MILLENNIUM '73 EDITION
Shri Bal Bhagwan Ji, Shri Raja Ji, Shri Guru Maharaj Ji, Shri Bhole Ji, and Shri Mata Ji.
Guru Maharaj Ji
Guru Maharaj Ji was born on December 10, 1957 in Hardwar, India. He is the son of Shri Hans Ji Maharaj, who was the Perfect Master of his time and founder of Divine Light Mission.
In 1966, Shri Maharaj Ji proclaimed Sant Ji, as he was then called, to be the next Perfect Master. Shortly thereafter, Shri Maharaj Ji left his mortal body and on his eight year old son was bestowed the title of Guru Maharaj Ji, Highest King, Revealer of Light.
Four years later at India Gate before an audience of over one million people, Guru Maharaj Ji declared that he had come to bring peace to the world. "All I ask is your love," he stated, "and I will give you such peace as will never die."
Since that time, Maharaj Ji has conducted three World Peace Tours, travelling through Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and America to spread the practical experience of inner peace called Knowledge. He has gathered some eight million followers, all of whom are now dedicated to that same goal.
Shri Mata Ji
In the small village of Gadwalis, Rajeshwari Devi had a dream in which she envisioned a man some years older than herself. Two years later, she met that man, who was Shri Hans Ji Maharaj, and they were married.
Shortly thereafter the young woman, wlo later became known as Shri Mata Ji, or Holy Mother, received Knowledge from the Perfect Master and became his loyal disciple as well as wife. As it had been foretold years before, Mata Ji bore Shri Maharaj Ji four sons.
In July of 1966, Shri Mata Ji spoke publicly for the first time. Through tears at the loss of Shri Maharaj Ji, Mata Ji promised to carry on the Master's mission.
Mata Ji first came to North America in May of 1972. Her reception at the Toronto International Airport was described in the Toronto Star: "She speaks only Hindi, but there is a grace and merriment about her that filled the room. (The devotees) turned their faces toward her like flowers before the sun… I have not seen such faces before."
Shri Bal Bhagwan Ji
Born on September 21, 1951, Bal Bhagwan Ji is the eldest son of Shri Hans Ji Maharaj. He is now the driving force behind much of Guru Maharaj Ji's mission.
It was the 19 year old Bal Bhagwan Ji who was put in charge of coordinating the largest festival ever held, Hans Jayanti, 1970. A procession 14 miles long ended at India Gate in a gathering of over one million people. There, Guru Maharaj Ji first announced his plan to bring world peace.
Festival organizer
In 1971, Bal Bhagwan Ji gathered the materials for the World Spiritual Exhibition. At the same time, he was raising funds to take care of 3000 Westerners who were coming to spend two months as guests of the Mission in India. Recently, he oversaw the spectacular Guru Puja Festival in London where a mission with almost no funds housed and fed hundreds of the 15,000 participants coming from all over the world.
Shri Bhole Ji
Bhole Ji is the director of Guru Maharaj Ji's band, Blue Aquarius. He is only 20 years old and has had no professional training, yet everywhere the band performs, concert halls are packed.
When early this year Bhole Ji landed in London, there was no Blue Aquarius. Yet by the time of the Guru Puja festival in July, he had assembled a 50-piece orchestra which had written and arranged all its own music. The band was so good that after its first sell-out concert in London's Hammersmith Odeon, three members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra came backstage to ask if they could join. The group Santana was so impressed by Bhole Ji himself, that they offered to play for free at Millennium.
Now Blue Aquarius is in the States. Their first concert in Houston, sponsored by the city council, drew an overflow crowd of 3,000 people. Meanwhile, Bhole Ji has assembled a 60 voice international chorus to perform with the band at Millennium.
Shri Raja Ji
Raja Ji, age 18, is the Chief Commander of the World Peace Corps.. Under his direct supervision, the W.P.C. provides all the support systems that allow Divine Light Mission to help Guru Maharaj Ji spread the Knowledge.
In India, thousands of volunteers are on call at a moment's notice for any service which needs to be done. They are a well-trained and efficient corps who coordinate all aspects of Guru Maharaj Ji's programs in India. "The job of W.P.C.," Raja Ji states, "is to make sure that whatever is happening, happens correctly."
When Raja Ji arrived in the West, World Peace Corps had barely gotten off the ground. He immediately began to draw around himself scores of disciples who had been waiting for a chance to do constructive work. The W.P.C. grew rapidly to ten times its previous size. Now in England alone, 2,000 full time workers have been assigned various tasks from electronics to day care centers whatever is needed by the Missio