Shrimat regarding hotels and overnight visitors

Hi.

I have a fairly innocent question to ask BKs because I cannot remember;

• what is the Shrimat regarding staying in Hotels?

I seem to remember that staying in hotels were against Shrimat because Hotels are impure places and impure things happen in hotels. I thought that is why BKs always stayed at centers when they travelled.

Can any BK or PBK confirm what advice they have been given about staying in Hotels or any comments the Senior Sisters made about it afterwards?

Thank you.

You can stay in hotels if you have to, but obviously prepare your own food.

What about sharing rooms with non-BKs or having guests back to your room?

Hi. No, no, no. If possible avoid all that.

Sharing rooms with souls of the same gender is OK, if you cannot avoid it. But I heard that matresses and bedsheets from hotels are impure because storks slept in there and they forgot to put the sword of knowledge in between the 2 bodies, so you can imagine the vibrations!

In fact, the whole issue about travelling either for leisure or because a job required that, did not get you the SS's blessings at all and was against Shrimat, discouraged. Of course, Brahmin executives, businessmen and VIPs can get away with it because they are very important, as the word says, and useful in different ways. Who knows, whilst sipping a cocktail in the hotel lounge or on a first class plane, they may make some useful high-level contact, or even convert an escort if she comes into their suite.

So nobody gives them a hard time. I know hundreds of stories of BKs who couldn't accept decent jobs because of the food/accomodation thing. If you are a rank BK, you've got to be stuck in your job or at the center. Travelling is allowed only for lecturers, or whoever pretends to be one. The accomodation Maryadas caused sorrow, did disservice and created innumerable complications with relatives and friends and about Sisters and Brothers having to live on separate floors, not to share bathrooms, etc ... Once, an ex-center niwasi, after re-gaining sanity, told me he regretted sending his cousin who was passing through town visiting him, to sleep in the street because he was a Shudra. Extremism ...

Hotels are the palaces of the Iron Age. They are cesspools of vice, objects of scorn among BKs, frequent whipping boy (sorry for that image) along with cinemas, bars and clubs in the inspirational lectures of Dr. Nirmala, Jagdish Chander (may he RIP) and others.

A BK who sleeps in a hotel bed, is definitely likely to be influenced by the vibrations of lust. He/she may take precautions by conducting a Yoga bhatti and burning incense, however this will be negated if he/she turns on pay-per-view adult entertainment, or invites others of the gender-of-attraction to spend the night together indulging in mammalian gratification.

If you are a BK battling attraction to such relations, you may do better to attempt to contact the nearest center for a Brothers' or Sisters' house that will help you to keep the lid on.

Those suffering from sexual addiction problems face similar issues. It is easy to recognize others who are sexually open in bars and clubs, and having done so, to pursue sexual activities in the privacy of a hotel room. Such individuals are advised to take the support of 12-step groups in whichever cities their jobs take them.

For those who have no such issues, hotels can be a great place to cast off prudish inhibitions and enjoy nights of healthy life-affiirming debauchery.

Of course, Brahmin executives, businessmen and VIPs can get away with it because they are very important, as the word says, and useful in different ways. Who knows, whilst sipping a cocktail in the hotel lounge or on a first class plane, they may make some useful high-level contact, or even convert an escort if she comes into their suite.

So nobody gives them a hard time.

Unless, of course, that is what they paid the escort for ... mind you, for talented VIPs, that sort of thing usually comes for free. I suppose you might call it low-level contact. One never knows what opportunities might pop up in such an encounter with the right sort of leadership and management.

I thought that was the Shrimat in the old pukka days of the Yagya.

Yes, I fell for it and refused a job because it meant being away from Morning class and gave up a career that would have involved regular touring ... although I can absolutely confirm that the senior BK that heard waht I did thought it was a good thing to stick with because it brought me into contact with famous people.

You raise another related issue though;

what to do when a lokik wanted to come and visit or stay with you if you moved into a BK house ...

Yes, yes ... I remember now ... it was awful!!! Painful, embarassing, impossible. A real live Shudra ... YIKES!!! ... even if it was your physical Brother.

Basically, say what you like, but it was another way of them cutting you off form any other influence or friendship outside of the Brahmakumaris ... of owning you. I remember even having friends for a meal was almost impossibly embarrassing under the influences of Bhog, watchful BKs and 3.30 a.m. starts. I did it once and then never again.

Of course, the main centers did manage to hold VIP dinners and if you were very middle class, talented or had worldly status, then you would be invited to dine with the SS and some IP/VIP and served by BK kitchen staff and junior Sisters.

Surprise, surprise ... I never was. So I have no idea what went on in them.