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Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organisation, Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University , or " Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya ".

Teachers of a form of meditation, or spirit channelling, called 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 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.

Their followers are known as " B.K.s ", short for Brahma Kumaris or Kumars .

Origins

Formed in Sindh, now Pakistan, during 1937 by businessman Lekhraj Kripalani when Kripalani experienced possession by a spirit he considered to be God, the Supreme Soul. 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, called Brahma Kumaris or Kumars believe that Lekhraj Kripalani is God's only direct medium or instrument. God being a soul which cannot express its message other than through a human body and this being the only time in history that God intervenes.

B.K.s believe that their god " Shiva Baba " renamed Lekhraj Kripalani as " Brahma Baba " and that he was the incarnation of the Hindu god Brahma, the Father of Humanity. Baba meaning " father " in Hindi.

• 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

The BKWSU is reported to have more than 5,500 Raja Yoga centres in 90 countries, said to have over 900,000 students and be expanding. Although no details as to the level or of length of commitment are given.

Fundamental Beliefs

Although borrowing much symbolism and terminology from traditional Hinduism, Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga sees themselves entirely as separate from Hinduism and unique as the only true instruments of God, stating 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 channelled 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.
• 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.
• Time is not linear but rather cyclical.
• 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.
• God incarnates personally onto the Earth and speaks only through their founder Lekhraj Kripalani which was the soul known as " Krishna ", Adam " or " Adi Dev " in his first birth and is also 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.
• The India will be the site of the future Golden Aged paradise and Hindi is the original language of humanity. All other continents will be destroyed except for small islands where Raja Yoga centres once were.
• Followers are taught that if they make spiritual efforts by getting rid of the 5 vices and only they, Brahma Kumars and Kumaris will live in the coming Golden Aged paradise.

Practice

The Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga practice involves;

• Complete Celibacy involving no procreation, sex between married couples nor masturbation.
• Sattvic Vegetarianism, i.e. lacto-vegetarianism excluding eggs, onions, garlic and food not cooked in their God's remembrance which are considered impure.
• Complete avoidance of alcohol, tobacco and drugs.
• Ritual cleanliness after toileting involving washing genitals 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.

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 evangelise, teach or do more meditation in the evening. B.K.s make regular donations or contributions to the Raja Yoga centre according to means, 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.

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.

In many countries, especially in the West, the Brahma Kumaris have introduced lightweight versions of their meditation courses design to capitalize on the interest in New Age or personal growth movements which introduce basic elements of their faith and practice but avoid detailed and controversial instruction. Often these course 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 transmogrification, 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 if a point of light but that this soul cannot take birth in a human form.

Their " God " remains disincarnate, eternally unchanged and so therfore 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 spiritual energy through the Raja Yoga practioners to other human beings and into the World.

The practice of this form of Raja Yoga and allowing of their god Shiva to channel through them is said to be an intense spiritual fire buring away the practioner'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 are 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 patterns of a cycle lasts 5000 years. This is refered to as " The Cycle ". Each cycle is identical to the one that came before it and to the one that will come after it.

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 paradiscal " 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, an 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. 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.

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 Golden Age must takes place. This period of time is known as the " Confluence Age " and was originally taught to be 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 ", and another 50 years for the creation of Heaven on Earth. However " Destruction ", as it is known, did not happen according to their timetable, first 1976 and then some time between 1985 and 1996, and has so 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.

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 Kumari 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, cults and political movements. Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Buddha, Shankacharya 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 religious founder have a direct connection with God nor are they able to escape human reincarnation many times over as is believed by Sanyasis, Buddhist, Mohamedans 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.

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, 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 thorugh 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 lead humanity to " The Fall ", that is out of divinity and heaven on earth and into dualistic suffering.

Brahma Kumari Lifestyle and Principles

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

B.K.s accept food cooked only by practitioners that maintain their strict regime, which they call Sattvic food or " pure ". They believe that food cooked by those that do not follow their regime, even vegetarian food, is Tamasic or " impure ".

Controversy

• 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 multiple suicides with families.
• Rape and physical violence from families and partners of Brahma Kumaris.
• Questionable relationship with United Nations Organisation.
• 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 enlargened by human beings.

Sub-sects

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. Continues teaching and is considered to the the true channeller their guiding spirit or " God ".

German psychologist and 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

• http://www.bkwsu.org/ Official website
• http://www.brahmakumaris.com/ site based in India
• http://www.peacevillage.com/ B.K. sponsored Peace Village Retreat Center-USA]

• http://www.xbkchat.com - an open discussion forum mainly for ex-members of the Brahma Kumaris but also B.K.s, P.B.K.s and friends and family of B.K.s by invitation.

• http://www.shivbaba.org.pl/ P.B.K. website

See also

• Channelling
• Channeling (mediumistic)
• Hinduism
• New Religious Movement
• Yoga
• Patanjali and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

• Yoga
• Spirituality
• Meditation
• New religious movements
• Hindu movements and organizations