“On 8 September (1971), I will start out in my Peace Plane on a spectacular adventure to cross boundaries with a Planet Earth Passport instead of a regular passport, a practical demonstration of man’s birthright—his freedom. My purpose is to break the barriers of fear and superstition which have been erected by nations and man. My aim is to rally the forces of good in every country and awaken each to an awareness of the freedom of the soul and the oneness of humanity. This pilgrimage is an expression of the highest form of love—unity, not separateness—to restore to every human being the freedom to roam the limitless sky above and the solid earth below.”
In October 1971 Swamiji flew through Europe to Tel Aviv intending to fly from Israel over the Suez Canal to Egypt at the height of the Arab-Israeli conflict. No plane had flown from Tel-Aviv to Cairo since the Six-Day War of 1967 and relations between the two nations were strained almost to breaking-point.
TEL AVIV-CAIRO 1971
“We took off from Cyprus and landed in Tel Aviv. That evening I sat near the ocean. Now what? Fly over the Suez Canal? Cairo would not even give me permission to fly in from Cyprus, let alone from Tel Aviv. No plane had ever flown from Tel Aviv to Cairo since the war in 1967. Before we arrived Egyptians had shot down an Israeli plane. They had even closed the land route to the Suez Canal. I told Bren (Swami Vishnu’s co-pilot) that I wanted to be alone on this particular flight as I was going from a Jewish country to an Arab country. Because he was Jewish it would have been very dangerous for him to go at that time to an Arab country. He said, “No Swamiji I’m coming with you. I also want peace. I am not afraid.”
When we entered prohibited Israeli airspace, we were warned to turn back or we would be shot down. We radioed that we were on a peace mission—that we were going to Cairo to bring peace from Israel. Many people had died in the name of war, we said, we were willing to die in the name of peace. Within minutes Israeli Air Force planes were dispatched. They came within five metres of our plane. I could see one of the pilots; he made a signal for me to turn back. I knew that with one push of a button he could ‘puff out’ our plane.
Nevertheless we had to defend ourselves. We also had ammunition—marigold flowers. So I took one flower, opened the window and threw it towards the Israeli pilot. What is a person to do in such a situation? He is aiming a gun at you and you are throwing him flowers.
Suddenly he turned away from us and there was a big blast and noise. Our plane was badly shaken and lost its stability for a moment. After a few moments the violent shaking stopped. The pilot had only been frightening us with a blast from his jet.
By this time we were over the Suez Canal and we began dropping leaflets and flowers. We looked down and saw soldiers on both sides running to pick up the leaflets written in English, Arabic and Hebrew. This was the first time that flowers, not bombs, had been dropped over the Suez Canal. We landed in Cairo, where we were blindfolded and taken to a place far away where we were interrogated all night, then left in a cell. They asked why we had disobeyed their orders not to land. I told them, “I disobeyed your orders because I had higher orders from above!!” After they recognised that our mission was to bring peace, we were taken around the city of Cairo as guests of the Government. After three days we were escorted to the airport where our plane had been refuelled and was waiting. Many military officers and soldiers waved us good-bye. We all observed silence and then chanted for peace in the Middle East and for the world.
From the ground both the Israelis and Egyptians had their guns aimed at us, but not one shot was fired. They needed only one small bullet; that would have been enough, but not one shot was fired. Instead on both sides they were picking up the peace leaflets we had thrown. We had conquered again with flowers. No one could shoot. If I had had a gun in my hand they could easily have fired, with no worry. But the moment they saw the flowers their minds changed.