Excuse me for hijacking a bansy quote from another thread but thanks.
ex-l wrote:Does his mood change?
Does he become more serious and practical?
Does he talk quicker or even listen?
Is it conversational or one way?
I always wondered why he might need to ask, when surely he should know. What is the mood of the Seniors during and after? It sounds like Lekhraj Kirpalani checking up on the family business to me!
Hi everyone
I am new to this site but not new to the BKs. I was a serious (pukka) member for just over 10 years, from 1980 to around 1991 - my memory for precise years gets hazier as time goes on.
When I first went to Madhuban, in the early 80's, there were about 300 non-Indian BKs at Madhuban at any point during the months December to February. We met BapDada in the meeting hall, whose name escapes me, but is up the steps next to Baba's Hut (on one occasion we met BapDada in the history hall).
BapDada would come every few days - maybe every 3 or 4 days, I don't remember exactly - and each time he came he would speak a Murli, which would take about an hour and a half. And then from about 9pm onwards, he would meet us.
In a 3 or 4 week visit, any individual would meet BapDada two or three times. First you would meet in a group, consisting of your country or your centre – so about 8-12 at a time. BapDada would appraise the group, looking at each in turn, for maybe 3 minutes and then talk about what he felt were the strengths and weaknesses. Then you would meet in turn. BapDada would look at you for some time, maybe a minute or more, then speak to you. Many people asked questions and had short interchanges. The personal meeting was about 4 – 5 minutes long. What BapDada said or did not say to each individual could cause a hell of lot of problems. I remember one Sister who was devastated because Baba said the same thing to her (almost word for word) as the previous year.
Once BapDada had met everyone he was going to meet that night, which usually went on until about 1 am in those days, the people who had not gone to bed (maybe 40 or so) would gather round and BapDada would chat with us and laugh and tease and then throw toli (sweets) into the group.
Then Dadi, Didi (she died in 1981 I think, I only met her on my first visit) and Dadi Janki would sit close to Baba and talk to him in Hindi. Although there was no translation, I remember these discussions as being very practical. For instance Dadi would say that nothing was decided about some event or trip until they had spoken to Baba about it. Then the day after Baba had come, Dadi would announce what was going to happen.
As time went on and Om Shanti Bhavan was built at Madhuban, numbers increased and you would only meet BapDada once in a visit. The numbers were such that BapDada would sometimes stay until 6 in the morning meeting people – hence the 12 hours mentioned in someone’s post. The meetings between BapDada and the Seniors continued (but there was no throwing of toli anymore!).
These meetings were a discussion, a conversation, an exchange of ideas and views.
So, yes ex-l, BapDada displayed a number of ‘moods’ and modes of interaction.
Saraquel