“The first Glastonbury Fayre in 1970 was a depressing affair for many of us. Jimi Hendrix had just died and we were devastated. Jimi had become much more than a flashy guitarist. He was preaching his message of love big time and we missed it badly.
“By the time 1971 came around, the hippie tribes of England were buzzing. You had to be there at Glastonbury. There was some fable going around about Joseph of Arimathea leaving a wooden staff at the Tor hill, marking the spot where energy lines meet. A sacred place. There was a big vibe of expectation and hope.
“One night, the show on the Pyramid Stage was brought to a swift conclusion and a chair was placed on the stage with a microphone in front of it. Then, this little Indian kid in white marches up to the chair, sits down, and starts talking really loud. He got our full attention just by his passion.
“I remember him saying he can’t serve us as a policeman or a soldier, but he can show us the energy which is inside us keeping us alive. He was waving his arms and went on for a while. It filled the whole area with a vibe of something we couldn’t figure out, but it sure was a blast.
“Next day, there were all these people walking around blissed out, beaming at everyone they saw. We badgered whoever looked happy, for passage to the goods. But the people we asked told us we had to get this thing called ‘Knowledge’ from the boy Guru who spoke last night.
“‘It’s the inner light, the inner love. You have to get it!’
“I had to have this thing, whatever it was, to feel that bliss I had touched on back in the salad days of the flower power movement.
“It all worked out. There was a beautiful London hippie, Ira Meyer, around at that time. So when he knocked on our farmhouse door in Dorset couple of months after the festival, we were glad to see him. He was in robes, beaming like a lighthouse. He said he was going to London to see the boy Guru and if anyone wanted to get Knowledge, he could help. Okay, that was enough for me – not so much the words, but the gentle assurance with which they were spoken. He was sure, even in the face in cynicism. I went with him and left my friends with some sadness, as I had expected them all to go for this. It’s what we had talked about endlessly for years.
“On January 17, I went to a house in London and met a man named Charan Anand. He was a delightful, warm man who laughed as much as he spoke. The vibe in the room was pulsing with joyful energy. He was speaking about the energy of God and the universe and that everything was right there inside us and we could feel it – an experience that brings joy and peace. Next to Charan Anand was a picture of the young boy in white, sitting on a red chair. Wow, a young boy is doing all this?
“When we were asked who wants Knowledge, my hand went right up. We sat in a circle and he asked each of us why we wanted this gift. Then he showed us how to go within.
“On the way back home, there was a wave of joy and realization in me. I had returned to a place I had been to before, but had become distracted from, spending all of my time looking for it outside of myself. Now I knew where to look. This changed my journey from that day on.
“The young boy, back then, now known as Prem Rawat, has turned into a 64-year old man. He is still traveling the world and offering exactly the same thing as he did on that Glastonbury stage in 1971 to anyone who wants it.”
