November 8, 1973: Millennium '73, a three-day festival, begins at the Astrodome in Houston, held by the Divine Light Mission (DLM). It featured Prem Rawat, then known as Guru Maharaj Ji, a 15-year-old guru and the leader of DLM, then a fast-growing new religious movement.
Organizers billed the festival as the most significant event in human history which would usher in a thousand years of peace.
What's that, you've never heard of it? I guess they didn't succeed.
Rennie Davis, a prominent anti-war activist and member of the Chicago Seven, helped draw attention to the event as a spokesman for the DLM. Notable journalists attended, some of them acquaintances of Davis from the New Left.
Attendance was estimated from 10,000 to 35,000, compared to the projected 100,000. Many scholars and journalists generally depicted the event as a disappointment. That, along with other factors including a large debt, led to changes in the DLM's structure, management and message.
The following year the movement split into branches headed by Maharaj Ji in the West, and his mother and brother Bal Bhagwan Ji in India.
Prem Rawat's marriage at the age of 16 to a non-Indian severed his relationship with his mother. At that point, the Indian branch of DLM controlled by his mother split from DLM everywhere else. At that point, it was established in 55 countries.
In the early 1980s, he began to discard references to religion in his speeches and closed the ashrams. The name of the DLM was changed to Elan Vital. Since that time, Prem Rawat has continued to travel extensively, speaking about peace to large and select audiences worldwide. On several occasions he has received recognition for his work and message of peace.
In 2001, he established The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) to support his work and humanitarian efforts. Its Peace Education Program is licensed and utilized by correctional facilities and other service organizations around the world.
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November 8, 1973 was a Thursday. Why they held this thing on a Thursday, only they knew. David Muir, ABC News anchorman, was born. So was Edgardo Alfonzo, the greatest 2nd baseman in New York Mets history.
Baseball season was over. Football was in midweek. There were 3 games in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks lost to the Boston Celtics, 94-84 at Madison Square Garden.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Atlanta Hawks, 129-115 at The Omni in Atlanta. Lou Hudson scored 33 in defeat for the Hawks.
* And the Chicago Bulls beat the Golden State Warriors, 112-111 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
One game was played in the American Basketball Association: The New York Nets lost to the Utah Stars, 124-109 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah. This turned out to be a preview of the 1974 ABA Finals, but the Nets won that in 5 games.
There was 1 game in the NHL: The Boston Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens, 2-1 at the Boston Garden.
And there was 1 game in the World Hockey Association: The Edmonton Oilers beat the Quebec Nordiques, 4-3 at the Colisée de Québec.
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