The boy is Balyogeshwar Sri Sant Ji Maharaj. He is thirteen years old. And he is barely 5ft. tall.

But to the 200 worshippers who turned out to meet him at London's Heathrow Airport he is rather a cut above other little boys.
He is their Guru-their spiritual teacher.
And he has come to Britain, they say, to save them from themselves.
But it was the mini-sized Guru himself who needed a bit of saving yesterday.
He had to have a police escort to help him to make his way past his excited devotees, most of them English.

They fell in homage at his feet. They threw garlands of carnations round his neck. They smothered him with petals taken from a massive sack.
One follower, a white-robed Indian, said that the Guru came from Heaven although the youngster's body, he admitted, came in fact from the Himalayas.
The Guru, whose devotees belong to the Divine Light Mission, is to spend thirteen days in Britain.
He plans to make appearances in London, Leicester, Exeter and Glastonbury, Somerset.
His arrival yesterday was a big success. But it did not exactly convert one airport official.
He said sternly : "They may say he is the Lord, but as far as we are concerned he is just an ordinary passenger."

Guru Maharaj Ji; whose followers say he was born to bring God into men's heart's, added: "I know the technique by which you can obtain the inner concentration, the peace of mind. If people come to me I can tell them the supreme technique so that they can find the supreme joy".
The Guru was speaking at Exeter university. He was dressed in white robes and sat on a large chair which was draped in white cloths and surrounded by flowers.
He is touring England to propagate the teachings of a religious order called the Divine Light Mission.
Before his 20 minute address two of his followers spoke for an hour-and-a-quarter.

'Show you God'

One, a young Englishman, said the Guru " is able to give you the direct knowledge of how to go within yourself and find your Creator. He can say without any hesitation "Come to me and I will show you God".
The other, an Indian, said the guru began deep meditation at the age of two and started giving "holy discourses" when he was three.
"One day he will shine before the whole world as the sun shines in the sky," said the follower.
WHEN Bal Yogi Guru Maharaj was three years old his father died. Everybody mourned. But the child told his mother to stop crying, declaring with absolute authority: "I am the same man."
Three years later he gave his first talk on his philosophy of life to a mass audience and declared: "I am god." He was already carrying on the work of his father who led the yoga-inspired Divine Light mission in Dehradun, in northern India.
Nobody laughed at this precocious behaviour and now, at the age of 13, he has thousands of disciples in India.
And he seems to be gaining a following outside his own country. Many Europeans crowded with Indians into the lounge of the Odeon, Golders Green, on Sunday, when he spoke as part of his European tour.
Indians seemed neither surprised nor intruded on as numerous hippies crept in quietly, sitting on the floor while the Indians occupied the seats.
With their casual dress a stark contrast to the sleek saris and Sunday suits of the Indians, many silently meditated to a mesmeric recording of Indian music. An unspoken bond seemed to be present between Indian and European, turning the cinema lounge into an unpretentious temple.
As an obliging European tried to divert the audience by groping for words to express the elusive experience of personal peace, the boy, looking remarkably mature, unostentatiously arrived 30 minutes late and settled in a white-draped chair.
Firing words like grapeshot at his rapt audience he emphasised the need to seek inner truth, delivering that vague and well-worn directive to scorn worldly wealth and meditate until higher consciousness is attained.
He said a lot, sometimes growing incoherent or not cogently developing lines of thought, but in essence insisted: "Concentration is the greatest thing in the world and harder than seeing god. Very few can fully concentrate, but the man who can goes beyond. When you can't imagine where your body is, you have this consciousness of mind and you can do it with the grace of a guru.
"Absolute truth is our aim, not riches, food or pleasures. India and America are countries of fame, but people there are dying. You can corrupt a policeman so you don't have to go to jail but you can't bribe death.
"We say we're unhappy, but we're not so unhappy that we are honestly seeking truth today, because we can get material things and our ideas are not going beyond the world.
He assured his audience he could give them the vital knowledge he was hinting at, if they discussed their doubts with him, but he pointed out he was soon leaving for the Continent.
However, there are two Divine Light centres in London - at 4 Alba Gardens, Golders Green, and 5 Lincoln Street, Chelsea. His appearance was arranged by the Shri Sai-Hindu Centre, Golders Green.

(Editors Note: One day, over a month ago, an intense man with a lucid gaze walked into our office. He asked us to aid in the printing of a poster announcing the arrival of Shri Sant Ji Maharaj; The man referred to him as his guru. We agreed to help. Tha disciple claimed that the Sat Guru, or Perfect Master is one with God, like Buddha and Jesus, and he can open the third eye.

The third eye is an inner gate of consciousness, through which one may perceive divine light. How this differs from ordinary light is exemplified by the case of the Los Angeles man who was born blind. He saw light for the first time in his life through the holy grace of the Sat Guru when his third eye was opened.

His claims seemed possible, but we had our doubts.

A month and many vibrations later, we discovered that what he had told us was the simple, subtle, and absolute truth. As a result, many of us have received Sat Guru's Knowledge, an inner revelation made possible through His grace. Consequently we have dedicated ourselves to serving humanity. The following is an attempt to give a picture of the Sat Guru, and His teachings, and it is offered with humility and love.

Signs proclaiming "This Is The Way" marked the route up the twisting mountain road to Wall Street. "The Way" led to a narrow strip of pavement lined on both sides with many cars. Across a stream and part way up a mountainslope was a tipi, several camping tents, and a cabin: the temporary residence of Sat Guru Maharaj Ji.

Dozens of people sat cross-legged on the grass around the tipi, listening to holy discourses or Satsang. Mellow devotees with glowing faces and deep eyes mingled with those anxiously waiting their turn to receive Knowledge. There were also the unsure, those not yet filled with the desire to end desire.

Most of the seekers were young longhairs, though there was a fair spattering of the closely cropped and the greying. Some talked quietly, a few passed the pipe, a couple chanted and did yoga. Those that had received Knowledge spoke with energy and purpose. The others talked with uncertainty about ephemeral things.

During a Satsang, someone asked the Guru why he was here. "To kill flies," He replied.

According to Eastern Philosophy, the last two thousand years up to the present is the Kaliyuga, or the Age of Darkness. This is the period when evil forces dominate literally, the darkest hour before the dawn. This is the era of man's greatest need to realize God. Sat Guru Maharaj Ji has arrived to help usher in the Age of Light, thus ending this darkness.

Sat Guru means Perfect Master or the one human on Earth who is fully enlightened and who reveals divine light. There is always one living Sat Guru on earth, and only He can give the practical knowledge of God. These holy teachings cannot be given by scriptures or spoken in words, but can only be seen and understood internally.

Sat Guru asks that if He is perfect, shouldiyou should accept Him, and if He is imperfect, reject Him. The test of a true master is the knowledge He gives," Sat Guru said. He imparts to the sincere seeker the direct flash of divine light and reveals to him the "sacred primordial. vibration", or the unspeakable Name of God.

23

"In the beginning, was the Word," wrote John (1:1-3) "and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The Way that can be told is not the constant way. The name that can be named is not the constant name, " the Chinese Sage, Lao Tzu, wrote. "Seek not the law in your scriptures," it is written in the Essene Gospel of Peace of Jesus Christ, "for the law is life, the living Word of a living God (given) to a living prophet for living men. God wrote not the laws in the pages of books, but in your heart and in your spirit." The Word is not a mantra, but an unpronouncible cosmic vibration that stirs deep within every being.

Many who went to Wall Street came out of curiousity; their curiousity slowly transformed into interest, and that interest soon grew into desire. How this happened to so many' of us who were there is not entirely explainable. It seems, however, that skepticism and doubt melt before the Truth, just as darkness fades before the light.

It is difficult to state why so many have given up their supposedly comfortable lives to follow the Sat Guru. To those who have not received His Knowledge or heard Satsang, it is an alien and perhaps frightening event. But for those who have been through the initiation the eight-hour ceremony during which Knowledge is given the answer is simple: They have found the Way.

The entire spectrum of human action is primarily motivated by desire; desire for material possessions, status, love, acceptance and security. All these forms of desire, however, are merely manifestations of the search for eternal happiness–and happiness, which is a perfect state, can be reached only through the grace of a Perfect Master. Jut as only a living doctor, rather than a photograph of one, can cure sickness.

"You must have an aim in life," Sat Guru said. "You must know true knowledge comes only from Sat Guru."

–"I can show you God," He said. "If you cannot see GOD, THEN FOR YOU God doesn't exist. Believe in the practical, not the theoretical. You must see God face to face."

Unlike other gurus and masters, the Sat Guru goes beyond mere spiritual discourse and emphasizes pragmatic techniques of self-realization. He freely gives the teachings to any sincere aspirant, requiring only that he have a guileless heart. "Just ask me," he said, "and I give it to you."

"To find a priceless pearl, it is not enough to go near the sea. One must dive deep into the sea to bring back a pearl. Those who go deep, find. Those who sit by the shore only get salt water. This is the condition of man. f he does not see God in his inner heart, he will never be able to find him in the world."

The more the inquisitive learned, the more they wanted Sat Guru's Knowledge. There was no coercion or propaganda. There was only Sat Guru and His Indian and American disciples (some former acid heads and dealers) blissfully smiling, and always ready to answer questions.

The teachings of Sat Guru Maharaj Ji have naturally spread like spiritual wildfire. He has over three million devotees and new followers are devoting themselves to Sat Ji," said one of the disciples. "They've been through the whole trip, and now there are no new frontiers left. Before, when the dissatisfaction came, there were always new frontiers to conquer, new lands to explore, new material treasures to exhaust.

"So He came to this country and is going to enlighten as many people as He can, as many people who want it, because time is so short. The Kaliyuga is coming to an end, and it will end in strife between the forces of Darkness and Light.

"There is so little time that He came to the place where He could do the most good in the shortest time, to the place that was the most ready."

Before the seeker receives Knowledge, he has no real conception of the path he is entering. Only after initiation will he intuitively feel the essence of divine grace. But first, the aspirant must realize the limitations of the ego. Only then will he be ready for the teachings.

The curious received Knowledge and lost their curiousity; they had been shown the path to bliss and union with God. They came down from the mountains, and returned to their jobs, their friends, and visions of Divine White Light now stir 'their hearts.

The Sat Guru is giving Boulder a Mahatma, or Great Soul, a teacher from India, who can transmit Knowledge, and the protection of Maharaj Ji. Boulder will be the first community in America to have such a teacher in residence. There are also plans for an ashram, a place where devotees will meet and iniations will be held.

"When you take Knowledge you are reborn and you take a new life. You die to this world," Sat Guru said.

The day that Sat Maharaj arrived in Boulder, one of his ten American disciples, Arthur Brigham, was on the Hill passing out leaflets describing the Sat Guru and his scheduled discourse that night at Macky Auditorium. Arthur, although originally from Denver, hadn't been in the area for two years and didn't know about the recently enforced restrictive laws. Someone on the street started asking Arthur about the Sat Guru, and they took a seat on the steps of the Hilltop Building (home of the police substation) to talk. Two officers instantly appeared and placed the disciple under arrest for obstructing the doorway.

We called Arthur to discuss the incident, but rapidly moved out of that illusionary plane onto one that involves the teachings of Sat Guru. This was our first Satsang or Holy rap.

Q: What does the Sat Maharaj say about the bust? A: I haven't talked to him yet but he probably thought it was pretty funny. Strange America, you know. He's not down on police. They're human beings just like us. It's a system thing with laws like obstruction which are sort of intolerant. They're not really rational.

For the police, it was a chance to take a break. They went back into the office for an hour and a half while writing out tickets, relaxing instead of having to walk around the streets. Or at least that's what they said; they haven't any time to take a rest.

Another cat was arrested too, but he wasn't hassled too much. I didn't have an I.D.; I lost my wallet.

Q: Did you tell them what you were doing?

A: Yes, they thought it was pretty strange at first. Then I rapped to them. One of the cats said, "If everybody is peaceful, maybe I'll lose my job." He was hopeful that Guru Maharaj Ji would do some good.

The other one thought I was a looney. He asked me if I had been in a mental hospital before.

They tried to make me understand that they were just doing their job. After a while they mellowed out. Like first, they were playing the hardman role and after a time they gave us a lecture about how things are.

Q: What did they say?

A: They just said that people should get off their asses and work, and one said, if someone stole his car, he'd shoot them. - They were going to get me for passing out leaflets, but I convinced them that it wasn't exactly pornographic.

Q: How long have you been studying with the Sat Maharaj?

A: I met him about six months ago in India.

Q: And how did you meet him?

A: I lived there about a year and a half before I met him. I also met Sai Baba, a mystic who materializes things.

Q: Did you see him materialize anything?

A: Yes, as a matter of fact, he materialized a big p

A: Not obviously like that.

Q What kind of miracles is he into then?

A: The miracle of self-realization. That's a miracle, man. It's the only one that lasts. It's the only one that gives peace. The other ones just give more items to deal with. Like if I went round and materialized a piece of candy, then I'd have to do something with the candy. I'd become attached to the candy.

Q: What is it to be a disciple of the Maharaj?

A: It means that you are applying his knowledge to your everyday life. Like I'm not a monk, you dig? I mean I'm just doing my trip. I know how to do it and not lose touch with reality at the same time. It's called Karma Yoga. Basically, it's keeping your mind attached to God and keeping your body attached to action. You're not forsaking the material world, and you're not forsaking the spiritual world, but you're doing both because we are in a material body and world. We shouldn't forsake that for spiritualism. And so we use our material body to benefit the material world to make sure everyone has food. If you don't have food and you're starving, you can't think about spiritualism.

Q: How does he give you the knowledge of enlightenment? A: Well, he gives sort of a direct view of what Jesus called the Holy Spirit. He allows you to see the pure light; he opens the third eye, so that you're able to realize that pure light.

Q: When you say that he is a perfect master, what do you mean?

A: We mean that he is fully enlightened and,. in fact, he is one with God. And he can reveal it. He has the power to reveal enlightenment to others automatically

Q: How far does someone have to be for this knowledge to be given them?

A: What he says is have a full cup of devotional love. In other words, you should not have other trips going except to know reality, to know God, to know what absolute love is. To love love and not to love something for love. Love love itself; that's what devotional love is. To have a full

tank means you are very ready to receive Knowlege, and that Knowledge will immediately flower. And he said even if you have only a half tank he will give you Knowledge. But he also said, "I will not give it if you have only a fourth. You must have at least a half a tank.

Q: How does he decide?

A: He has a meter.

Q: Is it a psychic meter of some sort?

A: You see he knows God, therefore, assuming what is looking out of our eyes is God, like our soul is God, he knows our souls. Like we were told when we went there that disciples of his have been known by him even before they were born – he knew that we were coming to him. And when we say He we're talking about the big He because I'm not talking about his body, I'm talking about his consciousness.

Q: How does the body fit into this realm?

A: The body is only the medium through which he expresses himself to us so that we aren't fearful, so that we can understand. Like we cannot relate to a flash of lightening. We cannot relate to a bird. We can only relate to something that can communicate with us. So, to resolve our doubts to put us firmly on the trip, we have to have someone that we can communicate with to resolve these doubts. As he said, "If you were ill, you cannot use a picture on the wall of a doctor, to cure you illness, you must go to a

living doctor." If you were so aware that you could pick up Christ from a spiritual level, you would be with God anyway, because in order to pick up God, you must be attuned to that. We are not attuned to that, so we must start from the bottom to move upward. And he likewise must express it. Our eyes and all of our organs are outwardly directed, we can perceive on an external level, so therefore, God must come to us on an understandable external level before we can go into the eternal self and go beyond conception. What God is, is that thing that is above and beyond the mind. The mind cannot conceive of it, and that's why it is said that it cannot be known by the mind. It can only be known by the heart or the soul. The way that you would know him is by attaching your mind to God and not thinking about it. In other words, attaching your mind to that unspeakable name of God which is not a mantra but the primordial vibration. By attaching your mind to that, it ceases to think of the future or ceases conceptualization. It becomes then a transmitter for the inner self to the outer self. Whereas, before you have this knowledge, you have the mind interpreting the outer self and explaining it to the inner self.

Q: What does Sat Guru mean?

A: It means Avatar, it means like The One. Like Jesus said, "I am the way and the light," and Krishna said, "only through me can you realize the supreme realization of God." When Buddha was asked if there were any other Buddhas, he said, "I am the enlightened one. I am the only Buddha." Which means when God manifests as the height of perfection, it is the height of perfection. Which means it is like the number one; if there were two of them there's bound to be a difference. The same perfect spirit was in Jesus, Krishna, Buddha and others but there is only one such perfect spirit.

Q: What is time?

A: Time is only that element which is the measurement of destruction. If for instance you're into the total flow and you know that a million trillion infinities have come before you, and a million trillion infinities lie ahead, then what's the difference between now and any time? Everything is happening right now. And right now is the absolute truth. And until you know that right this instant, you're not on the path.

Q: What does Sat Maharaj think is the future of the world at this point in time?

A: He said that this world will go through ten years of turbulence ending in perhaps a war, and then following this turbulence there wiII be a period of heaven, the age of truth. It will be like the garden of Eden and perhaps some day there wills be another snake. But that isn't necessarily a concern for us. We are like a raindrop from an infinite ocean, and once we've returned to that ocean, the same drop can never be brought back, and this infinite ocean wouldn't feel any lack if the cycle should start again. When we are merged with God, we will never separate again. We will become him. He cannot separate from himself because he is all that there is

Q: But he did it once.

A: Not exactly, only a finite part of him became like a rain cloud over an ocean, only a very small part will manifest back into the cycle.

Q: Why does it happen?

A: It's like when you're in a desert and you haven't had a sip of water and when you receive this water you're so blissfully thankful. It's like to be away from love makes that love so much more meaningful. God enjoys sunset and sunrise because it's so beautiful. That's why you have night and day so you can have sunlight - so you have darkness and you have light.

That "we want everyone living but a true master dead," was a point of emphasis in Sant Ji Ma-haraj's lecture last Sunday night at the Unitarian Church in Berkeley. How true it is! By reverencing the great dead we needn't necessarily commit ourselves to their teachings. We can instead go on our way, unmolested by the wise men's sincere concern that we become independent individuals.

Wisdom seeks to help others become aware of their own wisdom and not become devotional slaves to name and form. A living spiritual friend can make you aware of your Shortcomings and your gifts by personal contact. Few of us can communicate with the dead when we need assistance but we can talk to others who might have some experience.

Sant Ji Maharaj is confident that he can teach living wisdom to those who come to him with their thoughts. He can impart, perhaps, the energy to deal with life that he himself seems to have when expressing himself. His gesticulations are hypnotic, graceful, as are those of his older Indian Mahatma-friend who accompanies him wherever he goes.

If you could wait through the long introductory lectures given by his disciples, the guru's talk came as a simple, effective message directed toward the prevalent emotional states of discontent Americans, i.e., fickleness and restlessness of mind and body, uncontrolled appetites, and laziness that turns us into slaves. This from a thirteen-year-old Indian boy?

As an antidote to the "pleasures that slap us so hard when we cannot attain them, Sant Ji Maharaj told his listeners to limit their desires. Don't deny desire, but see it for what it is, don't let it get the pest of you.

See for yourself, and then you will have freedom of self-control.

To really benefit from his teachings, the guru suggested that seekers come to him and participate in satsangs (question-answer periods), be totally truthful with him and receive the knowledge he bestows that has been "empowered" by the blessing of his spiritual father.

In conference with his Mahatma, the young Balyogeshwar answers questions put to him by any seekers. To paraphrase a part of his talk, he probes to the core of the problem with the "scissor of knowledge" and sews it up with the "bands of love."

That Sant Ji Maharaj could state that he came to the West to teach and not to learn, and be so sure of the completeness of his wisdom made me distrust his message, however. (I do not like my own doubtful feelings. They disconcert me in the presence of the spiritully evolved.)

One could view him as just another Indian guru with an exclusivistic spiritual line, but that would be uncharitable. It is too soon to judge the profundity of the man's teachings. I'm sure he has much to give and can make spiritual truths more real for his students,

The trials of our Age will brink about a cooperative and modest association of spiritual wayfarers

and gurus, each with his own superlative teaching.

* * * *

Guru Maharaj Ji is only 13 years old, but his message of happiness and peace dates back to the time of Christ, Buddha, Mohammed and Krishna, he and his followers say.

The young spiritual teacher from India, where he claims three million followers, sat in a small room flanked by three bodyguards and several adoring devotees and expounded his philosophy for true happiness and peace. He is on a three-month tour of North America which began July 17. He has been in the Denver area about 10 days.

"I am not looking for the names of disciples, I am looking for people to get permanent and real peace," Maharaj Ji said. "If people can find the source of real peace in their religion, fine, if not, they should throw it out. But they should have peace."

"If you can't find peace, then come to me, I'll give you peace," he advises.

And he claims he can bring peace to the world by bringing inner peace and knowledge to people of the earth.

LIGHT SHOWS

"When you clean a house on the inside, you can feel the cleanliness outside also. Just as when you turn a light on in a room some of the light .goes out from under the door and through the cracks."

One of the guru's followers described the universal knowledge which Maharaj Ji transmits. "He has no teachings, just knowledge which he reveals in the heart of the aspirant," Sita Ram, one of the followers, said.

"He is saying nothing new, it's just the same thing, but he is giving direct experience of it."

Sita Ram's 45-minute instruction preceded the meeting with the guru.

Unlike other Eastern religious cults, Maharaj Ji doesn't advocate other wordly devotion. "We must stay in this world, do our duty, fulfill our obligaton, but know who you are," Sita Ram said.

STARTED AT AGE 2

The young guru, whose full name is Satguru Balyogeshwar Param Hans Shri Sant Ji. Maharaj, began his meditations at age 2, and his public speaking at age 21/2. Maharaj Ji requested and received the knowledge of his father, a famous Indian saint in his own right who died in 1966.

The guru takes a dim view of Western culture. "The West is going to hell. They are already there."

"Most Western people are

worldly, searching for something higher." The proof of Western man's search lies in the guru's own ministry, he said.

"They are coming to me, they are coming to drink water Because they are thirsty, they were really satisfied. I left India to make them happy and have brought happiness to many."

2,000 FOLLOWERS

Sita Ram backs up the guru's claim of bringing happiness. "When he came to the United States he had only six or seven followers," Sita Ram said. "Now there are 200 followers in Los Angeles alone … and 2,000 since he left India."

At a recent lecture at the University of Colorado, the guru spoke to more than 2,000 persons, even though he arrived more than an hour late,

Maharaj Ji said those who come to see him out of curiosity or because of his age will be disappointed. "They c not come to see my body but my knowledge. You do not go to see a shop, but what is inside the shop."

The young teacher spoke freely and easily, belying his youth fulness. Sitting on the only chair in the room while others sat cross-legged and shoeless on the floor, he often spoke using parables and images to explain his full meaning.

SIMPLE TEACHINGS

Some of the guru's teachings are simple and well known. A poster at his Denver residence at 1560 Race St. lists "Maharaj Ji Commandments." The first commandment is the adage: "Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today."

COMING EVENTS

AUGUST 6 (Friday) Balyogeshwar Sant Ji Maharaj, the thirteen-year old spiritual teacher. 7 PM, Glide Foundation, 330 Ellis St., SF. The guru has been giving "satsang" (spiritual conversation and instruction) between 10 AM andnoon at 453 Noe Street, SF. Free, but call ahead to confirm time and dates.

…7 {Sat.) Balyogeshwar Sant Ji Maharaj. (see above) 7 PM at the Unitarian Church, 1187 Franklin Street, SF. Call 661-7978.

8 (Sun.) Lecture: "The Latest Development of the Sufi Movement," by Prof. Bernard L. Fishman, Lodge of the Theosophical Society, 414 Mason St. (7th floor), SF, 8 PM. Free. Phone 781-1677.

…9 (Mon.) "Transformation: An Event of the Spirit," Toward a Community Consciousness at Emmaus Center, 1488 Vallejo,SF. 8 PM. Call 441-2181. "We must act as Gods to transform the world."

..10 (Tues.) Yogi Bhajan will speak at the Unitarian Fellowship of Marin, 240 Channing Way, San Rafael. $1 donation.

..'10 (Tues.) "Basic I Ching Concepts," a lecture by Jungian psychologist Dr. Sam Saltzer. Ultimate Reality as seen by the I Ching. Coin-Oracle reading for beginners taught. $2 'donation ($1 student). Metaphysical Center/ Bookshop, 420 Sutter St.. SF.

13-YEAR-OLD HOLY MAN – Balyogeshwar Marahaj Ji, young Indian guru who followers say has an amazing ability to enable people to find the way to truth and God, leads a "satsang" or holy discourse outside a house in the mountain town of Wall-street Tuesday morning. He lectured to approximately 2,000 People Tuesday night at Macky Auditorium, telling them, "Idols, symbols and yoga don't help in finding the truth, because they are external: Knowledge of God is found within the soul of each person."

(Daily Camera Photo
by Charles Wendt

Shri Sant Ji Maharaj is a unique 13-year-old boy. He is per. haps the only teen-ager in the world with a bodyguard, an appointments secretary and a following of three million people who call him their Satguru or spiritual master.

Maharj Ji is visiting Morgantown this week at the invitation of the Divine Light Mission. The Maharj began a three month tour of North America the beginning of August. His visit to the University is sponsored by the India Association and he will be in town until Sept. 5. After leaving Morgantown he will travel to Washington, New York City and Toronto, Canada before ending his tour with a program in London on Nov. 5.

Maharaji began meditating with his father when he was two. He astonished people in his native India when lie was six with hours of discourse on the nature of truth.

His purpose in coming to the United States is to make the American people aware of "Holy Knowledge."

"I have come to preach about holy knowledge to the people of the United States because they have been lacking it," said the young Spritual Master.

"This knowledge is not new. It is not a new sect. Do not confuse it with a new religion. It is simply the eternal knowledge of the work of God."

"God must be shown to you," he continued. "This knowledge is a natural thing. You cannot take away someone's nature, it is part of him. That is why this Knowledge is real."

Maharaj Ji stressed that he is not a Hindu or a member of any other religious sect. He says that religion is actually realization of God. He emphasized the oneness and universal source of all religions and the need for knowledge of the nature of the soul.

"I believe in true religion as broadcasted by the holy masters whenever they came to the world," he said.

Maharj Ji explains his relationship with God, "I believe that a man should be so close to God that no gap remains between him and He. He feels God and God feels him. Just as the state of saturation described in science and the state of tranquility described in the scriptures, the state of perfection as the ultimate goal of civilization must be reached by man."

According to the young Maharaj's beliefs guru is greater tha God. Guru is the highest manifestation of God and India saints have said that guru is greater, according to the Maharaj.

"Guru is teacher, preacher and the guide in the Indian langguage," he continued. "Suppose you have a huge building and you can't find your way around it unless you have a guide to show you. Guru is the guide that shows you the way to God."

The young guru discussed yesterday afternoon the source of nature with a small group of admirers. He will be holding impromptu discussions around the Lair and at 347 Cornell Aventue where he is staying during his visit.

The young guru, who estimated his U.S. following at 1,000 will return to India November and begin to travel throughout his native country really for the first time and continue to preach Knowledge to the people that come to see him daily.

Balyogeshwar Shri Sant Ji Maharaj is a 13-year-old Indian guru-saint with 3 million disciples, a dime-store Frankenstein mask, the certainty he can put you face to face with God, a fondness for zapping people with a water pistol, a boundless love for all mankind and automobiles, except for one disciple's van in Los .Angeles that had sheepskins on the seats a stack of telegrams and letters addressed to Supreme Commander and Sweet Lord With Salutations at His Lotus Feet and so on, plus a set of walkie-talkies, one of which Sharon Kelly, a school-teacher disciple carries as she runs out of the house in Northwest Washington, screaming with laughter as she communicates with the Perfect Master in some zany routine about President Nixon.

The Perfect Master is broadcasting from the sanctuary of the second floor, having minutes ago entered the house to a panic of prostrations in the living room.

This is no commune or ashram or crash pad, though. It's a suburban middle-class living room with wall-to-wall shag carpet, African figurines and a baby grand piano with Schumann on the music stand. It's owned by the parents of one of the disciples, Joan Apter, 23.

But today, Sept. 8, the guru is upstairs, on the last of his five-day stay, during which he spoke at All Souls Unitarian Church. It is not known if the guru will descend, or a visitor will ascend, or neither, for a meeting.

Downstairs, the visitor is recovering from the clamor of bad vibrations that went off like a burglar alarm when it looked like he might plunk his tushie in, my God, the guru's favorite overstuffed chair.

The guru spoke last year from a giant throne at India Gate, in New Delhi, to a reputed crowd of 1 million. He needs 1,000 apostles, called mahatmas, to lead and recruit his vast spiritual army. He's the son of a guru from Rishikesh, a region that has spawned holy men the way Appalachia has spawned stock car racers.

According to Dava Lurie, 19, who says the guru told it to her himself, he was sitting alone, weeping, the day his father died in 1966, when suddenly a great light filled the room and a voice said to him: "You are the one to take the message to the whole world."

He'd been getting in shape for years. At 18 months according to leaflets, the little guru would "wake up his father's disciples at 4 o'clock in the morning and tell them to meditate."

At 3 he discoursed to thousands on union with God. At 6 he could do it in English, along with his native Hindi.

Now, the disciples are gathering across the rug towards the newcomer (who elected to sit on the floor) to pass along the word of the Wordless Word. Their bodies tend to scrawniness, youth, and hair. Their eyes range from glitter to dream.

"This is our last trip," says Arthur Brigham, 21, of Denver. He ran into the guru during a year-and-a-half in lndia, and helped organize the American tour now in progress.

"He has given us his knowledge. We are in our last reincarnations. When we die, we will be liberated, become one with God. It will be like a drop of water that falls in the ocean. Can you take that same drop out again?"

The "knowledge" is given in an initiation, in which aspirants are taught to "perceive the soul with all the senses, with total attachment," Brigham says. "It's the inner vibration that's in everything, the word of God."

But the Word "cannot be pronounced, cannot be conceived by the mind. Only by the heart."

It took most of the disciples in the living room at least three days of intense devotion to get ready to hear the Word.

Learning the moral and ethical obligations of the Divine Light Mission, as the disciples call themselves, took no time at all. There aren't any.

No commandments, no Laws of the Church, no vegetarian diet, no mantras or yoga postures; thou shalt have no commandments. One doesn't need them, one understands, when one has The Knowledge. One will grow away from wrongdoing by meditating on the Unsayable Word.

In the initiation, however, which consists mostly of pep talk and explanation, the aspirants are asked to promise not to reveal the basic techniques for meditating on the Word. And to meditate every day, and attend the satsangs, or lectures.

("Don't use my name," says the woman who describes the initiation and promises. "I've only been in a couple of days and I don't know if you're supposed to tell about the promises or not.")

The proposition that someone with The Knowledge might believe it his sacred duty to murder someone draws patient smiles from the crowd in the living room. The safeguard of doubt is not necessary with The Knowledge.

"I believe in it absolutely and completely," says Brigham, who has moved to the inside of the circle after correcting a few other disciples' minor errors. "When you see dawn you don't question it, do you? I believe that, spiritually, I am at the dawn."

The Divine Light Mission meets the textbook qualifications for most basic religions: its experience is ineffable, its truth is self-evident, its secrets are reserved to initiates, and its leader, the guru, bears the total tidings of God.

"The guru is such a high," exclaims Miss Curie with soft wonder. "Actually, the first time I saw him he just looked like a little kid to me. But I went down to L.A. to the ashram. The first day, I hated it. I wanted to go back to Big Sur. Everybody said stick around for another day, and then I started to see it. He left for Boulder (Colo.) and one day I fell apart, crying, weeping, praying to … I don't knew what I prayed to. Then his spirit came into me and it was such a rush …"

Dan Toomey, 21, of Wilmington, was in Berkeley, Calif., "looking for a spiritual master" and getting ready "to split for L.A. when some guy, for no reason at all, gave me this poster about the Guru Maharaj Ji coming to Berkeley."

No reason, oh Perfect Master?

The only thing they can't tell you about him, it seems is whether he will make any more of an appearance this afternoon than a walkie-talkie broadcast.

A large, pimply girl announces the guru has been notified he has a visitor, but he has replied only "Okay."

Someone says the guru needs only seven more hours flying time to get his pilot's license. "The first landing he ever made was perfect."

"I should hope so," says the woman, who travels with Toomey.

They talk about the 1,000 American followers the guru has garnered; about the guru's large toy collection;

The girl messenger re-enters the living room. She brings word from upstairs.

"You may go up and knock on his door," she tells the visitor. "He may answer it. He may not." The burglar alarm vibes go off again.

With the grace of cattle panicking in a thunderstorm, electrified disciples stamped up the shag-rugged stairs with the infidel visitor. They swirl around a locus of panic when somebody sees, my God, the visitor's sandals. A sizzle of whispers orders them removed.

Everybody piles into a tiny study and readies tape recorders and obeisances.

A mahatma, one whose job is to transmit The Knowledge (If the guru did it himself it would blow your mind," says Brigham) leans his shaved head through the door and says to the multitude:

"He's in the bathroom. When he is finished he will come here."

Ears perk for the sound of water rushing down a drain, perhaps. Then the door opens.

Balyogeshwar (meaning "born Lord of the Yogis") Shri Sant Ji Maharaj walks in on patent-leather-booted lotus feet. Brigham scrambles to kiss them. Foreheads zoom toward the floor. The ignorant visitor stands up. The guru sits down in an overstuffed chair.

He's a little kid. Smiling but grave at the same time, he looks like the kind of little kid about whom adults say:, "He should act like a little kid more."

He wears white trousers and a white, shortsleeved shirt over a sleeveless undershirt. He has a round, brown, confident face. His black hair is parted on the right.

He looks like a young, possibly bored Orson Welles. He wears an enormous underwater-type red and blue watch on his left wrist.

He listens to questions and answers in the quick, high-pitched tones one links with both Indians and prepubescent boys. His hands dart and float like a classical pianist's.

Why, for instance, does he preach no rules or commandments? (Forgetting about those initiation promises.)

"You do not want to just polish the car, the outside. You want to work on the inside," he says.

Does he fear his antics with Frankenstein masks and water pistols might cause people to take him lightly?

"Those people who tell you those things do not see the real me. They are like those who stand in an automobile showroom and look only at the mirrors on the walls, not at the automobiles themselves."

The Maharaj Ji "the boy guru" arrived in Toronto Monday and spoke to a public meeting in Massey Hail Tuesday night.

Brought under the auspices of the Divine Light Mission–a group of about 20 devotees centred in Rochdale College and a home on Forest Hill Rd.–this was his first visit to Canada.

His father was a guru before him and after his death the enlightenment is believed to have passed to him.

Billed by his followers as "a fully realized soul of our time–a born saint" Maharaj Ji began giving discourses on yoga meditation to large assemblies while only two and half years old.

The message is similar to that of the swami–God is within you; know this divine light and you have the "pearl of great price."

The main difference is that Maharaj Ji claims to be able to impart this knowledge directly to those who sincerely seek.

Modesty is not his forte. Stern-faced, with lightning-quick gestures, he told the crowd of about 800–mostly young people –"I have brought light to 3,000,000 people in India. You can have it too. You must see God face to face–and I can show you God exists."

David Thorpe, spokesman for the Rochdale group told The Star: "The fact is he gives an experience to people, the most basic experience of all; he shows us our own spirit. You perceive your spirit directly–and know that it is part of God.

The Maharaj Ji himself says. "The test of a true master is the knowledge he gives. I will give this whole world knowledge. That is what I am trying to do."

It is quite a claim. The fact however that he is making it, and the fact that so many respond, both indicate the acute spiritual hunger of our time.

Front all this–whatever view one holds of individual teachers–the Christian may have much to learn. Meditation is a lost art in the west. God and Christ have been largely made over into our own image and then, not unnaturally, discarded by many.

The challenge of yoga to take seriously "Christ in you, the hope of glory" – to seek again the spiritual reality behind the words and cliches of Christian tradition–may be timely indeed.

By Peter Greenberg

Few Westerners have ever known quite what a guru is. As they understand it, a guru is supposed to be a person who is somehow religious, vaguely benign, mystical in some way and probably comes from India.

Even this fumbling definition, however, leaves no room for a guru who announces his coming on a Transworld Airlines flight he calls his "silver steed," keeps a bodyguard and an appointments secretary, marks his papers "Top Sacred" and is only 13-years-old.

Yet Balyogeshwar Sri Sant Ji Maharaj fills that description exactly. And on top of it, he claims to have three million followers around the world, including 2,000 mahatmas in India who call him master. In fact, he is now seeking more adherents on a three-month international tour which began in Hollywood and is taking him to New York, Washington, Canada and South Africa before winding up with a large rally in London on November 5.

As for Guru Maharaj Ji's approach, it can best be described as giving a whole new meaning to the phrase "no-nonsense." He recently sat barefoot in Hollywood's Divine Light Mission, which overlooks the Hollywood Bowl, in a room decorated with dozens of postersize photographs and color drawings of himself: At his feet sat 40 or 50 shoeless visitors, two mahatmas and his bodyguard, all wrapt in somewhat puzzled concentration on his answers to their questions: Maharaj (beginning): "The aim and purpose of my life is to spread the knowledge of the true nature of the soul to humanity as a whole."

Old gentleman (sitting cross-legged on the green carpet): "Then am I to regard you as the supreme mind of God and knowledge in this room?"

Maharaj (innocently): "Me? Judge it in your own way."

Second visitor (throwing himself on the carpet): "Give me the knowledge!"

Maharaj: "I can't answer materialistic requests. Man has reached the apex of material prosperity while grossly neglecting spiritual evolution."

Short-haired young man (yelling): "I'm tired of hearing theories! I want you to give me the knowledge, and I want it now!"

Maharaj: "Why? Are you going someplace?"

Unidentified man: "Anyone got a green Toyota? They're towing it away."

Maharaj (beckoning): "Gary, Gary, green Toyota."

To most of his Hollywood listeners, the 13-year-old guru's answers proved frustratingly difficult. He won about a dozen people to his way of thinking, and some went through a three-hour initiation to meditation and truth.

MULTIPLY

But it is not even clear just how the guru regards himself. He says he is spending his spare time writing a book which "will have the essence of all the scriptures," but he disclaims, somewhat ambiguously, that he is a god.

"You'll give your devotion to God through me," he says. "I multiply it many times and then send it to Him."

When he is specifically asked whether or not he considers himself a human, however, he pauses, as though figuring out the answer: "Yes, I am a human," he says, finally.

"Hands, bone, lungs. But guru is greater than God because if you go to guru, guru will show you God."

Maharaj Ji's history has been largely supplied by himself. He says he is the son of an Indian holy man who died when the boy was 8. He claims he began meditating with his father at 2 and at 6 delivered entire spiritual discourses in English in his native town of Dehra Dun in northern India.

He stands 5-feet-tall and attends ninth grade at the English-language St. Joseph's Academy. Its principal, he says, has looked the other way while he is in America, missing classes. "Other children only study about these things," he says with a smile. "But Guru Maharaj Ji is getting practical experience."

Whatever one may believe about the 13-year-old guru, it is clear, that he is without false modesty and that he has a considerable sense of humor. It is not clear, however, which quality was responsible for the announcement which preceded his arrival in America.

"All brothers of love come to welcome Guru Maharaj Ji," it read. "He is coming in the clouds with great power and glory and his silver steed will drift down at 4 p.m. at Los Angeles International Airport. TWA Flight 761."

Nor is Guru Maharaj Ji likely to supply the answer. For as one of his young followers at the Divine Light Mission said when Maharaj Ji's listeners pressed him for clarity:

"Hey, c'mon, you can't coax knowledge out of the guru. You can't trick him or force him to give knowledge. I mean that's the vibes get. When he wants you to have it, you'll get it, and not before."

The stuffed old armchair is covered with a green-andwhite-striped sheet. An olive green pillow at least three feet around, trimmed in gold, is on the seat. A pillow in an ordinary white case is at the foot of the chair.

The small living room of the desert ranch house-temple is filled with white-clad devotees, many bearded, all barefoot. The room is fringed with "seekers" clad in ordinary casual dress.

Three bells, woven with a Itain of carnations, are rung. The assembled, seated on their heels, prostrate themselves with forehead to the floor. As the child god walks, devotees touch his white garments and kiss his feet and the pillow they rest upon.

That was the scene last night and the night before, far out on Redington Road. The directions were vague. Past school, gas station, country club, cattle guard and mailbox.

The lumpy dirt road was lined with cards of all types with licenses from Arizona, California, New Jersey, Connecticut and Kansas.

Up to 300 people came the first night. About the same number came during the day, and more last night.

They are part of a growing cult of devotees of Shri Guru Maharja Ji, a 13-year-old Christ figure from India. His religion is said to combine the best of all major world religions.

He says that as water has many names in many languages, so all these( religions are separate in name and scripture but come from only one true religion – his.

His name is slurred by devotees to an affectionate "Ghum Raji." The hundreds in Tucson who "received knowledge" joined some three million claimed followers in India, plus those in several U.S. cities.

In each city, devotees greet him at the airport by prostrating themselves, then showering him and the plane with flowers and gifts of fruit. He arrived in Tucson Sunday and left for Toronto last night.

His disciples call him "an ocean of compassion." They walk reverently, palms pressed together, with starry eyes and joyous grins. They seem nearly transfixed when in the room with him.

One devotee said he "wandered all the world for three years" and finally found Ghum Raji "in northern India, at the foot of the Himalayas." The 13-year-old boy is the youngest of three brothers. Each of them is said to be blessed with one divine virtue. He has all three.

At the age of two he was meditating, at four giving "san sang (religious discourse) in English. At eight, his father "left his body" and "handed his power to me," Ghum Raji says.

"I am the humble servant of god, The key … the way … the light. And I am a human being. Whatever man feels, I am that "

His trips around the world are financed by followers one or two in each town. The religion keeps no bank account. "Money comes when it is needed," disciples say.

Ghum Raji asks for the surrender of dependence on intellect and ego. His future followers are to become' "mindless" and will "thirst for his knowledge."

They say 'to those who have seen the light, he is Lord. To, all others, he is brother."

All are soft of voice, somber, painfully intense. They pass by withered carnations on the wall, ignore flies and gnats crawling everywhere, and do not notice the smell of over-full septic tanks.

They have a comfortable worship. The fireplace is an altar of incense, flowers and a framed picture of the child god. Easy laughter, tremendous smiles characterize the devotees in the presence of their god.

Ghum Raji says, "give me your love. I will give you peace. Come to me. I will relieve you of your suffering. Why won't you believe in me?"

Sammy Davis Takes A Rest

LAS VEGAS (AP) – Entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. will need about six weeks of complete rest to recover from a liver disorder.

Davis, 45, complained of abdominal pains Friday night, and was taken to a hospital.

A hospital spokesman at Sunrise Hospital here said, "Mr Davis is here for tests and observation of misalignment of the liver caused by too much exertion on his small frame."

THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD Guru Maharaj Ji, claimed by his followers to be the Lord of Love, Bringer of Peace, and Emperor of the Spiritual World, has taken up temporary residence at Golden Manor, Hanwell.

Together with about 10 attendants. the young spiritual master moved into 2a Fernbank, Golden Manor, a detached luxury house in a quiet corner of Hanwell last week.

He is the leader of a movement known as the Divine Light Mission, claimed to be the largest spiritual organisation in India today, and the fastest growing movement of any kind in the world.

Maharaj Ji, whose full title is Balyogshwar Param Hans Satgurudev Shri Sant Ji Maharaj, has been acclaimed by his disciples since he was two years old, when his father, the former Maharaj Ji, died.

At his father's funeral in India, where the movement started in 1961, the child is reputed to have addressed the mourners in Hindi, saying: "Why do you weep? Has not my father taught you the spirit is eternal?"

Since then the Maharaj Ji has been at the head of an ever-growing movement, and has shown the "true Light" to thousands of his followers.

FIRST BRANCH

The first branch of the Divine Light Mission was opened in this country in 1969. The mission now has centres in Birmingham, Leicester, Loughborough, Nottingham, Southend, Exeter, Bristol, Inverness and Belfast.

The mission's London headquarters are at Golders Green. The Maharaj Ji and his attendants are staying in Hanwell for only a few weeks before moving into new, larger headquarters in Camden Town.

The teachings of the Guru transcend individual religions - he claims to demonstrate the Divine Light and the Word of God within each person who comes to him.

He and his followers believe in one God, known by many different names, and worshipped in many different ways.

His teachings depend not on blind faith, or belief but on true knowledge of God, which his followers claim they are shown through practical revelations.

The atmosphere inside the house at Golden Manor is one of warmth and friendship. Groups of young people stand or sit on the floor, discussing everything from the weather to Divine Light itself.

A large notice on the front door asks visitors to knock quietly, take off their shoes and place them neatly under the porch.

Only the ground floor is for followers of the Maharaj Ji and for the constant stream arriving to hear the Word. The top floor is reserved for the use of the "young master" and his personal assistant.

One of his followers who has seen the Light is 23-year-old Michael Finch, an Oxford graduate, who is reading physics at Exeter University.

He said the movement has a following of nearly 2,000 in England, several thousand in America, and about two million in India.

Once people have seen the truth, many decide to spend their lives in service to the Maharaj Ji, he said.

When they have decided this, they fall into one of three categories. They can be teachers, administrative staff, or they can earn money towards the mission's running costs.

Twenty-one-year-old David Passes, an architect, is another who has seen the Light, and become a disciple of the Maharaj Ji.

RESTLESS

"I was studying to be an architect, but I found I was unable to concentrate on my work. I was nervous, restless, and doing very badly," he said.

"A friend of a friend who had seen the Light suggested I listen to the teachings of the Maharaj Ji as they could be a solution to my problems.

"I took his advice, and eventually was shown the Light. I spent a year in India, and since then my whole life has changed for the better," he added.

"I have given up smoking, I am now good at my job, and I get on well with my parents for the first time in my life."

David Passes, the mission's assistant treasurer, explained that, to be shown the Light, it is necessary first to listen to the teachings of the Maharaj Ji in order to prepare the mind.

There are then four stages of meditation before the Maharaj Ji passes on the knowledge.

"He will give you nectar to drink, and pass on the word of God to you. It has no alphabetical form, and is beyond the realm of man to understand," he added.

"Then you may hear divine music, you will certainly feel the vibrations of the word of God, and you will be able to see this tangible Divine Light inside your mind."

He insisted the Maharaj Ji does not try to convert people from other religions, only to show them true knowledge.

"The Maharaj Ji says only that if you are a Christian, be a perfect Christian, or if you are a Buddhist, be a true Buddhist," he said.

Mr. Finch, chauffeur to the Maharaj Ji when he is not studying, explained most of the mission's disciples in this country are young people.

"This is because the idea seems mainly to appeal to the young over here, but an increasing number of middle aged and elderly people are coming to find the truth as the word spreads," he said.

"Many of the younger people are bringing their parents to see what we are doing."

On Tuesday, November 2, the mission will hold a meeting at Central Hall, Westminster, at which the Maharaj Ji will speak before returning to India for a time.

His trip to India will be made in the first Jumbo jet ever chartered and he will be accompanied by more than 300 followers.

Reason for his visit is a mass celebration in Delhi, at which more than four million people from all over the world are expected.

Maharaj Ji – a stocky, smiling 13-year-old guru has arrived in New York on the last leg of a three-month tour of the U. S. and Canada.

His followers proclaim him as a Prince of Peace, the same as Jesus Buddha, Krishna, and Mohammed–a powerful holy man who knows God and can reveal him to other.

The boy guru will give his "Farewell America Address" tonight at 8 at Hunter College Auditorium. Admission is free.

Post Photo by Rictidror Brown
Maharaj Ji, a 13-year-old guru who gives spiritual advice
in parables and whose followers see him as a prince of
peace, came to New York yesterday to top off his three-
month tour of North America. Story on Page 15.

His Story

Here, according to pamphlets about him, is Maharaj Ji's story:

Born in the Himalayan mountains, he was the youngest son of an Indian holy man. He began meditation with his father at the age of 2. At 2½, he was giving discourses on enlightenment and the human soul, and at 4, was giving these lectures in English.

His father died in 1966 and Maharaj Ji – then 8 – took over as a satguru or perfect master. He insists his message is not a religion. It has no dogma or institutions. He almost always speaks in parables.

Maharaj J1 claims to have "given knowledge" to at least three million people, including 3000 during his American trip,

For Experience Only

What is this knowledge? His followers say it can't be explained, only experienced.

"He opens the third eye, the eye that allows you to see inside of all life," said Billy, former drug pusher from Boulder, Colo., who "took knowledge" two months ago.

"There's an overwhelming white light, you hear the harmonies of the universe, you taste a nectar, and you learn the unspeakable name of God," said Billy, using terms that appear again and again among the guru's followers.

Anne, an intense young woman from Richmond, Va., met Maharaj Ji last year in India when she was looking for something "to make religion real to me."

"I grew up in a traditional Christian church," she said. "The ideas were all there, they appealed to me, but they just weren't alive. For me, Maharaj Ji has breathed life back in."

Knowledge to Be Given

Billy and Anne represent two categories of Maharaj Ji's followers: those who have rejected drugs or some other "trip" and those who keep their old beliefs enriched with the new knowledge.

Maharaj Ji plans to "give knowledge" tonight at Hun-ter and tomorrow at 40 W. 11 St. He is staying at the newly-formed Divine Light the atmosphere inside is a

Mission at 517 Sixth Av.

All week, his dozen or so followers in New York have been working to fix up the Mission's two-story apartment, or ashram. Asked how they pay the rent, a sparkly-eyed girl named Suzy said, "Some people have jobs or money put away. But mostly, by the grace of Ma.haraj Ji the money comes to us."

The only outside clue to

small gold door, squeezed between storefronts.

:Inside the Ashram

Upstairs, smiling people are breathing in incense, breathing out "oh wows." They sit in lotus position on a plush blue-purple carpet hand-picked free of the least bit of lint.

There are white satin pillows and banks of flowers around a throne-like rattan chair, reserved for the guru. Maharaj Ji arrived at Kennedy Airport yesterday afternoon. Some of his follow-ers had rented a Rolls-Royce to bring him into the city.

The whole scene seemed, in a way, reminiscent descrip-tions of Jesus's triumphant entry into Jerusalem–people calling out the "Savior's name, throwing folwers, bowing down, Jesus entered the city on a donkey.

Because the Rolls-Royce broke down, Maharaj J1 rode in a Volkswagen.

A boy guru is turning on Americans to the pure heart life.

Guru Maharaj Ji, age 13, claims 3 million followers throughout the world.

"Within his child's body is the pure light of our Lord of Radiance" recited his white-clad devotees Sunday night on a carnation-filled stage at the Fillmore on Lester St. and 10th Ave.

His appearance in Tucson was arranged in. a matter of days by Tucson people who visited the Divine Light Cen-ter in Boulder, Colo., one of the six centers started since Balyogeshwar Sri Sant Ji Maharaj's arrival in Hollywood from India last month.

Newsweek magazine wrote at the time of his arrival, "… the Maharaj began meditating with his father (a holy man who died in 19661 at the age of 2. At 6, he startled crowds with hours-long discourses in English on the nature of truth, and at St. Joseph's Academy back home in Dehra Dun, India, he is perhaps the only ninth-grader with a bodyguard, an appointments secretary and 2,000 mahatmas who call him master …"

Crowds who hear him speak, see his devoted followers, get the same message: When the path of righteousness disappears in the undergrowth of materialism, then the Lord Himself out of His boundless compassion incarnates in human guise upon the earth, to lead mankind once more upon the shining path of Truth.

The two Indian mahatmas in ochre robes with shaved heads who accompany the Sat Guru revere him as a saint. One told the group-at the Fillmore: "He has come to plant with in our hearts the seed of self-knowledge "

The Perfect Master, as he is called, reveals the same knowledge as Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Ram, Mohammed and Nanak. But his followers say Guru Maharaj Ji is alive – and that is why they follow him.

He himself told the crowd, "The kingdom of heaven is in you, but you must realize it. You need a guide."

Those who wanted to find out more were asked to come to the Reddington Road ranch where he is staying during his two days in Tucson. A mahatma remained here to talk to those interested in a Divine Light Mission in Tucson.