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Re: Veerendra Dev Dixit in trouble

PostPosted: 28 Dec 2017
by ex-l
The story has hit the TV Youtube too. I cannot understand Hindi. Many more from these links.

If the first one, you can see the police breaking open bunkers. I am guessing they are just food storage units for "Destruction" comes, as per BK teachings?



Re: Veerendra Dev Dixit in trouble

PostPosted: 28 Dec 2017
by ex-l
More, all in Hindi. If anyone cares to translate what is going on and comment, I'd appreciate it.




Re: Veerendra Dev Dixit in trouble

PostPosted: 29 Dec 2017
by ex-l
A small update from the British newspaper, The Guardian. Nothing new or of much substance yet. I am still of the mind that the women are almost all there of their own volition. The "imprisonment", as in BKism, is mental rather than physical.
Treated 'worse than animals': thousands of Indian women feared trapped in ashrams

Nearly 250 women and 48 girls so far found confined behind gates in properties belonging to the Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya religious organisation

Michael Safi in Delhi - Fri 29 Dec ‘17

Neither the din of traffic nor the roar of aircraft from a nearby airport could blot out the screams neighbours say they regularly heard from the apartment building in West Delhi.

On Saturday, on the second floor of the unassuming complex in Mohan Garden, authorities discovered 21 women and children living in a heavily fortified “spiritual university”, at least five believed to be minors.

Raids across India in the past week on properties linked to the same religious organisation, Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya (AVV), have unearthed nearly 250 women and 48 girls apparently confined behind layers of locked gates.

Authorities in Delhi say they fear thousands more women could be living in similar conditions in the 300 properties estimated to be linked to the group nationwide.

Syringes and medicines were found scattered throughout the Delhi ashrams and many of the residents appeared to be drugged, according to Swati Maliwal, the city commissioner for women, who participated in five of the raids.

Most of the women have refused opportunities to leave the ashrams. Those who appear to be under 18 have been taken to shelters but are providing little concrete information, Maliwal said.

“We ask where they’re from, they can’t say. We ask them the address of their parents, they don’t have that. We ask how long they’ve been there, they give evasive answers,” she said.

Gurus are enlightening guides in the lives of many Indians, providing counselling on issues ranging from moral quandaries to the choice of a new car.

But months after a flamboyant guru, Ram Rahim Singh, was convicted of raping two followers – sparking riots that killed 30 people – the raids of the past week have cast light on the immense, often unchecked power wielded by some spiritual leaders.

At the centre of the organisation is a self-styled “godman”, Virendra Dev Dixit, with a chequered history including allegations of sexual assault dating to 1998. He is currently being sought by police and could not be reached for comment.

Accusations contained in documents filed with the Delhi high court allege that Dixit, 75, is portrayed by ashram workers as an incarnation of the Hindu god Krishna, with the women and girls cast as his gopis, or wives.

The group claims to be a fundamentalist offshoot of Brahma Kumaris, an Indian spiritual movement with about 800,000 members and branches around the world including in the US, Australia and the UK. Brahma Kumaris disavowed Dixit decades ago and reject his beliefs.

Families have complained of losing daughters to Dixit’s organisation for decades but have been unable to secure official attention until this year, when the Delhi high court took up a public-interest lawsuit against the group.

The case was spurred by the November disappearance of a 24-year-old woman from a town near Jaipur in Rajasthan state. Family members said she had initially become involved in Yoga and meditation events put on by the Brahma Kumaris.

But quietly, over the past five years, she was growing closer to members of Dixit’s group.

One day last month, in what investigators believe is standard practice for new converts, the woman entered a local police station with a signed affidavit declaring she was joining the AVV of her own free will. Soon after, she vanished.

A frantic search effort by the family traced the woman to a large Dixit ashram in Rohini, a neighbourhood in the north-west of the capital.

In submissions to the Delhi high court, the family say they were only permitted to meet their daughter after protesting for days, and had to pass through seven layers of locked gates to meet her. They claim she was flanked by women guardians, and appeared to be anaesthetised.

“The girl told them, I am 24, I have come here of my own wish, and I should not be forced to go back,” said Satendra Singh Rathore, a lawyer for the family.

After their story was broadcast by Indian media, disaffected former members of the group and other families searching for their daughters reached out with their own allegations against Dixit.

According to the public-interest lawsuit, they include accusations that Dixit has sexually assaulted multiple women and children and keeps residents confined in conditions “worse than farm animals”.

A spokeswoman for the AVV declined to comment but the organisation has previously said its residents stay of their own volition and are well-treated.

In a society riven by caste hierarchy and yawning economic inequality, ashrams and large-scale spiritual communities, called deras, were an appealing site of social equality and fraternity, said Ronki Ram, a professor of political science at Panjab University.

Their popularity has grown as India’s economy has opened to the world and incomes have soared in past decades. “Once people have everything, a partner, a good job, a family, and find they are not really happy, they go to a dera,” Ram said.

Spiritual organisations have also stepped to provide welfare in places where the state had retreated, he said. “Some have their own schools, hospitals. When the state starts withdrawing from providing basic facilities, the deras fill in the gaps.”

He said politicians have been more likely to seek out gurus for votes than to try to regulate their communities: “They see [the gurus] have a large numbers of followers who can be constituencies.”

Dixit has never registered his organisation with the government. Years of criminal complaints against the guru did not heed a single inspection of his properties. Maliwal said it was typical of the lawless environment in which many spiritual leaders operated. “Nobody bothers to go inside their ashrams,” she said.

“These babas are very influential people, they have a lot of clout. Sometimes they have mafias, and sometimes they are mafias. Nobody wants to deal with this issue.”

Re: Veerendra Dev Dixit in trouble

PostPosted: 05 Jan 2018
by ex-l
The latest in the Virendra Dev Dixit case, the Delhi High Court has instructed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), premier investigating agency and security service of India to take over the Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya case saying it had "no confidence in police". It has registered three cases of molestation against Virendra Dev Dixit for allegedly keeping several women and minor girls hostage at his ashram here.

Virendra Dev Dixit has absconded, it is thought to Nepal, and the CBI is looking for him and must submit a status report by February 5 2018.

The PBKs defence lawyer, Amol Kokere told the court that Virendra Dev Dixit frequently visits various ashrams to deliver spiritual speeches, but doesn’t stay for long at one place due to “threats” from “disgruntled” members.

Starting to uncover some inconvenient truths, the court also pulled up police for registering a zero FIR against the family members of an inmate, who alleged that she was raped by her Brother and therefore willing took refuge in the ashram.

The PBKs have submitted a a detailed reply of 1,300 pages to the NGO's accusations.

The reporting continues to become more and more exaggerated with report of "200 prison like ashrams across India". Much of it could equally be aimed at the BKs, e.g.
“It is a strange setup where hundreds are lodged in closed confines. Where is the concept of free consent or spirit when you are not allowed to meet family or friends or wear what you want to or cannot go out when you want to?”

Much of it perfectly normal for at least early BKs, other devotees, and vast proportions of India's poor ...
"no privacy even for bathing"

Ditto, do the judges and reporters really think it's safe in India to have a home for 30 or 40 women and *not* have multiple locked doors or gates to protect them?

Strangely, there are echoes again of the 1930s Sind with the 41 minor girls being targetted and handed over to the Child Welfare Committee, who then separated them and allotted to different homes in Dehli, homes in which they are likely to be very happy due to non-BK food and lifestyle habits.

Is that saving them, or punishing them and abusing their human rights? On one hand, it seems rather a draconian action to take; on the other, will it liberate them or traumatise them?

The stories mention one "Deepak Thomas" as the number two PBKs, and his wife who took care of the women. I've never heard of him.

It also puts a new spin on Virendra Dev Dixit's separation from the BKs. According to the PBKs it was due to Dadi Kumarka not being able to answer his questions. The rather confused media reports claim it was because he tried to sneak into some BK's bed! (I think the story is confusing the Brahma Kumaris as a whole with Sister Shivani?).

Virendra Dev Dixit also found his way onto a list of [url=All India Akhada Parishad, the apex body of Sadhus has released a list of ‘fake’ babas after a meeting in Allahabad on Friday]"Fake Babas" created by the "All India Akhada Parishad"[/url], the apex body of Hindu Sadhus ... of course, astute observers might suggest it would have been quicker and easier for them to make a short list of Saddhus who were *not* fake.

Re: Veerendra Dev Dixit in trouble

PostPosted: 05 Jan 2018
by ex-l
Following the example of President Donald Trump, the Brahma Kumaris - describing themselves as "A unique, spiritual, value-based educational institution dedicated to the goal of establishing a value-based society" - have taken to Twitter in broken English to make an official statement, doing their usual waffling about how they are part of the United Nations and self-proclaiming their own excellence etc etc etc!
Official Statement of Brahma Kumaris Organization Clarifying Its Stand on 'Adhyatmik Vishwavidyalaya' to the Press

New Dehli, Dec 26: We hereby inform the Press that Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidalaya has no concern whatsoever with Virender Dev Dixit and his organization 'Adhyatmik Vishwavidyalaya'.

The Brahma Kumaris organization is an International NGO having consultative status with United Nations and it has been redndering spiritual services since 1936. It has more than 10 lakh followers in more than 140 countries and The Knowledge shared by the organization has attained a reputation par excellence.

The Brahma Kumaris organization does not endorse the views of Virender Dev Dixit and his organization 'Adhyatmik Vishwavidyalaya' which is a completely separate entity and has nothing to do with the Brahma Kumaris organization.

The Brahma Kumaris organization is not responsible for the acts and conduct including any illegal activities of Virender Dev Dixit and his organization 'Adhyatmik Vishwavidyalaya' or its members in the past, present or future. The claims of the members of that organization to be part of the Brahma Kumaris or calling them as Brahma Kumaris is without our permission and not endorsed by us."

BK Brij Mohan
Chief Spokesperson
Brahma Kumaris Organization, Mount Abu
M: 9659692057. E-mail: brijmohan@bkivv.org

BK-AIVV_Statement.jpg

Re: Veerendra Dev Dixit in trouble

PostPosted: 05 Jan 2018
by GuptaRati 6666
The Knowledge of BKSO is par excellence by whose standards and what rating?

US News and World Report rates universities annually. Is BKSO rated by an institution that rates American higher education institutions, United Kingdom higher educations, spiritual or New Age institutions, or tertiary institutions globally, or ratings of NGO of the UN?

Let us not forget who created the UN and why it was created. Also let us not forget the green mask of UN Agenda 21.

Re: Veerendra Dev Dixit in trouble

PostPosted: 06 Jan 2018
by ex-l
A counter accusation arises from Virendra Dev Dixit's or the AIVV advocate claiming that this is all a Brahma Kumaris conspiracy (Hindi only).

The first woman in question had been a member of the Brahma Kumaris and then joined the AIVV.

The BKs express a particularly embittered attitude towards the PBKs (AIVV) and so this does not surprise me, especially if the family of the woman are also BK adherents.

Unfortunately, the issue does seem to be interesting enough for any investigative journalist to look closely into and so, consequently, the who drama is merely swilling around the "shock horror" tabloids.

Certainly there was one Seema Sharma with blogs on Google and Blogspot that was clearly a Brahma Kumari follower back around 2012.

https://plus.google.com/116507100592925355226
http://murlibk.blogspot.co.uk

Screen Shot 2018-01-06 at 00.44.38.jpg

Screen Shot 2018-01-06 at 00.43.19.jpg

Re: Veerendra Dev Dixit in trouble

PostPosted: 06 Jan 2018
by ex-l
More details as they arise.

Firstly, it seems the mother of the 25 year old woman in Rajasthan WAS a BK and PBK follower so fits into the "disgruntled ex-" possibly still BK supporter model, and the dynamics - not wishing to admonish them - as the usual family trying to get their unwilling child out of the cult.

The mysterious Seema Sharma and her no track record NGO has a Youtube channel with one video (see below).

The tabloids are, predictably, still getting the story all garbled ... whatever the truth may be. Although other similarities between the BKs and PBKs are arising, like court cases over donated property and accusations of Virendra Dev Dixit have "luxury cars" in his compound (although no record as to who owns them).

6 girls every night for a 75 year old man ... whew. A little hard to believe.
"He needs six girls every night between 10 pm and 5 am. There is a person assigned with the duty of sending girls at regular intervals"

Some of the similarities are so identical, the luxury cars, the alleged suicides and, of course, the beliefs, that I still have to wonder if the BKs are behind them "burying all their bad news" under accusations of the PBKs. This is pure BKism.
Women and girls are made to sign samarpan patras (letters of submission). This makes them Dixit's property. They also write confession letters to confide in him about their past relationships or mistakes.

There is nothing in 'the beliefs' that could not be directly and accurately accused of their Lekhraj Kirpalani. It is almost as if Virendra Dev Dixit is being scapegoated with all the BKs' sins.
Former Navy personnel Rabindranath Das, who says that Dixit has filed a court case to usurp his three-storey house in Kolkata's Salt Lake area, throws more light on Delhi's own Dera Sacha Sauda. "I met him at his maternal grandparents' house in Kampil in 1992. Dixit loves colourful clothes and food cooked in desi ghee."

Das was earlier associated with the Brahma Kumaris, a spiritual movement, but he was more impressed by Dixit, and started assisting him. Das signed some papers in blind faith and gave his Kolkata house to Dixit. In March, he asked Dixit to vacate the house following issues with inmates. He also noticed changes in Dixit's teachings. While a court case is going on Das now lives in a small garage in the same house. He does not eat food from the inmates of the ashram as he suspects that he would be killed anytime.

Dixit is said to have followers even outside India. One such case is of a PhD student from the United States (US), who came to live in the ashram on her own and does not want to return. Her parents in Hyderabad said they have met their daughter five-six times in the last two years. According to Das, there were people of nine religions staying at the Centre in his Kolkata house. "There were followers from the Philippines, Canada, United States and many other places. Even I used to travel across India to impart Dixit's teachings," Das said.


In a short span of time, we've been able to get extremely good results in the very first initiative undertaken by us i.e. our fight against tainted Baba Virendra Dev Dixit and his organization "Adhyatmik Vishwavidyalaya".

Lastly, in a Time of India article, an identical issue is raised about the AIVV that we've always questioned about the BKWSU ...
The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) ... has sought to know from the University Grants Commission (UGC) if the institute was recognised by the regulatory body.

It also sought to know if the UGC had received any complaint or representation regarding the operations of the institute, along with the details of action taken on such complaints.

If not recognised, the women's panel sought to know what action would be taken by the UGC against the institute for using the word "vishwa vidyalaya" (university) in its name, thereby misleading the people.

Re: Veerendra Dev Dixit in trouble

PostPosted: 06 Jan 2018
by ex-l
Well, so has the BKWSU.
"It has been learnt that the said 'vishwa vidyalaya' at Vijay Vihar and at other places across India has been functioning with the title of Spiritual God Fatherly University for decades.

"Hundreds of young girls and women have been enrolled as residential students of this institute at several centres across the country," DCW chief Swati Maliwal said in a letter written to the UGC.

She strongly recommended that if the institute was not a university, it should be barred from using the word "university" in its name.

Maliwal also said strict action should be taken against the management of the institute for wrongly claiming it to be a university.

"Considering the gravity of the matter, you are requested to please provide the above-mentioned information latest by January 12," the DCW chief said in her letter.


letter.jpeg

Re: Virendra Dev Dixit in trouble

PostPosted: 07 Jan 2018
by Pink Panther
Is this all about exposing the PBKs thereby making the BKs look like the good guys?

A public PR campaign?

No doubt the BKs are slicker and better organised with a lot more expertise and ”friends” to draw on. Does that extend into the media?

Will this end up being counter-productive in an increasingly educated, secular and sceptical India?

Tune in to the next exciting episode of ”My cult is not as culty as your cult!"

Re: Veerendra Dev Dixit in trouble

PostPosted: 07 Jan 2018
by ex-l
What I find curious is most of the accusations being made are questions, or factual events, that we have raised about the BKs (or we have raised reporting others), eg the "BK rape accusations" just a few years ago.

Also note how the BKs are largely dropping the "University" label now.

I am wondering if it is all contrived to "bury all the badness" in Virendra Dev Dixit and the PBKs, to give the BKs another get out as in, "oh, that was not us but the PBKs". To hide their dirt behind PBK news reports.

Are the BKs in India working the press and media over it?

Is this the same Seema Sharma as the BK Seema Sharma?

I don't believe outsiders would know and grasp the issues are specifically and directly as are being done. And if they were acting out of pure public concern, why would they not be picking up on and investigating BK abuses equally?

Why would they not be seeing and questioning the near identical belief system and conduct of the BKs?

It's just too neat, symmetrical and one sided at present. I would not put it passed the BKs to be behind it all. It certainly fits their MO, in my experience.

Re: Veerendra Dev Dixit in trouble

PostPosted: 07 Jan 2018
by GuptaRati 6666
The BKs have, for decades, been cultivating connections and contacts with the press globally. How else, were they able to interview Madame Sadat? The ability of BKSO to use the press against any opposition should not be underestimated. I do maintain those who live in glass houses should not throw stone and sling mud and fecal materials. There is the boomerang effects and when the stones, mud, and fecal matter returns to the thrower's glass house, the glass may not crack and break immediately. The mud, bricks, and fecal matter may accumulate and their increased weight will one day break the glass house roof and expose all the skeletons in the closet.

Re: Veerendra Dev Dixit in trouble

PostPosted: 08 Jan 2018
by ex-l
The first more serious investigative report I have seen has been published, giving a little more background to Virendra Dev Dixit's life story, Hardlook: The cult of self-styled godman Virender Dev Dikshit.

Funny quote from the BK spokesman, Brij Mohan
"He had subverted our muralis for personal use,” says Brij Mohan, the additional secretary of the Brahmakumaris.

What rather than "subverting the muralis for their personal or institutional use" like the BKs do?

The article mentions Dashrat Patel, who we know from the Vishnu Party episode, who organised the first accusations against Virendra Dev Dixit but does not really go into nature of the relationships.

Meanwhile, more PBK centres have been busted including one up in Abu Road.

The article notes a regular pattern seems to have established where families or activists go on a rampage, makes accusations, but the women go on to testify against her parents, claim that they were staying on their own will, and later return to the ashram.

Article still fails to point out that the teachings are really just BK teachings that Virendra Dev Dixit is repeating.

Re: Virendra Dev Dixit in trouble

PostPosted: 08 Jan 2018
by Pink Panther
ex-l wrote:The first more serious investigative report I have seen has been published, giving a little more background to Virendra Dev Dixit's life story, Hardlook: The cult of self-styled godman Virender Dev Dikshit.

All I can say is after reading that is - wow!

It is interesting how after all these years, all the gossip, one lengthy discussion years ago with a BK >PBK convert, all the forum ”discussions’, and inter-cult competition, this is the first time I actually feel like I have been told what has actually been going on. The author is a good journalist.

And, as you said ex-l, it’d be good to see ‘the other side’ get the same treatment, factual, evidence with witness based statements from those with experience but without agenda.

Re: Veerendra Dev Dixit in trouble

PostPosted: 09 Jan 2018
by GuptaRati 6666
Subversion is quite a strong term, even when used in the context of subverting Murlis. Subversion can imply an act of treason, rebellion, or revolution.

For there to be academic growth and/or intellectual growth in BKSO authority has to be challenged by a meeting of minds and intellects. There is a cycle. However, it does not operate or function in the way proposed by BKSO. I am not siding with Veerendra Dev Dixit. It seems his organization has made many major mistakes. However, BKSO has also made similar or greater mistakes.

One reason for Malcom X distancing himself from the Nation of Islam was the discovery demonstrated by mothers and their babies that the leader of the Nation of Islam was sleeping with many of the young women and fathering children with them. El Haj on his pilgrimage to Mecca and tours of many countries discovered that Muslims were represented in multiple ethnic groups, including Whites.

The US FBI and Deep State did not bother with the leader of the Nation of Islam. Instead the US FBI and Deep State assassinated Malcom X. I see similarities between the BKs, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Nation of Islam 40 plus years ago.