25 Feb 2010
From Guru Prasad's blog.
Looking down at the magnificent complex, I was impressed. Here was a thoroughly modern, hi-tech cluster of buildings. The sophisticated, elegant architecture with an edifice of brown sandstone, the high standards of construction and, above all, the state-of-the-art facilities conveyed an impressive drive for quality and completion without regard for expense or effort. I was to learn later that an open-fisted yet scrupulous employment of money and material, and regard for comfort and appearance characterized the Brahma Kumaris (BKs).
Abundance, not austerity, was their keynote. A public address system and close-circuit TV networked the vast complex. The main edifice contained a meditation hall and a conference hall, with a seating capacity of 1,800 people. Next to it was the training center, with 13 seminar rooms and offices for their internal operations. It also accommodated the Spiritual Applications Research Center which tries to correlate spiritual and scientific research. Residential enclaves dotted the landscape. At one end, facing an ornamental lake, was an elegant chalet for the Dadis, the group of elderly women who run the organization.
Beautifully landscaped gardens provided a verdant background. The beauty of the surroundings was somewhat marred by the gaudy pennants on the walkways, and streamers and lights festooning the buildings. But a penchant for kitsch, I soon realized, was one of the few regrettable aspects of the BK culture.
I have seldom felt as well looked after and cosseted as I did at Gyan Sarovar. ... I recall Gayatribehn, 31, our escort to Mt Abu, coming to Ahmedabad station to receive us at 5 a.m., looking fresh, crisp and capable, and solicitously offering to carry my bag for me. That same sense of service rose to embrace us from all sides at Mt Abu. Dadi Prakash Mani, the strong faced immensely capable looking administrative head of the organization, set the tone for our stay at the inaugural function itself, when she fervently extended to us a welcome so warm that she hoped it would not be equaled even in the house of God. At the end of the function, she insisted on meeting all thousand of us, presenting each with a woolen shawl, and a delicious sweetmeat as prasad.
They have an endless supply of these delights, held in vast steel containers, which they liberally hand out at all meetings, pretty much like a real Dadi (grandmother) would to her favorite grandchildren. Even the boarding and lodging facilities were munificent. The bedroom, which I shared with a delightful college principal from Madhya Pradesh, India, was well-furnished and comfortable, containing a well-sprung mattress and thick blanket.
B.K. Gokak, 38, who looks after the accounts at Pandav Bhavan, a job which takes 14 to 15 hours a day, says: "I am never tired or bored. I feel someone else is doing the work."
We have told God that we will bring the whole world to soul consciousness," says Dadi Manohar Indra. "Before destruction, all must know God and purify the self." To this end, the BKs unleash a vast array of initiatives ...