Young, Gifted & Black in the BKWSU ...

for measuring opinion on matters relating to their BKWSU experiences
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Do you find yourself in this birth as a BK / ex-BK soul in black body?

Yes
4
17%
No
20
83%
 
Total votes : 24

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joel

ex-BK

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Hospital

Post28 Jul 2007

malachiel wrote: I'd really love to see how the hospital in Madhuban works out with the love-detachment or the "bodyless" issue while treating patients, especially the children and elderly, who need social interactions to remain healthy, their hygiene has to be maintained. I wanted to go there, when I was younger. They wanted me to.

I was there during some of the construction of the hospital, also at its opening. A real hospital giving mostly conventional allopathic medicine, staffed by a couple of particularly dedicated BK doctors. The doctors (sorry don't remember names) were not zombie-BKs but functioning individuals who happen to be BKs as well. No artificial detachment as far as I know. If I recall correctly, the project had a broad vision of serving visiting BKs and the Mt. Abu community. Initially the prjoect was not particularly beloved of those "detached" BKs who believed in service through knowledge and vibrations only.
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abrahma kumar

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Ebonics

Post28 Jul 2007

ex-l wrote:...I used the word Ebonics deliberately as it is pregnant with a number of contentions. But I could have just suggest dialect such one of the Island dialects or Patois. ...

Thank you. I learnt the meaning of a word I never heard before: ebonics. But as i process the definition against my practical experience and preference one 'contention' comes to mind (thanks ex-l). And so I would rather a word like ebonyglish (eh bon eeglish) as referring to ALL "blackstardised" forms and derivations of the English Language that are spoken on planet earth. (Good ole sporting Uncle Sam done gone and hijacked the word "world" to prerface the finals of various games that are only played in America so I refer to a much broader landscape in appreciation of ex-l's point.
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ex-l

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Re: middle class religion

Post28 Jul 2007

abek wrote:Thank you. I learnt the meaning of a word I never heard before:

I am not an intellectual, so do not think I am putting on airs and graces here, but I erect a sign post that says, "Roland Barthes" if you are interested in meaning and the use of language as a means of control. If you have not tripped over his corpse to date, Barthes was an usher of Postmodernism, interested in myths as the products of social groups using unexamined social codes. "Probably a new soul" ... as they say. Actually, probably not.
malachiel wrote:People here I know about that speak patois become teachers, but that's about it! And you'd better not question them too much about The Cycle or the Advance Party ... They'll give you points of Murli, not scientific explanations. They're simply laughed at when they want to do workshops (it's like, people sit there and laugh at their mistakes or language, and they know it, but they keep at it because the want to project positive self-image (elevated karma through service), but they're still being put down. "He's not likely to go give a class elswhere, poor Chub"). It's really twisted and vicious.

I was afraid of that. Its terrible. They probably have very pure hearts, free of all the artifices of middle class, with a good love. Sometimes that is even used as a put down, e.g. "she a very loveful soul", or "the soul has a lot of love for Baba." Its means, "they are bit stupid".

In Indian, the BKWSU is known as being a wealthy religion and it is has been noted by academics that most of its followers are middle class. I do not know the figures.

Is there much of any outreach from the Indian BKs in the Caribbean to the Black community (or elsewhere in the Americas) or is it "their thing"? Is there division between "white" centers and "brown" centers?
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abrahma kumar

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from xBKChat Archive

Post16 Sep 2007

Guest

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2005 2:36 am Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, For fun U may listen to this.., then dig this. with such a Bhakti (cat) feeling and also humour inspaitt;.. Rasta Man Songs, that takes you further in the digging of Gyan them should could be made to play just intended to purify your mind (mana) that also works allways with the passion and nature.

The Rasta man always talks from the heart, pure feelings, specially the king of this music; Zion train is comming our way, Soul train is comming our way. "inspaitt", this passion for freedom shouted by this consciouss people, filled within with love for Gyan, loving lyrics lovin Baba with mind engaged in love, love for freedom, serving humanity... like they say.. Them a go to Zion (Paramdham), Get readdy.., also.. the mother and the Father makes the moods of the children... Jaja, them nice people, U Know ?.. as the rasta musical king says, .. Why should I bend down my head and cry, my Father is the KING,.. or, ..taking over, Revelation time.. Oh Jah ! Earth right full ruller, the conquering lion free our people again, and again and again....
This cool stuff then, Mon... Lively up yourself.. and positive vibrations to all of ´em, The Rasta man says it.

Regards.
...
Have fun !

onthor

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Young, Gifted & Black in the BKWSU ...

Post26 Nov 2016

Do you find yourself in this birth as a BK / ex-BK soul in black body?
Yes - 3 (14%)
No - 18 (86%)
Total votes : 21

So this topic was started in 2007 and one can estimate that the result (as we see it today) reflects the situation around that timeframe.

Does anyone have an idea if the BKs have seen an increase in the 'coming to Gyan' of those of Black African decent?

I don't mean to be derogatory in my choice of words in that question but I am NOW personally more comfortable with the descriptor Black African descent rather than the "BK spiritual correctness" which is used as a way to distance themselves from the accusation that they (the hierarchy) view humans of African as inferior".

By way of sticking a pin in the current standing of this topic I chose to log the number of reported views : 16440

regards

onthor

GuptaRati 6666

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Re: Young, Gifted & Black in the BKWSU ...

Post27 Nov 2016

I do not want to go into much details as my identity will be revealed. My foot prints and finger prints as a black BK or ex-BK along the marg or pathway of BKSU are unique like the DNA in each of the cells in my body. Even my voice is also unique.

The BK experience as an African American has been quite interesting and unique. I have had no troubles with the God Spirit. However, I seemed to have had a jihad or spiritual war with some elements in the BK administration. I am a dissident by nature and rather heterodox. Both qualities helped me deal effectively with race problems in the BK culture. I have had a great rapport with the God Spirit from day 1 of my journey and it continues to be great. It has recognized me as a soul who has done much and will do much more without the BK sponsorship and I respect it as a spirit being.

I started the journey on raj Yoga marg in my early 20's and have no regrets about my schooling in raj Yoga. I fully understood from the get go that the BKs had to maintain a facade or Indo-image or Hindu image and knew my place in the scene of the affairs of the world. It sometimes felt bad when white Brothers with little or no academic training were called up to speak at public lectures or white Sisters. However, I knew that those giving lectures also had to pay their dues in tapasya or efforts in Yoga meditation.

I also knew that my pursuit of training in the biomedical sciences would give me tickets, academic credentials to have key positions in society with no BK influences. I also witnessed the way Errol was treated as he pursued his veterinary medical studies at Tuskegee. I thought of him as being the Che Guvera in the Americas.

GuptaRati 6666

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Re: Young, Gifted & Black in the BKWSU ...

Post27 Nov 2016

Tuskegee was one of the first service centers established in the US and visited even by Kumaka Dadi. Tuskegee University is the major institution in the small city of Tuskegee. It is a famous city and the university has a rich legacy.

The sister-in-charge was the late Barbara Moore, who made her home into a Raj Yoga Center. She was a very gifted nutritionist. Because of Tuskegee, many of the who's who in the black community got the BK message. Atlanta, the home of the Carter Center and residences of the Youngs and Kings is 150 miles from Tuskegee.

onthor

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Young, Gifted & Black in the BKWSU ...

Post27 Nov 2016

Thank you Gupta.

I have started to do a bit of research and I see that not only is Tuskagee a place of some repute but has also gifted the United States of America quite a few influential historical figures. It is also a place no little controversy, i.e tuskegee syphilis experiment (which lasted about 40 years); I knew of this experiment before iIposted on this topic.

African Americans are renowned for their leanings toward forms of Christ worship, was it so for many of the locals who came to Gyan?

I became aware of this aspect of American History a couple of years ago via a feature on a kind of magazine show that was aired on a radio station in the part of the world where I live.

The host was interviewing a female guest who had written a book relating the story of a male family relative who she had discovered had been part of the experiment. I recall her saying that she was initially in some disbelief when her probings began to unearth this aspect of her family history but this incredulity was replaced with a fervour for the truth as her investigations uncovered the abuse that this experiment subjected Tuskagee's African American male population to.

onthor

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Young, Gifted & Black in the BKWSU ...

Post27 Nov 2016

This is all so strange - and I am mad - but by now anyone reading the garbage I write will be well aware of this. So, GuptaRati 6666 shared about Tuskagee which prompted me to go get myself an education. Amongst other things I discovered that amongst the list of named people from Tuskagee are folks to reckon with (if you believe). Even Dadi Janki would have to admit that if she was looking for an all-round education, however (like a mantra) disinterest (and not grease) is the word, is the word, is the word, is the word... but am going off topic!

The Tuskagee Experiment, an unethical inhumane enterprise, was conducted on Afro Americans by none other than the United States Public Health Service. Yes folks 'service' a good old BK appropriated word we know so well! Having discovered that it was a sanctioned experiment good ole onthor had a hunch to go see what there is to find out about this unethical United States Public Health Service and the first thing that piqued my interest was the seal & logo!

I see that the primary elements of the logo of the USPHS are as follows: An anchor with chain; A pin with a pair of wings at the top end; A pair of snakes wrapped around the pin so that the individual snake heads end opposite each other as though in conversation (you can check it for yourself if you are so interested).

Next thing I did was go check Freemason symbolism containing anchor & serpent and was amazed that amongst the many, happy returns was quite a few bearing some similarity to the USPHS logo.

So, Young, Gifted and Black BK's how much has Gyan taught you or encouraged you to enquire about the history of people of Black African descent? After all, by appearance alone there is a whole narrative that accompanies you wherever you tread, is not it? Or is that me being body conscious?

Is there any evidence that Mr. Lekhraj was or was associated with masons or masonic organisations?

GuptaRati 6666

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Re: Young, Gifted & Black in the BKWSU ...

Post27 Nov 2016

Janki Dadi visited Tuskegee twice: in the late summer of 1978 and fall of 1981.

In the late summer of 1978, Janki was given the keys of the City of Tuakegee, by the Mayor Johnny Ford. Tuskegee is also famous for the Tuskegee Airmen, dare devil fighter pilots who were feared by the Luft Waffle and never lost a single bomber or escorted aircraft during WW II. Additionally, Tuskegee is famous for its school of veterinary medicine and the Tuskegee Choir. About 80% of the black veterinarians in the USA are Tuskegee graduates. Experiments in cardiovascular physiology and surgery at Tuskegee contributed to advancing human heart surgery.

Dr. George Washington Carver, famous agricultural chemist from Tuskegee advised Mahatma Gandhi on nutrition. The USPHS has contributed to a dark history of Tuskegee. It was not the last time. There is a big cover up by the Centers for Disease Control on autism spectrum disorder in African American children due to vaccination.

Alabama the state in which Tuskegee is located is in the Bible Belt. Many African Americans are Christ followers. The paradox for many in the African diaspora is accommodating the historical Jesus with roots in ancient Egypt and Jesus in the Bibles created by Paul and other ancient and middle aged scholars. Many Christians have difficulties accepting that Jesus studied in India.

The Caduceus, the serpents used by the USPHS is a sacred symbol originating from India and Egypt. The serpents and staff are symbolic of the kundalini.

onthor

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Young, Gifted & Black in the BKWSU ...

Post27 Nov 2016

I find your last two sentences very,very interesting though some might say that thinking of a cover-up might be signs that one is falling foul to conspiracy theories. As for me, I have recently found a lot of my prior worldview coming under heavy reassessment as I might have said elsewhere, I finally feel as if I am getting myself an all round education.

I also have prior knowledge of the Tuskagee Airmen; interesting is not it that it appears like no matter what high attainment Black African's achieve or contribute to the to positive advancement of life on the planet they are always subject to narrow minded victimisation. Because all I currently know about the USPHS is what i have gathered since it 'accidentally' came up on this topic I will have to do some more reading

It sounds as though your journey as a BK did not curtail your acquisition of knowledge, good on you Brother, and long it may it continue. And for all the fallen 'soldiers' (who are first and foremost humans); and to all the 'fallen BKs' whose journey sees them alive in some other place and time, here's a tune to remind us that yet still we rise.

Love to you all.

Regards

Othor

onthor

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Young, Gifted & Black in the BKWSU ...

Post27 Nov 2016

GuptaRati 6666 wrote:Alabama the state in which Tuskegee is located is in the Bible Belt. Many African Americans are Christ followers. The paradox for many in the African diaspora is accommodating the historical Jesus with roots in ancient Egypt and Jesus in the Bibles created by Paul and other ancient and middle aged scholars. Many Christians have difficulties accepting that Jesus studied in India. The Caduceus, the serpents used by the USPHS is a sacred symbol originating from India and Egypt. The serpents and staff are symbolic of the kundalini.

Ain't it peculiar, Alabama rhymes with Abrahma, the name of the poster who initiated this topic and here we are building on this Young, Gifted & Black matter as relates to the BKWSU.

GuptaRati 6666 am going to share something with you that only I can because it comes from my headspace. Gupta, I owe you an apology and big one at that. When I first read your writings here, although there was something about your energy that 'struck me as interesting', I compelled myself to erect a shade from behind which I tried to discern your purpose in being here on an ex-BK forum.

For what it is worth, I now feel in my heart that the "GuptaRati 6666 shade" is now down, for I see that a lot of its substance was formed from the proverbial 'beam in my own eye' - a lot but not all :). But as I learnt as a BK, it is often good to sit tight and wait and see, if drama wills a thing it will be so.

Thank you for sharing your experience and opening out this topic.

GuptaRati 6666

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Re: Young, Gifted & Black in the BKWSU ...

Post28 Nov 2016

Onthor,

Thank you very much. I am not on this site to nest up my resume and I do not think any of us are here for that reason. As I said before I am not going to have the Stockholm Syndrome with BKSU. At the same time, I am not ever going to let the experiences at BKSU haunt and hurt me. I'll just move on. I attended Tuskegee when the BKs arrived in town and got to know Errol and Barbara well.

Errol spent seven years at Tuskegee where he attained a first degree in animal science and pre-veterinary studies and the doctorate in veterinary medicine. During the first two years of the BKs activities in Tuskegee, Errol's apartment was the Geta Parthshala or Yoga center. When his head was not in the veterinary text books or the ocular lens of a microscope, he was doing seva as best as he could manage.

onthor

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Young, Gifted & Black in the BKWSU ...

Post28 Nov 2016

I go all sort of blank and lost when I try to get my head around the paradox you refer to. I have only recently - in the last two months - started to follow a reading path that is uncovering it and 'understatement' would do no justice when i say that it all leaves me numb & dumbfounded inside.

Whenever I think about these paradoxes my mind feels as though it is scrambling in futility to make some sense of the world as it has been presented to us; it lurches from one crumbling foothold to another seeking out reality, all the while knowing that if there really is anything left to stand upon it will have to be a thing of faith all of my own making.
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ex-l

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Re: Young, Gifted & Black in the BKWSU ...

Post28 Nov 2016

onthor wrote:my mind feels as though it is scrambling in futility to make some sense of the world ...

I admire and congratulate you for trying ... but, especially, trying to get up to speed from your sleepy sojourn in BKism.

If you find any definite answer, please let us all know. And, more to the point, especially if you work out how not to be depressed or dejected at what you find.

Yes, I think one answer is that if there is "anything left to stand upon" it will be a thing of your own making.

I think that is a big part of the puzzle. No more riding on Dada's or Dadi's coat tails. Dig you own foundations, learn your own lessons, and build your own creation.

From memory, there was only 3 or 4 'negroid' BKs during my time. Perhaps there were a few more later in the Midlands when Easton was active within the BKs, but he's more than half out now and doing his own thing. I'd say the older ones that did not live in bhavans were somewhat marginalised. There was Garfield but he was doing a disappearing act at the time. Was he the gentle/shy guitarist, or was that someone else?

Remember Cynthia? Sweet soul but appeared a little pained and although deeply surrendered, I wonder if she suffered a little from 'the face not fitting'. Paul who wanted to be a 'soul' singer (irony alert ... presumably being a boxer was Avyakt enough so what is a young black man supposed to do). I wonder why on earth he joined the BKs rather than some church with a decent choir?

On one level I have to think dressing up as a Brahmin and adopting Hinduism Lite™ it is a huge cultural leap for a African-Caribbean to make, even to adopt the path of a yogi. But then, on the other hand, there has been Indian-Indian blood and genes swirling around the region for a few hundred years. I always questioned whether Rastas adopted some of their culture, and the dope smoking, from Indian saddhu influences (could be way wrong though).

How is BKism for Dravidian Indians who can be equally dark skinned?

How much is it about being of the right class rather than the right colours?

Looking back though, mostly I see it all as some kind of dressing up game for the slightly misfit which we were hypnotised into to amuse the Kirpalani Klan.
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