Male & female castration under the BKWSU Bureaucracy

Masao Miyamoto quoting Erich Fromm in his book, 'Escape from Freedom'.

deep inside people's hearts there exists a tendency to escape from freedom and become blindly obedient to power

Masao Miyamoto was a psychoanalyst. He graduated from Nihon University in Tokyo, spent three years studying psychiatry and psychoanalysis at Yale University, took the position of assistant professor at Cornell University before joining the 'Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare' as 'Deputy Director of the Mental Health Division'. The following is adopted from a speech he gave for the Oxford and Cambridge Universities in the 90s, close to the end of his life. It was called, "Castration: the Major Goal of 'Japanese' Education".

I offer this for consideration as: "Castration: the Major Goal of 'Brahma Kumari' Education".

Interesting, who has ever thought of or used the term, "Brahma Kumari bureaucrats"? The original paper goes on to examine individual elements such as the control of uniform dress, hair, food and so on. All of which I experienced in the BKWSU.

The problem with this kind of highly regulated educational environment is that followers will not develop independence. The feeling of dependency will be perpetuated so that they will not move away from childlike grandiosity and their pride will be inflated to an unrealistic level.

Does that not define the way BK leadership thinks of themselves? Kids playing "king of the castle".

How do the Brahma Kumaris Seniors and bureaucrats manage to castrate their followers so effectively?

The education system is the place where they conduct this process. In order to be a castrated individual one has to cultivate masochism, and this is why the concept of self-sacrifice has penetrated the Brahma Kumari movement to such depths. Self-sacrifice can be seen in such behavior as not taking a long vacation, a willingness to participate in long hours of unpaid work, the absence of any personal life and even illness due to overworking.

There is a belief in Brahma Kumaris society that one should try to avoid any kind of dispute or confrontation. Perhaps one might say that this is the strongest belief of Brahma Kumaris society.

The Brahma Kumaris bureaucracy has successfully manipulated this element through education, and does not allow Brahma Kumaris to develop the capacity to stand on their own two feet, which is why they are obedient and submissive to the bureaucracy. There is irony in the Brahma Kumaris bureaucracy in that the system so effectively traps people, but at the same time enslaves the bureaucrats and senior Sisters. In fact one could say that the BK bureaucrats and senior Sisters are the biggest victims of all.

When you took at the power structure of BKWSU, the BK bureaucrats hold more than 99% of the power (I increased this from 90% in the original paper). When you remove the spiritual cover of the BKWSU you start to observe conformity, mercantilism and a communist-like society little different from the Soviet model.

The goal of BK education is to castrate individuals and to make them obedient, yet this is a difficult goal to achieve. Therefore regulations extend beyond the center's settings. The Brahma Kumaris have dress regulations that students must wear uniforms. In addition, there are food regulation that even if students are hungry or thirsty, they cannot buy food and drinks from vendors. They have to persevere with their thirst until they go back home.

If there is some significant temperature differences and one feels too hot, one cannot respond flexibly and wear the appropriate clothes. As you may recognize, uniforms are used as a way to teach perseverance and how to endure masochism, and to persevere together will unite the group. In the BKWSU, the uniform has been utilized as a tool for conformity. These are just a few examples, but you can find dozens more BK regulations to control followers so that they do not have a chance to breathe the air of freedom.

Since castration is the goal, children who exhibit ability must suppress their talent. In fact, the BKWSU was/is a religion where people with ability or creativity become victims.

The problem with this kind of highly regulated educational environment is that students will not develop independence. The feeling of dependency will be perpetuated so that they will not move away from childlike grandiosity and students' pride will be inflated to an unrealistic level.

So what happens is that individuals who receive a Brahma Kumaris education place the most importance on not getting hurt. Self-protection becomes the major goal in their life. What fragile pride does to individuals is to prevent them from taking an action. From the senior Sisters' perspective, for the BKWSU to be filled with this kind of individual is a plus because the bureaucratic goal of maintaining the status quo will be achieved.

Placing importance on the status quo can be observed through Brahma Kumaris education where 'challenge' is not valued. What is emphasized is 'memorization'. When people go through the process of castration, their feelings become anesthetized, and although they may be able to recognize problems, they are unable to complain. So even if people are frustrated they cannot take any action. Furthermore, it becomes extremely difficult to encourage creativity or enrich one's individual potential.

It is about time for the bureaucracy and senior Sisters to accept the brightness of the light. The answer is, as painful as it may be, the bureaucracy and and senior Sisters must accept the need for restructuring the system of the BKWSU. There is only one way to restructure and that is deregulation.

What will be demanded of Brahma Kumaris society is for the Brahma Kumaris to liberate themselves from the psychological castration imposed by the bureaucracy and senior Sisters. Therefore, instead of the bureaucrats and senior Sisters controlling people, the people will develop a capacity to control themselves. After all the bureaucracy and senior Sisters is there to enrich the lives of the people. The people do not exist to maintain the bureaucracy or senior Sisters.

When castration continues to be the goal of education, if BKs face competition, their dependency will be stimulated and they will develop anxiety. When BKs face competitiveness they try to remove themselves from the competitive environment and look for someone who can protect them. Therefore, the educational goal of castration further reinforces the BKWSU bureaucracy. The system is astonishing in having successfully manipulated the psychology of BKs to control them, thereby preserving the system.

To be castrated is to be enslaved, and so far, Brahma Kumari followers have been enslaved under the system of the BKWSU. From Plato's book "The Republic", the parable of the cave resembles the issue of freedom and regulation in the BK society.

BK "chained inside a cave" are only permitted to see "the shadows of objects on a wall". They inhabit a world of illusion. They are not allowed to turn their heads and see the source of light, or reality. What happens if all of a sudden the prisoners are given freedom, and they can finally see the light? It will bring shock and distress. Reality will be too painful and they will wish to return to the cave. Freedom demands responsibility. As Erich Fromm described in his book "Escape from Freedom, "deep inside people's hearts there exists a tendency to escape from freedom and become blindly obedient to power".

Many of you are aware that the Brahma Kumaris place importance on harmony. I myself respect Shanti a great deal but in the BKWSU, I noticed that what I think Shanti is, and what Brahma Kumaris society perceives as Om Shanti, is quite different. In my mind the concept of Shanti means an acceptance of differences, but when the Brahma Kumaris talk about Om Shanti it means a denial of differences and an embrace of sameness. Sameness in interpersonal relations means a reflection of the other, the basic concept of which derives from narcissism.

When you want to attain Om Shanti in the BK movement, people within the centers must behave as if they were Narcissus staring at his reflection in the water. In the case of Narcissus' reflection a small ripple can destroy the reflection. For the Brahma Kumaris, because the reflected image of sameness functions as a cohesive element for the group, even a small dispute or confrontation could shatter the narcissistic identification.

This is the reason why Brahma Kumaris society places such importance on Om Shanti and why the Brahma Kumaris do their utmost not to bring out aggression in interpersonal exchange, since aggression, just like the ripple, will destroy the reflected image. The Brahma Kumaris are taught not to complain, to give up their desires and to communicate with ambiguity, all as a way to prevent ripples.

When Om Shanti becomes the final goal to the point that one has to close their eyes to reality or confrontation has to be avoided, then I think it is a problem, since it means that the group can only function in a world of illusion. In order for BK society to change, confrontation and challenge are inevitable ... which means that each individual must develop the capacity to deal with aggression.

When you took at the Brahma Kumaris proclivity to avoid dispute, one could say that the BKWSU, as a system, does not want to change. 'The BKs want to stay in a world of reflected images, where the competitive principle or concept of freedom, which functions as a ripple, would not enter.

When you analyze the words that Brahma Kumari bureaucrats and senior Sisters use, there is a message given that as much as possible they want to keep the BKWSU closed to foreign competition. For the past nine years I was a part of the BKWSU bureaucracy, and through this experience I have recognized how BKWSU bureaucrats and senior Sisters place importance on words and their nuances to prevent structural changes from taking place in the BKWSU.