02 Jun 2008
5000 Years Drama - Deja vu Feeling - posted by: ifegenia on April 30, 2004
I was a BK for a few years. Went to Murli every morning, meditated at 4:00 am, went to India a few times, did a lot of service at the center and stayed long enough to see and experience much hypocritical and cruel behavior especially amongst so called senior Sisters. I gradually weaned myself away from the BK’s because of that cruelty. Over and over again, I saw them ostracize and shun different members for one reason or another. Perhaps they thought it kept everyone else in line.
Nothing is better than this type of experience to teach one about the dangers of authoritarian cults. The focus in the group was always on one’s “status” or “number.” After visiting India, and discovering how deeply ingrained the concept of one’s status or caste is in the culture, I began to see why they attracted so many followers there. Perhaps many lower caste Indians felt they could escape their low status in society by joining the BK’s and finally be considered a Brahmin. Of course in their minds because of the indoctrination - as the “true” Brahmnins.
I still meditate every morning. I did not throw out the baby with the bath water. I had some profound experiences in Madhuban and don’t regret the experience, although the constant focus on “destruction” and all the gloom and doom really started to become very depressing.
Although, I did experience attitudes of “elitism” at Madhuban, most of the cruelty that I was referring to was at a major center elsewhere. What I witnessed was actual planning and plotting little and not so little cruelties against some members that the Seniors just did not want around anymore. Locking them out of the building, and humiliating them in front of the group in different ways. I would rather not get into any specifics as I am sure that many of them have already found this forum and are actively reading this.
The BK’s are quite adept at appearing like a benign group to outsiders. Their functions and programs in the community are certainly uplifting and appear quite positive to newcomers. They certainly did appear that way to me when I was a newcomer. Wonderful meditations, wonderful music, and strong spiritual concepts. It is only after one has taken the meditation course, and then become part of the core group of a center does one become aware of the internal workings of the center. That is when I became aware of the darker side of the BK’s.
As I mentioned before, I still meditate daily. Not at 4:00 am though. I meditate at about 5:30 - 6:0 am
Administrator inserted note:
* These were two posts made by ifegenia. They are separated by the elipses ... but have been counted as one, because they were made on the same day and the second post continues along the lines of the first post “.