organization)
Elan Vital is the name of several organizations that support the work of Prem Rawat, also known by the honorary title "Maharaji". Prem Rawat speaks of the possibility of knowing inner peace through four techniques of Knowledge. Elan Vital organizations exist in several countries with the purpose of...
. Michael York wrote that, as result of poor attendance and financial failure, Maharaj Ji changed the name of the movement and "distanced himself from his status as a divine guru". He became known as Maharaji or Prem Rawat and was presented as an inspirational speaker and teacher. Bal Bhagwan Ji became known as Satpal Maharaj or Satpal Rawat, and his branch is now known as Manav Utthan Seva Samiti. Both branches have celebrated Hans Jayanti again since 1973.