Brahma Kumaris

The Brahma Kumaris organisation was founded in Hyderabad, Sindh, in northwest India (present-day Pakistan). which consisted of wealthy merchants and business people whose husbands and fathers were often overseas on business. Three years after the organization came into existence, it became clear that Om Mandali was emphasising the role of women and was not adhering to the caste system. The group had named a 22-year-old woman, Radhe Pokardas Rajwani (then known as "Om Radhe"), as its president, and her management committee was made up of eight other women. People from any caste were allowed to attend meetings. The group also advocated that young women had the right to not marry and that married women had the right to choose celibacy. In tradition-bound patriarchal India, these personal life decisions were the exclusive right of men. A committee headed by influential male members of the Bhaibund community began to form in opposition and became known as the 'Anti-Om Mandali Committee'. On 21 June 1938, this group picketed the premises of Om Mandali and prevented members from entering the campus and caused considerable upheaval in the community. Women attending the discourses were verbally abused. There was an attempt to burn the premises down, and the police made several arrests. Many women and girls were subjected to domestic violence. The picketing led to criminal proceedings against both groups. On 16 August 1938 the local District Magistrate ordered that Om Mandali be prevented from meeting. This ban was reversed on 21 November 1938 after an appeal to the Court of the Judicial Commissioner of Sindh. In an unusual move, the judges directly criticised the district magistrate for trying to punish the victims for the disturbance caused by the perpetrators and for trying to apply the law according to their own personal bias. Following these events, Om Mandali decided to leave Hyderabad and relocated their activities to Karachi in the latter half of 1938. Approximately three hundred members moved. On 31 March 1939, the government appointed a tribunal to enquire into the activities of Om Mandali. When the tribunal released its findings, Om Radhe responded by compiling a book entitled Is this Justice? criticising the tribunal, which they alleged did not have a constitutional basis and made its findings without obtaining evidence from Om Mandali. In May 1939, the government used the tribunal's findings to effectively reinstate the ban, declaring Om Mandali an "unlawful association" under section 16 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1908. Nevertheless, Om Mandali continued to hold their satsangs, and the government did not enforce the ban. Possibly because of this, the committee then hired someone to assassinate Om Baba. The attempt was unsuccessful. ==Expansion==

In May 1950, Om Mandali moved to Mount Abu in Rajasthan, India. In 1952, a more structured form of teaching was offered to the public through a seven-lesson course. Brahma Kumaris began an international expansion programme from the mid-1950s. The most visible manifestations of the organisation are its spiritual museums, located in most major Indian cities. The leadership and membership of the BK movement remains primarily female: in the UK, only one-third of the forty-two centres are run by men, , centres are mostly in followers' own homes with a tendency toward middle- or upper-class membership. Estimates for its worldwide membership range from thirty-five thousand in 1993 to four hundred thousand in 1998 to four hundred fifty thousand in 2000; however, many adherents are probably not completely committed to the group's worldview. == Beliefs ==

The movement has distinguished itself from its Hindu roots and sees itself as a vehicle for spiritual teaching rather than as a religion. Hudson describes the Brahma Kumaris as advancing a reformed Hinduism, keeping many doctrines and vocabulary, while rejecting others. Self The Brahma Kumaris view humans as composed of two parts: an external visible body, which includes aspects like status and possessions, and a subtle energy known as the soul. The character structure of the soul is expressed through a person's external actions. However, regardless of the outward appearance, whether actions are carried out with love, peace, happiness, or humility, reflects the essence of one's soul. The Brahma Kumaris teach that the soul is an infinitesimal point of spiritual light residing in the forehead of the body it occupies, Karma The Brahma Kumaris believe that every action performed by a soul will create a return accordingly, and that the destiny of the soul's next body depends on how it acts and behaves in this life. Through meditation, by transforming thinking patterns and eventually actions, the Brahma Kumaris believe that people can purify their "karmic account" and lead a better life in the present and next birth. Cycle of time In contrast to linear theories of human history that hypothesize an ancient point of origin for the universe and a final destruction, the Brahma Kumaris do not posit a start, end or age for the universe, believing such concepts to be an erroneous application of the human life cycle to the universe. Brahma Kumaris believe the universe to follow an eternal, naturally occurring 5,000-year cycle, composed of four ages (yugas): the Golden Age (Satya Yuga), the Silver Age (Treta Yuga), the Copper Age (Dvapara Yuga), the Iron Age (Kali Yuga) and each represents 1250 years of the cycle. They also believe that at the end of the Iron Age there will be "Destruction." They believe Destruction will kill everyone on Earth and cleanse the Earth. Then only can the cycle repeat again. The present period of this cycle is sometimes described as a fifth age or "Confluence age" as it is considered to be the confluence (the junction or meeting) between the Iron Age and the Golden age. The first half of the cycle (the Golden and Silver ages) is considered to be the age of "soul conscious living". The Brahma Kumaris see this as a time of "heaven on earth" or as a version of the Garden of Eden when human beings are fully virtuous, complete, self-realised beings who lived in complete harmony with the natural environment. The primary enlightenment was the innate understanding of the self as a soul. The Brahma Kumaris believe that modern civilization will be destroyed by global nuclear conflict, coupled with natural calamities and that these cataclysmic events form part of a natural and cathartic cyclic process. As the organisation developed, it witnessed World War II, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Cold War, and the destructive aspects of its teachings were reframed as a process of transformation. The students of the organization had also made many failed predictions of the violent destruction of the world, between 1987 and 2008 and the original teachings also referred to a particular date 1976, aspects which are now downplayed. == Practices ==

Meditation The Brahma Kumaris teaches a form of meditation through which students are encouraged to purify their minds. This may be done by sitting tranquilly, then making affirmations regarding the eternal nature of the soul, the original purity of one's nature, and the nature of God. The aim of the BK meditation is also to learn to hold meditative states while being engaged in everyday life. There are two types of : • Sakar Murlis refer to the original orations that BKs believe to be the Supreme Soul speaking through Brahma Baba. • Avyakt Murlis are spoken by BapDada. BKs believe BapDada is God and the soul of their deceased founder. BapDada(God) is believed to speak to the BKs through a senior BK medium, Dadi Gulzar. Avyakt s are still being spoken at the BKs headquarters in India. Students must complete the Brahma Kumaris foundation course and start by attending morning class before visiting the headquarters. Pratibha Patil, the UPA-Left candidate and former President of India said on camera during the 2007 Indian presidential election, that she spoke to "Baba" (a term the BKs use for God) at the Brahma Kumaris headquarters in Mount Abu, Rajasthan. Patil stated that when she met Baba He had indicated great responsibility was coming her way. In his book "Ignited Minds," Abdul Kalam recounts an exceptional spiritual encounter he had on February 3, 2002, during his visit to the Brahma Kumari Spiritual Academy located in Mount Abu. During the visit, he witnessed an extraordinary event where one of the disciples, Dhadhi Gurzar, became the medium for the deity of the Brahma Kumaris, Shiva Baba. Dr. Kalam observed her personality undergo a transformation, with her face becoming radiant and her voice deepening as she spoke about the four treasures: Knowledge, Yoga, Virtue, and Service. Lifestyle and Suresh Oberoi in Bangkok on the pay-to-broadcast television program Awakening with Brahma Kumaris Brahma Kumaris recommend a specific lifestyle to achieve greater control over the physical senses. However, many participate in a casual way, electing to adopt whichever beliefs and lifestyle disciplines in the following list they wish: • Complete celibacy, whether in or out of marriage • Sattvic lacto-vegetarian diet (excluding eggs, onions, garlic, and spicy foods) cooked only by the self or other Brahma Kumaris members. • Abstention from alcohol, tobacco, and nonprescription drugs. • Frequent wear of white attire to symbolise purity. • Preference for the company of other BK followers. ==Activities==

Education Traditionally, the Brahma Kumaris conducted an introduction to meditation consisting of seven two-hour-long sessions. The sessions include their open-eyed meditation technique and their philosophy. The organisation also offers courses in "positive thinking", "self management leadership" and "living values". They also have a number of voluntary outreach programs in prisons. With the support of Vicente Fox, the Brahma Kumaris introduced their meditation practice and philosophy to the government of Mexico through the "Self Management Leadership" (SML). The SML course is closely related to the Brahma Kumaris philosophy and is the backbone of Brahma Kumaris management philosophy. 90 trained facilitators ran programs through which 25,000 people at the top level of government have passed. Renewable energy The Brahma Kumaris have launched several environment initiatives. Their work in solar energy and sustainable energy has included the 2007 development of the world's largest solar cooker, and a solar thermal power plant in Talheti, Abu Road at the base of Mount Abu, where the international headquarters is located. The 25-acre site is projected to produce 22000 kwh of electricity daily. With the government's support the program has been redesigned into Akhil Bharatiya Krushak Sashakatikaran Abhijan (ABKSA), and was launched in December 2015. ABKSA extends the initial scope of the SYA program to include teaching meditation and self empowerment to the farmers themselves. In 2012, experiments were being conducted in partnership with leading agricultural universities in India to establish if the practice of Brahma Kumaris meditation in conjunction with implementing more traditional organic farming methods could be shown to have a measurable and positive effect on crop development. An article published in the Journal of Asian Agri-History reviews two separate studies on SYA. One study was conducted by G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT), Pantnagar, Uttarakhand and the other by Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University (SDUAT) of Gujarat. The review reports that the Brahma Kumaris meditation techniques used enhanced seed growth, seed germination rates and increased the level of microbes present in the soil. Healthcare In 1991, the Brahma Kumaris, Ashok Mehta, and the brothers Gulab and Khubchand Watumull opened the J Watumull Global Hospital in the Sirohi district of Rajasthan, offering medical facilities to the local population. UN consultative status In 1998 the Brahma Kumaris gained consultative status with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. ==Criticism==

When the organization began in the 1930s in Sindh, it sparked controversy by empowering women to assert their right to celibacy, especially in marriage, challenging the male-dominated society of the Indian subcontinent. Adherents have been criticised by nonmembers for hiding or downplaying their prophesied physical destruction of the world particularly as they still believe that such an event will happen "soon". However, they maintain that their primary purpose is to teach meditation and peace of mind, not to push their views about the different challenges the world is facing on non-members who may be visiting the group to learn about meditation or values based living. focusing on recruitment methods, the issue of celibacy, and reinterpretation of religious history. He reported the rewriting of the revelatory messages (Murlis) by the Brahma Kumari. They have been accused of breaking up marriages. ==See also==