Honour Roll - suicide and death within the BKWSU

for ex-BKs to discuss matters related to experiences in BKWSU & after leaving.
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lalita

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Post28 Aug 2007

Suicide Pact or Accidental Death?
ABC News wrote:Doctor to face manslaughter trial Posted Tue Apr 4, 2006 10:40am AEST

A Wollongong doctor is to stand trial for manslaughter. Wollongong Local Court has found there is enough evidence for Dr Garry Gow to face a jury on a charge of causing the death of his patient, Wayne Neil Ritchie, 53. Mr Ritchie was found dead in his Figtree home in October 2004.

Mr Ritchie's girlfriend, Andrea Sant, told the court she gave him a syringe with 120 milligrams of morphine as prescribed by the doctor the night before his death, as he was in a great deal of pain. Pathologist Dr William John Allender said it was his opinion that dosage of morphine should not have been prescribed outside of a hospital, due to a lack of medical back-up. The trial is due to start in Wollongong District Court on May 15.

Link: Manslaughter Trial
Sidney Morning Herald wrote:'Overdose' doctor walks free October 27, 2006 - 7:23PM

Homeopath and general practitioner who admitted prescribing the wrong type of morphine to a patient who later died of an overdose has been given an 18-month suspended jail term. Retiree Wayne Ritchie suffered chronic back pain for which he could find little medical relief. When his doctor refused to give him the pain killing drug morphine in August 2004, he sought the advice of homeopath and general practitioner Gary Gow.

Gow, a doctor of almost 30 years experience, offered Mr Ritchie homeopathic remedies for his ailments, seeing morphine as a last resort. Eventually bowing to pressure from the 52-year-old patient, Gow prescribed morphine tartrate - a powerful drug designed to be administered gradually, in small doses, to terminally ill cancer patients with severe intractable pain.

Twelve hours after injecting himself with 120mg of the drug at his NSW south coast home on October 3, 2004, Mr Ritchie died of an overdose. Gow, 53, pleaded guilty to manslaughter over the death, admitting he wrongly prescribed morphine tartrate instead of morphine sulphate, and failed to issue any dosage instructions. NSW District Court judge Peter Berman today said Gow had made a "series of serious mistakes with terrible consequences".

"By his plea of guilty Dr Gow accepts that he breached the duty of care which he owed to Mr Ritchie in a way that was so serious that it merited criminal punishment," Judge Berman told the court. "Mr Ritchie would not have died if Dr Gow had done what was required of him." However, Gow was "a man of impeccable character, who is deeply ashamed of his mistake and who recognises the gravity of his error," Judge Berman said.

In suspending the sentence, the judge commended Gow for fully admitting his errors and not attempting to justify them in any way, nor shift the blame to Mr Ritchie, as was "open" to him to do. Judge Berman also criticised the pharmacist for failing to pick up the mistake when filling the prescription.

"That is of course not to excuse Dr Gow's errors but it is to recognise that people, even professional people, make mistakes, and systems are set up to prevent a single mistake having a catastrophic consequence," he said. Judge Berman described Gow as a "caring and compassionate" doctor who was "deeply remorseful" for what he had done, in a period of great stress in his life.

He handed Gow an 18-month suspended jail term, with a non-parole period of 12 months, letting him walk free on the condition he be of good behaviour for the period of his sentence. The doctor offered no comment as he left the court complex accompanied by his wife. Mr Ritchie's partner, Andrea Sant, and other members of his family also declined to speak outside the court.

A spokesman for the NSW Medical Board confirmed Gow was still eligible to practise, but had prescription limitations imposed on him from the date he was charged. The board was investigating and would meet in the coming days to discuss the case, the spokesman said.

AAP

Link: Overdose Doctor Walks Free
Australian Health Association wrote:Doctor Given Suspended Sentence Over Morphine Death

A Wollongong doctor who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the Sydney District Court has been given an 18 month suspended sentence for manslaughter. In 2004, 53-year-old Wayne Ritchie went to see Dr Gary Gow, for his chronic back pain. At his third consultation Gow prescribed Mr Ritchie with five ampoules of morphine tartrate. Mr Ritchie died 12 hours after he injected one of the ampoules of the drug into his leg. Judge Peter Berman said Gow made a series of mistakes because he prescribed the wrong kind of morphine and failed to give Mr Ritchie any instructions on how much to take. But he said Gow was a man of impeccable character, whose mistake could have been picked up by others before Mr Ritchie died.

Link: Suspended Sentance
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light server

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Post15 Jan 2008

Not with Raja Yoga. And yet with Raja Yoga you are allowed to go and mess around with individuals minds at equally as deep or even deeper level. At least in traditional guru chela systems you have to stick around for years, may be 7 or more before they will allow you to go out and practise the tradition.

Nietzsche said in 'The Will To Power' that the idea of eternal recurrence is the most difficult of ideas to grasp. Though eternal damnation in the Christian or Muslim sense, I find difficulty with this too.

I wish all the figures could be compared relating to suicide concerning different spiritual groups. This would give a more objective light to this post.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL BK AND X-BK

BKWSU.blogspot.com/
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Mr Green

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Post15 Jan 2008

I am not sure such a thing can be objective ... and what for ... I don't think the idea of this thread is to make a point, just to honour the poor souls who have died in great sorrow.
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ex-l

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Post16 Jan 2008

mr green wrote:just to honour the poor souls who have died in great sorrow.

People that were used by the organization and would have been called Sister or Brother.
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frisbee

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Re: Honour Roll - suicide

Post24 Jan 2009

I wonder how BB would feel seeing the immense suffering and harm his religion has caused? Of course we know how people like the current leadership would feel, i.e. not feel. How would BB feel given that he was apparently a bit sensitive?

Terry

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Re: Honour Roll - Sucide

Post04 Feb 2009

light server wrote: I wish all the figures could be compared relating to suicide concerning different spiritual groups. This would give a more objective light to this post.

We can start that ball rolling by looking at the figures for the general population. Here are figures from the Australian Government Bureau of Statistics for 2005 that show suicide makes up:

    - 1.6% of all deaths
    - averages around 20% for males between 15 and 50 years
    - averages around 11% for females between 15 and 40 years
suicide stats200ABS.pdf
(32.19 KiB) Downloaded 1058 times
This is relatively high figure for an OECD country. Though I have only basic education in statistics, I'd suggest any examination of suicide rates among BKs and ex-BKs would need to be examined by countries or zones. Though stats can be deceiving unless scrupulously analysed, I guess the results would show BKs have a lower than average rate. That would of course miss the main point which is - what caused these particular individuals to suicide? Was their experience in the BKs a major factor, or coincidental to other conditions?

I am of firm belief that the BKWSU is at the very least a strong contributing factor to the suicide of Ranjana, whom I knew and loved. On that one incident alone, it is incumbent upon them to take action in whatever way that may prevent it happening again. At least have some properly trained & experienced counsellors that a troubled BK can see or be referred to without feeling that they have 'failed" the teachings.

It would need to be a counsellor not completely beholden to the BK view, one that is willing to say -" this path is not for you, you would be better off doing such and such" if need be. Unlike old style Roman Catholic priests who used church teachings to counsel women not to use contraception despite being obviously distressed and unable to cope, diminishing further their sense of self,adding to their poverty, mental illnesses,murder and suicides.(And this point is NOT about chastity, it is about dogma).

I remember clearly Dadi Janki giving a class saying BKs should never see astrologers, psychologists, "lokik" counsellors, psychics, etc (she lumped them all together) as Baba's Murli was the best therapy. This is not documented to my knowledge, although someone may have jotted notes somewhere, but it is a distinct and clear memory. I discussed it after with a few people. It was spoken by her in my presence in Sydney in the late 1980's (possibly early 90's) at the Ashfield centre known as Indraprasth.

I remember it for a number of reasons, one is that Jenny Pusey was there (are you reading these posts Jenny - do you remember the year?) and we gave each other a big warm hug right in front of DJ whose face can only be described as momentarily stunned - jaw open, wide eyed.
Nietzsche said in 'The Will To Power' that the idea of eternal recurrence is the most difficult of ideas to grasp.

Neitzche presented the idea of eternal recurrence as a philosophical benchmark by which we can measure how life affirming we are. He was not presenting it as a cosmological theory. He would have picked it up from the emerging interest in Eastern thought that occurred through Europe in the late 19C.

His idea was that, only if you were willing to say "yes" to repeating even the worst experiences and times of your life in the face of eternal recurrence could you in fact be saying 'yes'' to life, because life was made up of the best and the worst moments. It was also a response to the church's promise of eternal heaven or eternal hell and the way it distracted people from living life in the here and now.
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ex-l

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Re: Honour Roll - Sucide

Post04 Feb 2009

terry wrote:We can start that ball rolling by looking at the figures for the general population ...

I think it would be more fair to use an equivalent comparable, e.g. Seventh Day Adventists, Buddhist sects living in monastery/temples, Carmelite nuns ... their old interfaith chums such as the Bahais etc and to look at the symbolic nature of the suicides, e.g. Ranjana's 5th floor.

The point I am making is to cut out the extremes, e.g. substance abusers, young aggressive males, beggars or impoverished farmers in India etc, and limit it to similar castes or classes.
I am of firm belief that the BKWSU is at the very least a strong contributing factor to the suicide of Ranjana, whom I knew and loved ... At least have some properly trained & experienced counsellors that a troubled BK can see or be referred to without feeling that they have 'failed" the teachings.

Of course, agreed on both accounts ... and I have always suggested an independent ombudsperson service like the Hare Krishna's brought about after their abuse exposés.
I remember clearly Dadi Janki giving a class saying BKs should never see astrologers, psychologists, "lokik" counsellors, psychics, etc ... as Baba's Murli was the best therapy.

I concur with this recollection. There was only "more Yoga", Murli and the Seniors for sugar-coated Shrimat. Not even talking amongst peers was encouraged.

But why? Why would they do that? Too keep all power in their hands and avoid any close inspection that might challenge their authority? I mean, what would any lokik therapist think of a group of individuals with beliefs matching the Brahma-kumaris, e.g. Dadi Janki as the world's most stable mind and one of the top 8 souls ever etc!?!

Obviously for the original BK everyone else are ignorant/impure/dangerous body-conscious shudras ... and for Indian's mental problems are bound in superstition and carry great social stigma. But what on earth makes them imagine that they are, honestly, the 'be all and end all' of all cures? And have the power of diagnosis?

And to the suicides we have to add the mental breakdowns ...

I was alerted by a news story of a young woman's suicide in an Brahma Kumari's center in Orissa who set her self on fire. The police and the intelligence agencies were in the dark because the body and other relevant clues were deliberately cleared up and the BK center in charges disappeared after the crime. The BKWSU headquarters went into denial claiming it was a plot to discredit them. Did anyone ever hear an official statement?

Ditto, the case in Panipat. Again the centers-in-charge absconded. The official word was the individual was suffering from mental illness despite doctors notes to the contrary. Well, obviously ... why wasn't it noticed and something done about it? In the Panipat case, apparently there were letters to the Seniors alleging abuse. Then the individual hanged in Abu or the individuals committing suicide in a New Delhi center and having the center-in-charge lock the door on the corpse and carry on serving Bhog.

Do we see patterns emerging?

Now, I am on the outside depending on news reports and other sources ... what else is going on out there? Where the Seniors are seen to be more concerned about PR and keeping face ... and given to ad hoc "exorcisms" ... what hope is there?

Terry

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Re: Honour Roll - Sucide

Post04 Feb 2009

ex-l wrote:The point I am making is to cut out the extremes, e.g. substance abusers, young aggressive males, beggars or impoverished farmers in India etc, and limit it to similar castes or classes.

Yes, a large number of suicides are those categories you mention and they can be excluded to give a better comparitive sample. But to compare to other "groups" - that'd be trying to get even more sects and cults etc to open up and reveal all! Good Luck! Unless it is legislated, I doubt you could get that to happen.

Rather than compare suicide or mental breakdown rates, as you mention the Hare Krishna appointing an external ombudsman, maybe researching a number of groups to see what systems they have in place, doing a mix and match of the best ideas and processes, then present a report with recommendations? Particularly apt activity for "reforming BKs" I'd think.
And to the suicides we have to add the mental breakdowns ...

Now that's also somewhere figures may be available - from mental health service departments or psychiatric/psychologists associations. How many reported cases can be linked to religious groups?
... a news story of a young woman's suicide in an Brahma Kumari's center in Orissa ... the case in Panipat ... the individual hanged in Abu or the individuals committing suicide in a New Delhi center ... Do we see patterns emerging?"

I am aware of these cases from reading through the forums. Is there a page or article here somewhere where all these events are itemised in a clear concise way without commentary, just known facts (that can be added to if more cases emerge)? It would in itself be powerful. Name, place, date, report of event, report of investigations, official actions or conclusions - if any - from secular authorities, same again from organisation.
Now, I am on the outside depending on news reports and other sources ... what else is going on [in] there?

Well, I know in business they say for every complaint expressed, there are 7-10 that are not expressed, so maybe with these more noticeable cases, there'd be a lower ratio, but even if it was for every 3 cases reported there was one unreported, or unknown to the BKSWU, that would still be serious indeed.

I would like to add those who have died in car accidents to the Honour Roll - many of which were caused by driver fatigue due to the ridiculous peer pressure encouraging adherents to forego sleep in the cause of early morning meditation and the BK routines; the long hours kept day in day out as people tried to earn a living, look after households, and do "service" programmes. There have been quite few of these.

I start with Ian from Edinburgh, whose surname I forget.

As well as naming them in this honour roll topic, a facts page like the one suggested earlier for suicides - of just names, dates locations - circumstances - for these deaths would be a good idea. Simple facts can say so much when collated (total greater than the sum of its parts). Or maybe one page for both "accidents', suicides and causative deaths - but separate to topics for discussion. No discussion required.
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paulkershaw

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Re: Honour Roll - suicide

Post05 Feb 2009

I am surprised that no parent/spouse/sibling has bothered to try sue the BKWSU for the death of their family member. I am sure if the Americans can so easily sue over something as ridiculous as, say, a woman successfully suing a department store for tripping over a child standing behind her whilst she was busy at a cosmetics counter (and the child was hers by the way!) then surely someone can find a way to sue for wrongful and untimely death caused by said organisation's practices and teachings? Especially if said teaching specifically says 'you may as well jump off a 5 storey building' or causes undue tiredness so that car crash death occurs.

It fascinates me why this has not yet happened and, if it did, then it would truly highlight what is being said on this forum. Perhaps some out of court settlements have been reached in the past, maybe with a gagging order to go with it.

So this is why no-one is speaking up if it has already happened in the past???

Terry

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Re: Honour Roll - suicide

Post01 Mar 2009

In an earlier post I could not remember the full name of someone who died in a car crash on a country road in Scotland due to fatigue (which i blame on pressure to maintain a certain lifestyle that some readers of these pages may be familiar with).

    Ian Dunne we remember you.
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ex-l

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Re: Honour Roll - suicide

Post17 Mar 2009

So, we add Esther Lung of Hong Kong and Derby, England ... with a big question mark on her grave stone. RIP January the 18th 2009?

Why did you go? What did you want to say to whom?
terry wrote:In an earlier post I could not remember the full name of someone who died in a car crash on a country road in Scotland due to fatigue

Cant remember his name, there was a big, young Indian in the London center who also died in a horrific, unnaccountable car crash. I think he might have been a Sikh. He was a driver.

The BKs turned his funeral into a service event because his bosses were rich Arabs. So many stories of BKs falling asleep exhausted at work, some of them funny, some of them sad ... all of them crazy. Its myth that if you have "proper" Yoga you will not get tired.

Terry

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Re: Honour Roll - suicide and death within the BKWSU

Post17 Mar 2009

Yes, I remember who you mean, but his name escapes me too. He was from a Jain background - a very tall chap. He was a truck driver by profession, died on the job - if memory serves, crashed in a tunnel, asleep at the wheel.
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ex-l

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Re: Honour Roll - suicide and death within the BKWSU

Post17 Mar 2009

I am not sure about the truck driving but at the time of his death he was a chaffeur, a private driver, for this wealthy Middle Eastern guy.

But those are the details of the accident. Fairly simple guy.

GuptaRati 6666

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Re: Honour Roll - suicide and death within the BKWSU

Post23 Aug 2015

I would like to assist my Brothers and Sisters around the world who are having suicidal tendencies. My BK bhais and bhens may not like me for it. However, I am not love hungry nor do I plan to deplete souls of their love energies. It’s never the end of the world when time with BKSO ends, in spite of all of the indoctrinations. We all need to manage our existential fears by remaining authentic. Being authentic and self-love have been my soul/body armor against the negative energies unleashed against me by my negatively influenced BK bhais and bhens during my 15 years as a BK.

I recalled making a medium sized mistake at one center in Texas one summer. I got almost a week of word and thought wiping from both sisters-in-charge and was reported to Madhuban. I could have allowed myself to feel small. Instead, I used my body armor and prevailed. A year later, one of the two Sisters used the same wiping on a California BK Brother. It was also his birthday. He plunged from the Golden Gate Bridge and sacrificed himself. I remembered having my weekly meditation chart read by the same cold Sister who scolded me in the public because I was having many thoughts of nude women.

In a developing country, where the BKs are more accepted, I survived one assassination attempt against me and triumphed over protracted espionage, because I was a dissident doctor. The regime in power at that time was heavily supported by the BKs, as several government VIPs were BKs. I, however, as a dissident doctor and BK was not celebrated well by my BK bhens and bhais at the senior level. Once, when I attended a public lecture in the developing country, a top-brass BK Sister, gave me quite a public scolding for by my scientific work that resulted in the developing country being saved from a pandemic disaster that could have adversely affected the health of the BK community in that country. I have carefully analyzed the lectures of the top-brass Sister and I knew when she was speaking about me in the public.

I did not need to return to the developed country to work as a doctor. I did so because of purity. There were many beautiful Sisters whom I could have married, including the lady who was my date for my senior graduating banquet. We are still friends, though she is happily married and has a son who will be graduating from medical school. I could have gotten my green card that way. Instead I returned to my native country and worked as a medical officer.

In the 1990s, on my return to the U.S. and my visit to one of the Western US centers, I was told to depart the center. I was also accused of not contributing to the service activities of the center in the developing nation. The BKs seemed not to appreciate that I had survived an assassination, being black-listed by the regime and being under surveillance 24/7 for more than four years. In addition, BK Janki communicated to me by phone from India and told me I should make up my mind whether I want to remain a Brahmin. I packed my bags and departed the center and never set foot in that or any other center. Yes, it was the end of one part of my spiritual journey and the beginning of a much more important part. On the day I was ex-communicated, I privately cried and immediately recovered.

I instantaneously felt a great comforting energy and the presence of the energy in my life became deeper and more extensive. At the end of this year, I will celebrate 40 years of practicing Raj Yoga. My BK bhais and bhens may cry out that my associations with BKSO were too unfair! However, it’s my karma and my personal association with the Supreme who entrusted to me a soul armor to protect me from their negative energies. To my bhais and bhens who are hurting as a result of clash of sanskars from settling karmic accounts with our BK bhais and bhens, I encourage you to look within your souls and see the treasures and beauty in yourselves. Heal yourselves and never think your years in BKSO were ever wasted. It is quite the opposite.

The day I was booted out of BKSO was the day many invisible keys were placed in my hands to open many invisible doors as I continued to walk along the path. You can also do the same or even better. Do I hate BKSO and the BK bhais and bhens? Not at all. However, I may not ever sit and break bread or chapatti with our BK bhais and bhens.
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Pink Panther

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Re: Honour Roll - suicide and death within the BKWSU

Post24 Aug 2015

A year later, one of the two Sisters used the same wiping on a California BK Brother. It was also his birthday. He plunged from the Golden Gate Bridge and sacrificed himself.


Welcome Gupta.

This thread is an ”Honour roll”. Who was the SF man who took his own life?

He has a name and deserves to be remembered by it as a human being, for who he was, not as a mere statistic or as a BK cipher on an internet forum. When did this happen? What kind of person was he? It may be some if us knew him.

Also from your post I read that you still project much of your faith and devotion through the lens of a BK projector. Until you can free your mind, speech and mannerism of their jargon and terminology, you are still living in their shadow.

You spent 40 years? You’d have made much effort in that time to ”inculcate” BK thinking and mannerisms. It will take years of concerted effort and counter-churning to reboot and ”defrag” your thinking.

Take care of yourself and please join in on discussions in other topics here.
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