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I continue to publish some more fragments from the book on the Polish BKs written by PhD A. Kościańska, this time about the beginnings of the BK movement in Poland with the very eyes of the BK Halina Paradela, the National Co-ordinator of the BKWSU in Poland, one of the nterviewed BKs by PhD A. Kościańska.
First some essentional facts, as an introduction.
The BK centre in Poland founded in 1981 in Warsaw, was the first BK centre in the Central-Eastern Europe ever. So, from the historical point of view I think it was another "milestone" in the BKWSU activity worldwide worth to mention.
The BK movement in Poland started during the very hard times of state of war (the martial law/stan wojenny) initiated by the communistic authorities, by the Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski himself in December 1981, the war that never happened.
According to the PhD Agnieszka Kościańska's book "Potęga ciszy..." (PhD A. Kościańska is a Polish academic from the Institute of Ethnology and Culture Anthropology of the University of Warsaw, who was researching the Polish BKs in 2002-2005, and interviewing them).
The translation from Polish to English is mine, and I am using the right to quote to publish the fragments of the book. The original quotations are coloured blue, and originally come from the book written by PhD Agnieszka Kościańska "Potęga ciszy. Konwersja a rekonstrukcja porządku płci na przykładzie nowego ruchu religijnego Brahma Kumaris" published by Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego in 2009.
The interview part is in italic, and put in double quotes, and also coloured blue. All my translations are in green colour, and in the part of interview written italic and put in double quotes.
* * *
OK, it is really great, that Halina Paradela (who invariably has been a National Co-ordinator in Poland for... over 30 years) decided to make the Polish people aware of some other spirituality and interest them, but why the heck during so hard and painful times for the Polish people, who were under repressions of communistic regime, especially during the martial law, which actually was the state of war (and some kind of a military coup d'etat) and announcing military mobilisation in the whole country - the country was controlled by the Gen. Jaruzelski and his people, one of the most important Polish generals as a leader?
* * *
Some historical facts about the history of the Polish People's Republic, 8 years before the political transformation and the end of communism in 1989-90:
In winter of 1981, specifically on the 12th December, the communistic authoritarian government decided to initiate the martial law, called in Polish "stan wojenny", because, according to the ex-leader of Polish People's Republic, General of Army Wojciech Jaruzelski, and also the Minister of Defense of the communistic regime, who personally announced the martial law reading the announcement in the Polish television wearing his military uniform, was a threat of the military invasion from the East, (the situation in Poland at almost any level was really bad and the rising was "just around a corner"), and the Warsaw Pact military forces (Russians) stationed also in Poland, or close to the Polish border (from the West, there was German Democratic Republic, from the south - Czechoslovakia, and from the East, the whole USSR forces, so the smallest rising could end in a real massacre, a massive spilling of blood, following the painful experience such as in Prague in 1968 or in Budapest in 1956).
And the communist authorities feared of such potential rising, a civil war, and of the spilling of blood in the whole country, that's why they decided to announce the martial law to avoid it, but their main goal was to crush any of the pro-democratic movements which feared most the comrades in Moscow. Moreover, they were planning it from the late 70s.
The initiation of the "martial law" in 1981 was the idea of Jaruzelski himself, not the comrades from Moscow. The martial law was canceled in 1983.
More on this topic in the Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_law_in_Poland
To properly understand what was happening at that moment in Poland, I recommend to anyone first reading the Wiki, and then go back and folllowing the rest of my post. Halina Paradela comes back to Poland just a month before the martial law, and not to support and help her friends and family in such hard times but to found a BK centre.
***
As for the BKWSU Poland, here's another quotation from the A. Kosciańska's book - she interviewed Halina Paradela on her own reflections on the political situation in Poland in 1981, and of her own experience:
Source: A. Kościańska - "Potęga ciszy. Konwersja a rekonstrukcja porządku płci na przykładzie nowego ruchu religijnego Brahma Kumaris". Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego 2009.
BK Halina Paradela in 2010: http://tinyurl.com/oxeynaz
* * *
Halina Paradela, while she was interviewed by PhD Kościańska in 2002, was 47, so in 1981 she could be 26.
I am not going to discuss her private life, actually I have never had such a chance to know her better in private, but she was the chief of all the Polish BKs for over 30 years, and often she was given us an example to follow by some BK Seniors and local BK Sisters (centre-in-charge, or BK Seniors), therefore I am deeply concerned why she was absolutely indifferent to the fate of her own family, friends, etc. claiming that she absolutely did not care of what was going in her homeland and "she wasn't interested" about that at all!
Many people lost their lifes fighting with the repressive communist authorities for freedom, many were put in jail, many were sentenced to death (the amnesty was announced in 1986), many were co-operating with the "S" activists that acted illegally, pressing and publishing their independent media and/or distributing their pamphlets or leaflets, risking their lifes - their and sometimes also their families, because the "Solidarity", in the moment of initiation the martial law, had been outlawed by the authorities of Jaruzelski. All the official media were controlled by the communists and their censors, and she just came "out of the blue" from the "better world of the West" to the communistic hell and decided just to settle down in Warsaw and live as comfortably as possible, pretending that she also "fights" but in an incognito manner using her power of BK RajYoga?! Just as the BKs with their power of good wishes and pure feelings "support" the victims of natural disasters in India, actually doing nothing but sitting on their butts, wearing their freshly ironed white robes and meditating?!
After I read the interviews with Paradela, my feeling of shame inside rose up even more - I was one of them, we were taught to be indifferent and selfish. What a selfish and vain witch!
I am glad I was eventually able to successfully pull my mother out of this stinking and toxic swamp, and the BKs don't chase her as she became completely useless to them.
First some essentional facts, as an introduction.
The BK centre in Poland founded in 1981 in Warsaw, was the first BK centre in the Central-Eastern Europe ever. So, from the historical point of view I think it was another "milestone" in the BKWSU activity worldwide worth to mention.
The BK movement in Poland started during the very hard times of state of war (the martial law/stan wojenny) initiated by the communistic authorities, by the Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski himself in December 1981, the war that never happened.
According to the PhD Agnieszka Kościańska's book "Potęga ciszy..." (PhD A. Kościańska is a Polish academic from the Institute of Ethnology and Culture Anthropology of the University of Warsaw, who was researching the Polish BKs in 2002-2005, and interviewing them).
The translation from Polish to English is mine, and I am using the right to quote to publish the fragments of the book. The original quotations are coloured blue, and originally come from the book written by PhD Agnieszka Kościańska "Potęga ciszy. Konwersja a rekonstrukcja porządku płci na przykładzie nowego ruchu religijnego Brahma Kumaris" published by Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego in 2009.
The interview part is in italic, and put in double quotes, and also coloured blue. All my translations are in green colour, and in the part of interview written italic and put in double quotes.
(...)Pierwszą polską studentką i jednocześnie założycielką ruchu w naszym kraju jest Halina Paradela. W 1981 roku wróciła do Polski po 10 latach spędzonych w Kanadzie i zajęła się propagowaniem radża jogi - tak nazywa się technika medytacyjna Brahma Kumaris. Obecnie ośrodki ruchu działają w Warszawie, Łodzi, Trójmieście oraz w Katowicach.
The first Polish BK student and at the same time the founder of the movement in our country was Halina Paradela. In 1981 she came back to Poland after 10 years of her stay in Canada and started to promote the Raja Yoga - it is the name of the Brahma Kumaris meditation technique. At the moment the centres of the movement are in Warsaw, Łódź, Tricity, and in Katowice.
* * *
OK, it is really great, that Halina Paradela (who invariably has been a National Co-ordinator in Poland for... over 30 years) decided to make the Polish people aware of some other spirituality and interest them, but why the heck during so hard and painful times for the Polish people, who were under repressions of communistic regime, especially during the martial law, which actually was the state of war (and some kind of a military coup d'etat) and announcing military mobilisation in the whole country - the country was controlled by the Gen. Jaruzelski and his people, one of the most important Polish generals as a leader?
* * *
Some historical facts about the history of the Polish People's Republic, 8 years before the political transformation and the end of communism in 1989-90:
In winter of 1981, specifically on the 12th December, the communistic authoritarian government decided to initiate the martial law, called in Polish "stan wojenny", because, according to the ex-leader of Polish People's Republic, General of Army Wojciech Jaruzelski, and also the Minister of Defense of the communistic regime, who personally announced the martial law reading the announcement in the Polish television wearing his military uniform, was a threat of the military invasion from the East, (the situation in Poland at almost any level was really bad and the rising was "just around a corner"), and the Warsaw Pact military forces (Russians) stationed also in Poland, or close to the Polish border (from the West, there was German Democratic Republic, from the south - Czechoslovakia, and from the East, the whole USSR forces, so the smallest rising could end in a real massacre, a massive spilling of blood, following the painful experience such as in Prague in 1968 or in Budapest in 1956).
And the communist authorities feared of such potential rising, a civil war, and of the spilling of blood in the whole country, that's why they decided to announce the martial law to avoid it, but their main goal was to crush any of the pro-democratic movements which feared most the comrades in Moscow. Moreover, they were planning it from the late 70s.
The initiation of the "martial law" in 1981 was the idea of Jaruzelski himself, not the comrades from Moscow. The martial law was canceled in 1983.
More on this topic in the Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_law_in_Poland
To properly understand what was happening at that moment in Poland, I recommend to anyone first reading the Wiki, and then go back and folllowing the rest of my post. Halina Paradela comes back to Poland just a month before the martial law, and not to support and help her friends and family in such hard times but to found a BK centre.
***
As for the BKWSU Poland, here's another quotation from the A. Kosciańska's book - she interviewed Halina Paradela on her own reflections on the political situation in Poland in 1981, and of her own experience:
Historia ruchu w Polsce.
W drugiej połowie lat siedemdziesiątych XX wieku z naukami Brahma Kumaris zetknęła się przebywająca wtedy w Kanadzie Polka - Halina Paradela. Szybko zaangażowała się w działania ruchu i postanowiła wrócić do kraju po 10 latach, które spędziła w Kanadzie i tu założyć pierwszy w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej Uniwersytet Duchowy. Do Polski przyjechała w listopadzie 1981 roku.
Jak twierdzi założycielka, silne zaangażowanie w rozwój duchowy spowodowało, że nie uświadamiała sobie, jaka jest sytuacja polityczna w Polsce.
The history of the movement in Poland.
In the second half of 70s the Polish woman, Halina Paradela, who was staying in Canada, got close into the BK teachings. She joined the movement quickly and decided to go back to Poland after 10 years she spent in Canada, and founded the first BK centre in Central-Eastern Europe ever. She returned to Poland in November 1981.
"Wylądowałam we Frankfurcie samolotem z Kanady. Zatrzymałam się w naszym ośrodku we Frankfurcie. Powiedziano mi, że w Polsce jest strasznie i dano mi 10 worków i walizek lekarstw, ubrań i żywności, i z tymi 10 walizkami załadowano mnie do pociągu, który miał mnie dowieźć z Frankfurtu do Wrocławia."
"The plane from Canada landed in Frankfurt. I was staying in our centre in Frankfurt and they told me that there is a terrible situation in Poland, so they gave me ten bags and suitcases full of medicines, clothes and food. And with all that stuff they put me into the train from Frankfurt to Wrocław."
Halinka - tak mówią o przywódczyni uczestnicy ruchu - przyjechała do Warszawy i rozpoczęła nauczanie radża jogi. Stopniowo pojawili się pierwsi zwolennicy, ale również zainteresowanie ze strony władz.
Halinka - as the members of the movement call their leader - came to Warsaw and started her teaching of Raj Yoga. Slowly, first supporters appeared, but the authorities also started to look into her activity.
"W krawatach i marynarkach, i słuchają bardzo uważnie (śmiech). A to jest przecież stan wojenny, więc nie wolno się gromadzić, a my mamy spotkania trzy razy dziennie. (...) Jak już jestem na stałe w Warszawie i prowadzę spotkania, przyjeżdża po mnie samochód milicyjny. Jest tam jedna pani, jeden pan w cywilu i jeden milicjant, i zawożą mnie do głównej komendy... I tam dwie panie, które... ja dotychczas nie wiedziałam, że takie mogą być kobiety, próbują mnie zmusić do przyznania się, że ja jednak jestem amerykańskim szpiegiem, i próbują wywrzeć na mnie różnego rodzaju presję, jednakże nie mogą wywrzeć na mnie żadnej presji, ponieważ ja niczego nie posiadam. niczego mi nie mogą zabrać. jedyne czym grożą, to że mieszkanie w którym mieszkam, u tej pani, zostanie jej odebrane. Zachowują się wręcz bardzo brutalnie" (w. 18).
"In their ties and jackets and they were listening very carefully. (laughter) And in Poland it is the martial law, the state of war, so the gatherings are not allowed and we had the meeting three times a day. (...) When I was just settled down in Warsaw and I started to conduct the meetings, one day the police came after me. In that police car there was one lady, one man dressed in casual clothes, and one policeman, and I was brought to the main police office. And there two ladies, who ... I have never met such mean women, they try to make me to acknowledge that actually I am an American spy, they just tried to make a pressure on me, of any type, and because I had no possessions, they couldn't take away from me anything. They couldn't make a pressure on me, but they only threat me they got back the flat from the lady at whom I was living. They just behaved very brutally." (interview no. 18)
Wspominając to wydarzenie, rozmówczyni maluje swój portret jako osoby nieświadomej sytuacji, a jednocześnie silnej duchowo.
While memorizing that event, my interlocutor painted herself a person who was, on the one side, completely unaware of the situation and, the same time, spiritually strong.
"Jednakże ja tego nie biorę do siebie. Dlatego, że ja nie mam z tym nic wspólnego, z sytuacją polityczną. Mnie to w ogóle nie interesuje. Ja nawet nie byłam zorientowana w stanie wojennym, ponieważ ja przeżywałam własne, wewnętrzne sprawy, które mnie bardzo absorbowały wtedy. I były dla mnie bardzo ważne, o wiele ważniejsze niż sprawy ekonomiczne czy polityczne. Jednakże ja zaczynam z tymi kobietami rozmawiać. Zaczynam im opowiadać historię Uniwersytetu, co to w ogóle jest za organizacja. I te kobiety... zachodzi w nich jakaś taka niesamowita zmiana, tam na miejscu, one tam ucinają to interrogation... przesłuchanie. I nagle zupełnie zmieniają swoją postawę względem mnie i wręcz z pewnym szacunkiem odprowadzają mnie. Nie ma żadnych konsekwencji. Ja dalej mieszkam u tej pani, która... była działaczem Solidarności... ale ja o tym nie wiedziałam (śmiech).Ja o tym nic nie wiedziałam. Ta pani świetnie łączyła działalność solidarnościową z duchową" w. 18
Although I wasn't taking it personally. Because, I had nothing common with it, with that political situation. I did not care at all, I wasn't interested. I had even no idea of the state of war, because I was experiencing my own inner matters, very absorbing me at that moment. And it was very important to me, much more important than the economical or political issues. And I started to talk with these women. I started to tell them the history of the BKWSU, what kind of organization it is. And these women... some change started to happen inside them, they cut out the whole interrogation, over there. And to my surprise they suddenly changed their attitude towards me and even with some respect they were accompanying me (on the way back). There were no consequences at all. I still was living in that flat of the lady who was a Solidarity activist... but I had no idea what she was doing. (laughter) I had no idea about it. That lady was just perfectly connecting the spiritual and political activity in a "Solidarity" movement." (interview no. 18)
Source: A. Kościańska - "Potęga ciszy. Konwersja a rekonstrukcja porządku płci na przykładzie nowego ruchu religijnego Brahma Kumaris". Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego 2009.
BK Halina Paradela in 2010: http://tinyurl.com/oxeynaz
* * *
Halina Paradela, while she was interviewed by PhD Kościańska in 2002, was 47, so in 1981 she could be 26.
I am not going to discuss her private life, actually I have never had such a chance to know her better in private, but she was the chief of all the Polish BKs for over 30 years, and often she was given us an example to follow by some BK Seniors and local BK Sisters (centre-in-charge, or BK Seniors), therefore I am deeply concerned why she was absolutely indifferent to the fate of her own family, friends, etc. claiming that she absolutely did not care of what was going in her homeland and "she wasn't interested" about that at all!
Many people lost their lifes fighting with the repressive communist authorities for freedom, many were put in jail, many were sentenced to death (the amnesty was announced in 1986), many were co-operating with the "S" activists that acted illegally, pressing and publishing their independent media and/or distributing their pamphlets or leaflets, risking their lifes - their and sometimes also their families, because the "Solidarity", in the moment of initiation the martial law, had been outlawed by the authorities of Jaruzelski. All the official media were controlled by the communists and their censors, and she just came "out of the blue" from the "better world of the West" to the communistic hell and decided just to settle down in Warsaw and live as comfortably as possible, pretending that she also "fights" but in an incognito manner using her power of BK RajYoga?! Just as the BKs with their power of good wishes and pure feelings "support" the victims of natural disasters in India, actually doing nothing but sitting on their butts, wearing their freshly ironed white robes and meditating?!
After I read the interviews with Paradela, my feeling of shame inside rose up even more - I was one of them, we were taught to be indifferent and selfish. What a selfish and vain witch!
I am glad I was eventually able to successfully pull my mother out of this stinking and toxic swamp, and the BKs don't chase her as she became completely useless to them.