A follow up from "The Shift”: a Meeting in Schauen - Next Generation BKism?, we have Shift II: Brahma Kumaris Community Research (2012-2017).
A group of old timer and professional/academic Western BKs, including one of the very first BK Surya (BK academic Stephen Nagel PhD), met up to discuss "the state of the Western BK nation". I state "Western" as I guess BK India carries on the same as ever ... and it's notable that the BK leadership pulled their support from the active community research/feedback the group were doing.
I think my first response is that thing really have not moved on very much since the 1980s. These were very similar issues to what Western BKs were discussing back them, and to note how few BKs have actually become involved in it, suggesting most are just going along with the show.
I think they fail by romanticising and exaggerating the "spiritual revolution of Om Mandli". I don't think it was, which would need discussion to define.
The lede suggests things are not going so well for the BKWSU abroad.
This has been presented to me as a positive thing, e.g. "people are more relaxed" but is not that slack, "defeated" and Maya ridden to an orthodox BK point of view? Would not such individuals just be seen as going to receive a "low status" to the hierarchy?
Discussion points taken at random.
A group of old timer and professional/academic Western BKs, including one of the very first BK Surya (BK academic Stephen Nagel PhD), met up to discuss "the state of the Western BK nation". I state "Western" as I guess BK India carries on the same as ever ... and it's notable that the BK leadership pulled their support from the active community research/feedback the group were doing.
I think my first response is that thing really have not moved on very much since the 1980s. These were very similar issues to what Western BKs were discussing back them, and to note how few BKs have actually become involved in it, suggesting most are just going along with the show.
I think they fail by romanticising and exaggerating the "spiritual revolution of Om Mandli". I don't think it was, which would need discussion to define.
The lede suggests things are not going so well for the BKWSU abroad.
Why are the Centers largely empty? Why are senior BKs not happy and why are there so few new and/or young people coming? What is the future of BK organisation?
It is visible that most BKs don't feel the need any more to go to a center to study every morning.
This has been presented to me as a positive thing, e.g. "people are more relaxed" but is not that slack, "defeated" and Maya ridden to an orthodox BK point of view? Would not such individuals just be seen as going to receive a "low status" to the hierarchy?
... something is not right, we find that we tend to hide the name Brahma Kumaris. Even the name we feel is quite strange, uniquely Indian and not a good or helpful name to use in the West. It creates too many questions and has no good references on the internet - and this will not change.
There are now many associations with people in white and the image of being an Indian Hinduistic cult. If we are honest, we only use the name of Raja Yoga or Om Mandali but not “Brahma Kumaris”. Nobody wants to be officially connected with that name. These are reasons why we are ashamed of being a BK and are not showing our connection openly. It causes a blockage in service. We want to promote spirituality and Raja Yoga but not the organisation. Inside, we love the Yagya, the history, our experiences and the people, but outside we cannot be proud of this organisation because of all this.
Discussion points taken at random.
Participants: Jan and Veeke (Belgium), Tamasin (Australia), Patrizia, Uschi, Simone, Michael, Surya, Frank, Peter, Hermann (Germany).
What is spirituality?
To be spiritual does not mean to become a BK and to be a BK does not mean to be spiritual. We know that only a very small minority of souls belong to BK as their spiritual origin. However, we share the truth of being souls in a human life with the entire world. Our original nature of peace, purity, happiness and power is a commonality we share with everyone. Spirituality is universal and beyond the ego. It is basically the path of returning to ones original nature, Sanathan Dharma. It is not a consciousness of being the “chosen” ones.
The subtle ego is infused within the organisational structure. It results very often in an attitude of arrogance versus an attitude of love and compassion with all other living beings on this planet, seeing oneself and all others as part this great Drama. Everyone has a special role to play, no one is worth less or more than any other. We wish to relate to each other as peers, and to work in teams, to inspire each other, share and offer our ideas, knowledge and wisdom. We see ourselves as beings in the process of becoming and developing. We can learn from others – we are interconnected and we work together for the transformation of the world. There are many who are busy in this task – not only BKs. We feel that truth can only be explored by ones own experiences, not by speaking about it and pointing it out to others. We all need meditation to touch and access the underlying undivided reality hidden in deep silence. Then we can become active to manifest what we have experienced as truth.
Baba spoke at length and learned from those who had the gift of going into trance. Bit by bit Gyan was built up.
The spirit of the Brahma Kumaris is today very often connected with hierarchy, strictness, dogmatism, having answers to everything, never saying “I don’t know”, the attitude of exclusivity (we are the chosen ones), wanting to impose “the truth” and forcing people to accept a lifestyle which is not only contra their own culture but also a backslash towards the achievements of enlightenment: personal freedom, individual choice, the right to follow ones own way which can differ from others and from any general accepted truth.
The East has much to offer from its ancient past. The West has achieved a lot within the last 200 years. Neither is better.
Brahma Baba’s vision was not to create a worldwide Indian culture but a very new society based on universal spiritual principles: transreligious, transcultural and transnational.
Our experiences are that the BK culture is one that does not truly acknowledge or utilise the gifts of their students and members unless it fits into a very narrow view through which the organization must be promoted and seen to be an examplar. Newness is not really encouraged, although Baba requests it.
We are further away from what Baba created, he wanted us to return to our true nature and to blossom as unique flowers - not to advertise a Brahma Kumaris institution.
To get to a deeper level of silence and meditation some BKs now go to Vipassana and other communities and organizations because it is not really the focus of the BKs. We seem to be more interested in self-promotion.
Most of us find it difficult to do service in the name of “Brahma Kumaris”, as it so often creates suspicion and difficulties. We only use the name Raja Yoga not Brahma Kumaris and do not want to be on any website or list connected to the organisation as it can be harmful to professional life.
But since Brahma Baba passed away, we have lost the courage to do this and have become static. We feel this is the reason the organization has lost its life energy. To re-energise ourselves, we must find out: How was everything before it became an institution? What is the Inner Core truth of Raja Yoga practise? Where is that spark? How can we reconnect with it and express it in our very life now?
The way they are implemented now makes it seem that what once was the spiritual revolution of Om Mandli has become like an outdated religion today.
We in the West have Sanskars of strictness from Christianity, and that is why we wanted to follow Seniors and the Murli very strictly and to the absolute letter. This put far too much pressure on ourselves and we now have to liberate ourselves from that tendency, because it was never meant like this.
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