Millennium '73
[4] Big-band music, rock bands, religious songs, choral works, a dance performance and speeches by other DLM leaders filled the program from noon to 10 pm.
It was later described by some scholars and journalists as among the major events of 1973 and the 1970s, the high point of Guru Maharaj Ji's popularity, and the most important development in the American DLM's history.
Hans Ji Maharaj, who taught secret meditation techniques called "Knowledge",[5][6] founded the Divine Light Mission (DLM) in India in 1960.
[3] Sociologist James V. Downton wrote that the millenarian appeal of the DLM prior to the festival sprang from a belief that Guru Maharaj Ji was the Lord, and that a new age of peace would begin under his leadership.
These hopes appealed to the counterculture youth of the time, who were disillusioned with earlier attempts at political and cultural revolution and who were turning their aspirations in a spiritual direction.
Maharaj Ji's appeal to followers to give up beliefs and concepts did not prevent them "from adopting a fairly rigid set of ideas about his divinity and the coming of a new age.
[29] The Mission's most prominent member was anti-war activist and Chicago Seven defendant Rennie Davis, who had first met Guru Maharaj Ji in February 1973.
[31][32] An energetic promoter of his new guru and of Millennium '73, Davis traveled across the United States on a 21-city tour,[33] speaking to what he said were about a million people a day through radio and television interviews.
[36] At a stop in Washington, D.C., premies (DLM members) gathered in front of the White House and invited President Richard Nixon to attend the festival and receive Knowledge.
[39] The band was composed of professional and amateur musicians who donated their efforts, and its leading member was drummer Geoff Bridgeford, formerly of the Bee Gees.
"[42] In a letter to premies inviting them attend the festival, which had only been celebrated in India up to that point, Guru Maharaj Ji said, "This year the most Holy and significant event in human history will take place in America".
[50] Journalists noted that some followers perceived the predicted appearance of Comet Kohoutek as an omen, as a spaceship on its way to Houston, or as the return of the Star of Bethlehem.
One article profiled the "Holy Family" (Guru Maharaj Ji, his mother, and three older brothers), illustrated with individual portraits and a group photograph.
The festival invitation said, "Three years ago, at the 1970 Hans Jayanti, the present Guru Maharaj Ji proclaimed he would establish world peace.
[4] An unsigned article, titled "Prophets of the Millennium", referred to prophecies from the Book of Isaiah, Hindu scripture, American Indians, Edgar Cayce, Jeane Dixon, and others.
[67] Rennie Davis commented on the cosmic appropriateness of the names of the suite and of the master bedroom, and of the faucets shaped like swans (the guru's symbol).
Lower levels held the "Holy Family", the mahatmas (sometimes described as the priests or apostles of the DLM),[71] and the Blue Aquarius band led by Bhole Ji Rawat, who wore a silver-sequined suit while conducting.
[3][19] The Astrolite, Astrodome's enormous electronic signboard, flashed animated fireworks (the same that were shown during ballgames),[18][42] representations of Maharaj Ji,[32] and a variety of slogans, scriptural citations,[3] and announcements: Each day's program opened and closed with the singing of Aarti, called an "ancient devotional song of praise to the Perfect Master".
[25][73] Maharaj Ji watched the proceedings on closed-circuit television in his suite,[21] and sent his bodyguard down with a can of pink foam confetti to spray the crowd on his behalf, reported as an example of lila, or divine play.
[42] Music included another choral composition by Erika Anderson, another long set by Blue Aquarius, and a performance by the Apostles, a devotional rock band.
[82] Chartered planes brought followers from several dozen countries;[15][83] with designated seating sections for attendees from France, Sweden, India, Spain, and even, as a joke, Mars.
[32][35][93][94] KPFT-FM, a local progressive radio station, covered the event:[95] Paul Krassner, John Sinclair, Jeff Nightbyrd, and Jerry Rubin were co-anchors.
[100] Davis told reporters that he was aware of the perceptions of the event by outsiders, and admitted that the huge stage, flashing lights, and a kid giving parables about cars did not make for a good show.
[92] Maharaj Ji's press conference, hastily arranged for the morning of Friday, November 9,[52] was noted for leaving the reporters frustrated and hostile because of what they described as flippant, manipulative, and arrogant answers, and because of an effort to pack the room with supporters.
"[32] Davis said the most important point was that "the Lord is on the planet and he has the secret of life", and that Maharaj Ji would lead "the most serious revolution ever to take place in the history of the world".
[3][42][111] Journalists and scholars called the festival a dismal failure,[112] a fiasco,[17] a major setback,[12] a disastrous rally,[113] a great disappointment,[114] and a "depressing show unnoticed by most".
[89] Janet McDonald, an African American woman attending Vassar College, said that her "faith was brutally dashed to bits" at the festival because of its failure to meet her expectations of miracles and by her embarrassment at lining up for hours to kiss the white-socked foot of Mata Ji.
[3][117][126] The debt forced the sale or closure of the DLM's printing and other businesses, the temporary shutdown of their newspaper and magazine,[99][127] the disbanding of Blue Aquarius,[92] and the shelving of new initiatives.
[47][119][132] After the festival, Maharaj Ji began taking greater responsibility in the movement; he took administrative control of the DLM's US branch within a month of turning 16.
Michael York wrote that, as result of poor attendance and financial failure, Maharaj Ji changed the name of the movement and "distanced himself from his status as a divine guru".
