Original 1940 Anti-Om Mandli Book found

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dany

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Re: Original 1940s Anti-Om Mandli Book found

Post12 Oct 2012

In the book, an Om Mandli inmate girl, under interrogation, mentioned that Lekhraj Kirpalani had a dominating power in his eyes ..!

I have seen a person with similar power, who conducted a one day course on hypnotic practices and applications.

He was a professional hypnotist, Canadian of Indian origin, he explained and demonstrated to us the different techniques used to hypnotise a particular person or even a group of people at a time and send them into a trance.

Unlike the common perception, hypnosis can also be achieved by direct talking, hugging and whispering in the ear, eye to eye contact, concentration on certain object, and he successfully demonstrated that with some of the audiences he is meeting them for the first time. Self-hypnosis techniques were also explained.

I believe Lekhraj was adopting the same procedures in influencing people and sending them into deep trances, thus having full control over them and subsequently over their wills.

ex.brahma

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Re: Original 1940s Anti-Om Mandli Book found

Post15 Oct 2012

What really attracted my attention in the book and left me in a big puzzle is the huge fortune which Lekhraj Kripalani seemingly accumulated from his work as a jewellery merchant, even though he had a partner with him.

According to the book, he bought cars and buses to transport his followers, rented houses and residences for the cult and to accommodate the inmates, provided them with high quality food and fruits, even clothes were provided, then he built a huge complex at Mount Abu with all services and lodging provided!

Where did he get that kind of money from?

Could it be that he extremely exaggerated his jewels' prices and ripped off his Calcutta female customers (of a category stated in a post hereunder) of their money, which they did not work hard to gain any way?
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howiemac

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Nothing has changed!

Post15 Oct 2012

Many thanks to those whose efforts have provided us with access to both this fascinating document, and its precursor by Om Radhe. They are of great interest to geeks like me who have a fascination for the origins and development of the Yagya ...

This new document is heady and explosive stuff: ex-l are you sure you did not just fabricate it all, to alleviate a summer of boredom? No? OK.

I am going to post about the sensational stuff later - and I agree with most of what is has already been said on this forum regarding the revelations in this book - but when reading through the report and testimonies, I kept thinking the same thought:

NOTHING HAS CHANGED since those days.

We still have allegations of improper behaviour by senior BKs, such as documented elsewhere on this site. I myself have heard and seen evidence of scandalous behaviour in more modern times, which unfortunately I swore not to reveal the details of (as the holder wishes to publish them "at the right time").

(Page 3)
He relied only on his uncanny powers of influence over the women-folk who owing to their ignorant and blind faith and under hypnotic influence never asked questions or argued but accepted and followed whatever he said

Blind faith and obedience? No questioning or criticism? Nothing has changed!
Thus the assertion of Om Radhe that not a word was whispered against the Mandli and its ideals for over three years is false and baseless and a myth invented only for the purposes of misleading the public.

Distortions of truth for the sake of PR? Nothing has changed!

(Page 5)
These children are hypnotised into unconsciousness for hours at an end.

Yoga? with a conductor? Nothing has changed!
There are no fixed hours of work. The whole day is wasted in idle merriment and in devising ways of enticing new members.

Nothing has changed!
It is known of many youngsters who having left Mandli for good have deeply regretted the years they wasted while they were there

Nothing has changed!

(Page 6)
Bhai Lekhraj had a strong hold over the women.

Nothing has changed!

(Page 11)
His cult furthers the object he has in view.

Cult? That seems rather familiar ...
He is God

Most of his followers still believe this one!
the members of the Om Mandli to whom he imparts Gian become Gods"


He is still pushing that line to this day.. Nothing has changed!
It is our deliberate conclusion that the institutions Om Mandli and Om Nivas are not only useless but are a canker on Society.

There are many who would level the same accusation at the modern BKWSU!

(Page 13)
All inmates are provided with clothes also, and these clothes are always white clothes which include white shirts.

Nothing has changed! Except they now have to buy their own....

(Page 14)
Lekhraj used to say that is the secrets of the Om Mandli are divulged to outside by any member he or she will be expelled. We therefore did not speak of anything of the Mandli to the outside people.

Nothing has changed!
I was under a spell and hence I could not tell my parents of what I had seen in the Om Mandli....

Nothing has changed!

Om Mandli still sounds like much more fun than the corporate-style behemoth that has grown out of it ... although there are similarities with the modern BKWSU in many respects.

There is more segregation now, and celibacy is promoted strongly, unlike in the early days, and Shiva has come into the picture, and Gyan is a but more churned or worked out.

This consistency is, to me, in a way, proof of the authenticity (if not the accuracy) of BB's efforts. One may disagree with some of his beliefs and teachings and methods (!), but to me it is clear that he had a single aim and objective and that he followed it from the beginning of Om Mandli to his death, and onwards up to now (as a holy ghost). Of course, the Gyan developed over time: that is only natural. And the rules got stricter ... as they do ...

The physical contact has been gradually stamped out, of course, over the years, no doubt partly as a direct result of this document and the conflict it forms part of. And if there is any truth at all in the many testimonies of habitual sexual interaction, then BB presumably wised up as he learnt his lessons, and cleaned up his act.

But otherwise, where is the difference from the modern BKWSU?

Nothing much has changed!
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ex-l

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Re: Nothing has changed!

Post15 Oct 2012

howiemac wrote:ex-l are you sure you did not just fabricate it all, to alleviate a summer of boredom? No? OK.

Actually, that's a fair question and a more original version will arise shortly. Time just does not allow to clean up and process all the files into a PDF right now, however, here is one example page to reassure anyone with any doubts. I imagined some BKs would come up with that suggestion or, as they usually say, we had tampered with it in some way.

Rest assured if I have written it would have been far more salacious and I would have not tiptoed around the naughty elements. I am fascinated by the use of terminology ... of Lekhraj Kirpalani lying around, sleep, bathing with and "pulling" the girls breasts. I reads like it was a fantastic party ... or a complete "guru sex cult shock-horror". But there is much more in the book than just that, e.g. his partner witnessing his visit and payment to "the Saddhu". I can also say, from having spoken to old Sindhis, that the book in no way documents the weirder aspects of the early BKWSU and the nature of the original seances.

I think one could actually be "sex positive" about what was going on in the early days (and what allegedly went on in the PBKs to). Although the BKs have since made love, sex and affection terrible crimes, pandering to Kali Yugi society's values, I can see expression as a way of overcoming the social and sexual hangups of the era, even challenging the arranged marriage and dowry system. The book hints at other males being allowed similar freedoms.

Is the world ready for Lekhraj Kirpalani as the guru of Free Love? At least where he was involved. I think it is time for the elders and originals to speak out about all this. Have any BKs got the courage to raise it with them and persist until they get an answer?

Om_Mandli.jpg
Example of Original Page of Om Mandli History


om-radhe-krishna.jpg
Bhakti Memorial of Om Radhe and Krishna
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howiemac

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Re: Original 1940s Anti-Om Mandli Book found

Post15 Oct 2012

ex-l wrote:Rest assured if I have written it would have been far more salacious and I would have not tiptoed around the naughty elements.

That argument does convince me :-)
I think one could actually be "sex positive" about what was going on in the early days... Although the BKs have since made love, sex and affection terrible crimes, pandering to Kali Yugi society's values, I can see expression as a way of overcoming the social and sexual hangups of the era, even challenging the arranged marriage and dowry system. The book hints at other males being allowed similar freedoms.

Is the world ready for Lekhraj Kirpalani as the guru of Free Love? At least where he was involved. I think it is time for the elders and originals to speak out about all this. Have any BKs got the courage to raise it with them and persist until they get an answer?

I agree 100%. The ball is now in their court.

I do like what I hear about the early days - what surprised me about the revelations in the book was that I was not surprised by any of the behaviour described. I knew that the early days were different, that they all lived together, that teenage Sisters regularly sat on Lehkraj's lap, and that the vibe was very different from what it has become. One has only to look at their faces in some of the oldest photographs to realise that the vibe was very intoxicated: the girls are radiant. All this just made me want to time-travel back there and see what it was really like.

When a BK, I was always struck by how the old photographs (50's, 60's?) show BB hugging Sisters, playing badminton with them, walking in the hills with them, on picnics etc. These photos display normal balanced human affection and warmth, and an easy natural attitude that has long since been replaced in the BKWSU (for Brother/Sister interactions at any rate, if not for Sister/Sister interactions!) by a starchy, inhuman "no touching allowed" protocol, with chaperones required.

Perhaps it was inevitable that the early excesses in familiarity would produce a subsequent counter-balancing excess of prudishness? And this has now been institutionalised and so stiffened further? So, this stamping out of physical contact may be an over-reaction to the early licentiousness. Whatever the reason, it is a very unhealthy development IMO, because, as we know, their methods have resulted in endemic deceit, guilt, and hypocrisy, and often in hysteria also. As with all their fear-based systems, the end-result is a "family" of broken pawns who pretend to follow codes of conduct that are not humanly possible.

BB and his close circle of survivors from the early days had their fun in the Golden Age of the Yagya, and are now telling everyone in effect to "do as we say, and not as we did". It is not surprising (though it is reprehensible) that they keep quiet about the reality of the early days!

However, it is one thing to promote purity, and even require it, and another thing entirely to make the whole subject of sexuality taboo, and to enforce artificial segregation of the sexes, and to prudishly refuse to discuss practical issues of how to maintain celibacy, or even what exactly they mean by celibacy. I always felt their whole concept of purity was very artificial, inhuman, and, tellingly, not at all Golden Aged (i.e. in defiance of their own teaching that they should be imbibing Golden Aged sanskars). No habit, let alone a powerful animal drive, can be conquered by sticking one's head in the sand, and pretending it does not exist. Lehkraj's original approach seems to me more honest and practicable: even though it appears that Lehkraj was repeatedly falling out of his own metaphorical fifth storey window!

Lets look at some of the evidence:

(Page 4)
The founder of the Om Mandli Bhai Lekhraj is a master of hypnotism and some of the Sakhies have also been trained by him into that nefarious art. With the aid of this Black Art, he, with his powerful gaze thrown from his magic laden eyes hypnotises youthful women and when they are completely under his sway, he sports with them, plays "Krishna, Lila", makes them dance, rocks them in swings, exchanges with them morsels of food, embraces them, bathes with them in the same tank, in short outrages commons of decency

Drishti or hypnotism? Is there any difference in essence? Are we to suppose that "the Saddhu" taught Lehkraj hypnotism in return for his roll of rupees?

(Page 8)
She admitted that Bhai Lekhraj kisses and embraces her and other girls, although this, she said, was done in the spirit of Gyan Father.

Either we are dealing with a Jimmy Saville prototype, or else we have Lehkraj coming over all fatherly with his young charges ... my money is on the latter ... Hindu society would have been very easily outraged in those days (and even now ...). Those with an agenda will always bend facts to suit their case. The writer's agenda is clearly anti-Lehkraj, while my agenda, based primarily and extensively on subtle interactions with Lehkraj, is that he created a monster but is not one himself, albeit a PR merchant and businessman and empire-builder (never trust a man with a moustache ... etc ...), and certainly not always practicing the purity he ended up preaching ...
When he suggested segregation of the sex, the Mandlites deprived much of their fun became annoyed and strongly objected.

Or ... were they programmed to react in this way?
Is it a colony of Free Love?

Yeay! I knew Lehkraj was a dude ahead of his time!

(Page 11)

From an 18 year old unemployed witness:
He used to preach that there was no difference between males and females and that whatever was done by males and females inside Om Mandli became sanctified.

No difference between males and females is still part of modern BK Gyan: Brothers and Sisters become all Brothers. I was taught that 12 years ago. Whatever was done by males and females became sanctified? This does sound like a great excuse for anything goes!
He preached no restraint in sex matters between males and females who were members of the Om Mandli because on account of Mandli Gian whatever they did could not amount to sin.

This sounds like full-on free love! I am assuming the children were not involved in this?
During the first 6 months I had seen Dada Lekhraj embracing those ladies and girls who used to go in a trance and fall in his lap ... I saw him making girls sleep in his lap and embracing and kissing them and also pulling their breasts and touching them all over the body. He used to ask the girls also to kiss him and keep their hands on ... The girls used to feel abashed but had no power of resistance. He used to pay more court in this connection to ... because she has chubby cheeks and is very fair in her look and well built body...

Good hypnotism, huh! OK, I admit it, Lehkraj is coming over as a full-on dirty old man here. However we have only the word of this 18 year old unemployed witness here ...

(Page 12)

From the same 18 year old unemployed witness:
He took me to a room. He embraced and kissed me there and passed his hands over my body.

Uh oh ...
In this bungalow of kidnapped girls there were about 100 kidnapped girls and 15 to 20 married women and widows. Dada Lekhraj used to kiss, embrace and play with the breasts of married women too. All this was being openly done by him.

Uh oh ...

The girls used to speak with each other about court paid to them by Lekhraj and they used to feel seemingly elated by his court.

Uh oh...

(Page 13)

Now, from a 17 year-old unemployed witness:
On the last Holi occasion I had seen Dada Lekhraj misbehaving with ... by seating them on his bed over which the flowers were spread and kissing and embracing them there. It was the usual practice for Dada Lekhraj in the Mandli to embrace and kiss all grown up girls and women living in the Om Mandli. In this connection he used to pay more court to fair skinned girls and women than to others ... Dada Lekhraj used to come and pass 2 to 3 nights per week in the house of run-away girls. The night on which Lekhraj used to come to sleep there used to be called a golden night, as on that night the girls whom Lekhraj used to like most used to meet him alone in a separate room ..

Uh oh ...

(Page 14)
He used to kiss and embrace all grown up and attractive girls ...
He loved passionately Om Radhe ... I mean by passionately loving that Lekhraj used to ... with them. Some of the male members were openly mis-behaving and some were mis-behaving on the sly.

Uh oh ...
Once I had seen bath being taken in Om Nivas by certain inmates of Om Nivas. This was a disgusting bath. All grown up girls and women were seen taking bath with only short drawers, the remaining body being naked. Lekhraj too was wearing only drawers. The female bathers numbered six only among whom 4 were grown up girls and two women. Five of these females were the pick of the Members of the Om Mandli ... No girl who was not taking bath was permitted to enter the bath room, but I had gone there suddenly having run away from my house

Such a scene now in the West would be unremarkable (apart from the age difference, which does lend a seediness to the scene) - after all, they all had their knickers on - but in '30's Sindh ... wow!

(Page 15)
Lekhraj had told us once that he would take us out of Sind to a country where we could not be molested by any one.

... except Lehkraj himself, presumably!

(Page 26)

The editor of "Hindu" testifies:
in my presence I have seen young girls of nine to 12 years in unconscious and semi-conscious condition clinging to him. They appeared to me to be under some hypnotic,two of them were lying on his lap and one of them was lying in a state of half embrace. Two other girls were holding him by the arm and the leg.

Is he implying child abuse? I don't think so - I get the impression this is fatherly behaviour, rather, so what is the problem?

Conclusions
===========
This document sets out to discredit Lehkraj and his merry band of pranksters (oops, Gopis), and makes a very good stab at it, certainly from the point of view of one who has a fixed and narrow conventional mindset. After all, who would not be horrified (especially in 1930's India) at the idea of one's children being abducted by a hypnotist nutter who says he is God and who lives with their children in a free love commune! BB comes across like a prototype Osho. Me, I wish I was there... maybe I was???

There is more than a suggestion of inappropriate behaviour with minors, and an avalanche of testimonies of lewd behaviour between Lehkraj and the adult women. However the witnesses do not come across as wholly convincing, especially given the habitual deceit in Indian culture, the youth of the key witnesses, and the tendency (still endemic in the BKWSU) for the young women to fantasise, and project their own lustful desires onto the object of their desire (I myself was innocently disgraced in my own centre by such behaviour from one Sister), and then tell tall tales to gullible others, who in turn embellish and pass on the stories ...

The detailed allegations are easy to discredit, given the Indian culture of endemic repression coupled with endemic dishonesty. But the general tone of them rings true with me (allowing for the preconceptions of those doing the reporting).

However, I am not convinced that Lehkraj was sexually abusing anyone, and there was no indication of hypocrisy along the lines of preaching purity and practicing impurity - they did seem to have a code in those days of anything goes! But what is wrong with physical interaction? Purity relates to the state of mind and not to physical actions.

My feeling is that it takes a dirty (or repressed) mind to see dirt here, and what I see (with my dirty mind temporarily switched off) is more of a swinging 60's type scene with Hypno-Yoga replacing the greatly-inferior psychedelic drugs of the 60's: in other words liberation from chains of convention, and free expression of love and humanity, without the selfish hedonism and spiritual ignorance that destroyed the '60's hippy dream.

Whatever, it seems that BB had more than his share of fun! I guess he would just tell us that he is number one, and so he falls the furthest and rises the highest, and so he gets the most fun!

On the other hand, I am choking now on the hypocrisy, on the lies and deceit and the cover ups in more modern times, as the BKWSU re-write aspects of their own history. While it is human to be embarrassed by one's past naivety, and to attempt to sweep it under the carpet, it is not spiritual. And such deception is inexcusable in a spiritual context where purity, virtue, and honesty are preached as mandatory. Dishonesty is impurity, simple and plain. Shame on you BKWSU.

Boy, am I glad to be an outside observer! Thanks again for publishing this - it is a rich vein of material, and I for one feel liberated by some of what have read.
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ex-l

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Re: Original 1940s Anti-Om Mandli Book found

Post16 Oct 2012

I am not sure why you repeatedly emphasise "unemployed". That reads a little like the 'Daily Mail' attempting to discredit a witness to me and undercuts your own integrity. They were unmarried women/girls of a caste and era who would probably never be employed (housewife being their only option). Does that make them unintelligent, unreliable or dishonest? It probably took a lot of courage to speak out and think independently.

What stands out more for me is the 'wall of collusion' erected by the Om Mandlites and Om Radhe's insolence, dishonesty and unwillingness to talk even within such an official setting ... "what happens in the Yugya, stays within the Yugya". That is also a guiding spirit today. It probably took a lot of courage to speak out and think independently. Even today it takes even Western ex-BKs some considerable time to do so.
howiemac wrote:Such a scene now in the West would be unremarkable (apart from the age difference, which does lend a seediness to the scene) - after all, they all had their knickers on - but in '30's Sindh ... wow!

Hold on. A mid-50s millionaire in a bath with 6 topless younger women ... his wife not included ... and everyone else barred from looking in?

"Unremarkable" is not the word which comes to my mind first. We are off into Hugh Heffner or Silvio Berlusconi territory here. OK, I am envious too but can we condone it? It sounds more like grooming and milieu control like David Berg's cult The Family.

I think the issue is not so much what happened ... although I think we should be cautious about the ethics of it and not be too light and humorous ... but that you have an exploitative upper caste with Brahma Kumarism who have falsified and manipulated extensively, who continue to falsify and manipulate extensively, and who have created a social system which allows them to do so unchallenged.

As I keep asking, "Can one build an Age of Truth based on lies?" Obviously not. One can build numerous multi-million dollar religious empires though ... no big deal in that.

If I remember my own experience, I trust the BK leadership and swallowed Adi Dev as being at least fairly true and I am sure 100,000s of others have done so. I was an utter idiot to do so, and they ... addressing the knowing inner circle ... were wholly dishonest to peddle it as we know know they had been peddling it for decades since their re-invention.

I was surprised by the use of the term "Free Love" in 1940. I thought it was one popularised from the 1960s onwards but, in fact, the Women's Movement, Free Love and Spiritualism were three strongly linked movements at the end of the 19th Century and beginning of the 20th Century. Many leading feminists of the day were also spiritualists and so the ideas must have been spreading all across the British Empire. (Annie Besant founded a Theosophical Society) in Hyderbad).

Free Love might not have meant total sexual liberation but rather the right to choose one's own partner against the habit of arranged marriages, but it did also including sex without or before marriage. However, a man in his early 50s who was still procreating into his 40s lying around and bathing with ripe teenagers and 20 years is *not* being fatherly.

And what of this "not a moral man" quote?
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ex-l

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Re: Original 1940s Anti-Om Mandli Book found

Post16 Oct 2012

For me, the most value element was the witness of Lekhraj Kirpalani's business partner about his encounter with the Saddhu. Currently, the PBKs - who have more of an interest in getting to the truth of the history - are convoluting themselves to believe "the Saddhu" was another business manager/partner of Lekhraj Kirpalani and the previous incarnation of their guru Virendra Dev Dixit. I don't believe that. I take it to be a real and literal reference and until we get to the root of if, we will not really know Lekhraj Kirpalani or the nature of his powers.

I don't think simple "hypnosis" is the end of it, although I do believe hypnosis is part of Brahma Kumarism; particularly self-hypnosis. "Mesmerism" might be a better term, or even better a "Siddhi" power (from Hinduism); supernatural or psychic powers.

One oft recorded Siddhi is 'parakāya praveśanam' ... "entering the bodies of others" (as they claim Lekhraj Kirpalani, Om Radhe and Seniors can do). Another is 'devānām saha krīḍā anudarśanam' ... "witnessing and participating in the pastimes of the gods". Another is 'manaḥ-javah' ... "teleportation or astral projection". These are all clearly evident or claimes by the Brahma Kumaris. If you study the others, you can also see who they aspire to them. Do I believe such thing exist? I know they do and have witnessed some.

I've never denied that weird and wonderful things happen with Brahma Kumarism, I know they do. I question the nature and quality of them.

It seems that Lekhraj Kirpalani took some kind of initiation into some kind of Siddhi power and was opened up psychically to other influences, perhaps even as a mediumistic channel. The fact he paid money to do so, and his teacher accepted money for doing so, pitches it all at a lower level of psychicism for me (according to traditional teachings).

The last thing on Earth I believe is that he or it was "God". As weird, or wonderful, or power invoking as it might be ... I think one and we should protect ourselves against it until we know more. And bear in mind the secrecy often demanded of people initiated into such arts.
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howiemac

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Re: Original 1940s Anti-Om Mandli Book found

Post16 Oct 2012

ex-l wrote:I am not sure why you repeatedly emphasise "unemployed". That reads a little like the 'Daily Mail' attempting to discredit a witness to me and undercuts your own integrity. They were unmarried women/girls of a caste and era who would probably never be employed (housewife being their only option). Does that make them unintelligent, unreliable or dishonest? It probably took a lot of courage to speak out and think independently.

Fair point... I guess I am sceptical at whatever comes out of the mouths of teenage girls... they are very prone to fantasising, especially when they have too much time on their hands ...
A mid-50s millionaire in a bath with 6 topless younger women ... his wife not included ... and everyone else barred from looking in?

"Unremarkable" is not the word which comes to my mind first. We are off into Hugh Heffner or Silvio Berlusconi territory here. OK, I am envious too but can we condone it? It sounds more like grooming and milieu control like David Berg's cult The Family.

It reminds me of Osho's Sannyassins. But how are we to judge? Any manner of grossness could have been perpetrated here, or it could indeed be fatherly and innocent - or, more likely, something in-between - it all depends on the consciousness of those involved, at that time, Lehkraj in particular. We have no way of knowing now what that was.

You mention his wife. It seems clear to me that he became estranged from his wife, perhaps because of the behaviours we are discussing. Maybe he fell in love with Om Radhe (of course he did - or why does he still refer to her as Saraswati to his Brahma?). Was he cheating on his wife, or were they already estranged?
I think we should not be too light and humorous

Boooo! I prefer Mr Green's approach.
I trusted the BK leadership and swallowed Adi Dev as being at least fairly true and I am sure 100,000s of others have done so. I was an utter idiot to do so

I know that feeling!
And what of this "not a moral man" quote?

We need more information on that: as you pointed out earlier, that could relate to money (systematically over-charging the gullible for jewellery?) or to sexual licentiousness. It could also relate to drugtaking. Also, it is one man's opinions and that man may have had a grudge. I am sure that if Lehkraj had been taking mind-bending drugs then that would be classed as immoral by most people then and now. But not by me. And communal bathing in underwear with a bunch of young women (past the age of consent) certainly would not concern or offend me, but would most certainly be called immoral by a 1930's Indian businessman.

We should consider the background, motives, nature, and psychological world-view of the accusers, when they use terms like "moral" and so on. If you read too much into the allegations, then you weaken your own case: better to be measured, and try to find a balance between over-extrapolating, and slapping on the BK whitewash.

After all what is morality? It is a judgemental opinion. Mary Whitehouse's ideas of morality will be very different from yours or mine. I would ask, was anyone being harmed? So long as the children were not involved in the adult behaviours - and we are not suggesting this, are we? - and the adults were consenting, I have no problem with people practicing sexual liberation (though I don't do so myself as I prefer a quiet life!).

There is an issue of undue influence, especially with the children. This issue remains with the BKWSU today: the standard cult techniques of brainwashing and fear-based control, in fact I would suggest that things in this respect many now be worse than they were in Om Mandli.

I am glad that it is now coming out in the open that Lehkraj was just another guy with common human weaknesses, very far from perfect, and with considerable worldly experience. I have long suspected this anyway. I always felt that his diatribes against "the sword of lust" were almost hysterical, and must have come from his own struggles against his own sex drive, as if he was talking primarily to himself. These wild diatribes in the Sakar Murlis convince me that Lehkraj never achieved or understood the hippy ideal of mutually loving sexual liberation, and so, either the behaviour at Om Mandli was more on the side of innocence than lust, or, more likely, he was burned by his own mistakes, and his reaction to this, or else the intervention of outside influence (Shiva?), later took him to opposite extremes of prudishness.

But, for me, the problem is not with the scandalous behaviour over 70 years ago of people now long dead. The problem is the attempts of those still alive to whitewash their origins and rewrite history, whilst preaching the virtue of honesty to others. I cannot abide hypocrisy, especially when it leads others to harm.

As you say, ex-l:
I think the issue is not so much what happened, but that you have an exploitative upper caste with Brahma Kumarism who have falsified and manipulated extensively, who continue to falsify and manipulate extensively, and who have created a social system which allows them to do so unchallenged.

Can one build an Age of Truth based on lies? Obviously not.
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howiemac

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re: the saddhu and weird BK experiences

Post16 Oct 2012

ex-l wrote:For me, the most value element was the witness of Lekhraj Kirpalani's business partner about his encounter with the Saddhu ... until we get to the root of if, we will not really know Lekhraj Kirpalani or the nature of his powers.

Yes, this is very interesting. He paid 10,000 rupees to this mysterious character, and then his trance visions began? I would not rule out drugs here, magic mushrooms or similar entheogens in particular. I went through a period of trance visions, which resulted eventually in my involvement with the BKs. That period in my life followed on from a period of experimenting with magic mushrooms for the earnest purposes of spiritual growth and self-understanding. The mushrooms did not produce the visions directly (they did produce hallucinations and other wild experiences at the time), but the visions followed on the tail of these experiences, so to speak, when I was sober. It was as if the entheogenic experiences of the mushrooms opened me up in some way, allowing the really powerful experiences to then take place.

The mushroom experiences taught me the following:
    - not to involve money with anything spiritual (I collected my own mushrooms)
    - that there is way way more to life and the universe than science or society accepts
    - to stop taking drugs, and to cleanse myself through clean living, and thus achieve the altered states naturally
The subsequent visionary experiences I have documented elsewhere on this site: meeting angelic BB in the white light Subtle Regions, experiencing Dharamraj, being shown the world cycle, experiencing the Golden Age, experiencing the Soul World as a cosmic egg, etc. All this many years before encountering the BKWSU.

If I had had a pile of money, and Lehkraj's outgoing powers of persuasion, I could easily at this time have founded my own equivalent of Om Mandli. I remember feeling that I ought to do such a thing - establish an organisation to teach what I was learning. In my case I was broke, and I am introverted (Asperger) so I kept myself to myself.

But if it worked for me, it could work for him. It would explain the sudden change, the visionary experiences, the dropping out of society, and so on.
hypnosis is part of Brahma Kumarism, particularly self-hypnosis

I taught myself self-hypnosis in the time immediately preceding my visionary experiences, and this enabled me to hit the ground running with the BK Raja Yoga. It seems to me that the whole cult-brainwashing thing is achieved via hypnosis/self-hypnosis.
"entering the bodies of others" (as they claim Lekhraj Kirpalani, Om Radhe and Seniors can do).

This would explain a lot! I certainly had several experiences, whilst conducting, of another entity trying to speak through me. I had to deliberately prevent this from happening: I did not like the vibe. I also, in my BK days, had three experiences of some being trying to possess me and take over my body. I had to fight like I have never fought in my life before (psychically) to prevent this from happening: it was very heavy. I do not know what any of these entities were. But I have never had experiences like that outwith a BK environment (and I don't want them!).
"teleportation or astral projection"

I had a very vivid and extensive experience of this shortly after receiving very strong drishti from Dadi Janki one Amrit Vela in Oxford (GRC). It seemed that I was doing service on behalf of some spirit powers.
weird and wonderful things happen with Brahma Kumarism, I know they do. I question the nature and quality of them.

So do I. What is it all about? I never found a BK who could shed any light.
The fact he paid money to do so, and his teacher accepted money for doing so, pitches it all at a lower level of psychicism for me (according to traditional teachings).

I agree.
The last thing on Earth I believe is that he or it was "God".

God sold his role to Lehkraj for 10,000 rupees? Would God be so cheap? :)
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ex-l

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Re: Original 1940s Anti-Om Mandli Book found

Post16 Oct 2012

howiemac wrote:Fair point... I guess I am sceptical at whatever comes out of the mouths of teenage girls... they are very prone to fantasising, especially when they have too much time on their hands.

These are not just gossip. They are signed affidavits prepared for legal procedures, and cross examination by magistrates.

How many teenage girls of a reasonable class back then would have the courage to keep up "fibbing" to such a degree?
But how are we to judge? Any manner of grossness could have been perpetrated here, or it could indeed be fatherly and innocent - it all depends on the consciousness of those involved, at that time, Lehkraj in particular. We have no way of knowing now what that was.

Was there a particular need for a middle aged man and 6 young topless girls to bathe together ... a lack of water perhaps? Was he "testing" his celibacy like Gandhi or raising the young girls kundalini (as well as their saris), like a Sai Baba? I doubt it ... I think we have quite a lot of information to paint a fairly accurate picture. I'll skip the Bollywood wet sari video clips unless your imagination fails you.

Although I am sure the girls were "good girls" not all were from such a stupendously wealthy background and used to all the liberties and treats he bestowed upon them. Was it fatherly or "grooming"? Was it a spiritual necessity?
After all what is morality? It is a judgemental opinion.

Are judgemental opinions always bad or wrong? Is some behaviour not objectively objectionable. What is wrong with judging? We all do it, for our own good and the good of those we are responsible for, all the time. Perhaps your own moral compass has lost its needle?

The lack of empirical Moral-o-meters aside ... where there certainly are moral and ethical problems today is with the BKWSU leadership exploiting and manipulating its following with false versions. Fine, you may say all religions do that. That is pretty much what the more modern of BKs argue, "If the Christians, then did it so can we!" For me, that is contradictory.

There may be no real problem with "people practicing sexual liberation", but I think there is a real problem with religious leaders pretending to be what they are not, or pretending their guru was what he was not and leading people on to give up their lives for them ... it's called Fraud, a failure of Duty of Care and 'Undue Influence". Who can measure what damage has been done by the BKWSU?

It's a shame because had this book come up a few years earlier, these women might well have still be alive and we could have resolved it. I guess they are dead now ... but I can say there is more to come out that might well "shake The Tree" a little bit further.

Again, for me, this defines the BKWSU even more. They knew this stuff existed and yet were keeping 'mum' about it. They even had copies, kept silent about them and would not share the information. And, of course, they have been scurrying around in the background doing research, meeting and sweetening people and working up their own version/response in secret. The following is still being fed Adi Dev.
But, for me, the problem is not with the scandalous behaviour over 70 years ago of people now long dead. The problem is the attempts of those still alive to whitewash their origins and rewrite history, whilst preaching the virtue of honesty to others. I cannot abide hypocrisy, especially when it leads others to harm.

I am glad with have no disagreement there. I remember when you discussed your own feelings about or spiritual relationship Lekhraj Kirpalani separate from the BKWSU. I suppose that there could be a possibility that despite massively screwing up in the beginning, he made good his mistakes and evolved spiritual to a certain level ... I don't know. I cannot say.

For me, it is all in the service of a spirit which wants the death of 7 billion human beings and a nuclear war to waste civilisation and I cannot really see that the Brahma Kumaris have done that much good at all, anywhere. 75 years later, they have regained a few palaces they lost in Hyderabad, slithered their way back up the slippery pole of politics and society, and are still blowing their own trumpet. Are these really signs of great spirituality?

BTW, have you seen the new Sakar Murlis? They are down to a couple of well space pages. Morning Murli class must take about 25 minutes now.
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ex-l

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Re: re: the saddhu and weird BK experiences

Post16 Oct 2012

ex-l wrote:"entering the bodies of others" (as they claim Lekhraj Kirpalani, Om Radhe and Seniors can do).
howiemac wrote:This would explain a lot! I certainly had several experiences, whilst conducting, of another entity trying to speak through me. I had to deliberately prevent this from happening: I did not like the vibe.

I also, in my BK days, had three experiences of some being trying to possess me and take over my body. I had to fight like I have never fought in my life before (psychically) to prevent this from happening: it was very heavy. I do not know what any of these entities were.

I think I can understand. I have an experience like your second one right either before or around the same time as I started the BK course (too long ago to remember specifics). A skeptic would say, "oh, it's just sleep paralysis etc etc ..." but I've never experience anything like it before or after and it was certainly frightening. There was an almost horror movie type long deep breath as it left/the experience stopped. Ditto, whilst conducting meditation, I have distinct experience of my head being guided as if it was being held or turned by someone else.

I am chastised by some for entertaining the idea of a spiritualist element to the Brahma Kumarism. A chastisement I consider ridiculous because, by its own definition, Brahma Kumarism is seething with trance, channeling, ghosts, possessions and the like. Although I don't need to believe in what Brahma Kumarism says, nor how spiritualists define things things, I find it even more ridiculous to try and attempt some rationalist or intellectual definition of these things. I am speaking to BKs, so I will use their language (almost).

Fine, BKs, I accept there are ghosts or spooks or jinn or even "angels of light" all over your religion ... I just don't accept they are what you have been taught to say they are and I just don't accept you or your psychic leaders have the spiritual qualifications to determine what they are. To be frank, I think they have not got a clue as well and are just desperate to keep deluding themselves.

Prove me wrong, BKs. Start with your own real life history. Even now we still have not got to when the "Shiva" entity was first announced or recognised around 1950.
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howiemac

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Re: Original 1940s Anti-Om Mandli Book found

Post17 Oct 2012

ex-l wrote:I have an experience like your second one right either before or around the same time as I started the BK course (too long ago to remember specifics). A skeptic would say, "oh, it's just sleep paralysis etc etc ..." but I've never experience anything like it before or after and it was certainly frightening. There was an almost horror movie type long deep breath as it left/the experience stopped. Ditto, whilst conducting meditation, I have distinct experience of my head being guided as if it was being held or turned by someone else.

Good to get confirmation that I am not just imagining it all! Nobody else seems to understand what I am on about with this stuff ...
For me, it is all in the service of a spirit which wants the death of 7 billion human beings and a nuclear war to waste civilisation and I cannot really see that the Brahma Kumaris have done that much good at all, anywhere. 75 years later, they have regained a few palaces they lost in Hyderabad, slithered their way back up the slippery pole of politics and society, and are still blowing their own trumpet. Are these really signs of great spirituality?

It seems it is not about spirituality, but about lining their own pockets in this and the next life.... Brahma Baba is The Businessman, and this is business.
BTW, have you seen the new Sakar Murlis? They are down to a couple of well space pages. Morning Murli class must take about 25 minutes now.

That is approximately 25 minutes too long ...

If they had any integrity, they would publish the 1960's originals on the internet, and let us see what "God" actually said.
I remember when you discussed your own feelings about a spiritual relationship with Lekhraj Kirpalani separate from the BKWSU. I suppose that there could be a possibility that despite massively screwing up in the beginning, he made good his mistakes and evolved spiritual to a certain level ... I don't know.

I am fond of BapDada for personal reasons, and I accept him as a spiritual master (not in the 1930s!) But business, hierarchies, secrecy, and control freakery have no place in a bona fide "Godly organisation". BapDada is still the boss. How can he be karmateet having created this monster? I suspect he is himself horrified! He must be working very hard on the subtle side to undo the damage ...

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Re: Original 1940s Anti-Om Mandli Book found

Post17 Oct 2012

When it comes to "Murlis", why are they considered : SACRED, NO ENTRY, RESTRICTED ZONE ..??

Are not "Murlis" part of BKWSU heritage?. Yet, surprisengly classified : UNTOUCHABLE ..!?

Above discussions argued and differed on many aspects related to BK, but agreed that 25 minutes morning dose of "Murlis", is a too short period ..!!
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ex-l

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Re: Original 1940s Anti-Om Mandli Book found

Post17 Oct 2012

dany wrote:When it comes to "Murlis", why are they considered : SACRED, NO ENTRY, RESTRICTED ZONE ..?? Above discussions argued and differed on many aspects related to BK, but agreed that 25 minutes morning dose of "Murlis", is a too short period ..!!

For the BKs ... because if the original Sakar Murlis had been circulated widely in India, the BKs probably would have been crushed by outraged Hindus. They insult everyone else except for the BKs. In recent times, firstly all of inconsistencies and failed predictions, wrong numbers, factual errors etc had to be removed and, secondly, they had to try and stop the spread of the PBKs who were using them to explain or justify an alternative view of BKism and criticize the leaders.

I'll post some "Murlis Lite" and let people see them. I don't know ... I think even 25 minutes of Sakar Murli is too long but in the old days they were dreary, repetitive, stream of consciousness ramblings which sent half the audience to sleep. The BKs do not have a high or finely poetic philosophy. They were repetitive cajoling and 'tub thumpings' ("I am your Supreme Lord and Father; No Krishna is not God; All other religions are a waste of time; The world is going to end").

In the old days we used to joke, "why do the BKs try and beat Bhakti into us, only to then beat Bhakti out of us?" Now I know the answer, to keep themselves in business. People tried so hard to treat them as if there was some kind of holy magic in each and every word but there was not. It was just Lekhraj Kirpalani repeating the same old stuff over and over again with, perhaps, a moment of respite somewhere towards the end, e.g. a reference to Mickey Mouse or race hate towards the Islamic invaders.
howiemac wrote:We need more information on that: as you pointed out earlier, that could relate to money ... or to sexual licentiousness. It could also relate to drugtaking ... I am sure that if Lehkraj had been taking mind-bending drugs then that would be classed as immoral by most people then and now.

It's better to stick within what we *have* some evidence for and not speculate on possibilities which we *don't have* any evidence for. It just clouds the issue and risks discrediting the discussion here. You can imagine how the BKs would pick on it and misreport us.

There no evidence and no mention of any use of intoxicants going on within the Om Mandli/BKWSU ever, and I am not even sure it was considered "immoral" at that time. Opium was produced around Benares and passed through Calcutta which was the historical centre of the opium trade and the second most important city in the British Empire in the 19th century. It had been a business run by the Europeans and brought in up to 33% of taxes, a trade involving 1.5 million farmers in Bengal alone, worth $ billions at today's rates (17-20% of Indian revenues), and which probably paid for all those grand palaces you still see in Kolkatta today! Use of it is well recorded, especially by older men, but surely it is the wrong kind of high?

Bhang was produced and used in the Sindh, it said to be introduced by the Arabs and used by the Sufis, and all over India. Yes, various forms of cannabis use is common with some saddhus (and still fashionable upmarket parties in Karachi etc) but, come to think of it, I've never really heard of intensely psycho-active drugs used in India in the same way as in, say, South America or Siberia. I am sure they must exist, they just don't seem to appear in mythology of religious activity, whereas the mediumship of "gods" is very common (I just learned the other day the Dalai Lama has his own "Nechung" medium, consults with an spirit entity (description, here) over all important governmental decisions and is involved with a spiritual war against another spirit Dorje Shugden).

The only weirdness the critics pick up on is the use of antimony (eyeshadow or kohl) which was considered magical.

If the BKs would help us identify the Saddhu, and what tradition he came from, then perhaps we would have a better idea of what happened. Someone in India will know which "magicians" were around and practising what. I lean entirely towards some kind of psychic opening and initiation into mediumship, whatever that might be.
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ex-l

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Re: Original 1940s Anti-Om Mandli Book found

Post18 Oct 2012

From the book ...
I, Shewakram Khubchand Daswani, state on solemn affirmation as under:-

    1. That I have known Lekhraj Khubchand, founder of the Om Mandli since the last thirty five years. His age at present in 54 years.
    2. That I was his partner in the concern of Messers Lekhraj Shewakram at Calcutta.

    3. That some 8 years ago, he and I were passing by a place where a Sadhu was saying that he could initiate any one into a secret provided he paid him a handsome sum. That there-after Lekhraj used to visit this Sadhu and in a few days he withdrew from his account a sum of Rs 10,000. That thereafter he gave up his connection with business.
    4. That Lekhraj always lived a very luxurious life and is a very clever man.
    5. That I know it for a fact that he did not live a pure moral life.

Somewhere else I worked out the approximate value of this course ... There are numerous ways to work out and adjust "equivalent values" but this gives us a rough idea. Please correct and offer a better estimate if you can.
    In the 1930s, there were approximately 2.6 rupees to 1 USD,

    Therefore the cost of course was 3,745 USD (1936 rate).

    At that time, 1 USD was worth 0.2 GBP (5 dollars to the Pound),

    Therefore, the cost of course was 749 GBP (1936 rate).

    According to the official UK inflation data the value of £749 (1936) is approx £42,000 at today's rate,

    Therefore, the cost of the initiation was approx £42,000.
What would £42,000 buy you in India today? If the average wage in India is between £750 ($1,200 USD) and £2,230 ($3,600 USD), that is at about 30 years work for an ordinary person.
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