Going to Madhuban?

for ex-BKs to discuss matters related to experiences in BKWSU & after leaving.
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ex-l

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Re: Madhuban

Post20 Nov 2007

Trinity wrote:Am I still welcome???

Obviously you are not talking about yourself ... are we talking about a specifically example we know here, or in theory?
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trinity

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Post20 Nov 2007

In theory ...

I was told, I cannot go to meet Baba ... I need a letter from my teacher (?)

What are the real rules for being "allowed" to Madhuban? Is it really a big deal to get there to "meet" Baba or is my teacher wrong?

Tell me please !!!
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ex-l

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Post22 Nov 2007

Are you rich, a VIP, or an ordinary Shudra? (Different rules apply).

If you are an ordinary Shudra, yes, your local center-in-charge is correct. She knows much better than you God's Will, she is directly connected to God whereas you are not, and her decision over your relationship with God is final.

Is that clear enough?

In the old days, you could just turn up and sneak in ... I hear that they have security men and backstage passes now. Can anyone else confirm?
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trinity

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Post22 Nov 2007

i did the course and advanced course. What am i??
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ex-l

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Post22 Nov 2007

Well, a potential candidate ... but unless you are following principles, you are not a BK. You must be a "contact soul" over which they will speculate if you are a BK or not. Not if you tell them you know of this site ... probably!

In the old days (in theory), you had to follow principles for at least 6 months. One year if you "made a mistake". You also had to fill in a "declaration of faith" form, sign it and hand it to a Senior Sister, e.g. Krishna is not the God of the Gita etc!?!

That means 4 a.m. and 6.30 a.m. ... but I hear even teachers do not do that these days.
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bro neo

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Post22 Nov 2007

Here's one way of looking at it. If the BKs think they can use you for money, or because you have some kind of social influence or power, they'll do what ever it takes to give you what ever you want, so they can get what they want (VIP service all the way and you can do what ever you want).

If the only use you are to them is as a worker bee, then you cannot eat pungent foods (cause it makes you smell bad), cannot have sex (cause shudras shouldn't mate and have fun), cannot be late for class and have to get up for Yoga, and then 'karma' Yoga every morning at 3:30am (so the S.S. can get they're freshly baked pasteries and galub jamuns fresh and when they want them ...
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proy

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Post22 Nov 2007

ex-l wrote:In the old days, you could just turn up and sneak in ... I hear that they have security men and backstage passes now. Can anyone else confirm?

True. I have seen three ways of going.

    1. Money.
    2. Lies.
    3. Be a pukka BK.
If I were you though, I would not bother. The tea is horrible.

bansy

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The awesome machine

Post22 Feb 2009

I don't think this has ever come up as a thread but what are the experiences of forum members about the way your Madhuban trips have been handled ?

I was quite impressed that from the moment I land at Delhi, everything was taken of, and when adjustments need to be made with trains or trips or accommodation, they were always handled extremely smoothly. Transport, media, etc. All the way to Madhuban, and all the way back to the airport. Remember, you are talking of India, and try comparing that to the London train system.
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joel

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Re: Going to Madhuban?

Post22 Feb 2009

Yes, Bansy, the BKs usually do a great job of organizing. I was in Madhuban for a few of their big conferences, where big means about 5,000. The BKs involved in organizing at the height of the arrivals were awake for days, going on little or no sleep - really dedicated.

Seeing all that activity being coordinated so skillfully, I took it as evidence of God's personal guidance. Although in retrospect, the machinery of a war involves incredible coordination, which many in the army may experience as God's guidance and protection as well.
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ex-l

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Re: Going to Madhuban?

Post22 Feb 2009

Did you go this year, bansy? Are you just back?

A quick admission ... I have once or twice gone to conferences that would probably be described as "anti-cult", although in truth they were much more interest and much more interested in protecting individuals and families.

I experienced much of the same things; wonderful welcoming hospitality, fascinating serendipitous meetings, warmth, love and the high of being in a group of like minded people. Even inspiring chit-chats all made possible by the tireless efforts of a few. Is God behind the cult awareness and victim support movement as well? I hope so. Theatre performances and rock and roll tours are also very similar, albeit these examples might lack the more powerful medatively induced elements.

What percentage of the BKWSU's Delhi to Madhuban conveyor belt and experience is based on the presence of wealth and what percentage is based on God or spirituality? I would be afraid that we were fooling ourselves if we were to exclude such a calculation too. I know it is one aspect of the BKWSU that some praise ...

bansy

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Re: Going to Madhuban?

Post22 Feb 2009

Did you go this year, bansy? Are you just back?

No. At times you definitely will be excellent in playing the role of Sister Aloysius Beauvier in the play/movie "Doubt". ex-l, maybe you should go to Madhuban and see.

is not it odd that all I asked was how the hospitality system worked, and yes by golly it is a good system and whether you like it or not, now or before, it was (and still is probably) a good system and so you just have to accept it. It is up to folks to decide if money of God is involved. Nothing new.

I would like to see if any members have had problems before in Madhuban and if they were resolved, I dunno.... a lost baggage, forgot your badge, someone taking your white knickers whilst drying, diarrhea after eating some toli, losing your shoes, no shuttle buses, etc :shock: or were your trips generally smoothly handled.
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leela

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Re: Going to Madhuban?

Post22 Feb 2009

I made ten trips to Madhuban in total. Often I was traveling alone and slightly off-season. I always only had good, smooth, comfortable travel experiences. BKs in London and Madhuban, and every waystation in between, always did their utmost to take care of every detail - tickets, food, taxis, greeters, baggage handlers, someone to put you in your train compartment. I have even had fresh food passed through the window as the train moved through a station. (I think that had more to do with the company I was keeping - the travel agent BK from Madhuan whose name I forget). I also remember being escorted through Ahmedabad during a curfew.

Fond memories, no complaints!

Terry

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Re: Going to Madhuban?

Post23 Feb 2009

Don' t understand the need of this topic. Why are logistics important? Whether it was efficient or not, so what?
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joel

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Re: Going to Madhuban?

Post23 Feb 2009

Bansy,

I saw that play, Doubt, on Broadway, a few years ago. The theater name had changed, but it was once called 'The Ritz', a name that suggests wealth and good breeding. Probably the movie is good, too. I wanted to write about it to the playwright, who's email was in the program.

BKs are strongly anti-movie, and I saw very few movies for the decade or so I was in Gyan. Very few movies really touch my soul, the way a play performed live can do. I can imagine the production meetings where they decide, here will be the sex scene, and here will be this and that. Mostly I don't feel I can give myself to the movies. They are full of trickery and dishonesty; yet some are profound. I am more drawn to theater.

I saw a production of Othello in Chicago (Writer's Theater in Glencoe) that left me speechless. I wanted to say something to the director, who was ready to talk. Yet I was tongue-tied. I needed to walk around in the night air before going home. The people I was with ... one did not understand English sufficiently and left early with a second. The third and fourth watched it as spectators.

I saw honesty and dishonesty within myself. It was profound. They kept to the Shakespearean English for the first Act, then gradually incorporated more contemporary language. It was very well done. I would go to see Doubt again, but I wonder if it would be so profound as that day, in the Ritz, with the charismatic priest, the conniving Sister, and the most amazing set, sliding back and forth into different configurations.
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paulkershaw

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Going to Madhuban?

Post23 Feb 2009

On my trips to Madhuban, things were not always smooth in action. But did I care? I was highly trained to be patient and to work with expecting the unexpected, so would not even have seen if things were not going smoothly. "Nothing New" was my motto. Diarrhea, clothes being stolen, sandals missing, being asked to put more money than I had into some big brown or white box ... but nowadays I live here in the wonderful New South Africa. People are very smooth here ... at ensuring that nothing runs smoothly and stealing as much money as they can from me.

Aaaahh, yes, I remember now ... "Nothing New".
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