Stephan Nagel aka BK Surya

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Stephan Nagel aka BK Surya

Post11 Feb 2009

Still exploring alternative career projectories for BK followers who gave everything to the BKWSU only for the predictions of Destruction to fail and systemic abuses within the BKWSU to impact negatively upon their lives ... I see Suman and Dr Stephan "BK Surya Bhai" Nagel seem to be back on service with, at least the latter, mixing "seva" with his own professional interests. In my opinion, as far as I can see he turned his involvement as a Brahma-Kumari follower into a Doctorate of Theology via a rather easy PhD then published as his latter book.

From a cynical BK point of view, Stephan would appear to have turned BK lessons numbers 4 and 5, The Tree and The Cycle, into a career and is now teaching "Bhakti" ... sorry ... "Comparative Religion Philosophy and Religious Studies" at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main and at the University of Darmstadt in Germany.

Stephan is better knows within BKWSU circles as "BK Surya Bhai" and had first contact with the Brahma Kumaris in Delhi, 1970 converting to become a Brahma-kumari follower soon after. Probably the first Western BK to "recognise" Baba as God. He is said to be a "freelance writer" in Frankfurt. Which I suppose means he makes money out of books on the BKs. The book is, of course, sold by the Germany BKWSU via its artful BKmedia,info website.

The main book is "Theion - Brahmas Geheime Schöpfung Jahrbuch für Religionskultur - Die indische Reformationsbewegung der Brahma Kumaris", 1999. Theion - Brahma's Creation Secret - the Hindu Reformation Movement of the Brahma Kumaris.

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BK follower Stephan Nagel and book
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I am concerned about a possible element of deception here and, typical to what the Brahma Kumaris call "yukti" and, of course, the lack of academic accuracy given Stephan/Surya's access to official sources and first hand experience of the movement. It trots out the usual whitewashed version of BKWSU history ... giving academic credibility to the lies, falsehood and covers up ... mentions nothing of the controversies, the historical-revision, the BK-PBK split, the failed predictions of Destruction, the Lekhraj Kirpalani as God period etc. Admittedly, my German is very poor and it has not been translated into English as we hoped ... but the BK elements are very clear and wrong. All the usual criticism apply.

Suman are Surya were very close. When the BKWSU center in Frankfurt closed, the European leadership put out the rumour that they had "left Gyan" and married, which is understood not to be true. the real reasons were covered up and had, I understand, more to do with Jayanti's domination of all other European teachers. But close they are. My concern here is that the double act is being presented to academic as the neutral academic and the insider. I wonder if Suman's insider view goes as far to document and discuss the problems she had and so on. I suspect not and it is all still "service", as in "public relations", for the Brahma Kumaris.

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BK Nagel and BK Suman published together
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The following is from the academic publication "Westliche Formen des Hinduismus in Deutschland - Eine Übersicht (Western forms of Hinduism in Germany - An Overview). Edited by Herausgegeben von Michael Bergunder, Professor of History of Religion and Missiology at the University of Heidelberg. Halle, 2006 ISBN 3-931479-76-5.
The present volume is a problem-oriented, interdisciplinary overview of Western forms of Hinduism in German speaking countries. In the center stands the question of how Hindu traditions in the cultural context of Europe and adapted reinterpret and what interdependencies to contemporary religious movements in South Asia can be observed. This should also contribute to the conceptual penetration of this topic from a scientific perspective of religion to be done. Major groups such as Hare Krishna (ISKCON), Transcendental Meditation, Osho movement, Brahma Kumaris, Sai Baba, Thakar Singh, will be individually discussed and analyzed.

Brahma Kumaris

    * Nagel, Stephan S.: Yoga and salvation history. Leitmotivs of the Indian religious movement of the Brahma Kumaris in the Western context.
    * Bakshi, Suman Devi: reflection from the inside perspective: Westerners and Indians at the Brahma Kumaris.


Brahma's Secret Creation is sold for 25 Euros by the BKWSU (approximately) as
BKmedia wrote:The Brahma Kumaris is a spiritual community teachings the meditative Yoga, Raja Yoga, with idealistic societal goals and teaching practices. God and history and the practice of the interconnection of the individual to a non-earthly Soul World without time and space. Since 1936, the Brahma Kumaris have expanded throughout India and are well established in many countries throughout the world. The Brahma Kumaris at all levels are headed by women. This entirely new kind of feminism is characterized by friendly cooperation with men, of which a large numbers to the members and supporters belong.

The 'Yearbook for Religious Culture, Volume XI' provides from original Hindi translated source, texts that are hereby designated for the first time to the scientific public. The item is the first comprehensive philological and systematic presentation of the Brahma Kumaris and their teaching, as well as the development of spiritual community in the Indian context.

The religious scholars, theologians and India travelers Dr. Stephan Nagel is a profound connoisseur of the matter for experts and lay people alike, interesting in the overall picture presented by Brahma Kumaris.

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