It is not completely true as old Murlis certainly contain reference to it, and it repeats the usual BK tactic of blaming a follower for their misunderstanding.
Jayanti Kripalani on how the year of 1976 came to be printed on posters.
Before Mama left the body, it must have been in 1962 or 1963, the BKs had been able to purchase land in Rajourie Gardens in Delhi. When we purchased that land, we did not have any further funds to be able to build anything on it. (Today quite a large house has been built on this land and it is a BK Raja Yoga Centre).
The property was in Mama’s name. When India had one of its wars in the early ’60s, the land, being vacant, was requisitioned by the government, as were other places where troops could be accommodated; like schools, hospitals etc. In 1965, Before the land could be returned, Mama left the body.
There was no will that had been made for Mama. I can imagine while Mama was going through her period of illness nobody thought about getting Mama to sign any papers, or do another will, or anything of that nature. So when the government returned other property to their owners and the BKs applied to the government to get back the property of Rajourie Garden, the government turned around and said that as the owner had died and there was no will, this land now belonged to the government by default. And no matter how much effort was made, lawyers were not able to get the land back.
In 1966 Brahma Baba made a statement saying to tell the government that “if they give us back our land then we will establish Ram Rajya, the kingdom of heaven, in 10 years.” The government did not give us back that land, until way after, in the late 70s at some point. In 1966 neither was the land given back, nor was Ram Raj established.
Someone close to Baba, I do not even know who, took up that statement and interpreted it as destruction happening in 1976, 10 years from the date that Baba had spoken, and this date was then printed below the image of Lakshmi and Narayan on a poster, which said:– “Corruption, irreligiousness, unrighteousness, vices, insolvency and suffering will come to an end in Bharat within 9 years and Golden Aged Deity-world Sovereignty of Shri Lakshmi and Shri Narayana will come to be re-established soon after the forth-coming huge world destruction in 1976.”
I met Mama in childhood and when I was a teenager. When I then started studying with the BKs in 1968 I also thought that destruction would happen in 1976. And when the centre started in London in 1971, I still carried that thought with me. In 1976 I remember speaking to a very new student at the centre in London, and she later became one of the main teachers in the USA. I said to her, “you know it is time to make up your mind about what it is you want to do because we have only got a year.” So that was what my own deep feeling and commitment was. I was not aware of the story connected to the land until much later. However, no Murli has ever given a date, but now that we have been revising the Murlis over the past years, it struck me that the Murlis of 1975 were a preparation, not for us to think that destruction was coming but to focus more on our inner transformation. Baba actually posed that as a question – what if you are challenged? Baba was strengthening our faith and the work we had to do for inner transformation.
Just recently we had the revision of the Murli of 18 January 1977, in which the year 1976 had come and gone and I was still very much with Baba and for me it became clear that neither was I ready (I had not done the work that I needed to do on myself) but also nor had Baba’s message yet reached the world. We had reached very, very few countries by the end of 1976 and so throughout the whole of 1976, it was not so much in my awareness that destruction was going to happen, but rather I was seeing what more I needed to do and what more service needed to happen.
In this Murli of 18 January 1977, Baba asks the question: “Is it that you were remaining pure because of destruction? ... Those whose real aim is purity have no connection with the date of destruction.” It was like a reminder of how Baba had talked to us about the whole story and it was all very fresh. Another thing that Baba commented on very strongly in this Murli of 18 January 1977, was “ When others ask you why destruction has not yet taken place, just tell them: Because of you, destruction has not taken place. Together with the Father, all of us are world benefactors. In bringing benefit to the world, we still have to bring benefit to souls like ourselves. Therefore, we still have a chance. ... With intoxication tell them that there is benefit merged in these words.” ... “Because of destruction, do not allow yourself to come into upheaval. Your upheaval would create upheaval for those who are not following the path of knowledge. You should remain unshakeable. Speak with that sparkle of intoxication and without fear. ... Have faith in the intellect and do not become one who has an intellect full of doubts even in the form of thoughts. ... Maintain this faith and intoxication.”
So when we deeply understand this, and our faith in Baba and Drama is absolutely firm, then others will understand destruction in the wider context of events and they will not challenge just a date. But also when things are in the right alignment then the transition will happen automatically. This is my understanding of that particular situation.
The posters that have been uncovered in the British Museum and the Oxford University Library indicate that something imminent was to happen, but I was not aware that the date of “1950″ had been mentioned. However, in that I think that it talks about the forthcoming world war, which is going to be the final of all world wars. And of course, the Second World War came and went. The partition of India and Pakistan happened and I think that this has been an interpretation of this particular episode. I think the posters are dated ’42, ’43, so that would have been in the middle of the war that was happening at that time. I do not have any further information about this. I do not ever remember hearing of the date of 1950. But rather, 1950 is interesting because after the India/Pakistan partition war, all the Hindus fled including my family; my parents, my grandparents, and the extended family of uncles and so on. They all moved to India and they left Pakistan as refugees with nothing. Baba and the Om Mandali carried on staying in Karachi and many of the families who had had their wives and daughters surrender were trying to persuade them to move and it did not happen. Baba told them that they would be protected by Yoga power. The local government continued to help and support them, sending vegetables and so on and things just carried on quietly. When it was time, Shiv Baba’s instructions came to Brahma Baba that it was time to move. The move to India actually happened in May 1950 and that period of a few years of staying in Pakistan is an incredible testimony to the power of faith of that small group and the power of purity and the power of Yoga that protected them because all around them were rivers of blood but they managed to stay very safe and finally moved to India with the support of the government and help of the local authorities.
