Nine months on the road
A new international exhibit in Hall C gives us a chance to look in some detail at a year in the life of Maharaji. An audio visual show together with a free-standing display portrays his global schedule for 1997.
Future developments at Amaroo are also featured. Spanish translation is available.
The following article tries to give a little insight into what it might be like to keep up with Maharaji's itinerary.
To date Maharaji has been invited to and has attended 147 events in 34 different cities. These, we should remember, are not just places in North America, Europe or Australasia, all of which are relatively easy to visit. They embrace such diverse destinations as Chile and Abidjan, Nepal and Taiwan.
To keep pace with him, you're going to need a head for heights, a stomach for change and the stamina to endure a schedule far more demanding than anyone else I could imagine. Early in April, you would have flown 9,500 miles from Los Angeles to Delhi, watching as Maharaji gave Knowledge to 6,337 people in two sessions, followed by a three day event with 50,000 people.
Events, or rather, a lack of events in early May might have lulled you into a false sense of relaxation. Except, of course, you would have witnessed various people working hard to turn a series of conflicting dates for available venues into a coherent international tour schedule. American citizens are being suddenly galvanised into action as programs are planned, one week apart and at one week's notice, in Universal City and Washington DC. Between May 23, when the first of these took place, and June 22, you'd have had no time to notice anything. You'd have found yourself hurtling from Paris, France to Mannheim, Germany, from Barcelona, Spain, to Milan, Italy, and then over to England where a Hindi event for 2,000 in Leicester was swiftly followed by an aspirant meeting in Brighton. A whirlwind round trip to Copenhagen, Denmark, would have led you back to England (just) in time for an introductory program for 5,500 people in Wembley, London. Oh yes, and somewhere along the way, you'd have sat in on three European Knowledge sessions.
Seven days after the London event, you'd have found yourself in Toronto, Canada and in the two weeks following this, you'd have visited New York (2,000 people at a public event), Oakland, California, and Miami, Florida, with more knowledge sessions, for a total of 333 people at these two destinations. Two days after Miami, you'd have been in Mexico, for the first event that Maharaji has attended in this land for seven years. The 752 people, who made it to Veracruz, were in time to fill up with inspiration and wave him on his way to Santiago, Chile, for the first ever Knowledge session in this country. It's mid- July now and, if you're still managing to stay on track, we need to transport you to Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo before whisking you across the Atlantic once more to Africa in time for July
You're now in Abidjan on the Cote D'Ivoire, attending an event for aspirants with 2,000 people in attendance. The next day, you musn't oversleep, no matter how jet-lagged you're starting to feel. Maharaji is about to give his largest ever Knowledge session outside of India to 366 people. Next, he's got to get to Durban, South Africa, for two practice sessions, an aspirant meeting and another Knowledge session.
It's 25 years since he last came here, but there's no time to dwell. Mauritius beckons, and there's a four-day schedule of events to get through on this tiny island. Maharaji gives 112 people Knowledge there as well as two practice sessions (one in Hindi, one in English), an aspirant meeting and a participation meeting.
It's August 13 now and you're yearning for a brief break - but Maharaji has to go straight on to Australia. You can rest if you want, but he spends 12 days attending a conference of international helpers and organisers - to ensure they're up to speed with the speed at which he wants to travel! Straight off the back of this, it's over to Kaoshiung, Taiwan and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for public programs, aspirant events, events for people with Knowledge only and Knowledge sessions in both countries.
You may here feel inclined to pause on the contrast between the 40 people receiving Knowledge in Taiwan and the several thousand you saw him work with, just as thoroughly, in Delhi, some while back. If you do pause though, you may miss the plane ride back to Amaroo, Australia, where Maharaji has been invited to a four-day, six event celebration for 4,400 people with Knowledge from 61 countries. Over 1,200 of these stay in tents on the land. The event is a memorable success. It is though, late September, and Maharaji's got to get to Tokyo, for a two day event, an aspirant meeting and a 33 person Knowledge session.
After this, it's back to Los Angeles for an event with the Hindi-speaking community, followed by a brief hop to Denver for a Knowledge review, and then back to Long Beach for an aspirant meeting and a Knowledge session.
October's nearly over now, and India beckons once more. This time, there's to be a tour for the benefit of the many people who can't get to Delhi. This takes in Calcutta: 12,000 people attend a two-day event. In Kathmandu, Nepal: a one-day event for 12,000 plus a participation meeting for 800 and two Knowledge sessions for a total of 1,527 people.
Things happen on an amazing scale in India, you think to yourself, somewhere over the Himalayas, as you fly back to Delhi for a week at the Knowledge centre which includes an aspirant meeting, two Knowledge reviews plus two more Knowledge sessions for a total of 7,040 people. There's then a three-day event for 60,000 people and just enough time to return to the USA to prepare for Long Beach, which is, of course, where we are now.
Writer Jonathan Cainer is alive and very well in Long Beach, suffering only from a mild case of trans-atlantic jet-lag.
If we extract the data from this article we can see that Rawat did no travelling and no "work" for the first 3 months of the year. He flew to India and spent 2 afternoons playing a DVD and making some short speeches. He then spent the next 3 days making one or two hour long speeches a day. He then did ntohig but fly back to the US until May 23rd when in one week he had 2 meetings and made 2 or possibly 4 speeches ususally about an hour long. He then flew to Europe and in 3 weeks visited 7 cities to make speeches and "sat in" on 3 "Knowledge sessions." In June he visited 4 North American cities for speeches in two weeks and then 4 South American citiew in 4 weeks.