to bring members from the U.S. and other countries to the Hans Jayanti festival held at the main ashram near New Delhi. 2500 foreign members camped out at the mission's "city of love" for a month. The event attracted a reported total of 500,000 attendees. When Rawat flew to India to attend, he was accused of attempting to smuggle $65,000 worth of cash and jewelry into the country, but no charges were ever filed. and the Indian government later issued an apology. The accusation led to negative coverage in the Indian press and hard feelings between Rawat and his mother, who had persuaded him to return to India for the festival. In June 1973, the British DLM, with Prem Rawat's mother acting on behalf of her son, organized the "Festival of Love" at Alexandra Palace in London. While it drew thousands of attendees, Rawat began receiving hostile press coverage, partly due to his showing up late, or not at all, at scheduled appearances. The membership had grown very rapidly but the organizers had no clear idea where to lead the following, nor did they have the financial resources to maintain so many full-time workers. Millennium '73 The 1973 Hans Jayanti festival was held at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, and publicized as "Millennium '73". The free three-day event was billed as "the most significant event in human history" that would herald "a thousand years of peace for people who want peace", the idea being that peace would come to the world as individuals experienced inner peace. To promote the event, Prem Rawat's 20-year-old brother, Bhole Ji Rawat toured with a 60-piece band, Blue Aquarius for two weeks giving free concerts. The 500-member tour was dubbed "Soul Rush" and traveled to seven cities on the way to Houston. Rennie Davis, well known as one of the defendants in the Chicago Seven trial, attracted extensive media coverage as a spokesperson for Rawat. At the event, Davis declared that "All I can say is, honestly, very soon now, every single human being will know the one who was waited for by every religion of all times has actually come." In a press conference at Millennium, Rawat denied being the Messiah, and when asked by reporters about the contradictions between what he said about himself and what his followers said about him, Rawat replied, "Why don't you do me a favor ... why don't