freefall wrote:Just as in your case, I also had approached BK to learn vedanta. I was introduced to a Senior Sister who was a "scholar" of Vedanta. I was told that first I needed to purify my mind before I learnt Vedanta. It was only after I was deeply into BK that she told me that Vedantins had actually screwed up the teachings of Upanishads. She claimed that Advaita Vedanta was invented by Shankaracharya to misguide gullible people and I was fortunate to learn the correct teachings directly from Shiva.
Can I ask you honestly, did what you say happened happen literally as you have reported? Is this how it happens in India?
Its a wonder because you were, in essence, inducted by a lie. A patronising lie at that too.
Knowing them, knowing Gyan, knowing the way the system works, I would not be surprised. I just wanted to hear it for sure.
As we see, most if not all folks coming to the BKs are good people, if in a weak state sometimes. It seems like one by one they are hooked on a variety of lies. And then sustained on a variety of lies. I am not questioning the God aspect here, nor the experience aspect because I know there are experience to be had and there is love form within the community. But the senior BKs, especially through their quite conscious re-writing and editing out of the Knowledge, seem to be sustaining and extending whatever it is they have built on the basis of little lie after lie. This is especially true of their high profile public service. It is all one big lie in my opinion. They will say and agree with anything remotely religious just to sustain and increase their influence and control!
One of the biggest and most regular lies is that BK Raja Yoga is "Ancient Raja Yoga".
This is a quite deliberatley confusing lie that we have seen the 'star' BKs likes of BK Jayanti of London, Mike George, Brian Bacon, Nikki de Carteret all trot out. (Or was because these service plans change seasonally and as we have flagged it up here, they might be removing it and stoping).
We know what they mean. They mean that according to their god, it was taught 5,000 years ago and that 5,000 years is as old as anything can be. But at the same time, as intelligent human beings with an eye for "personal branding", they know it both confuses and appeals to the mind of non-BKs because of the high repute of the 'real' ancient Raja Yoga of Patanjali (200 to 400 BC).
If we analyse this, the BKWSU and its leaders lie to confuse non-BKs to steal an advantage from the work and reputation of someone or something else to promote their own businesses. And in the case of Mike George, Brian Bacon, Nikki de Carteret, these are all businesses. We have seen each one incorporate this into their marketing.
In the case of BK Jayanti, of course, her "business" is her status within the UN etc and the BKWSU family. I call it the family business of the Kirpalani Klan (its a bit confusing to we English speakers because there are Kirpalanis and Kripalanis, can someone confirm if they are the same?) because so many of the leaders all came form the same family bound community Lekhraj K, Janki K, Jayanti K ... how closely related are they?
I ask honestly, what status should be afforded to someone that willfully lies to confuse others to promote a Godly truth and how else would that sanskar manifest?
I would also like to state that I have no personal emnity towards any of thse individuals. I am wholly compassionate towards individual trying to find themselves within a community or system that has become corrupt. They are like children in a corrupt family, what they understand goodness to be is actually corruption and so they follow that. From my own experience, I can imagine the service meetings where it was discussed and agreed to use such marketing.
This is the problem of engaging one's self in a sect or cult-like envirnment. Out of good intent, one attempts to align one's values to those of the cult and those collective values are determined by the leaders' values. As are the kings, so are the kingdoms. In other threads we have examined the morals and values of some of the leaders, especially where coverups of abuse or finances are involved.
The leaders of the BKWSU defend themselves to their followers so easily ... they have pure minds, non-BKs have impure minds. They are the true Brahmins, all non-BKs are ignorant Shudras and ex-BK are the Lowest of the Low. They have total Godly authority, junior BKs have none ... and can be banished if they question too much.
For the Seniors it is perfect, as long as they repeating the Sakar Murlis and keep moving the goal posts, the junior BKs will always be in a position of programmed insecurity and dependency. As long as the Seniors keep feeding the juniors with stories of their "war victories", e.g. what status they have, what famous person they met, what "VIP" they can pull to their conferences that the juniors pay for; the juniors will feel they are part of something important. Its a wonder ... but it has become a cult.