During the 1930s, students of the University of California's Berkeley campus began holding annual "peace strikes." In the 1950s, this same university became the center of nationwide controversy when many of its professors, acting against political repression, refused to sign an oath declaring their political beliefs.

Over the years, this tradition of standing up for humanity's rights, for the truth, and for peace has become the hallmark of Berkeley, California — and the tradition continues. On the last day of July, Prem Rawat arrived on this historically-renowned campus to speak to 1,573 people about each human being's fundamental right to experience inner peace: regardless of opposition or oppression.

On a Sunday evening on July 18, over 700 people came to listen to Prem Rawat near the starkly beautiful city of Newcastle, close to England's border with Scotland. The event — the result of an impromptu invitation from a Newcastle resident — marked Prem Rawat's first visit to the city.

On a late afternoon in central London, around 2,000 people congregated in the lobbies of the Hilton London Metropol Hotel hoping to listen to Prem Rawat speak. The event was only one of two in England taking place that summer — the other would be in the far northern city of Newcastle the following day — and, as a result, had drawn large numbers of people, many of whom didn't have tickets but hoped to get in all the same. In the end, space was found for about 1,500 people, who packed the long, red-carpeted hall.

On a typically breezy Dublin afternoon at the end of July, 800 people from all over Ireland, Britain, and the European mainland filed through the grand stone façade of the Royal Dublin Society to listen to Prem Rawat. After watching a powerful video documentary about the effect of his message on the lives of three people and their families — people who had lived through war, disease, and death — he spoke.