More Brahma Kumaris BKWSO North America charging for courses

Following on from comments documenting the Brahma Kumaris trend towards business, money and commercialisation, here: BKWSU charity report and else/where ...

In the old days, Brahma Kumari adherents would have pay to hire venues out of their own pockets which they then used to evangelise or encult new members. Hence expansion was limited to what could be afforded. Now they charge new members to become enculted, albeit it seems only to cover the costs of the swanky upscale and down-town venue ... plus a 20% commission to the BK center ... which brings "the best in personal development and being-well, all without tossing aside that Adonis or Goddess physique you have been striving for". Sounds all very "body-conscious" to me! I cannot remember any senior or long term BK with an "Adonis or Goddess physique". Not even their pace-faced, podgy future goddesses self in the Golden Age!

BK leaders specialise in financial exertion not the physical exertion, which they see as "not royal" and regard in the most derogatory of BK terms as "body consciousness".

It's OK as a Brahma Kumari to pull purse strings and wallets, but not muscles. Sweating is low caste and for Shudras.

The BKs states that a fee will be charged to cover up the cost of the space provided for the activity but that the BK teachers are unpaid ... no change there then ... however, "20% of all proceeds is donated to the Brahma Kumaris front 'Meditation Center L’Émergence'". BKs continue to steal the ancient Hindu term "Raja Yoga" for their novel way of hypnotic meditation.

Veuillez noter que cet endroit n'étant pas notre centre, il y aura des frais pour couvrir les coûts d'espace et d’administration. Les animateurs de L’Émergence continueront à offrir leurs cours bénévolement.

Cultural clash: body consciousness, soul consciousness or "sold consciousness"?

Raja Yoga Meditation

The spirit is one of the most creative and powerful forces humans possess. It allows and guides us to accomplish many things and humanity has seen itself transformed and innovated by it.

But possessing this powerful tool is not enough. Using it to our well being and that of others is what matters and where the effort lies.

Raja Yoga helps you to control the thoughts that flow from your subconscious to your conscious spirit. By strengthening the intellect, you are able to modify your way of thinking and thoughts and therefore allowing serenity and positive energy to enter.

From the outside, "Simply Meditation" appears to be an introduction to encultation into Brahma Kumarism with guided meditation evenings; whilst the "4 course meditation" appears to be an introductory BK Raja Yoga course covering soul, Supreme Soul and maybe karma but not getting into controversial culty elements that scare people off, like the 5000 Year Cycle and Destruction etc.

$50 is being charged for a set of 4 evenings.

Although it is likely that the BKs will not end up making a lot of money from it, an interesting principle is being set. The BK meditation centre in Montreal (L'Émergence) is asking for 20 % of the proceeds whilst another group offering a Tibetan Buddhist "Anuttara Tantra Meditation" classes at the same location will not be collecting anything from it but will rather give 20% of the proceeds to a charity. Espace GD are promoting the idea doing charity or "good karma". I dare say the BKs have an eye on their "life coach" operations too.

Again, the Brahma Kumaris expose their self-centered and anti-charity business instincts. Soul consciousness or "sold consciousness"?

Brahma Kumaris at Espace GD wrote: Raja Yoga helps you to control the thoughts that flow from your subconscious to your conscious spirit.

What it does is manipulate the archetypes within us; our inner sage, wise parent, playful child, warrior, priest et al.

What Raja Yoga does help us do is infantilise us by encouraging some and substituting others, we become the "children of the Baba" by substituting external "Father" and any other "authority" figures and encourages us to project emotionally onto those.

It is the opposite of self-realisation, it is self-limitation, instead of facilitating our maturation by enabling integration of all our innate potentials so that we may become whole and individualised, to forge our own path through life confidently and freely.

I had a good laugh reading your post ex-l. Thanks for your sense of humour.

You are right. If we had to rent a venue at the time when I joined the BKs in the early 1980's, we BKs would pay for it out of our own pockets. Such was the policy then. Any literature produced was given away or sold at cost. Doing otherwise was unthinkable. It would have been against the BK principles.

In the late 1980s, we were authorized a 5% profit margin on books and tapes, allowing us to have a small reserve that was used exclusively to produce more books and tapes. Nowadays the whole thing has turned into a business and they do not seem to see the contradictions between the fundamental beliefs and how they operate and promote themselves.