Rennie Davis Interview
Rennie Davis was called to Canada by CBC to do a National TV show. However, due to the upcoming Hans Jayanti festival, he remained in Toronto a few days before going on a tour of the East Coast. The following are excerpts from a radio interview with CFTR reporter Clint Nickelson.
CLINT: We are speaking to Rennie Davis, a disciple of the Guru Maharaj Ji, the sixteen-year-old Indian who is raising eyebrows across North America. Mr. Davis, could you perhaps account for the transition from your political status to your disciple status?
RENNIE: Well, it was an amazing change for me. I had just been involved in organizing a demonstration, a peace demonstration, at Nixon's second inauguration in Washington, and was on my way to Paris to meet with the Vietnamese negotiators in that city on their interpretations of peace accords. And I met a couple of young people on that plane who didn't seem to be in a religious trip at all, in fact, it seemed their backgrounds, their lives .were very similar to mine. Well, I think really millions of young people in the United States have been very much concerned about peace and how to deal with the problem of peace through political change. And they said that an event had taken place in the world - In India, a young man had been born who might be compared to a Buddha, or to a Christ, or to a Moses, and that this young man had a gift that could actually transform the human race, could actually bring about an alteration or change in human consciousness, and that this change laid the basis for total global cooperation.
CLINT: This will be the second Millennium, a year after the one in the Houston Astrodome. Can you give Us any indication of how many people you expect to be there, what kind of impact it should have on southern Ontario and on Canada in general?
RENNIE: Well, I think that many people have heard about Guru Maharaj Ji in Canada. The organization here is really just getting underway. Many people have not had the opportunity to have direct contact with the people who have received this Knowledge. I think that's probably one of the reasons why He's coming here, to let the Canadians sort of hear first-hand what He's about, what His message is, what this gift of Knowledge really is.
Numbers are difficult to estimate. We don't expect the kind of numbers that this festival has drawn in the past. In 1970, when Guru Maharaj Ji held this festival in India, the police, officials estimated that it was the largest gathering in the history of the modern world - over a million and a half people attended this same festival in India in 1970. And of course we had nearly thirty thousand people in the Astrodome for this festival a year ago. But here, I think it's going to be a smaller affair, but still very important to sort of making that introduction of the people of this city and this country as to really what lies behind the public image of Guru Maharaj Ji - really why it is that eight million people are following Him, and believe that He does have a very powerful message and gift for this time.
continued on page 6 column 1
continued from page 2 column 2
CLINT: Are you prepared to say unequivocally that this particular solution is applicable to everybody worldwide?
RENNIE: Yes, definitely. I think that the evidence is already in, that 8 million people from every continent, every race, every class, every age bracket has found for themself a practical way to know the aim of life, to realize the practicality of human cooperation, to see the ability to overcome all human barriers. This is the solution to the conflict between the French-speaking and. English-speaking Canadians. This is the solution to the conflict between the Toronto police and the young people in the streets of the city. This is the solution to every single problem in this nation. And you can say, well, that's rediculous, that's a joke, but what we're saying is that anyone who wants to come and verify what we're saying can do it. And people who are coming are coming away saying exactly what I'm saying, and that's why there's such a stir of enthusiasm and excitement everytime He puts His feet down in another nation. Because what He has is real, and it can be tested, and every human being can come and test Guru Maharaj Ji and find out for themself.