3 Recent BK Publications in Peer-Reviewed Literature

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GuptaRati 6666

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3 Recent BK Publications in Peer-Reviewed Literature

Post22 Feb 2019

The BKs in India and the West have embarked on having psycho-physiology research on their system of Yoga published in peer-reviewed journals with less stringent editorial policies. Here are three articles I have found in my search to locate contributions of BKs and ex-BKs to communities globally.

I, personally, will not use any BK publications in any of my papers and presentations. It is a policy I have implemented about 2 decades ago. One article is similar to publications, which are 4 decades old and the other two seem to be data taken from a single study parceled off into two and published in two different journals.

In their introduction section, Sukhsohale, Phatak, Sukhsohale, and Agrawal (2012) documented the following about the BK system of raj Yoga, without cited references comparing the BK system of Yoga with other schools of Yoga:
The principles and practice of Raj Yoga meditation as taught by the Brahmakumaris World Spiritual University are quite different from other techniques of meditation. Raja Yoga meditation is awareness of the metaphysical self and absorption of one’s mind in loveful and purposeful consciousness of God and concentration on Him and on His divine attributes. This art and science of meditation which is based on rationality and truth of being and on philosophy and psychology, brings about an inner transformation. It penetrates deeply into the layers of the mind and removes the immoral, the inner vices and thus energizes the soul and renews it. It leads to self illumination and to a lifestyle which gives one satisfaction of leading to a fuller, meaningful and useful life. Raja Yoga meditation relieves physiological and psychological stress and reestablishes mental harmony when practiced regularly, and is thus a vital adjunct to any programme for maintaining and promoting physical, mental and spiritual health. With this background, the present study was planned with the objective of assessing the impact of Brahmakumaris Raja Yoga meditation on physiological and psychological wellbeing of subjects practicing Raja Yoga meditation.

There is no declaration that the authors are free of conflicts of interest connected with their published results (Sukhsohale et al., 2012). The first author seems to be a BK.

In the other two papers there are also no declarations of freedom from conflicts of interest.

Naik, Patel, Biswas, and Verma (2016a) conclude that Raja Yoga is an inexpensive and cost effective means to increase IQ in ADHD cases. The sample size in the study conducted by Nail et al. (2016) was 42 participants. It appears that the participants in the IQ study were also in a study on neuro-auditory physiology and raj Yoga (Naik et al,. 2016b). The conclusions of both papers published in two different journals on two differing subject matters on the same research participants are exactly the same

References
    Sukhsohale, N. D., Phatak, M.S., Sukhsohale, S.D., & Agrawal, S.B. (2012). Does Raja Yoga meditation bring out physiological and psychological general well being among practitioners of it? International Journal of Collaborative Research on Internal Medicine & Public Health, 4(12). Retrieved from http://www.iomcworld.com/ijcrimph/files/v04-n12-15.pdf

    Naik, A., Patel, S., Biswas, D.A., & Verma, M. (2016a). Effect of RajYoga meditation on intelligence quotient of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Yoga and Physical Therapy, 6(2). doi:10.4172/2157-7595.1000242

    Naik, A., Patel, S., Biswas, D.A., & Verma, M. (2016b). Effect of RajYoga in the auditory reaction time of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. International Journal of Integrative Medical Sciences, 3(6), 296-99. http://dx.doi.org/10.16965/ijims.2016.121

GuptaRati 6666

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Re: 3 Recent BK Publications in Peer-Reviewed Literature

Post22 Feb 2019

I am not a great fan of evidence-based health and medicine. The concept, created in the 1990s, has been abused in many academic circles. However, some publications can serve as guidelines when examining the validity of a scientific report for its level of evidence-based health and/or medicine (Burns, Rohrich, & Chung, 2011).

The guests on this site are free to determine the evidence-based hierarchy of the 3 BK articles discussed in my post. I think they can be defended in the name of generalism (Reeve, 2010), one for my partial dislike for evidence-based health and/or medicine.

References
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ex-l

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Re: 3 Recent BK Publications in Peer-Reviewed Literature

Post22 Feb 2019

I am heartened to read that you, as an academic, are affirming conclusions that I, as an uneducated lay individual, came to a long time ago ... that the "evidence-based science" slogan has merely become a mantra for a different sort of voodoo practioner.

Pretty much exactly the same people it was supposed to keep in check.

Referring back to the Brahma Kumaris, I have noted a "yukti" ... a strategy or device ... where BK academics hide themselves, and their cult's beliefs and modus operandi, behind the names of non-BK collaborators whom I suspect are unaware how they are being used.

I'd flag up BK Tamasin Ramsay for being the chief proponent of this ... and, in essence, being a high level BK public relationship worker rather than true to academic standards.

The Indian "academic" BKs appear to be even more artless or less practised at this deception. That abstract is directly out of the BK PR script that any uneducated BK could repeat.

The evidence suggests to me that the BKs are sharing such strategies internationally. Strategies that have their original roots in the advice given by their god spirit in its mediumistic teachings (eg "doing through others" and "using others as a microphone") but were also specifically developed as a reaction to counter the influence and findings of this site.

There was a huge battle on the Wikipedia and the BKs were shown that most independent sources and academia about them was negative and damaging, therefore have they set about creating their own positive sources.

Someone that utterly undercuts the BKs creditibility is their unwillingness to embrace critical and negative external sources or findings, or even engage in discussions with them.

All they are doing is attempting to build up more layers and layers of deceit and obfuscation using and abusing the form and language of academia, without honouring its principles.

All under the shame of still calling themselves a "university" or even 'the highet university'.
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Pink Panther

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Re: 3 Recent BK Publications in Peer-Reviewed Literature

Post23 Feb 2019

I have to differ. I prefer the practice of evidence-based medical science over evidence-contradicting medicine!
The problem comes not from that idea but that the idea of evidence base is poorly understood even by its proponents. Few qualified scientists have the background in the philosophy of science.

Few of them or lay people think in 3 or 4 dimensions, they accept 2-dimensional statements as unqualified truth.

eg studies show x is bad and y is good”.

The parameters and conditions under which these conclusions are made are rarely reported or questioned.

eg research shows that z may lead to an improvement in something

May? "One day pigs may fly”.
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ex-l

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Re: 3 Recent BK Publications in Peer-Reviewed Literature

Post23 Feb 2019

Pink Panther wrote:I have to differ. I prefer the practice of evidence-based medical science ...

I think you missed my nuance, although I cannot speak for what Gupta meant.

I meant more that there is deliberate misuse of the term for what it not truly evidence based. Of course, one of the big problems is, there is no "evidence" without research, and who pays for what research (then, even deeper, "no evidence without a model" meaning even if there *is* evidence, unless it fits into an already pre-existing model, it does not exist in their minds).

The movement started to challenge treatments that were being carried out in blind faith, then became a mantra for those who did not want to see or question and to defend coporate interests (just because there's no corporation willing to fund study/licensing, does not mean other things don't work; and what is worth "evidence-ising" is based on whether it profitable or will attract funding).

Clearly though, an "evidence based" accessment of BKism clearly shows that it does not work (no Destruction), but that it is profitable.

--

Going back to the BKs, one institutional "sanskar" I notice (psychological trait, in their language), is the that BKs bask in ... embrace and even encourage ... their non-BK academics' lack of accuracies. They encourage vagueness and incorrect documentation and conclusions in order to hide the truth behind it.

They are are not too keen on acuity but prefer their lenses to be blurred ... and are not beyond rubbing a bit of smear on them if it benefits their interests.

Along with Tamasin Ramsay's pieces - that, I would argue, are not aimed at exploring and exposing the sharp edge of truth but are more about blurring the edges and creating an new yet still acceptable narrative for the instutition - Professor Frank Whaling's execrable book, "Understanding the Brahma Kumaris" is a perfect example of how successfully the Brahma Kumaris can seduce an old male academic, nod "hmmn" to his repetition of utterly false accounts, and slip in little PR nuggets of their own, eg his discrediting of the PBKs without even having studied or spoken to them.

Whaling prostituted his intellect in service of the cult, as I would say Ramsay does.

It would have been better called "Misunderstanding the Brahma Kumaris" or "Misnderstanding, Manipulated by the Brahma Kumaris".

I think the "yukti" works (strategy) out for the BKs in a way that they can conscience the errors and misunderstandings because they can claim *they* did not write them ... they only "kalyankakar-ed" (worked through others) to achieved it. They flatter the egos of the non-BKs by asking them to be involved and giving them lots of attention (vanity), do much of the work for them (appealing to their laziness), and then don't pull up the errors of the non-BKs.

Then, as with these kinds of studies, they are able to use what they have directed to dupe and manipulate the vulnerable.

They are not adhering to the principles of academia, they are mocking their forms and exploiting them.

I am not actually a scientist or an academic but looking at that mock "abstract" even I can see through. I would not be surprised to discover that the only places it has been "published" are in 'pay to publish' journals.

Stephan Nagel's thesis (aka BK Surya and one of the very first Western BKs), 'Brahmas geheime Schoepfung: Die indische Reformbewegung der "Brahma Kumaris". Quellen, Lehre, Raja Yoga' (Brahma's Creation Secret - the Hindu Reformation Movement of the Brahma Kumaris) is in a slightly different category as his relationship to and with the BKs was slightly different at the time.

However, academically, I think both he and Tamasin were wrong - and their supervisors to allow it - to use their PhDs to promote the Brahma Kumaris.

It was cheap and lazy and exploitive, exploiting the lack of in depth study of the BKs to produce irresponsible work, eg Nagel repeats the entirely bogus 1936 "Shivohum ... Shivohum" creation story.

A good academic, a good supervisor of academics, would have to ask ... why did a man with such involvement, with such access, get duped so wrongly. If he could not see through the deception, what value is the rest of the work.

Ditto, on the exposure of the errors, the book should have been pulled and the author publish a retration or correction.

There are basically no critical element to their works at all. No mention of anything that is "bad PR" (that would threaten the individual's status or interests within the cult). They are all whitewash and impurities being fed into the stream of academia ... and that's what the BKs do ... feed impurities into society and poison it.

GuptaRati 6666

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Re: 3 Recent BK Publications in Peer-Reviewed Literature

Post23 Feb 2019

Ex-I and Pink,

Thank you for your responses.

Pink, one of the weaknesses of evidence-based medicine is its failure to accommodate the art of practicing medicine; another is its inability to incorporate into its framework the art of scientific investigation. A mean dosage for a specific drug may become evidence-based. Associated with the mean value are medians, modes, and ranges for the dose, which may be safe for black females, because the randomized clinical trial was conducted on middle class African-American women and the drug will be used to treat Asian women who reside outside of America.

In terms of Sukhsohale et al (2012), there are no citations in the section I have presented. Yet, there are claims made with out any citations to validate the claims. The introduction section of a scientific report is part literature review and part discussion of the hypothesis or hypotheses. The introductory part of the paper is disorganized (Sukhsohaleetal, 2012).

For more than 3 decades, Gardner's theory on multiple intelligence has been gaining traction in the scientific community. It's no longer IQ or a single IQ. Naik et al (2016a) would have been better of conducting a battery of tests for executive function and examining the executive function data in a mathematical model in which abilities in Raj Yoga are independent variables and the data on executive function are the dependent variables.

I would also add that many research investigations funded by pharmaceutical companies claim to be evidence-based, but when carefully analyzed are close to the bottom of the evidence-based pyramid.

https://www.ajodo.org/action/showFullTe ... %2930348-7

Rajdhani

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Re: 3 Recent BK Publications in Peer-Reviewed Literature

Post23 Feb 2019

ex-l wrote:I think the "yukti" works (strategy) out for the BKs in a way that they can conscience the errors and misunderstandings because they can claim *they* did not write them ... they only "kalyankakar-ed" (worked through others) to achieved it. They flatter the egos of the non-BKs by asking them to be involved and giving them lots of attention (vanity), do much of the work for them (appealing to their laziness), and then don't pull up the errors of the non-BKs.

I am beginning to think a good number of BK administrators tend to naturally have narcissistic tendency. Manipulation, mirroring, lack of empathy (under the guise of Karma), not admitting the flaws, superiority, great need for control, lack of responsibility and boundaries etc, etc.

The horrible part of this is, through their teachings, they are licensed to groom their empaths (followers who are kind hearted and submissive in nature) the way they want to suck all the energy, time and money. They are so used to free supply from others from so many decades, they have become very good at their games. If I am not wrong, narcissists do not feel guilt or remorse and they think they are always right. More and more of these power hungry people get attracted to the organization and get settled.
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Pink Panther

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Re: 3 Recent BK Publications in Peer-Reviewed Literature

Post23 Feb 2019

ex-l and GuptaRati,

Yes, I understood your original points and accept your clarifications. I see all that as part of true evidence-based medicine or studies, i.e. the variables need to be considered and not just assumed to be a constant. Your example Gupta of genetic differences is one I have come across before, when a discussion was held as to why many Western medicines do not work the same way in Africa (or people with african genes).

Although evidence-based to begin with, there was the assumption that sub-saharan Africans would respond similarly to Europeans, so the evidence was accepted as universal without clarifying that the criteria of the testign was on Eurasians only.

There’s also research into a certain population in sub-saharan Africa who seem to remain immune to HIV even though tests show some of them ‘carry’ it.

There is more genetic similarity between a Scotsman and a Chinaman than between people of three tribes living near each other in Angola, so medicines tested on Europeans and Asians may be similarly efficacious on both groups but may fail in sub-saharan Africa. The reason for this genetic difference is that all Eurasians have the common genetic ancestry of those who migrated through Sinai out of Africa whereas within Africa the diversity grew more exponentially.

It is said nearly all Europeans are descendants of Charlemagne!

Larger Genetic Differences Within Africans Than Between Africans and Eurasians
Charlemagne’s DNA and Our Universal Royalty

Anyway, my main point is - any statement must carry caveats and qualifications, if not literally they must be ”understood’ or implicit.

Your point about Tamsin Ramsey and other BKs who do ‘academic’ papers on BKs - is not it really a way of convincing oneself, self justification and rationalisation? I heard a BK recently say they enjoy giving the course because when others like what is taught it reinforces their own choices to stay as BKs. To me thats a bit like saying if the natives like the baubles and beads offered it reinforces the footsoldier's faith in serving the colonising empire.
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ex-l

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Re: 3 Recent BK Publications in Peer-Reviewed Literature

Post23 Feb 2019

GuptaRati 6666 wrote:I would also add that many research investigations funded by pharmaceutical companies claim to be evidence-based, but when carefully analyzed are close to the bottom of the evidence-based pyramid.

Indeed, there was that huge controversy about SSRI drugs (anti-depressants) that were hailed as "evidence-based" ... therefore they work ... but then after many tragic cases, the results turned out to be widely falisified. It's a stretch for me to accept corporate falsification as part of the process.

Tragic cases; the suicides, nervous breakdowns, career and familial breakdown etc *should* be part of the evidence of their practises that the Brahma Kumaris should research and publish, explain and refine away, even if they only turn out to be anomalous.

That would be to apply academic standards to their practise.

Ditto, I am going to write a post about a Indian farmer who developed a way of increases rice crops by a huge proportion ... not through "Om-ing" as the seeds, or staring at them (giving them dhristi) ... but by merely growing them further apart (details to follow) and controlling water supply.

Increases of 150 to 200% (from memory), in the face of the BKs' claimed small increase.

Therein lies an additional layer of science or academia.

If you do something and gain a result, you carry on doing it ... but if someone else comes along afterwards and gains an even greater result, you are responsible to give up what you are doing and start using and teaching the new improved version.

The idea is to serve the greater good, not your own cults interests.

I'll wait until I see one BK publish a critical paper about BKism, eg highlighting failures, falsehoods or abuses of powers, before I'll believe they've changed their colours.

In the meanwhile, it's all about publicity, saving face ... and using the system to reach high profile, high value individuals. Using the mock, bogus or analogue academia as key to reach different parts of society.

It's all wrong.

It's bad enough they ransack other religions to cherry pick names, words and concepts ... but they should leave academia alone.

GuptaRati 6666

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Re: 3 Recent BK Publications in Peer-Reviewed Literature

Post24 Feb 2019

The BKs in many respects have been trying to mimic Tibetan monks, whom they have regarded as spiritually confined, in terms of their evolution to Bhakti.

TM and institutions established by Swami Rama have recently become role models for the BKs to emulate, without much moral and ethical reforms within BKism.

The BKs have mastered the art of using and abusing unique individuals who are agents of change in cultures and societies, including those in the intelligentsia, and them dumping them in the gutters of life and living.

Academia will not leave the BKs alone.

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