Child Abuse

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Mr Green

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Child Abuse

Post01 Oct 2014

How anyone can still have their name associated with an organisation that has privately admitted to child abuse taking place at their spiritual headquarters in India and then failed to do anything about it is beyond me.

When I was leaving them I challenged two of the Seniors about the child abuse and they said nothing and looked angry, one of them accused me of being mentally ill, lol :D.

The funny thing is they cannot help it. They are personally mesmorised by the BK voodoo spell, they think everything they do is for the betterment of humanity.

They've blown it, their day is done.

Come on people, find true spirituality within yourself, forget status and evil.

quantum

Re: Child Abuse

Post01 Oct 2014

My sentiments too Mr. Green. Agree, this is a demonstration of how Mesmerized, Brainwashed, Enculted, Hypnotized, De-Humanized, Robotic, Possessed, Blinded, Institutionalized, Deluded and SOULESS! ... they really are! ... they do not even know right from wrong anymore. And when they are challenged with some Truth, it is sooo strange and foreign to them, they think the other person has a mental problem. They are spiritually & mentally sick.

Now black is white (BKism) and white is now black (ex-BKs & others). Maya has really done a Big Job on them.

Save Innocents

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Re: Child Abuse

Post04 Oct 2014

Thanks quantum for putting it all so nicely in few lines.

I think children are most vulnerable to BKism. They all want to hear nice messages & good words which any BK would offer with help of his deceiving skills. How can children be protected from them?

We can understand the cult mechanism but how they would identify it. At the same time, I think they are safe as they don't have to bother about worldly problems & thus do not need to go to BK centers.
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ex-l

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Re: Child Abuse

Post04 Oct 2014

There are two forms of child abuse to consider here.

One is the obvious sort and thankfully rare but inexcusable, and inexcusable to cover up. The other is more subtle, growing a child up in a absolutely false environment that either denies from full personal growth or fails to prepare them for the real world.

For example, one ex-child BK wrote about a) the stresses of having to consider his non-BK Father as spiritually inferior and junior to him, impure and having to reject intimacy with him and accepting his worldly input (his body-conscious manmat versus the Senior Sister god-conscious Shrimat), and b) addition stress of growing as a child being told he was a reincarnated BK from his previous life ... how as a young teenage, dealing with all that teenagers must do, he lost his childhood and teenages, and had the additional burden of having to act like a Dada (elderly senior male BK) and even adopted an Indian persona and mannerisms to go along with it.

He was non-Indian.

BKs and their adherents would argue that BK world is a statistically safer place for child. That may well be true at a superficial level ... but can it be said so at a deeper level if they are being indoctrinated into the full package of BKism ... probably with additional mother issues or pressure relating to sex, emotions etc ... and, especially, accepting the unquestioning authority of old crones and their accountants who rule the BK roosts?

How many BK mothers push their daughters to become the squeaky clean virgin BK they could never be, and perhaps both envy and idolise ... living their dreams through them?

The BKWSU need fresh meat to keep it's mills grinding. It would be worth looking at the statistics of how many children of BKs go on to become BKs.
Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man"
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Pink Panther

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Re: Child Abuse

Post03 Dec 2014

A Royal Commission in Australia is a body of inquiry with extraordinary powers. It can summon anyone and they must appear, and they cannot refuse to answer questions. The Royal Commission mentioned in the news article below was established been running for over a year now, investigating all types of child abuse that occurred in recognised organisations. They have proceeded organisation by organisation.

They spent a long time on incidents in the Roman Catholic church and its various orphanages and schools, moved onto the Anglican institutions, then the other main denominations - Salvation Army had a particularly perverted abuser who was high up in their organisation - then state-run orphanages, hostels and hospitals, juvenile homes and boarding schools etc. The pervasiveness of abuse, the extent of it is as shocking as the acceptance and collusion that goes on within organisations to maintain reputation.

They are now investigating the smaller organisations in turn, based on submissions they have received. The ashram in the transcript below is probably the first proper ashram established by a guru from India in Australia. NB For those in Australia, the Swami Saraswati named here is a male, not the same person as the female TV Yoga personality of the 1970s.
Royal commission hears Yoga guru and his partner groomed and abused teenage followers in 70s, 80s

Emily Bourke, ABC Radio News, reported this story on Tuesday, December 2, 2014.

NICK GRIMM: The Child Abuse Royal Commission has opened a public hearing into the allegations of child sexual abuse at a Yoga ashram in the hinterland of the New South Wales Central Coast. The inquiry is framing an investigation around the ashram's former spiritual leader who abused teenage girls living in the commune in the 1970s and 1980s. Our correspondent covering the inquiry is Emily Bourke and she joins me now.

Emily, the Mangrove Mountain Yoga retreat centre is the first non-mainstream organisation to come under scrutiny at the royal commission, as I understand it. What's the scope of this case study?

EMILY BOURKE: Nick, the royal commission has heard some detail about the practical and financial workings of this community.

Now, while it's a Yoga and meditation retreat, and all of that's part of daily life, it was founded on the philosophies of abstinence, chastity and austerity. Worldly possessions were renounced by those who resided there, and outside connections are largely severed. And, in keeping with that, most of the older children - particularly in the 70s and 80s - were educated via correspondence, and that environment, the inquiry's been told, made children particularly vulnerable. Family relationships were discouraged; parents and children at the ashram were separated. Parents in fact were sent away to set up ashrams elsewhere around Australia - sometimes with only an hour's notice.

Now, the director of the ashram was Swami Akhandanand Saraswati, and children were encouraged to treat him and his partner Shishy as their parents. Now counsel assisting the inquiry, Peggy Dwyer, explained how the girls were sexually abused by the guru and were also threatened with violence and suffered beatings.

PEGGY DWYER: A particular child would be summoned by Shishy or another resident to attend on Akhandanand to massage him and the massaging would progress to sexual abuse. And on many of those occasions, Shishy was in the room at the time the abuse occurred. They were threatened by Akhandanand with being beaten or cast out of the ashram if they spoke of what happened. And some were told that no-one would understand them or believe them if they revealed what was taking place.

It's anticipated that the former child residents will give evidence that they were told by Akhandanand that he needed to break down their physical barriers and that engaging in sexual activity with him was for their spiritual growth. Some of the survivors are likely to speak of being beaten by Akhandanand with a carved wooden stick known as a kundalini stick.

I anticipate that the royal commission will hear that the relationship the children had with Shishy was complex in that, on the one hand, she was regarded by some at least, as a motherly figure, and the children competed for her attention and favour, but that, on the other hand, she could be brutal.

NICK GRIMM: And that was counsel assisting the inquiry Peggy Dwyer speaking there. Emily Bourke is still with me. What's known, Emily, about how the ashram responded when these allegations were first surfaced and what's their position now?

EMILY BOURKE: Well, the leadership in India seemingly dismissed the allegations when they were first reported in the mid-1980s, but as recently as this year, it's emerged that the ashram told victims that their comments on social media were libellous. Others were told that letters they sent to some of the teaching staff at the ashram were defamatory and that there was a threat of legal consequences if they persisted. Now, the ashram says it's at a turning point and it wants to be accountable - even if that's doubted by others in the community. The ashram says it doesn't know how best to interact with the survivors and it's admitted that it's made mistakes and errors of judgement in its attempts at reconciliation.

Aaron Kernaghan is the lawyer representing the ashram and he read this statement on behalf of his clients.

AARON KERNAGHAN: We apologise for the failures of the ashram, its people and its leaders throughout its history into the present day. We apologise especially for the acts of sexual abuse committed by those within our movement who victimised children by claiming authority over them or who, in any way, used the principles that we believe in to harm innocent people.

It was profoundly wrong and it is a disgraceful reflection upon our organisation historically and to the present time. We recognise now that we have failed to address the hurt, the shame and the harm that has been the ongoing effect of the abuse. Until this year, we did not fully understand the impact that the abuse has had on the victims, their families and, indeed, the whole organisation.

NICK GRIMM: Lawyer, Aaron Kernaghan speaking there. Emily, who's expected to give evidence over the coming week and a half of this phase?

EMILY BOURKE: Well, Akhandanand himself is no longer alive; he died some years ago, but we will from his former partner Shishy. Eleven former child residents who were also victims will give evidence either in person or in writing.

Alecia Buchanan is a former resident and she's told me about the immense isolation she felt when she emerged from the ashram and what the royal commission process has meant for her.

ALECIA BUCHANAN: We felt a bit like freaks and we were already unusual in that, as children, we ran around in orange clothes, we had our head shaved.

When they see a whole group of people that look like a cult, it was a cult essentially, and it's hard for them to understand their experiences.

But coming to the royal commission, I share so many experiences, unfortunately, with other people and children who have grown up under the care of the Catholic Church and other religious organisations.

So, for me, it's just so empowering and I just feel so much more a part of the world now than I ever did.


NICK GRIMM: Child abuse victim and survivor, Alecia Buchanan, and Emily Bourke was with me before that.
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ex-l

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Re: Child Abuse

Post03 Dec 2014

Pink Panther wrote:Aaron Kernaghan is the lawyer representing the ashram and he read this statement on behalf of his clients.

AARON KERNAGHAN: We apologise for the failures of the ashram ...

What is an apology from a paid lawyer worth ...? $450 per hour?

We see the clash of traditional(ly conservative) Hindu and "Liberal" Western values. The BKs responded in a similar way. The face of the (upper caste) leader and cult is more important than morals or ethics (and expendable children or lower caste adherents).
ALECIA BUCHANAN: We felt a bit like freaks ...

The damage done to children is deep, but not always obvious. It needs to be studied more.

Relating it to the BK experience, I am remembering Will Hodgkinson's comments about how he had a much harder time of it than his older Brother.

Beyond the simple effects of familial conflicts and parents splitting up etc, from child psychology there have to be correlations between the ages of children and effects of their parents' cut adherence upon them.

There must be ages where the children are entirely in and part of the parents, and then separate off becoming individuals in their own right. Will Hodgkinson must have been at the end of that earlier phase - and was almost sucked into the Brahma Kumaris - whilst his Brother was beyond that age and was (relatively) unaffected by it.

It seems that age is older than the old "give me a child until they are 7 years old ..." maxim.
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Pink Panther

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Re: Child Abuse

Post04 Dec 2014

Further developments and revelations today in the Royal Commission investigation into the Satyananda ashram in the 70s and 80s.

Ashram children starved, drugged, tortured, royal commission hears

On the radio today, a survivor of the abuse lashed out angrily at her own and other parents who ‘betrayed’ their children and abandoned them to the cult, saying they (the parents) have to accept responsibility for leaving their rational minds "at the gate” and putting total faith and loyalty to the guru and the group ahead of their own children.
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Pink Panther

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Re: Child Abuse

Post01 Aug 2015

* The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse has moved on and is now investigating a very well-known cult.
The commission found a culture that meant that, of more than 1000 reports of child sex abuse over 60 years, not one was referred to police.

Here on this forum we have had first hand accounts of chid sexual abuse and heard witness reports with direct authority on at least one other, two definitely, of young British girls who, through family, became part of the BKWSU and who were abused in India at the ”holy” headquarters as well as while en route.

We know that even in secular society such crimes tend to be under-reported for various reasons. Even less reproted in traditional and religious societies. We know of these two because they chose to speak out. How many did not? They were part of a British BK congregation that maybe numbered 1,000.

If we consider that in India there is maybe 1,000,000 (one million) BKs, we might extrapolate that there could well be two victims at least for every thousand BKs, i.e. 2,000 victims in India. Would we ever hear of it? What kind of culture is needed to encourage reportage of crimes considered as "shameful"?
In the West Australian town of Narrogin, they wait for Armageddon. They wait for God’s angels to empty the vials of His wrath, turning the oceans into blood and fracturing the land with “a great earthquake, such as was not seen since men were upon the earth”. The vast fields that surround their town will no longer yield crops; the voices of avenging angels will sound like trumpets in the sky.

Despite numerous revisions to their prophecies, the [cult] believe End Times are imminent. This eschatology remains central to their faith – their expectation that the world will be violently purged. Politics is anathema, a vain repudiation of this final reckoning. It is what explains their tireless evangelising – it’s pointless to change a world that will be destroyed, the real game is changing souls.

Full article here
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ex-l

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Re: Child Abuse

Post01 Aug 2015

What I find interesting, is how these groups keep recycling the almost identical code the world over. It's so similar that it seems well beyond any probability. So how do we explain that?

Is it just an inevitable conclusion our muddled computers (minds) come to if left to their own accords, based partly on previous code ingrained into us (millenarianist Christianity) and, perhaps, ancient memories of great cataclysms written into our DNA or collective unconciousness.

It's easy to see why the ancients or shamans of nearly all cultures believed that is there some realm of trickster spirits, preying on the weak, the vulnerable and the deluded; running the same rackets to fool and play humanity.

Lekhraj Kirpalani was clearly one such individual, and not the saint the BKs attempt to portray him as, caught by his own desires and delusions of grandeur and used - then and now - to victimise others.

The question then arises, how can otherwise intelligent and perspicacious as most Western BKs go along with it?

Of course, like you say, the muck - of which there is much - is hidden from them. They hear about it until they are too far into the enculturation process, part of which is a "don't think, don't ask" policy ... and an excusation and protection of the abusers for the sake of the face of the cult.

Not one of the Kirpalani Klan has be punished or removed from their position for the cover up of child sex abuse in the Brahma Kumaris.

Quite the contrary. Those who followed the party line have been rewarded.

Free Speech

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Re: Child Abuse

Post01 Aug 2015

Is it related to Brahmakumaris? Can you mention the link of thread exposing the Brahmakumaris involvement in child sexual abuse?
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ex-l

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Re: Child Abuse

Post01 Aug 2015

Look in the Abuse and recovery forum.

Yes, we know it happened at two centres in the India, in Delhi and Mount Abu, to the same Western children ... suggesting that it was coordinated.

They targeted the same child.

We know the Brahma Kumaris leadership knew at least one of the perpetrators was "dodgy" but did nothing about it, he was a servant (sevadhari) in Madhuban.

What we do not know is how widespread such cases are across India or targeting Indian children.

As the BKs expand and become more of a financial organisation offering an unchallenging life to certain individuals who might be less spiritual than the cult like to project itself, I would expect the abuse to increase in the same as, for example, homosexual and pedophilia within the Roman Catholic church.

That is, homosexuals and pedophiles adopting the "celibate priest" front in a society where homosexuality is still taboo and pedophilia not spoken about.

For example, how many lesbians become Brahma Kumaris to avoid marriage as being a lesbian couple is not acceptable in most of India?
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Pink Panther

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Re: Child Abuse

Post03 Aug 2015

And in societies that have advanced to the point where churchmen and officials are prosecuted for such crimes, what is defined as "sexual abuse” is quite different to more extreme acts that need to be performed to be called "sexual abuse” in more secretive societies, which tend to only respond to the grossest most violent acts, and even then...

My point is that, given the huge BK community in India and that it seems each centre has its own culture but for almost all of them secrecy and "public face" is more important than any victim's needs, the probability is that there would have been hundreds of cases of abuse over the years, if not thousands. After all, the modus operandi of the BKs is not different to the cult in the OP (opening post). Such things are to be dealt with ”inside the family” .

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