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Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organisation, or " Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya ". Teachers of a form of meditation, or spiritual channelling, called Raja Yoga not to be confused with classical Patanjali's Raja Yoga.
A New Religious Movement with core Millenarianist beliefs concerning the imminent destruction of the current impure Kali Yuga world by a World War and nuclear holocaust followed by the reward of a paradisiacal Sat Yuga in India for its faithful followers.
Origins
Formed in Sindh, now Pakistan, during 1937 by businessman Lekhraj Kripalani when Kripalani believed that God, the Supreme Soul, started giving him vision and then possessed him telling him and others that he was creator Brahma. Followers, called Brahma Kumars or Kumaris believe that Lekhraj Kripalani / Brahma is the only true messenger of God and that God continued to possess, talk through and give visions through him until his death in 1976.
Global Expansion
Claims to have more than 3,200 meditation centres in 70 countries with over 450,000 students.
Fundamental Beliefs
Although borrowing much symbolism and terminology from traditional Hinduism, Brahma Kumari Raja Yoga sees itself as entirely uniqe amongst religions, the only true messengers of God and adopts a wholly critical view of other religions which it sees as impure.
Followers believe that God and Brahma continues to be Channelled on a regular basis by a senior sister at the headquarters in India and that Brahma will reincarnate as Krishna in the very near future.
Central to its faith are the beliefs that ;
- the human being is an eternal soul living within a physical body
- reincarnation happens from one human body to another only
- existence is limited to an eternally repeating 5,000 year cycle
- each repeating cycle is exactly the same as the previous one
- humanity is currently at the end of the cycle of creation and is about to be destroyed by nuclear war between Russia and America
- God incarnates personally onto the Earth and speaks only through their founder Lekhraj Kripalani
- all other religious founders such as Christ, Buddha and Mohammed must come to them to receive knowledge prior to future incarnations, that they did not ascend to Heaven nor reach enlightenment and continued to take re-incarnations after their death
- that India will be the site of the future Golden Age and Hindi be the language of that heaven, most other continents disappearing under the Oceans
Followers are taught that if they make sacrifices and efforts that they might become deities such as Krishna and Radhe or Rama and Sita and that their senior brothers and sisters are amongst the 8, 108 or 16,108 most holy human beings every born according to their spiritual status. Only 900,000 human beings having the opportunity to live in the future heavenly earth after having been initiated by them.
A small number of dead B.K. are thought to have reincarnated onto the earth to work with scientists to build the future heaven on earth. These are called The Advance Party.
Practice
The Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga practice involves;
- complete celibacy
- strict vegetarianism excluding onions, garlic and food cooked by non-B.K.s
- avoidance of alcohol, tobacco and drugs
- ritual cleanliness, washing and changing clothes after toileting.
- regular daily meditation.
Students wake for 45 minutes meditation at 4 am. They then attended a one and half hour daily morning class at 6.30 am, work or keep their household during the day and then return to do service, teach or more meditation in the evening. Couples are required to live celibate lives and address each other as brother and sister, male and female students generally segregated. They are expected to make regular donations to the Raja Yoga centre and visit headquaters in India once a year if possible.
7 Day Course
Central to the Brahma Kumaris practice is the teaching of all their core beliefs in 7 one hour long lessons called "The 7 Day Course". Once indoctrined by these 7 lessons, students are then introduced to unpublished "scriptures" considered to be the direct teachings of God called "Murlis". These are being gradually re-written by senior Brahma Kumaris removing statements they now see as not being " political correct ".
The seven lessons are:
- The Soul
- The Supreme Soul
- The Law of Karma
- The Cycle
- The Tree of Religions
- The Founder Brahma Baba
- Brahma Kumari Lifestyle and Principles
The Soul
The Supreme Soul
The Law of Karma
The Cycle
The Tree of Religions
The Founder Brahma Baba
Brahma Kumari Lifestyle and Principles
Sub-sects
Believing himself to be a reincarnation of Lekhraj Kripalani's business partner, Virendra Dev Dikşi splits 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. . P.B.Ks believe themselves to be The Advance Party but are entirely disassociated from by mainstream B.K. organisations.
German psychologist and ex-B.K. 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 to be picked up by spaceship for an unspecified destination.
Controversy
Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organisation has regularly predicted the end of the world from 1976 onwards taking advantage of any remotely associated date to associate what they call " Destruction " as a way of encouraging students to make sacrifices and efforts to increase their future status.
Initially stating that the destruction of the present day world and way of life and creation of the future Golden Age would take 100 years from the incarnation of God into Lekhraj Kripalani. Destruction, taking 50 to 60 years, would have equated to approximately 1986 to 1996. Currently, 2006 is being touted as the end of the world.
Other controversies
- questionable relationship with United Nations
- pressured to change name from University to Organisation
- intense social and psychological problems faced by ex-followers
- child abuse gone unchallenge and resisted changes to promote accountability
External links
brahmakumaris.com bkwsu.com - Official websites
Xbkchat - a discussion forum mainly for ex-members of the Brahma Kumaris shivbaba.org.pl - P.B.K. website
Abuse in Brahma Kumaris - documentation of institutional response.