The BK Blogosphere

for ex-Brahma Kumaris, to discuss matters related to their experiences in BKWSU & after leaving.
User avatar
bansy
Posts: 1643
Joined: 30 Apr 2006
Affinity to the BKWSU: ex-BK

Post by bansy »

He adopted new names, eventually settling on Brahma Baba - “Father God.” In 1937, he formally founded the Brahma Kumaris, “Sisters of God.” (Among Baba’s revelations was the notion that women deserved more control of religious institutions. So he put women in charge.)
This is so misleading.

Brahma Baba - "Father God".
Brahma Kumaris = "Sisters of God"? Thought there was only one God? Seems like Father has many Sisters. So Brahma Kumaris are "Aunts"?

Even the BKs themselves define in the wiki they like to thrash about, Brahma Kumaris (literally: "daughters of brahma").
User avatar
arjun
PBK
Posts: 12196
Joined: 01 May 2006
Affinity to the BKWSU: PBK
Please give a short description of your interest in joining this forum.: To exchange views with past and present members of BKWSU and its splinter groups.
Location: India

Post by arjun »

Sister Bansy wrote:This is so misleading. Brahma Baba - "Father God". Brahma Kumaris = "Sisters of God"? Thought there was only one God? Seems like Father has many Sisters. So Brahma Kumaris are "Aunts"?
The Dallas Morning News wrote:Dadi Janki (”Dadi” means "elder Sister" in Hindi) is no average theologian.
In none of the Indian languages 'Dadi' means 'elder sister'. In fact, 'Dadi' means 'Grandmother'. It is only in Bengali language (the language of Calcutta, where Brahma Baba had a jewellery shop and house) that elder brother is called 'Dada'. In Hindi and some other languages 'Dada' means 'Grandfather'.

Just because Brahma Baba had lived in a place where Bengali was dominant, he adopted the meaning 'elder brother' for Dada and applying the same formula 'The Dallas Morning News' must have inferred 'Dadi' to be elder sister. But that is wrong.

Regards,
OGS,
Arjun
User avatar
fluffy bunny
ex-BKWSU
Posts: 5365
Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Affinity to the BKWSU: ex-BK
Please give a short description of your interest in joining this forum.: ex-BK. Interested in historical revisionism, failed predictions and abuse within the BK movement.

Post by fluffy bunny »

I notice his peers of the time refer to him as Lekhraj Bhai. Who adopted Dada and when? His own family that dominated the early Yugya?

Grandfather seems a little much if he was only in his 50 odds.
User avatar
fluffy bunny
ex-BKWSU
Posts: 5365
Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Affinity to the BKWSU: ex-BK
Please give a short description of your interest in joining this forum.: ex-BK. Interested in historical revisionism, failed predictions and abuse within the BK movement.

Re: The BK Blogosphere

Post by fluffy bunny »

From Mark Moxin, travel writer.
Mark Moxon wrote:The Summer Palace

My intentions in Mt Abu were physical but somewhat less romantic: I had an aching body and wanted to do nothing strenuous for a few days. I couldn’t have picked a better spot because, according to my guidebook, there was precious little going on in Mt Abu, and that suited me fine. What I didn’t realise was that the guidebook was utterly useless when it came to the reality of Mt Abu: it turned to be one of the highlights of my trip.

I did indeed spend my first two days doing next to nothing: writing letters, resting my aching toe (following the climb in Palitana), eating copious masala dosas in the local restaurants and ambling round the lake. My hotel, the Shree Ganesh, was so friendly and pleasant I nearly forgot I was in India (especially as I had satellite TV in my room, a bonus in a room costing Rs150 a night), and I revelled in the holiday atmosphere. Doing nothing was never so much fun, but I can’t seem to do nothing for more than one day or my head explodes, so I decided that my foot would just have to suffer: Mt Abu had things to explore, and I was bloody well going to explore them. Overlooking the lake is the Maharaja of Jaipur’s old summer palace, a mouldering old building perched on top of a sheer granite hill. I wandered up there on the morning of Wednesday 17th June, just for the view, and soon found myself chatting to the caretaker.
‘Want to come inside?’ he asked.
‘If it’s possible,’ I replied.
‘Why not?’ he said, and unable to think of a reason I followed him up to the roof. ‘I sleep here every night,’ he said, pointing to a beautifully constructed pavilion on the top of a tower, the highest point of the palace. Climbing to the top, I had a view of Mt Abu that was beautiful in the daytime, but which would be simply amazing at dawn and dusk. ‘You sleep here?’ I asked, unable to believe that a man with such a non-end job – looking after a building that’s used for nothing and doesn’t even see any tourists – could have such a stunning bedroom. ‘Yes, every night,’ he said, and winked. It wasn’t just the shaggy beard and George Harrison hair that made him look happy, it was his eyes. I was to come across quite a few other intensely happy people in Mt Abu.

Brahma Kumaris.

One of the reasons for this is the Brahma Kumaris Spiritual University, the headquarters of which are in Mt Abu. Purporting to combine all the religions of the world into one spiritual philosophy, this multinational collection of ashrams is totally funded by donations (evidently very large donations) and fills the streets of Mt Abu with white-clad people who are obviously quite at ease with life. I decided to float along to the centre’s museum where the basics of their mission are explained, mainly because I’d never bothered to venture into an ashram, and this was the nearest I could get without risking my mental health.

It was a real groovy trip, man. It was, like, far out, know what I mean? Sitting alone in a theatre equipped with funky lasers and mellow soundtracks, I listened to a delightfully English accent tell me that if my life was getting me down, I could solve it all by getting into meditation. I found out that if the rat race was proving a burden, I could commune with the one true God and get into real salvation. And then I began to lose track of quite what was going on. Perhaps the problem was that my life wasn’t getting me down, and the rat race was proving nothing but a distant memory, but I still wanted to know what it was that had made The Maharaja of Jaipur’s old summer palace overlooks central Mt Abu

The headquarters of Brahma Kumaris these centres spring up all over the world, providing guidance to all sorts of nationalities and creeds. Unfortunately the woman’s diatribe started to sink into the realm of sixties cliché, and that’s when I realised that every cliché has to start somewhere, and I’d surely found a place that was responsible for some of the more embarrassing psychedelic buzz words. Meditation is cool, but it doesn’t half make some people start spouting bollocks, and the Brahma Kumaris presentation was no exception.

I had already met two kindly products of the university in the street who had practically begged me to drop by for a chat and to meet the only westerner currently studying there, an Australian painter called Dave; my idea of hell is something akin to being stuck in an ashram with an Australian painter called Dave, so I thanked them and managed to escape, but still the influence of Brahma Kumaris lived on in my visit to the museum. Here’s an example of what I discovered about the Meaning of Life. A big sign sits in the museum, proclaiming the following: Puzzle of Life Solved

All suffering is due to vices. Vices are due to ignorance. Ignorance can be removed by Godly knowledge. Godly knowledge is imparted by God himself at the end of Iron Age (Kaliyuga). This is the end of Iron Age. Therefore, now you can attain supreme purity, peace and prosperity, which is your godfatherly birthright in the new Golden Aged world now being re-established. Now or never.

What the buggery is that supposed to mean? If that one’s a little too esoteric, try this one. On
another wall in the museum is the following list of entries in God’s curriculum vitae:
• Who is God? Supreme Father of all souls
• Name: Trimurti Shiva
• Form: Incorporeal point of light
• Abode: Infinite divine light (Brahmlok or Paramdham)
• Attributes: Purifier; Ocean of Knowledge; Bestower of Peace, Love,
Happiness and Bliss; Almighty Authority
• Occupation: Re-establishes one original Golden Aged deity religion after
destruction of numerous Iron-Aged degraded religions of the world.
• Time of Descent: Confluence (Sangam) of the end of Iron Age and beginning of Golden Age (at the end of every Kalpa – one Kalpa is 5000 years)

Whoa! So God is an incorporeal point of light, after all, and that’s what students like Dave get into when they hang out doing Raja Yoga in their ashrams (of which there are over 4000 in over 60 countries, incidentally). It all starts to make sense now ...
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests