The Pictorial History of Prem Rawat: 1971 To The West
On June 17 1971 Prem arrived in England to a tumultous welcome from a small group who had hired a flower-bedecked Rolls Royce by the hour and a few days later he appeared to boos and catcalls at the initial Glastonbury Fayre.
"If the God is equal, if the God is one and God is same then this Knowledge will be also equal and it cannot be attained by going into different sects and religions. That is within you and if you want to go you have only can with your bodies go to the different sects and religions not the Knowledge but to go anywhere you need some money, some pounds." - Prem Rawat
There were very few English premies and the committed ones had no money so the young Rawat lived in a squat and was driven in a Cortina.
Unseen Interviewer: It's a long way from Dehra Dun in North West India to this room in Chelsea but that's how far 13 year old Prem Pal Singh Rawat Singh has come to spend a fortnight in this country. He's a very serious minded boy. He likes to read a lot and to listen to Indian classical music to remind him of home. Do you feel that you have got two separate lives, that you've got the life of a normal 13 year old boy and that of a guru? I mean are you interested in things like cricket or football or the sort of things that, that 13 year olds are interested in?
Teenage Prem Rawat then calling himself Guru Maharaj Ji: No.
A Month in Cloudy, Squatty England, Then Off to the Promised Land
From London Prem Rawat or Guru Maharaj Ji as he then called himself, his bodyguard Bihari Singh, and Mahatma Gurucharanand fly off to the USA.
He arrived in Los Angeles on July 17 thanks to a grant from Alan Watts arranged by Will Ganz who soon became disillusioned with Rawat and later achieved fame as a famous sadhu (how weird is that?)
Prem Rawat: "Little Drops of Mercy" San Francisco, 5 August, 1971
"But where there is always mercy, and no end of mercy. And I, what am I? Many big, big saints even, can't write His glory of that ocean. This ocean, a big huge wave will come and overturn that ship. But in that ocean, if a ship is overturned, it will be made okay. That is His kindness." - Prem Rawat
"In the summer of 1971, Guru Maharaj Ji arrived for the first time in the Western world. The sincere seekers of truth knew immediately that he was, in reality, the dispeller of darkness and illusion and the revealer of Light."
To get a good idea of Prem Rawat's public activities in 1971 see the Report of the World Peace Tour of Balyogeshwar Shri Sant Ji Maharaj published by the Indian Divine Light Mission in English and Hindi. It contains a series of press clippings detailing the media response to young Guru Maharaj Ji.
Prem Rawat: Central Hall Westminster, London, England, November 2, 1971
"And this Knowledge is so Holy, so Perfect that one spark that comes out of this Knowledge is so perfect, so, so perfect, wherever it goes it hits, it makes it perfect and wherever it goes, again hits, it makes it perfect. Wherever just one spark of this Knowledge shines up, absolutely perfect. So that Knowledge I'm, I have got it here."
It is because of the absolute certainty of the Knowledge they receive that the western premies last year chartered a Jumbo jet to take them to India to be with their Lord on His home soil. Never has such a pilgrimage been seen, with more than 350 young saints flying in this largest of all aeroplanes. During the flight satsang was broadcast continuously over the airplane loud-speaker system. No cigarettes or alcohol were sold; only vegetarian food was eaten; never has there been such a Holy flight, such a Divine flight, for this was the Divine Light Flight. - Divine Light Magazine
He returned to India for the 1971 Hans Jayanti festival.
Over 350 Westerners attended.
"Now you see that 360 of them are sitting before you. By whose might and power did they come here? Did they come only to enjoy the flight on a 747? No. There are many 747's in their countries and they can travel on them easily. They have come here to listen to the glory of that Knowledge more and more. They have Knowledge, but now they have come here to hear the glory of that Knowledge in holy discourse. Because they know that by seeing the Lotus Feet of Guru Maharaj Ji and by hearing his nectarful voice, serving under his Lotus Feet, all the sins of lives together are washed off. I have made it clear about these things already."
An even larger gathering in Patna, Bihar occurred in December.
"Eight abreast, the procession of 750,000 people walked through the streets of Patna to the Gandhi Grounds. One hundred floats supporting paintings of past Perfect Masters two times life size were drawn by water buffalo. A line of fifty elephants, with their babies clinging to their tails, and twenty camels followed. Next in line was a marching band which announced the swan chariot of Guru Maharaj Ji. It was some parade."
"When such a decline from Truth occurs that unrighteousness prevails in the universe, then I will come." - Prem Rawat, December 25 1971
