Questions

for ex-Brahma Kumaris, to discuss matters related to their experiences in BKWSU & after leaving.
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arjun
PBK
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Re: Questions

Post by arjun »

jaycdp wrote:When i talked about a website of PBKs then they asked me not to bring discussion about PBKs in their institute but they welcomed me to go to their institute as long as i respect their policy. i went there a couple more times i was not treated bad but the teacher told me, "look, I am a head of this institution and we consider PBKs as rival or a virus".
The head of the institution has used her churning capabilities in a very constructive manner. :D Thanks to her for the new title :lol:.
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fluffy bunny
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Re: Questions

Post by fluffy bunny »

Shall we add it to the list of "splinter groups"? ... The Viral Party?

My response would be that we tend to see in others what we are ourselves! I have posted elsewhere on the parasitical nature of the sanyasin Brahmakumaris. A parasite, something that lives of others, is not quite the same as a virus, which is unable to grow or reproduce outside of its host.

Biologists debate whether or not viruses are living organisms, some considering them non-living as they do not meet the criteria of the definition of life. They can also be completely eliminated by immune systems. Most ex-BKs probably have good immunity to the BK virii. Most non-BKs do. We ought to study this metaphor.

'Parasitism' is a type of symbiotic relationship between organisms of different species in which one, the parasite, benefits from a prolonged, close association with the other or host which is harmed in the process. In general, parasites are much smaller than their hosts, show a high degree of specialization for their mode of life and reproduce quickly.

The harm and benefit in parasitic interactions concern the welfare of the organisms involved. One might suggest that the harm and benefit in socially parasitic behaviour concern the welfare of the society involved. Biologically, parasites reduce host fitness in many ways, ranging from general or specialized pathology (such as castration), impairment of secondary sex characteristics, to the modification of host behaviour whilst in the process, parasites increase their fitness by exploiting their hosts for food, habitat and dispersal.

Again, I think we can see that metaphorically too. It would make an interesting and serious dissertation; the biological spread of religious meme through reproduction versus the viral spread of religious meme which inevitably identifies some cultic involvement, e.g. a hothouse isolation period whilst a new host (adherent) is sufficiently infected (intoxicated) in order to go out and spread the virus (evangelise/do service) without losing the infection (immunity). Within the BK model, regular periods of re-infection are required (going to Madhuban/retreats/meeting with senior sisters) and total isolation from the influence of anti-bodies (PBKs and ex-BK) in order to keep the infected host (BK) active.

In my opinion, the parasitical element within the Brahma-kumaris are the not people we see ... but the spirits we do not see. The followers are just passing the virus on. But, jay, excuse me. Let me give some more thought to your questions.
jaycdp
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Re: Questions

Post by jaycdp »

The answer is not important here. More important is the safety, security and welfare of the people who are within brahmakumaris and in ex-brahma kumaris or Prajapita brahma kumaris.

Being an individual, we all should have the right for informed decision making. Even if you are developmentally delayed. Informed decision making and an "individual's charter of rights", are the two key of procedures in law to counter-attack abuse. Abuse cannot be cured. But abuse can be prevented. It is a teamwork to help some one out of abuse and to assist someone from being abused, or to prevent a person, family or an institute being discriminative or abusive.

The Brahma kumaris have the seeds of all abuse or misuse. But how far did they use the institution or family to that side (MISUSE). Keep in mind Brahmakumaris also have the tool of anti-abuse but how far have the brahma kumaris used the anti-abuse (or counter abuse strategy)?

I am really and deeply influenced by brahmakumari teaching about persons self-respect and self-dignity. The same self-respect can be misused to feed one's ego very easily. Thinking that you are a king (a delusion is a false belief) instead of acting like a gentle, ordinary man some people can be manipulative by others, on the basis of their seniority, to abuse the situation. Teaching are to control your emotions but it can be used to control other people's emotion and they can claim their future subjects in next many life. This form of abuse should be discussed further, in detail, by every brahmakumari student or teacher.

The principle is good. In the long term, the principle can be affective. The same principle can be twisted and manipulated. This is why i focus on abuse, misuse, human rights and Western laws of abuse are formal laws and regulations. i would like to use the same law and regulation of the West in an informal way and applied them to brahmakumari issues in a practical and constructive way to reduce, prevent or detect any form of abuse. I am not accusing brahma kumaris, ex-BKs or any institution or person or authority in any way. i would like people to come out, discuss their feeling and experience very loudly and with courage by, and not be insulted in any way.

quote to ex ... as we discussed earlier one good example is Sri Lanka. In the past, the British brought the Tamil to work in the farms and they found Tamils were hard working and also capable of doing administrative work better than the Sinhalis. Which is the truth. A Tamil farmer can go to farm at 5 o clock in the morning and he can work until evening. So, slowly, the status of Tamils became first class and the status of the Sri Lankans become 2nd class. The British already had the bossing around and abusive or manipulative behavior towards people of the colonies. Tamils probably aquired some of this behavior unknowingly over a period of century but when Sri Lanka got freedom from british, do you think the Tamils got the same status or not? I see the same problem in Tutsi and Hutu in Rwanda.

By saying that, i am no way supporting the abusive and discriminative behavior of Sinhalis toward the Tamils until 1980s. And that is not an excuse for the Tamils to start a violent revolution against Sri Lankans (both should sit and bring a strategy to diffuse the socio-political and cultural situation of concern).

It is easy to blame Britain but blaming Britain is not a solution. They have implemented the damage. I am quite sure that the seeds of the damage are siting in South Africa or England, watching the drama and laughing.

The solution only come from education of root cause and undoing the abuse. Abuse is the cause of all evil. By educating the public about abuse, we can create so called miracle. America is a good example for this but America is not gaining the total fruit out of it because they also have this kind of bad seed within themself which they have no control of.

My point again is to educate people about potential abuse and take the lead by tension reduction and diffusing unncessary friction which can lead to a better tommorow.

Thank you all
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fluffy bunny
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Re: Questions

Post by fluffy bunny »

jaycdp wrote:Being an individual, we all should have the right for informed decision making. Even if you are developmentally delayed. Informed decision making and an "individual's charter of rights", are the two key of procedures in law to counter-attack abuse.
All very profound thoughts, jaycdp. It is a privilege to have you on the forum.

Yes, I was very surprised to discover that even in the USA, the BKWSO has "NO MEMBERS" written into its business charter.

I am absolutely certain that in India, Brahma-kumaris followers have even less rights.

Legally, what having "no members" for the association means is no legal responsibilities or accountability towards others. The others (the Brahma-kumaris followers) are merely "donators". Financial sponsors. However, having said that, I think if this was ever tried at law, the Brahma-kumaris would not be successful in defending themselves from "undue influence".

All the same, my feeling is that the this actually reflects the mental attitude of the individuals involved. We are in, you are not. Give us your money. A dilemma being presented in this topic, here. The impression followers are given is that "we are all one family" bound by love but in essence, it is their business. I have had this in writing from the media king, Karuna. Baba belongs to them.

We are not all equal, as we are often reminded ... but, allegedly, we all have the same opportunity to grab a high status in the Golden Age. Grabbing a guddhi in the meanwhile is harder. You need to bring in the bucks for that. Your other
questions remain in my mind and I hope with others.
jaycdp
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Re: Questions

Post by jaycdp »

As you discussed virus, let me shower some jewls in this area.

A virus can be an RNA virus or a DNA virus. A virus may be not a living being. There are some protien act like virus too for example (prions) that caused mad cow disease. A DNA virus has to enter the cell and uncoat itself and basically it has to go through many process.

Process one is transcription and process two is translation. Basically, the virus has to replicate so they use our cells to replicate and by this process they make protein out of DNA. First the DNA makes the messenger RNA, and this process is called transcription, and later the RNA is defragmented to protein, and this process is called translation.

Correct me if I am wrong. I am not a biology or geneticist student but i was a pharmacist 20 years ago. Anyway, in pharmacy they use this area to treat viral infection. AIDs is a RNA virus, if my memory is right, so in AIDs, virii enter the body and it need a reverse transcriber enzyme to create DNA and then later replicate this DNA. So by preventing reverse transcription enzyme we can treat AIDs. That is only one way of treating aids.

I would like to pay more attention to genetics. Genetics in modern science gives good light about who we are. Are we a phenotype monkey or are we more than our genome? In the West, scientists often like to shine themselves by fooling non-scientist population. But now it is not all about scientists.

A few years ago, an American could say, "hey, look, we have no malaria, we have no typhoid, we have no child death and our elders live up to 75 years". It is not the case any more. Health is no longer what government statistics claim to it be.

I am directly communicating to ex-l. If this offend someone please do not take it personally or i can stop this medium and start private communication with ex-l in that case. I hope I do not directly insult any one by talking about American health care.

Thanks, jayadeepan
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