Brahma Kumaris

The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organisation, also known as the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization, Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University (BKWSU), or "Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya". Teachers of a form of meditation, or spirit channeling, called Raja Yoga [not to be confused with classical Patanjali's Raja Yoga].

A New Religious Movement with core Millenarianism beliefs concerning the imminent destruction of the current impure Kali Yuga world by a World War between America and Russia, civil war in India, widespread natural disasters and nuclear holocaust followed by the reward of a paradisiacal Sat Yuga or " Golden Age " which will take place on the Indian subcontinent for its faithful followers. Followers of the BKWSU are known as " B.K.s ", Brahma Kumaris [female] or Brahma Kumars [male], literally, the daughters or sons of Brahma).

Origins

Formed in Sindh, now Pakistan, during 1937 by businessman Lekhraj Kripalani, a Sindi follower of the Vaishnavite Vallabhacharya Sect. Kripalani experienced a series of what he considered to be divine visions and then possession by a spirit he considered to be God, the Supreme Soul, [1]. This spirit the B.K.s name as " Shiva Baba ", took over control of his bodily organs in order to express a message to humanity and teach their form of Raja Yoga. Followers, known as his " mouth born progeny ", believe that Lekhraj Kripalani is God's only direct medium or instrument. God being a soul which cannot express its message other than through this human body and this time being the only time in history that God intervenes in human destiny. B.K.s believe that their god " Shiva Baba " renamed Lekhraj Kripalani " Brahma Baba " and that he was the incarnation of the Hindu god Brahma, Prajapita or, literally, the Father of Humanity. Baba means " father " in Hindi.

Originally called "Om Mandali" or " Rajsuya Ashvamedh Avinashi Gyan Yagya ", in the early days Lekhraj Kripalani attracted mostly women and their children belonging to the exogamous Bhaiband business caste of Hyderabad and along with them created much controversy until the Indian Congress party and the Arya Samaj denounced the Om Mandali community. Dada Lekhraj, known then as " Om Baba ", in turn denounced the Congress as "Kansa" or wicked and under pressure of Hindu public opinion, the Sindh government reluctantly banned the Om Mandali, which went to court and had the ban order quashed.

A year after its establishment, the organization moved from Hyderabad to Karachi for fourteen years. Now part of Pakistan but at that time part of colonial India until after Partition of India and Pakistan. The founding group of 300 individuals lived as a self-sufficient community spending their time in intense spiritual study, meditation and alleged self-transformation. During this female followers known as " Sandeshputris ", helped add to their spiritual knowledge through psychic visions. In 1950, the community moved to Mount Abu, mainly due to the religious resistance to its activities in Pakistan. In 1969 was founded as the World Renewal Trust. Colloquially known as " Om Shanti Organization ".

The Indian version of the religion's history is found here ; http://www.brahmakumaris.com/aboutus/history.htm
The version made more vague and palatable to Westerners is found here; http://www.bkwsu.org/whoweare/history.htm

Global Expansion

From its modest beginnings, the organization kept progressing in leaps and bounds to reach by early 1996 about 3,200 meditation centers in 70 countries with over 450,000 students. The nucleus of the Brahma Kumaris’ centers worldwide is " Madhuban " in Mount Abu, " the Father’s Mountain " and is regarded as a pilgrimage place by many who are in search of spiritual rejuvenation. The BKWSU now claims to have more than 5,500 Raja Yoga centres in 90 countries and over 900,000 students whilst still expanding. No details as to the level or of length of commitment are given.

A multi-million dollar registered " educational " charity that in 70 years has only been known once to distribute aid outside of its operations. There is no data on how many Brahma Kumaris leave the organisation annually, nor the average time members stay active before leaving and no verifiable data as to how many adherents each centre hosts. Most centres outside of India are located in followers' homes and or domestic apartments.

Fundamental Beliefs

Although borrowing much symbolism and terminology from traditional Hinduism, Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga see themselves entirely as separate from Hinduism and unique as the only true instruments of God. They state that they are only religious group to have direct instructions from God. Followers believe that this Supreme Soul or God and Lekhraj Kirpalani continue to be channeled on a regular basis by a senior sister at the headquarters in India, and that Lekhraj Kirpalani's soul will reincarnate as Hindu god Krishna in his next birth.

Central to its faith are the beliefs that:

The human being is an eternal soul living within a physical body and is not the physical body.
Reincarnation happens from one human body to another only.
Time is not linear but rather cyclical and the physical world manifests as an eternally repeating and identical 5,000 year cycle at which the end of it is destroyed and then re-created every time.
Each repeating cycle is exactly the same as the previous one.
Humanity is currently reaching the end of the current cycle and thus the world will be destroyed, a time their scriptures call " Destruction ".
God incarnates personally onto the Earth and speaks only through their founder Lekhraj Kripalani which was the same individual that was historically or mythically known as " Krishna ", Adam " and " Adi Dev " but is now known as "Brahma".
All other religious founders such as Christ, Buddha and Mohammed must come to the Brahma Kumaris to receive B.K. " Knowledge " prior to their future incarnations in the next cycle.
India Subcontinent will be the site of the future Golden Aged paradise and that Hindi is the original language of humanity. All other continents will soon be submerged under the sea except for small islands where Raja Yoga centres once were.
Followers are taught that if they make spiritual efforts, they and only they will live in the coming Golden Age paradise.

Practice

The Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga practice involves;

Complete Celibacy involving no procreation, no sex within marriage, or masturbation.
Sattvic Vegetarianism, i.e. lacto-vegetarianism excluding eggs, onions, garlic and food cooked by non-believers including one's biological family which are considered impure.
Keeping a " Daily Chart " or journal.
Complete avoidance of alcohol, tobacco and drugs.
Ritual cleanliness after toileting involving washing genitals or entire body and changing clothes.
Regular daily meditation at 4 a.m..
The pursuit of purity in all aspects of life.
Evangelism of their religion and beliefs, called " service ", as defined by their senior sisters.
Segregation between men and women in housing and activities.
Detachment whilst living with one's biological family including children and spouse in many cases.
VIP service of "influential individuals" in government or society.

Students wake up for 45 minutes meditation at 4 am. They then attend a daily morning class at 6.00 am, work or keep their household during the day and then return to evangelize, teach or do more meditation in the evening. B.K.s make regular donations or contributions to the Raja Yoga centre irrespective of means [ no checks are made on an individual's financial position or wherewithal to do so ]. Donations are generally not accepted from non-B.K.s as their money is considered as " impure ". B.K.s are encouraged to visit the headquarters located in Mount Abu, Rajasthan, India once a year if possible.

In the main, " service " means teaching their version of Raja Yoga or evangelizing their " Knowledge " and B.K.s were instructed not to do general social work nor perform what is generally understood as charity. Spiritual efforts are directed at overcoming what are seen as " The 5 Vices " ; greed, lust (sometimes called 'sex lust') anger, ego, attachment.

Followers use the traditional Hindu mantra " Om Shanti ", understood to mean " I am an eternal and peaceful soul ", as an all purpose general greeting and to recognize each other.

7 Day Course

Central to the Brahma Kumaris practice is the teaching of all their core beliefs in 7 one, or one and a half hour, long lessons called " The 7 Day Course ". Once these 7 lessons are understood, students are then introduced to unpublished scriptures considered to be the direct teachings of God called "Murlis", named after the flute that the Hindu god Krishna is generally illustrated holding. These comprise of the core philosophy of their religion and are known as " Gyan " or "The Knowledge ". The use of the word " knowledge " is specific to these beliefs and absolute faith in this knowledge is seen as central to the liberation of the soul.

In many countries, especially in the West, the Brahma Kumaris have introduced lightweight versions of their meditation courses designed to capitalize on the interest in New Age, positive thinking or personal growth movements which introduce basic elements of their faith and practice but avoid detailed and controversial instruction. Often these courses focus on specific interest groups such as women, business people, teachers and so on.

These seven lessons are:

The Soul
The Supreme Soul
The Law of Karma
The Cycle
The Tree of Religions
The Founder Brahma Baba
Brahma Kumaris' Lifestyle and Principles

The Soul

Brahma Kumaris teach dualism. That is human beings are a soul or spirit living inside the physical body which is not the individual but a " costume ". The soul's form is a point of light and it is situated in the forehead of the body. The soul is described as having 3 functions: Mind, Intellect and Sanskars. The sanskars, or record of experiences, are transmitted from birth to birth. Brahma Kumaris believe in human reincarnation but unlike classical Hinduism and Buddhism, they do not believe in transmigration, or re-incarnation between different species. Brahma Kumaris teach that there are only 5.5 Billion human souls.

The Supreme Soul

Brahma Kumaris believe that their " God " is a soul or spirit identical to the human soul, also in the form of a point of light but that this soul cannot take birth in a human form. Their " God " remains disincarnate, eternally unchanged and so therefore is the only individual that can purify impure incarnated human being souls through its knowledge and by their mentally connecting to him through the practise of their Raja Yoga. This entity then is able to channel his psychic energy through the Raja Yoga practitioners to other human beings and into the World. The practice of this form of Raja Yoga and the allowing of their god Shiva to channeling his energy through them is said to be an intense spiritual fire burning away the practitioner's previous personality and eradicating their sins.

The Law of Karma

Similar to many Eastern religions, the Brahma Kumaris believe that Karma is a law controlling actions and reactions ; that every action creates a reaction and that individuals experience the effects of those reactions either as happiness or suffering. These reactions can be experienced in the current or a following lifetime. Thoughts being the origin of actions.

The Cycle

Using the symbolism of classical Hinduism, Brahma Kumaris believe that time is cyclical and follows a pattern of a cycle which lasts for 5000 years. This is referred to as " The Cycle " of 4 or 5 Ages or Yugas ; Satya, Thretha, Dwapara and Kali in Hindi. Each cycle is identical to the one that came before it and to the one that will come after it. They call this the 'Eternal Drama'. God, souls and the 'Eternal Drama' have no beginning or end (Anadi and Avinaashi ). The souls keep on entering the physical body (birth) and leave (death) them as per the rules of the 'Eternal Drama'.

It starts with a paradise or " Golden Age " of 900,000 human beings, all followers of their religion. This then declines to a slightly less paradisiacal " Silver Age " in which humans are also naturally spiritual minded. Then after 2,500 years, the Earth declines further to enter into a " Copper Age " where humanity experience the duality of spirit and matter. Suffering is experienced for the first time, the search for God and religions are created for the first time. 1,250 years later, a totally impure " Iron Age " of suffering, injustice and irreligiousness begins. Brahma Kumaris believe this " Iron Age " is our current age and that it is " Hell ". The opposite of their " Golden Age " 5,000 years before - or a few years into the future. They teach that at the end of the Iron Age, the World must be completely destroyed by a nuclear war between Russia and America, natural disasters and a blood bath of civil war in India.

At the end of Kaliyuga, BKWSU teach that the moral status of humanity deteriorates to such an extent that negative tendencies dominate human relationships and their god Shiva adopts the body of Lekhraj Kripalani to teaches souls how to remove these negative tendencies and instill divine qualities in their place. Those who follow the BKs will contribute to the creation of a "heaven on earth" and will naturally end up in Golden Age or Silver Age of the next cycle. All others, and non-BKs will start taking birth from Copper Age and Iron Age.

Between the lowest entropy of the " Iron Age " and the high spiritual state of their " Golden Age", there is a brief period of 100 years when the work to establish the Paradise must takes place. This period of time is known as the " Confluence Age " and was originally taught to be 40 years. When the World did not end, it became 100 years; 50 years for destruction of the World through " the jaws of death, the wail of horror, the rivers of blood and pus, the panic and the desperation, and then, the final death ", [2] followed by another 50 years for the creation of Heaven on Earth.

However, " Destruction ", as it is known, did not happen according to their timetables :

first in 1976, one hundred years after the death of Dada Lehkraj,
then some time between 1985 and 1996, 50 to 60 years after the alleged incarnation of Shiva Baba
Year 2000 [3]

Therefore their knowledge has become modified according to necessity in order to sustain their faith. At first it was taught 50 years for destruction and 50 for creation, then 60 / 40, now the Brahma Kumaris tend to try and avoid the issue. They teach that every soul will receive salvation, regardless of their religion or way of life. Every soul will return to its Nirvana, also known as Shantidham or the Land of Peace.

The Tree of Religions

The Brahma Kumaris use the symbolism of " The Tree " to represent the evolution, or rather decline, of the human family of souls. The root of the tree is made up by Brahma Kumaris followers currently practicing their Raja Yoga only. These individuals alone are to become the residents of " Heaven on Earth ", symbolised by the trunk of the tree, where humanity is one and experiences Golden Age and Silver Age.

" The Tree " is then illustration to split in 5 major branches. Humanity, they teach, forgets its original nature and each branch represents one of the 5 major religious traditions or seeking for god and divinity ; Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and renunciate tradition of India called " Sanyasism " and manifestation of this newly impure world.

The outer branches of " The Tree " are said to symbolise the " Iron Age " of a fractured humanity where even major religions are split into many small branches, representing scientific beliefs, religious cults and political movements. Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Buddha, Shankaracharya and all other religious founders are said to incarnate at the beginning of their religion and then continue to reincarnate through out the history of their religion until coming to the " end of the world " at this time and seeking out the Brahma Kumaris for re-education in spirituality. It is specifically taught that none of the other religious founder have a direct connection with God nor are they able to escape human reincarnation many times over as is believed by Sanyasin, Buddhists, Mohammedans or Christians.

" The Tree " of humanity must be destroyed each " Cycle " in order that a new " Tree " repeats the pattern exactly. The " seed " for this new tree is their " God " Shiva Baba alone and they are the only true source of this knowledge.

The Founder Brahma Baba

Under the inspiration of their " God " businessman Lekraj Kripalani, became known as " Brahma Baba " and was said to have had 84 human births, which is the maximum number of births for any human soul. The Brahma Kumaris believe that Lekraj Kripalani was the first pure being in the world known as " Adam " or " Krishna ".

Since they believe that their " God " needs a human body through which to communicate and Lekraj Kripalani was considered to be the most experienced of all human beings, their " God " took possession of his mental faculties and body in order to communicate with body conscious, impure humanity. Lekraj Kripalani is considered by the Brahma Kumaris to be number one soul, higher in divinity than Jesus Christ, Mohamed, Buddha and all other religious founders who must come to him, or his followers, for re-education in spirituality. Lekraj Kripalani by his actions in a previous incarnation 2,500 years ago is also taught to be the individual that led humanity to " The Fall ", that is out of divinity and heaven on earth and into dualistic suffering.

Brahma Kumaris Lifestyle and Principles

The final lesson traditionally taught by the Brahma Kumaris relates to the disciplines they follow as regards to, religious practices, food, sex and relationships.

Achievements

The organization now has 100s of branches internationally and ;

most level management and the majority of local management and teaching is done by women,
supports public healthcare provision in its sponsored hospital.
organizes interfaith meetings that have brought together previously opposing groups.
active within female emancipation in India.
7 UN Peace Messenger Awards 1987 for the co-ordination of the ‘Million Minutes of Peace’ project
granted International Peace Messenger Initiative status by the U.N.for the Global Co-operation for a Better World campaign
promoting the use of renewable energy in India.
does not charge for its services.
funded by donations.

Controversy

This organization teaches about the inception of the main religions, but maintains that the organization itself is not religious. It is based in India and incorporates lifestyle principles also found in the original Hindu practices but claim that they are both not Hindu and that Hinduism is actually the aftermath of their way of life, also that the worship practices in Hinduism are memorials, or "Yaadgaars" in Hindi, of themsevles. This has caused severe rifts with the wider Hindu community at times, especially with those of the Hindu reform movement Arya Samaj but many do not feel comfortable with this.

The Brahma Kumaris only eat food cooked by those within their organization and themselves and sometimes not even by less experienced BKs. This practice offends some outsiders. The BKs claim that the Hindu spiritual scripture, Bhagavad Gita, is actually the teachings of Shiva and that it is mis-interpreted by Hindus.

Documented incidents of child abuse within the organisation brushed aside by leaders as due to the bad karma of the children suffering sex abuse and outside of their responsibility, the perpetrators avoid punishment or reporting to police.
Social and psychological problems faced by ex-followers including two suicides within one family.
Rape and physical violence from families and partners of Brahma Kumaris.
Questionable advertisement of relationship with United Nations Organisation. [4]
Name changing from University to Organisation.
Discreet historical revision and re-writing of their " God's " spoken word to avoid controversy, to accommodate increased world population, to change speculation over the timing of destruction of the world and other matters.
Self-proclaimed " University " status not recognised by any external authority.
From a theological point of view, B.K.s claim that the Hindu spiritual scripture Bhagavad Gita is actually the teachings of Shiva and that it is misinterpreted by other Hindus and that the current version of the Bhagavad Gita has been modified and enlarged by human beings.
Beliefs that they are the only true and direct representatives of God.
Beliefs that they, and only they, are angels, or are training in order to become angels, and that their senior practitioners are already well developed as angels so as to appear in visions or traveling around the world in their angelic forms; that they are the inspiration of the form of angels throughout all of history and art.

Destruction

Similar to the belief in Armageddon, core to the BKWSU teaching is that the current impure world is going to be imminently destroyed. Within their community, this is referred to as " Destruction " the timing of which is the topic of much speculation. As above, it is taught that this destruction will take place through civil war, natural disasters and, ultimately, nuclear holocaust between Russia and America.

Although the planet Earth will not be destroyed, all other continents except for Indian sub-continent, and life as it is known, will disappear below the oceans. Modern civilisation with them. Within a period of less than 30 years though, India will be rebuilt as a paradise and a Golden Age for faithful B.K.W.S.U. followers begin. Initially, it was thought that Destruction would take place 100 years after the birth of Dada and in 1976 there was a false alarm that encouraged many followers to leave. Then it was taught that this period of destruction and re-creation would take 50 years and 50 years respectively ending in the mid to late 1980s. However, the organisation is now celebrating its 70th year. Despite taking part in many peace, and even anti-nuclear campaigns, they believe that " Destruction " is unavoidable.

Quote from B.K.W.S.U. teaching poster called, " Truth about The Creator and His Creation by Most Beloved World God Father Shiva Kalpa (5,000 years) Ago. "; " ... the Iron Aged irreligious world destroyed through Shankar by goading Yadvas [ i.e. the scientists of Europe etc. ] ". See; [5].

Sub-sects

PBK

Believing himself to be a reincarnation of Lekhraj Kirpalani's business partner, Virendra Dev Dikşi split away from main body of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organisation to form the Adhyatmik Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya or " P.B.K. movement " after being barred from B.K. Raja Yoga centres. He continues to teach and is considered to be the true channeler of the guiding spirit or " God " they and the BKWSU call Shiva Baba. Followers call themselves " PBKs ".

Heidi Fittkau-Garthe

German psychologist, and a previously high-profile Brahma Kumari, Heidi Fittkau-Garthe was charged in the Canary Islands with a plot of murder-suicide in which 31 cult followers, including five children, were to ingest poison. After the suicides, they were told they would be picked up by a spaceship and taken to an unspecified destination.

External links

BK

http://www.bkwsu.org/ Official International website.
http://brahmakumaris.com Official Indian based website
http://www.rajyoga.in/ e-learning site by B.K.W.S.U.
http://www.brahmakumaris.com/ site based in India.
http://www.peacevillage.com/ B.K. sponsored Peace Village Retreat Center, USA.
http://www.globalretreatcentre.com/index.htm Global Retreat Centre, UK.
http://www.geocities.com/bro_khem/ Articles written by BK author including scriptural quotations.
http://www.brahmakumaris.org.in/Landmarks.htm Detailed historic timeline.
http://www.bkun.org/bkfocus.html B.K.W.S.U. and the United Nations

ex-B.K.

http://www.bkwsu-critique.com/ Balanced critique of the B.K.W.S.U. to counter the mostly negative critiques currently available on the internet
http://www.brahmakumaris.info/ Independent website on the B.K.W.S.U. with no affiliation to the B.K.W.S.U.
http://www.brahmakumaris.info/indexbb.html Chat Forum with no affiliation to the B.K.W.S.U.
http://www.xbkchat.com - A meeting place for past members of Brahma Kumaris and also B.K.s, P.B.K.s and friends and family of B.K.s by invitation. [ xbkchat's Open discussion forum will close May 2006 ]
http://xbkinfo.infogami.com/ A guide to life after leaving the Brahma Kumaris

Bibliography

Dr Julia D. Howell, Asian and International Studies, Griffith University, Australia & Dr Peter L. Nelson, Nelson Center for Humanities and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Australia. " Surviving Transplantation: The Brahma Kumaris in the Western World ", [6]
John Walliss, Ashgate New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology and Biblical Studies, Aldershot. " The Brahma Kumaris as a ‘reflexive Tradition’: Responding to late modernity ", 2002 ISBN 0754609510 [7]
Reender Kranenborg, Free University of Amsterdam. " Brahma Kumaris: A New Religion? " [8], 1999.
Peter Clarke, " Dada Lekhraj " & " Brahma Kumaris." Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements. Routledge 2005.
William Shaw , " Spying in Guruland: Inside Britain’s Cults ", Fourth Estate, London, England 1994. [9]
Lawrence A. Babb, " Amnesia and Remembrance in a Hindu Theory of History ", Asian Folklore Studies, Vol. 41, No. 1 (1982), pp. 49-66.
Mayer, Jean-François et Reender Kranenborg, Geneve, Suisse. " La Naissance des Nouvelles Religions ". 2004 ISBN 2-8257-0877-1
Frank Whaling, Emeritus Professor of the Study of Religion, University of Edinburgh. " Understanding the Brahma Kumaris ", 2006. ISBN 190376551X.
Suma Varughese. " Satyug is as Sure as Death ". 1998 [10]
Interreligious Insight. " Brahma Kumaris, World Spiritual University ", [11]
Ken O'Donnell. " Raja Yoga for beginners ", 1987.
Jagdish Chander. " Adi Dev: The First Man ", 1981.
Dadi Janki, " Companion of God ", 2003 ISBN 034082915X.
BKWSU. " World Drama ", unknown date.
BKWSU. " Easy RajYoga ", unknown date.
BKWSU. " The Seven Day Course " Pamphlet series, unknown date.