Brahmakumaris and donations

According to Brahmakumaris, they are receiving huge donations from their students who have donated the amount as 1 Rupee per student per day. Really !!!!!!!!!

This statement was given to the court ... reference para 13 of the court document :- Deputy Commissioner vs Prajapita Brahma Kumaris on 23 September, 1998

Income Tax Appellate Tribunal - Jaipur

13.

On the other hand, the assessee [Brahma Kumaris] is receiving huge donations by stating that their students have donated the amount as Re. 1 / - per. student per day. But no evidence is produced by the assessee at any stage ...

The Id. D/R further stated that no doubt, the society is doing a good thing and the cause of the assessee is noble but that noble cause does not come within the purview of educational institution because no regular schooling is there, neither there is regular system ...

Their actual activities are only holding seminars, conferences etc and nothing else ...

These methods are nothing but just for getting popularity through media etc. and nothing else. These ingredients cannot be treated as part of educational institution. Therefore, the assessee is not satisfying any condition of educational institution or society.

Who's statement is that?

What was the case about, and the context of this statement please?

The statement is from the legal document linked to.

This "one rupee" business goes back to at least the 1970s when it existed as a sort of "what if?" scenario. I presume the BKs were working out how to fund expansion in Mount Abu.

They also used to claim that their wealth came from adherents who gave up smoking and drinking and so, consequently, were able to give that money to them. Again, I suspect a "what if?" wish of theirs.

The Brahma Kumaris finances have always been shady and unaccountable. Most donation funded organizations gain the majority of their funds from a small number of wealth supporters and big gifts rather than many small donations. In India, the BKs are known to go on fairly regular "scalping raids" aimed at adherents gold and jewellery collections (as you probably know, poorer Indians are likely to put dowries and wealth into their daughters/wives jewellery) and they often suggest a 10% income taxation rate ... sorry, suggested donation rate ... for followers.

Given that only 3% of Indians actually pay income tax ... I suspect the BKs have a higher success rate as reap donation-tax from their adherents than the Indian government does!!!

Given that 32.7% of Indian people live at a level below the international poverty line of US$ 1.25 per day, and 70% live on less than US$ 2 per day, the Brahma Kumari elite build their palaces, run their government and fly around the world business class on the backs of some of the poorest people in the world.

What does India need the most? The empty gardens and VIP retreat centers of the BKs, or land for peasants to farm, basic education and sanitation systems?

I'd love to see genuine donation figures for the PBIVV in India and question on what and how effectively they are being spent.

Now the BKs have expanded so widely in Mount Abu that they have had to move down to the bottom of the hills and are taking over the plains. I'd like to know what impact they are having on the environment and the living standards of the locals, e.g. have they pushed property prices as the New Delhi middle classes buy up properties nearby so they can have a safe haven when Destruction comes so much that ordinary local can no longer afford homes?

I understand that Mount Abu and Abu Road have become a bit like a holiday resort and that in high BK season they have tents lining the streets down on the plains for Indians whilst rich white BKs and Indian VIPs get to stay in Mount Abu.

Rather than a democratic or even lottery system within the BK Brahmin "Family" of who gets to stay where, they operate a two or three tier caste system, e.g.; rich and power Indians, Whites, other Indians.

Not all white BKs are rich but even Western poverty is worth far much more to them than ordinary Indians. I don't know how it is now but in the old days White BKs used to be paraded about and have their statuses exaggerated by the Sindi BKs in order to impress Indians. You know how it is ... the old 'lighter skin is better' equation.

BKWSU Nuneham House retreat.

Land allotted to Brahmakumaris by the state government. If given to the tribal people of Chattisgarh state, this land would have filled their empty stomach but who cares for the POOR !!!!

Shanti Sarovar, Raipur Chattisgarh

People's Hard Earned Money Goes Here. Is This a Charity !!!!!!

People's Hard Earned Money Goes Here. Is This a Charity !!!!!!

It's funny ... there are a number influences arising here.

Firstly, all that open space around their building is utterly unnatural and about a show of power based on wealth.

Secondly and paradoxically considering their criticism of "Christians" (meaning Westerners), it's very British. It speaks me of the cricket pitches and polo grounds of the British Raj which, again, is about demonstrations of power and wealth. You need money in a place like India to keep that grass green and lush (actually, you can see they are having problems with it). This would be particularly crazy in a place like Mount Abu where there are water shortages and many people live without a piped water supply.

Thirdly, I can see it is a reference back to vision of the Golden Age which they have portrayed in a highly formal or classical manner, a style which I would argue ... paradoxically again consider their god criticism of the Mughals ... it speaks of Mughal influences upon Indian architecture and landscaping. One which, for me, it tacky. It is certainly not how I would image a heaven one Earth to be.

Each of those greens could feed a family and what purpose do they even serve for BKs? They don't even act as a carbon sink, wildlife habitation. Lawns are a British ideal (wet and cold climate, tied to other cultural influences) and basically deserts from nature's point of view.

In short, the BKs are using donations to build a cheap, tasteless but fairly expensive "heaven on earth" somewhat prematurely and exceptionally wastefully if you buy into the idea that it is all going to be Destroyed in two to three years? I mean, why bother trying to plant trees and lay turf which take two to three years or more to establish!!!

I think what we can deduce from this is,

a) it's all about demonstrating their power and wealth in order to attract powerful and wealthy individuals and "subjects" (their term) willing to labor for free in order to share in it (and their target audience has lower middle class tastes).

b) they themselves don't really believe in Destruction as they tell others to and are just using it as a good device to extract wealth and to live wonderfully in the present.

More evidence of the BK Raj, it's a bowling green without the bowls.

Correct me if I am wrong but it says to me ...

"We have money, we don't need to work ... we don't need to farm and get our hands dirty, we can buy what we need ... we don't have to walk, we are driven ... we are far from the lower orders of society".

And Peace Village in the USA comes no where near matching the luxuries being created in India. I mean, it is almost modest by comparison ... it's still very barren and empty though.

What does it say to you? Who does it target? What purpose does it serve?

If God, the 'Lord of the Poor', came to earth is this really the sort of 'king of the castle' stuff he would prioritise money being spent on?
Why this remote luxury and indulgence rather than a mission in some slum area?
Why keeping for themselves rather than giving to others?

Bearing in mind the Brahma Kumaris basically have no real skills, no real education, no real trade and live surrounded by unpaid servants ... they've done very well for themselves. They would say this is proof that "God" is with them. I would ask which god is with them? (Mammon comes to mind first). For me, it is just evidence of what a good business tapping into the religious market and superstitions is.

It must be very flattering for the upper middle classes who donate the big money to them to be involved and it's a world in which Western BKs appear to play the role of privileged flunkies or courtiers in.

BKs want your money but do not want you to tell it to any body not even your family members.

The latest edition of their magazine "Gyanamrit", July 13, page 4-5 describes about the advantages of secret donation and disadvantages when you disclose it.

"Gyanamrit", July 13, page 4

"Gyanamrit", July 13, page 5

In this chapter the BK author has tried to explain that if make donations and keep it secret then we will be benefited and will get more strength to donate more. Like when a seed is sown, it is covered with soil and thus it grows to a big tree and if it was remained disclosed or open it would neither grow nor survive.

Further more, he states that secret things multiply and grows like when a disease is not known it grows in our body and when it is known it is eliminated, so the moral of story is if you tell anybody about donations you will not get any benefits.

He also clarifies the question of people asking why they do not get peace and prosperity even after they have donated so much. According to him there may be several reasons for this like your karmas of earlier birth etc but the main reason is that people after making donations do not keep it secret.

On one hand BK organization boosts people to donate money for tax exemption benefits and, on other hand, they are teaching them to keep it secret. How can this possible at a same time ?? To get tax exemption you have to disclose it to the Tax Department

Why does the BK organization spend so much on advertising and publicising their charity ? Why don't they keep it secret ?

I stayed in that block in Peace Village in the last picture ... air conditioning in every room.

Very nice too.

On one hand BK organization boosts people to donate money for tax exemption benefits and, on other hand, they are teaching them to keep it secret. How can this possible at a same time ??

I think if an "innocent BK" asked the author, he'd say he was talking about keeping it secret from "lokik" family and friends, and other BKs. But the BK organisation likes to know who donates the money and, of course, people get issued receipts for their tax deductions.

We were always told NOT to donate anonymously, to always write our names on an envelope with the money in it.

(Hmmm, so for all the anonymous money donations there's a real opportunity for some corruption - for those donations to be ascribed to someone else, to be used by them as a tax deduction! Or for it to be simply "skimmed from the till" and no one would notice).

The BK has its own language and invents new terminology or euphemisms for many things or redefine many common words to mean something quite different which is also called "bombastic redefinition of the familiar", or "loading the language". The BK language has the effect of separating the newcomer from his old world, and from his old circle of friends. His new cult friends will tell him that "Only another cult member understands", and it will be true. When he babbles nothing but BK-speak, nobody but another cult member will be able to understand. So does it specifically say DONATION OF MONEY or just donation (of vice). ?

So does it specifically say DONATION OF MONEY or just donation (of vice). ?

Many who casually encounter the BKs say they have never been asked for money. And that's true. Such people are treated as "guests" or like potential clients to be wooed. Mention of money is 'bad form' - at this stage. Occasionally, especially if its a one-off event like a workshop or program, they'll be 'advised" of a donation box and sometimes even a suggested donation amount.


Once one is a regular, donation of money will be brought up. Usually by a senior. Once one is a regular 'class goer", then proletarian BKs on a wage are suggested to pay a tithe (one tenth of their income) as a minimum.

Then there'll be special fund raising drives for which extra donations are requested - e.g. new buildings - for which a separate donation box is allocated.

On top of that there is the unquantified time & skills that members put in, all the unpaid skilled & unskilled labour manhours. e.g. when visiting India, about 10 of us were asked to fold leaflets for about 2 hours when we arrived - so that's 20 manhours free labour. You do it enthusiastically, unquestioning, of course. ( from Greek enthous- ‘possessed by a god’ .)

Probably far more valuable is the "intellectual property", the ideas and creativity contributed which allows the BKs to present themselves in the modern world, and be able to adapt to it - by staying in touch with it through BK lieutenants and "worker bees"? hmmm there's a topic...

30/07/13 Morning Murli BapDada Madhuban

Blessing: "May you be ignorant of The Knowledge of desires and instead of chasing after the mirage of desires, accumulate a true income. Children think that if they were to win the lottery, they would give everything to the Yagya. However, such money cannot be used for the Yagya".

It seems that not just the organization but even the BK god is hiding its true face ... (now the teachings are to be found on internet....)

Children think that if they were to win the lottery, they would give everything to the Yagya. However, such money cannot be used for the Yagya".

Ha. Trust me if a BK won a big lottery, their story would be in World Renewal magazine as "proof" that Shiva was working through them, they would receive the red carpet treatment to Mount Abu, they would be invited on the stage next to the Dadis and BapDadam and they would offered to retired as a surrendered soul (... as long as the BKWSU got all the money!).