Brahma Kumaris Info - the Truth about BK Meditation

I am interested in the way the Global Hospital in Mount Abu is developing. Do they employ only BKs?

I think the general opinion here was that it was started primarily to give medical care to BKs, then to do good PR work taking some of the pressure off local community resistance to the BKWSU. I, personally, have little information about it but consider the relationship between it and the BKWSU to be unclear as yet but note that despite doing some pro bono work, it is running on a business basis, e.g. charging for services and training whilst at the same time offering other BKs paid employment. Anyone shed any more light on this?

BKWSU wrote:Global Hospital & Research Centre, Mount Abu requires:

1. CHIEF OF NURSING SERVICES: B.Sc.(Nursing) with 10 yrs experience in Nursing Administration.

2. O.T.Supervisor: Diploma in General Nursing & Midwifery (GNM) with 10 yrs experience in Operation Theatre.

Apply immediately. Salary negotiable.
Fax No.02974 238570; Email: ghrcmt@sancharnet.in

DR.PARTAP MIDHA, MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT & TRUSTEE
"Global Hospital, Mount Abu" ghrc@bkivv.org

If the advertisement applies only to BKs, then the mention of salary means a BK will be receiving a salary. If a non-BK nurse can apply then it is normal the talk of salary. If there is no BK who is willing to work for free, then normally a nurse has to be hired, because a hospital needs nurses. It happens because once a work is started one has to maintain it. Is it expected that they say to the medical supplies factory that in fact this is God's hospital so to receive syringes for free?

So it has to operate as any other normal hospital. Even in any hospital donations and funding from organizations is normal, because generally healthcare is considered virtuous area, along with education, children care, care for handicapped and others in weak position such as refugees for political or economical reasons, victims of racism, religious pursuit or other type of discrimination.

I have worked in the healthcare business and can assure you it has become so much more of a business amongst the doctors etc. that it is even visible to anyone. So whatever is happening with the hospital is something very normal. Even if there is BK who is willing to work for free if the hospital itself offers paid service, it is normal he is paid too.

Me, personally, i think such work is not easy so it deserves to be paid. We are supposed to be spiritual doctors so this work of a BK there may be seen as any other BK who in his lokik life works a lokik work (for eg. in a hospital if his education is such) and getting paid for it.

To start with, such an initiative to start a hospital is not according to Shrimat and must be someone's invention, so it may be seen as not having anything in common with the BK. All the parts of the BK that make it a business are not part of the BK in its true sense, but just a business. However in the core of it there may still remain a true BK world. The way someone may live a normal lokik life and be a BK, there is no need to wear white and live in the center, this same very way all the wrong practices in the BK does not deny the possibility of existing of such examples of true inculcation within the organization who are not influenced by the vicious practices.

ex-l wrote:I am interested in the way the Global Hospital in Mount Abu is developing. Do they employ only BKs?

I don't think they employ only BKs, but yes, they do prefer BKs. And they also pay them salary. But I suppose many BKs may even be willing to work there for less than the normal pay just to be close to Madhuban, BapDada and Dadis. Before becoming a PBK, I too was aiming to join the hospital in case I did not get a proper job in the 'outside' world. But I am neither a doctor, nor a nurse, not a medical technician either. So, you can imagine the amount that I could have negotiated

Its all fair comment andrey and, of course, you are right about nurses etc being paid. I think that it is the disgrace of our time that money men get paid 100s of times more than nurses; and that the pay level between doctors/consultants and nurses is so disproportiate the duties they do.

I also especially agree with the last bit about Shrimat. But BapDada did praise the hospital service this season again noting how it had made relationships with the local people better (and encouraging them to go for schools/colleges next) and I do not know how BapDada not following Shrimat fits into the picture ... unless Gulzar is only channelling Lekhraj Kirpalani now? It seems to be wrong to say it is "BK" but then is "BK" more not BK these days?

In the West, we have in place equal opportunity laws and currently in India, the government is about to/or has pass the 'Equal Opportunity Bill, 2008'. By Western standards, it would be discrimination to choose an employee by their religion, or exclude a qualified employee due to their religion. This is what I am wondering about.

It would also be unlawful for members of a charity to raise fund to primarily to benefit themselves, e.g. pay themselves a wage. And this is also what I am wondering about. Altruism, is surely putting other before the self and uplifting them. This is what I am not sure what the Global Hospital thing is all about, or where it is going.

Dada Lekraj has been coming in Gulzar Dadi since the beginning of the Avyakt Vanis. We all thought it differently, but it is only him and it does not mean whatever he speaks is not Shrimat. BapDada also praises the megaprogrammes, but it does not mean he has instructed them to happen. On the contrary it has always been emphasised that we should never care for quantity, they will come by themselves, it has always been said to look for quality, mike, a heir soul etc. This praising does not mean it becomes of Shrimat. When a child is not doing what is supposed to do, but something else he should also receive encouragement for whatever he does on his own.

Shrimat is not secret to anyone. It is one and the same for all, open to all, everyone knows what is along or against Shrimat and we know what is the result of following and not following. This will not change, however there are various children that has to be given love and respect. It is also said that there is great tact of the internal and outwardly love of BapDada, that no one could understand really whom BapDada loves indeed. However, it should not be hard to understand since it has been said many times in the Murlis which children he likes etc. so we should base our judgement based on such matters that are said.

It is also said in the Murli that the one who receives the most respect - consider it the most degraded. It is normal to be so. In this world that is degraded only those who are degraded will succeed. At other place it is said that our effort, praise, regard are all secret. Knowledge itself is secret, Father is secret, children are secret. Even in our lokik life one can scold you a lot, but one sees there is a good feeling inside of true benefit. And the one to whom you say, yes, yes everything is very good - he is hopeless case.

So I take it you are not applying for the job then?

Its a shame that all those BKs who were encouraged to give up their education, and not seek advancement in their careers, were not encouraged to become doctors and nurses instead ... so then, they too could could go and live in the palace ground up in Mount Abu.

Hey! Is it you who is offering the job? You were an ex-BK right? And anti-BK-business-attitude orineted, right? Or, you have something like of a doctor in you.

There is at least one BK I know who works in the hospital and is sustained with needs similar to those Madhubanwassis in Pandav Bhavan and Gyan Sarovor, i.e. food and lodgings, the occasional change of new clothes, travel fares, and some spending allowances for personal essentials.

Whatever the reasons are not for one to judge.

As far as I can remember, when they came up with the idea of the Global Hospital, it had a dual purpose of providing better medical facilities to the BKs and also making the medical services available to the local communities. I understood that the hospital was not for profit and that the poor ones amongst the locals would get the services for free whilst those who can afford would be charged small fees and the BKs were encouraged to give donations to support the charitable work of the hospital. All this seems fair enough to me.

When it comes to who gets paid and who doesn't ... Let's say some renovation work needs to be done at the Center. Some of it will be done for free by BK students but some of it may require professional expertise and we may have to hire a paid professional for that or it may happen that there is someone within the BK family, or contacts, that has the qualifications and may be willing to do it for free. It may happen also that that person cannot or would not do it for free but would give us a good deal or we don't mind even paying a regular fee but would like that person to do the work because we know we can trust the quality of work, or because the Sisters living at the Center would be more comfortable with someone they know to do the work in their living quarters instead of having an outsider. Similarly for the professional medical staff at the Global Hospital, some may give their time for free, some may be paid, whether BKs or non-BKs and again this seems fair enough to me and I do not need to know who is paid or not and why, as long as I can trust that it is all based on benevolence.

I have no clue if anyone within the administration or from the medical staff is using the system in a selfish or dishonest way but it may well be, considering the number of people involved. I also have no clue how much the leadership of the institution is keeping an eye on this and making sure that there is no abuse. Everyone can make mistakes and bad choices and I do not think it is necessary to ruin someone's reputation for that unless it becomes obvious that there is abuse.

I do believe that a lot of those involve in the work of the Global Hospital have genuine and pure motives and intentions but we know by now that there is an history of misrepresentation and deceit, whether it is for promotion purposes or selfish interests so I understands that it deserves public scrutiny.

Personally, as a BK, I am always annoyed when we try to use everything we do to make a big show of ourselves. It doesn't match my understanding of Shrimat telling us to be humble servants.

I am grateful to be in such company, I have to say that what both bansy and bkti-pit write is appealing and sounds good to me. I do however wish there was more clarity in such matters, e.g. what if that disrepaired center was still owned and kept in a private individual's name? Why are these "principles of differences" not noted down somewhere so other can understand?

Viewed negatively, it could just been seen as getting away with what one can. Raising donations, increasing from non-BK sources, to pay BK wages ... it does not sound right. It leads me also to highlight other reports of some BK teachers being allowed to receive the donations given from individual attending BK, not business-style, courses.

My experience of "doing stuff for the Sisters" in quite shocking. I did the work for nothing because I understood that was the right thing to do and I was "doing it for God". I only gave them the invoices for the materials used (I was as broke and living hand to mouth in shared accommodation). I did not charge for my time or "expertise", nor did I add any profit. From memory, I even got the parts for trade price. Then I ended with the big telephone call and a senior down my throat investigating the matter.

It made me realise at the time that for all their "superpowers", they did not have any intuition because anyone that had would have picked up I was sincere. It also made me realise that if they were not greedy, they certainly lacked tack ... It shook my faith in the 100% connectedness with God ... but then that was a joke in the first place.

ex-l wrote:I do however wish there was more clarity in such matters

I agree with you that more openness and transparency as well as straightforward honesty would be better for all.

Anyone who has been around the BK world for some time must have seen how students and contacts are often used by those who are running the Centers to get personal services in the name of God, which is clearly not according to Shrimat. Again I think that everyone would benefit if the leadership would tighten up the rules around this.

There are instances where Seniors have been closing their eyes or even supporting abusive situations until it gets so bad that it will spill on them, at which point the center-in-charge is being replaced and ends up with all the blame.