Draft Open Letter to BKWSO

for ex-BKs to discuss matters related to experiences in BKWSU & after leaving.
  • Message
  • Author
User avatar

Mr Green

ex-BK

  • Posts: 1877
  • Joined: 07 Apr 2006

Post11 Aug 2007

Is an interesting idea Bansy.

I like your point ex-l, their thinking will be exposed through this.
User avatar

tinydot

ex-BK

  • Posts: 327
  • Joined: 07 Jun 2006

Post11 Aug 2007

Mr. Green, you making all of us work hard. We should not get worried guys, the pdf as what ex-l suggested and what Bansy thought of using to wrap toli is on it's way... I've asked one of my graduate students to do this research for us as part of his thesis/research project to earn his Master's Degree in Philosophy... we'll that was only a joke. But I do hope somebody out there will put these pieces together for us. But we can start before this idea gets burried in the ground.

BKs probably are still having a sort of doubt if we can put all of these information together. Well, we're just going to massage the English grammar and the order with which we want to convey to the world the inconsistencies surrounding the BK philosophy and history. Tomorrow (Sunday), I've got to go to a computer shop to buy a new CD burner 'because my old one is slow and might break down recording 100's of pdf-CD copies.

Format of Draft Open Research and Letter addressed to BKWSU (Feel free to add/delete and revise as you see fit).

***Front Page***

70 Years of Cover-ups of the Philosophy and History
of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University
(193?-2007)

The http://www.BrahmaKumaris.info Research Project

Description of a Brahma Kumaris World Sprirtual University (BKWSU) Research Project of international scope, presenting a documentation of 108 Questions, Anomalies and Comments on the History and Philosophy of BKWSU, distributing this documentation to libraries, to the printed media and to eminent representatives of public opinion, and addressing open letters to the Senior Members of BKWSU, Religious Communities, NGOs and to journalists of several prestigious newspapers worldwide.

by
BrahmaKumaris.info Members
Preliminary manuscript delivery for testing purposes
September 2007

***End Front Page***

***Page 2***
Communications to the Research Project
70 Years of Cover-ups of the
Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University's Philosophy and History
(193?-2007)

may be sent to the administrators of this website:
URL: http://www.brahmakumaris.info
E-mail: info@brahmakumaris.info

The following documentation were used for the Research Project:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahma_kumaris

2. Brahma Kumaris: A New Religion?. Reender Kranenborg, Free University of Amsterdam. Retrieved on 2007-07-27.

3. Brahma Kumaris: Conquering A Callous World with Purity. Hinduism Today. Retrieved on 2007-07-28. “"The most

strict will not eat food which is not prepared by a BK. While traveling they abstain from public fard and carry

their own utensils for cooking."”

4. Hardy, Hardayal (1984). Struggles and Sorrows: The Personal Testimony of a Chief Justice. Vikas Publishing

House, 37-39. ISBN 0706925637.

5. Walliss, John (2002). The Brahma Kumaris As a Reflexive Tradition: Responding to Late Modernity. Ashgate

Publishing, 99-129. ISBN 978-0754609513.

6. Chander, B. K Jagdish (1981). Adi Dev: The first man. B.K. Raja Yoga Center for the Brahma Kumaris World

Spiritual University..

7. Walliss, John (2001), Reflexive Traditions: New Religious Movements and the 'Negotiation' of Identity

8. Brahma Kumaris Administration. BKWSU. Retrieved on 2007-08-10. “Present statistics indicate that the University

has 825,000 students and over 8,500 centres in 100 countries and territories.”

9. Babb, Lawrence A. (1981). "On celibate marriages: the Polish Catholics' encounter with Hindu spirituality".

Glancing: Visual Interaction in Hinduism", Journal of Anthropological Research Winter (4): 387-401.

10. Ratan, Vishwa (2000). A Unique Experience. Autobiography of Dada Vishwa Ratan. Om Shanti Press, 57. ISBN 955-

95823-3-X.

11. Brahma Kumaris: Landmarks in History. BKWSU. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.

12. Om Radhe (1939), Is This Justice?. The Pharmacy Printing Press, Bunder Road, Karachi


etc. additions/deletions?

***END Page 2***

***Page 3***

Contents:

Preface

The Research Project

The documentation

Open Letter

Questions, Anomalies and Comments directed to BKWSU

Recommendations by BrahmaKuris.info Members

***End Page 3***

***Page 4 & 5 ***

Preface

In most countries of civilized human beings, the freedom of religion is a part of the Law of the Land. Together with this freedom is a responsibility of the founding members or its representatives to supply, clarify and guide the members about the true and accurate information pertaining their establishment. With this, it is naturally understood that people has a right to know the true philosophy and history of the institution that established the
religion.

The questions and arguments found on this research project are a partial lists of the many questions found and documented at the brahmakumaris.info website. These questions and arguments were discussed thoroughly by the forum members but sadly without the participation of the Senior Members of the Brahma Kumaris Institution.

The general public does not know the real teachings and history of the BKWSU. Hence, they do not know also the institution's true value in the society.

How can these problems be solved?

The possibility that BKWSU could eventually recognize their undemocratic and unlawful behaviour against the critics and could correct themselves can be excluded on the ground of their powerful and successful censorship of their true teachings and history, working perfectly until today. Therefore, our research project is working to solve these problems with democratic methods.

One way would be to start a legal action against the institution of BKWSU for the reinstitution of the freedom of religious information pertaining to their teachings. As far as we know unfortunately, we have little or no right to bring our complaint to court. Evidently the ruling class in BKWSU may violate our democratic laws unpunished and without any limitation.

Another way is to inform the most important representatives of public opinion about the existence of the documentation and to ask them to inform the general public about the need of reinstoring the freedom of religious information and to start a free public discussion with the Senior Members of the institution. This we have started without the participation of the BKWSU Senior Members in 2005 (xbkchat.com forum which was shut down for no valid reason) and the next forum at brahmakumaris.info website has been going on up until today but still without the participation of the BKWSU Senior Members.

Anonymity of the project.

While featuring some 300 members of our online community, who are identified by their usernames, a main feature of our project is the anonymity of the persons who work on the documentation. The Open Research Project has decided to present itself to the public only through the results of research and not through persons. The documentation and the progress reports are published under the collective name of brahmakumaris.info Members,
on the Internet. As a consequence of anonymity there is no way of material transfer to the Research Project. To distribute its publications to selected addressees the Research Project uses exclusively ordinary mail.

Why do we need strict anonymity? The reason is to be found in the undemocratic and unlawful and uncivilized behaviour of the governing BKWSU Senior Members against any criticism of their “holy teachings” from the Supreme Father, they call God Shiva. Therefrom do arise five strong motivations to remain anonymous.
(1) To preserve the autonomy of the project, prevent any influence and hindrance from outside the project.
(2) No lawful citizen has to expose himself to the slander and calumny usually thrown upon the critics by the BKWSU Senior Members, as their only means to answer the criticism.
(3) The BKWSU Senior Members can divert the attention of the public from the criticism of their teachings to the persons of the critics by stating that the person has personal agenda or issues. Since we don’t present persons the public only has to look at the documentation of criticism.
(4) In our documentation we present a great number of living critics or forum members who are waiting for a free public discussion. They have to say the decisive word. There is no anonymity of the critics - only the anonymity of the organizers of the documentation.
(5) Some people behind the project only research and report the factual information about the history and teachings of the BKWSU as discovered and revealed to them by knowledgeble individuals who must remain anonymous.

***End Page 5***

***Page 6***
Open Letter to BKWSU

***End Page 6***

***Page 7***

Questions and Comments addressed to BKWSU

Q001
Q002
Q003

***End Page 7***
User avatar

alladin

no label

  • Posts: 917
  • Joined: 27 Feb 2007

in essence

Post11 Aug 2007

Good Bansy, and essenceful. Let's not allow our energy to be once more hijacked by the inner circle BK games! We all gave enough, like Green said. We know how they work, what the system is and we rejected it. One day the bottom will drop off and I am not sure if they can swim. Many sects have been exposed before and totally lost credit worldwide. This may happen to the BKWSO with a domino effect anytime and not even be triggered by us!!

See, they use modern facilities only when and if it is convenient for them. Strange they don't understand that by playing ostrich. They will get their bums kicked one day. They are too busy hiding their head in the sand of their arrogance, they have a bug in the head that makes them feel almighty and that they will get away with everything forever. What a pathetic + faulty way of thinking!!
User avatar

Mr Green

ex-BK

  • Posts: 1877
  • Joined: 07 Apr 2006

Post11 Aug 2007

That is some very good work tiny dot ... thank you.
alladin wrote:Good Bansy, and essenceful. Let's not allow our energy to be once more hijacked . Strange they don't understand that by playing ostrich. They will get their bums kicked one day.

What a wonderful graphic image ... thanks made me chuckle.
User avatar

ex-l

ex-BK

  • Posts: 10661
  • Joined: 07 Apr 2006

Post11 Aug 2007

It may take a moment for you all to get your heads around how to use it ... login and click the edit button at the top ... but I made a topic on the Encyclopedia area so that we can work on this easier than on the forum.

It is here, Open Letter to BKWSU. I made a user anyone can use, it does not matter if the page is hacked as all changes are documented.
    user : action
    password : password
You can use that or make your own. Meanwhile ...
|
Image

The BKWSU Employs a Specialist PR Department to Handle
Allegations of Historical & Philosophical Revision and Abuse
|
User avatar

ex-l

ex-BK

  • Posts: 10661
  • Joined: 07 Apr 2006

Post11 Aug 2007

Followed by ... |
Image

BKWSU Heads Examine Public Image from New Perspective
|

bansy

  • Posts: 1593
  • Joined: 30 Apr 2006

Post11 Aug 2007

ex-l, tinydot, well done.

"Encylopedia - Open Letter to BKWSU", that is is an easy way to use for all.

The four Q&A so far are;
Q001 How many Sakar Murlis (approximately) have there been since the beginning of the Yagya and in what year did they start?

Q002 Why are only five years supply available?

Q003 In what year did Brahma Baba and BKs become aware that Shiva Baba was entering as until at least 1949 there is no mention of ShivaBaba in the BK literature of the time?

Q004 Are Godly students of ShivaBaba, who have taken 7 Day course, done Bhatti at Madhuban and followed the lifestyle allowed to receive Murli, even though they no longer attend a BK centre.

I have added the following to it:
    Q005 Why does BapDada only come for a few meetings during the year. Where is He during the rest of the other days and especially during the late spring-summer-early autumn ?

    Q006 Why the necessity to revise/edit Sakar Murlis ? (Please define "revise" and "edit" for clarity). Are Avaykt Murlis also revised/edited since 1969 ?
Feel free to add Qs. Repost them also here within this thread so that any of them can be discussed if necessary.
User avatar

john

reforming BK

  • Posts: 1563
  • Joined: 03 May 2006
  • Location: UK

Post11 Aug 2007

bansy wrote:ex-l, tinydot, well done. "Encylopedia - Open Letter to BKWSU

Yes, it's nice to have such intelligent and pragmatic members aboard the good ship 'ex-BK'
User avatar

ex-l

ex-BK

  • Posts: 10661
  • Joined: 07 Apr 2006

Post11 Aug 2007

john wrote:Encylopedia - Open Letter to BKWSU Yes, it's nice to have such intelligent and pragmatic members aboard the "Good Ship ex-BK"

Oh my God, I have just had a look and I think we have just given birth to a big, bouncing, healthy baby.

I think I am going to break into song, to the tune of Shirley Temples' Good Ship Lollypop. If you don't know it, you have to listen to the tune.
Shirley Temples did not wrote:On the goo-oo-ood ship ex-BK
It's a swee-ee-eet trip to the UN
Where good folk play
On the sunny plaza in Man-hattan

Govern-ments everywhere
Journalists write every day
And here we are
Happy landing of our open letter

See the gudd-his of the SS roll
With the big stories that they've told
You've lied too much, ooh-ooh
You'll awake with a big head ache

On the goo-oo-ood ship ex-BK
It's a ni-i-ice trip to the BBC
You wont scare us away
Every one's going to see

Let-ters sent everywhere
CDs for mikes that care
And there we are
Happy ending before too far

See the Murlis in public
Fix the history, we're no Fruit Cakes
You've said and done too much
VIPs wake with a bad headache

On the goo-oo-ood ship ex-BK
It's a swee-ee-eet trip to the UN
Where good folk play
On the sunny plaza in Man-hattan

But seriously, I think we should keep working on the idea of a report completely open and in public. It might end up a book. I suggest we should keep the first request to the BKWSU simple, to the point and separate giving them the opportunity to respond. I don't think they will ... but its that thing in law of "always appearing the reasonable party".

I have to admit, if it was not for those BKs on the Wikipedia, I doubt I would have done this. So I have to be grateful towards them. But I am willing to put some energy into this. Once it is done in digital form, it will be a whiz to send it everywhere. If it goes onto a CD, we will be able to get it into some libraries and so on.

In fairness, I'd like to ask folks if they think this is all in proportion with the problems?
User avatar

Mr Green

ex-BK

  • Posts: 1877
  • Joined: 07 Apr 2006

Post13 Aug 2007

I think it's a great piece of work and could prove very valuable.
User avatar

john

reforming BK

  • Posts: 1563
  • Joined: 03 May 2006
  • Location: UK

Post13 Aug 2007

Should we have a date for completion of the letter before;
    a, It turns into some cat and mouse game (with the BKSWU).
    and whilst
    b, The doors of communication are still open.
User avatar

ex-l

ex-BK

  • Posts: 10661
  • Joined: 07 Apr 2006

Post13 Aug 2007

john wrote:Should we have a date for completion of the letter ...

I reckon that Jayanti is probably as good as it gets regarding the SS. I can imagine that the others could really not give a damn, their positions are too secure and their core business (India and Indians) are not effect by all this. We are probably just Shudras, if not devils, to them. I might even go as far as to say that Jayanti is our best ally because at least she calls the shots over all the white punks on toli and it is her patch he are on.

Is she being elitist and tricky or is she already on the defensive? I also think we should not target her personally any more than we should subject to the discussion being personalized as she wants.

I do not think we should ask for too much in the first occasion; the Murlis, some of the history, a few resolutions. I think we should give more folks time to contribute to the report and let it brew for a little while. Give then a chance to get their house in order but show them that we are serious and are not going to be easily pushed around.
User avatar

tinydot

ex-BK

  • Posts: 327
  • Joined: 07 Jun 2006

Post21 Aug 2007

Thanks ex-l for the easy-to-use wiki open letter.

What everyone can do is to cut and paste relevant posts as we read the forum discussions and paste them to the open letter wiki. Original posters get the credit since the posts here are archived with dates. Editors/contributors of the open letter wiki will always be logged in when they make changes by addition/deletion, etc.

Meanwhile, we need to take some aggressive strategies if we are being ignored by the BKs.
User avatar

tinydot

ex-BK

  • Posts: 327
  • Joined: 07 Jun 2006

Post26 Aug 2007

On behalf of this forum, we can start making initial contacts to several publishing companies or printing press worldwide to find out if they have interests in the final report in a form of a book. They can reproduce the book, and eat the costs of printing, while they estimate how much they can sell them for their profit.

I am sure some companies out there would want to sell copies of this book (for profit) to public and private universities/libraries, religious institutions, any individual interested in spiritual matters; even BKs, who are independent, and their family members who are concerned about their BK relative will buy this book.

We should create this book (revision 1), as a good (if not the best) reference book out there in the market with regards to the teachings of BKWSU. This will come in handy for those who seek objectivity in the study of the teachings and history of BKWSU.

Later we can revise and publish revision 2, 3, etc. as more information comes in.
User avatar

ex-l

ex-BK

  • Posts: 10661
  • Joined: 07 Apr 2006

Post26 Aug 2007

Modern printing technology means that there are basically no lower limits to the number of copies printed now. They can run them off to order. I agree, it is an idea that has been in my mind too. I am sure that there are a number of cult watch-type publishers but it would be nice to tilt it towards an academic or "human rights" type of publisher.

Many of the classic posts from this forum could also be included as essays and personal experiences. This make it all the more critical that the BKWSU IS seen to cooperate and collaborate ... but who cares if they don't.
PreviousNext

Return to Commonroom

cron