To Russia with Prem Rawat

To Russia with Prem Rawat

Posted on 05 July 2012 by Linda Pascotto

Linda Pascotto, President of TPRF, has written this blog post about her recent trip to Moscow to attend an event with Prem Rawat on Friday, June 29. Look for the news article on the home page, coming soon.

For the last 41 years I’ve traveled a lot—way more than the few weeks each year that I took traveling with my family while I was growing up. But one of the places I never had a chance to visit was Russia. Years ago a teenage exchange student from Russia (USSR at the time) lived with us for a semester. That’s about as close as I ever got to actually visiting the country.

Prem Rawat receives an award at his first speaking event inside Russia, at Synergy University in Moscow.

Recently I had an offer to travel to Russia that was just too good to be true—Prem Rawat was going to speak at Synergy University in Moscow, and I was invited to attend the event!

I was surprised by the city—it was HUGE with absolutely stunning architecture (many Orthodox churches adorned with golden domes), super clean streets and LOTS of traffic! Just like most cosmopolitan cities at rush hour, except all hours are rush hour in Moscow! But there was also something very special—the city is alive, vibrant, and the people are warm and friendly. Even if we couldn’t communicate verbally (Russian sounds very different to my Western European ear), somehow we succeeded in connecting, and it just worked!

I did manage a couple of hours of sightseeing, but the real purpose of my visit was to attend the event. What a wonderful sight it was to see the fresh, young faces of eager university students, totally excited to come to hear a world-renowned speaker on peace. Even the distinguished guests and the faculty were filled with enthusiasm and warmly welcomed us. Not too many years ago, this would have seemed impossible.

Although there’s so much more to tell, I’ll let the real writers give you the scoop about the event and the wonderful, thoughtful questions from the students—it just brought me back to a time long ago when I was searching for something more meaningful in my life, and Prem Rawat provided the answers to my questions. It’s been a joyful journey ever since, and my time in Russia made me realize once again that everyone wants peace!

Some snapshots by Linda at the event and sightseeing around Red Square and the Kremlin.