Another day, another BK front organisation: Onepoint Oneness

It's been a while since I did an "Another Day, Another BK Front Organisation" but this one seems to be mixing BKism with personal income business too. That was forbidden in my time as a BK by the Maryadas (the disciplines of BKism everyone was expected to follow, e.g. "no talking worldly business"): Onepoint Oneness.

And they are still lying about BK Raja Yoga being "ancient".

As a number of staff at Onepoint Consulting regularly practise Raja Yoga meditation (known as Yoga for the mind), we had the thought to share some of these principles and practices with a wider audience ...

Each session is run by an experienced facilitator and is based on the ancient method of Yoga for the mind.

Seems to be an offshoot of a legitimate business run by Shashin Shah, employing other BKs, and heavily disguising its Brahma Kumaris connections, or that they are initiating people into Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga, and a relationship with their god spirit. Like many of the early Gujerati Indian BKs in Brahma Kumarism, Shashin came into the UK via East Africa (Uganda) when the Africans got sick of them and chucked them out, and has been involved in the BKWSU since 1981.

The Ugandan leader Idi Amin accused the Indians of disloyalty, non-integration, and commercial malpractice ("always cheating, conspiring and plotting" to subvert Uganda"). I tend to agree. That sounds PRECISELY like the nature of the Brahma Kumaris. During the British Empire, Indians had been brought to Uganda by the British to "serve as a buffer between Europeans and Africans in the middle rungs of commerce and administration", aka 'handle their dirty work'. The racist Brits had invested in the education of the dukahwallas, in preference to that of indigenous Ugandans in order to keep the latter down leading to 1% of the population while earning a fifth of the country's national income, earning a reputation of cheat unsuspecting customers and looked out only for their own families. Many rose to become the nation's bankers.

Again, very much like the spirit of Brahma Kumaris.

Amin accused them of "sabotaging Uganda's economy and encouraging corruption".

Shashin has been instrumental in developing a team of volunteers globally who have helped in implementing various technologies to support the global work of the Brahma Kumaris. Shashin’s aspiration is to continue his spiritual and professional development so that he can continue to serve his family, friends, colleagues and the world out there as best.

The Indians only milked the cow, but they did not feed it to yield more milk. There are now Black faces in every shop and industry. All the big cars in Uganda are now driven by Africans, and not the former bloodsuckers. The rest of Africa can learn from us.

— President Idi Amin

I remember Shashin Shah's name now. He was part of the BK IT team that organised against us around the time when BK Hansa Raval started a fraudulent legal case against us, after some unrelated journalists described her claims as "kooky". I wonder if that makes him one of the Nizari Ismaili Muslims?

And I see Simon Blandford, also of the BK IT team and leader on their 'War Against Truth' on the Wikipedia, is part of it too. Was Sangeetha his partner? I need to check now.

Looking at their output, we find the habitual dishonesty the BKs use to present 'disingenous facades of separation' between themselves and their core teachings and modus operandi, and whatever the latest marketing vehicle is, e.g.

Onepoint lights up the stage with Diwali performance at a local charity

Onepoint Consulting Ltd

As part of our corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, Onepoint team members actively engage in pro bono work with local charities. On the auspicious occasion of Diwali, the festival of lights, the Onepoint team came together to contribute to a vibrant and meaningful event held at the Western headquarters of Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. This organisation, a registered charity dedicated to community well-being, offers free meditation courses and inspired our very own Onepoint Oneness workplace meditation sessions.

Leading the artistic display on stage was Sangeetha Viswanathan, Head of Project Delivery, who served as the principal choreographer. Joining her in the finale performance were, Aishwarya Rajkumar, a 2023 intern at Onepoint, and two other volunteers from the charity.

We still believe in and help a range of local and global charities. And we still support people as much as we can, inside and outside our offices.

We continue to foster a uniquely special environment here. We promote meditation throughout the working day. We don’t see hierarchies – from new starts to veterans we want everyone’s perspective and we move forward as one. Our team is happy; our staff retention extraordinarily high.

Although we’re small, we strive to create a culture of diligence, care and trust.

"One Point" being an obvious mnemonic referring to Shiva Baba, the current god spirit of the Brahma Kumaris. I see they also work with BK Rev. Philippa Blackham, another early Western BK, albeit one that left and had a family (presumably not by the "Power of Yoga") but has since returned to the fold as a fundamental BK, presented not as 'Another Brahma Kumaris follower' but as an "interfaith minister, broadcaster, journalist" etc. An entire article, 'The Power of Silence - How silent reflection empowers you and your team' weaves in vague threads about meditation without mentioning the BKWSU at all.

I wonder why?


BKs would get the references, they've been trading on "The Power of Silence" since at least the 1980s, outsiders wouldn't know how they were being led.

Is that ethical?

They provide BK apps without them labelled BK, e.g.

BeeZone provides a variety of tools to enable you to take a break from a racing, stressful mind and come back to calmness and focus.

Happidote offers an easy way to access practical advice through simple guided meditations to help calm your mind and soothe the stress of work.

Just-a-minute is all it takes to bring ourselves back to our natural state of inner peace and well-being. Learn to relax, refocus and re-energise in just one minute with ‘just-a-minute’ meditations.

And even introduce the idea of "Traffic Control", which has been a key Brahma Kumari practise since when, the 1970s, for non-BK workplaces. Traffic Control is or was BK version of the Islamic 'Salah', where for 5 times a day they stopped for 5 minutes to meditate, to connect or re-connect their minds with the mind of their god spirit.

Traffic Control
Data management for the Mind

This fast-paced world, with its endless data streams and demands, leaves brains frazzled. Many of us at Onepoint HQ benefit from a daily practice of meditation, not just avoid burn out, but to remain calm, contented and effective no matter what the day throws at us.

Particularly useful to keep balance during the day is a system called ‘traffic control’ ...

At Onepoint HQ we play a minute or two of calming music throughout the office, every hour on the hour, as a reminder to take a minute out, to take a step back from whatever activity we’re involved in, to relax, refresh and recharge.

Hitting the ‘pause’ button regularly works wonders for the mind. Our creative ability relies on stillness and silence. Amazingly, even a minute or two can make a positive impact on mental state and the feeling of well-being. ‘Little and often’ really works to keep the mind balanced, which is handy because lack of time is often the main reason people don’t meditate.

Again, while softening their clients up, there are no content warnings, no references to BKism, no mention of their God Shiva Baba with whom they are psychically communing with or channelling.

Their video channel is pure BKism (with the specific numbers of years removed). Obviously "Onepoint Oneness" means being at one, i.e. psychically linking (Yoga) to their god spirit Shiva Baba.

Aishwarya Rajkumar, a 2023 intern at Onepoint

The BK centres that operate in countries where, for legal or tax reasons, they say they do not have "members', or in some cases, "students" - they can instead say they have interns - which in this modern age means unpaid workers. Now we're finally getting some honesty!

Skim-reading the article by Phillipa Blackham, it appears she is also following another modern trend, that of circular referencing. It is common these days when you research a topic via search engines such as Google to find articles which source their information from other articles which in turn source their information from other articles ... which all lead back to a particular source, often of dubious quality. Just like during the last American elections and the Covid outbreak, it was found that nearly all of the millions of posts of disinformation that were quoted and shared/reposted originated from the same 12 authors, most from just a few of those twelve.

So too in her article Blackham quotes McKinsey Consulting.

Management consultants McKinsey & Co maintain that if meditation "can do good for the spirit, then for sure it can also do good for the bottom line".

I note that Mr BK Brian Bacon, recently mentioned in another post and founder of Oxford Leadership Group, that mother of all BK front organisations which appropriate BK-ism (and other non-trademarked practices & teachings such as Sufism, Buddhism, etc to create a "nice little earner" etc) has been/is an advisor to McKinsey, and McKinsey is one of the multinational "consulting" firms that have been outed in recent Australian investigations for massive profiteering, corrupt behaviour & kickbacks involving their various clients.

His "world view" was shaped at the University of Chicago Business School, the home of "mad" Milton Friedman the founding guru of neoliberal, space-cadet greed-is-good, economics. The Oxford Leadership Group itself grew from his association with ... Oxford Analytica.

* (See Oxford University can’t hide its role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal) These are organsiations whose raison'd'etre is to manipulate the choices people make by manipulating emotions which shape "rational choices".

It's a slimy world that any self-respecting, truth-loving person would steer clear of IMO.

The BK centres that operate in countries where, for legal or tax reasons, they say they do not have "members', or in some cases, "students" - they can instead say they have interns - which in this modern age means unpaid workers. Now we're finally getting some honesty!

Indeed, in the past we've documented BK leaders like Hansa Raval attempting to defraud the US immigration department by claiming Indian BKs coming to work for high paid jobs in the USA, for companies like IBM, were somehting like "ministers in the workplace" or something. Generally, the deal is, the BKs get out of their Indian *******, and centre gets all, or as much as they can, of their earnings depending on how surrendered they are.

I have no idea of Onepoint's hiring activities at all, so I am not going to cast aspersions, but I can see how 'in theory' such an operation could benefit chosen individual BKs, and the BKWSU, in such a manner; earning them visas abroad too.

You will remember the Maryadas that used to be stuck on the walls of every centre of Bhavan, I wonder what happened to them? This kind of BK co-prosperity and money making would have been UNTHINKABLE in my time. And still is for the likes of the PBKs. It's always a question of how and who gets access to such privileges within the BK world?

I don't suppose Brian Bacon was "empower" the army of chapati rollers within the BKWSU, I don't suppose he/they are eveen teaching them how to read and write, so it's evidence of an internal caste system within BKism emerging.

Phillipa Blackham ... in her article Blackham quotes McKinsey Consulting.

Management consultants McKinsey & Co maintain that if meditation "can do good for the spirit, then for sure it can also do good for the bottom line".

Yes, I tried to find the original quote claiming that McKinsey & Co had saved $20m in cost one year by introducing meditation but entered into one of those feedback loops you mentioned, and couldn't.

Was there any connection to Brian Bacon and BK meditation, or what it just some kind of generic mindfulness or something?

They hide their references, especially to other BK contacts.

His "world view" was shaped at the University of Chicago Business School ... The Oxford Leadership Group itself grew from his association with ... Oxford Analytica.

Clarification here, please. Oxford Analytica or Cambridge Analytica? It's not clear to me which, or what the connection is.

It's a slimy world that any self-respecting, truth-loving person would steer clear of IMO.

Indeed, it's just selling New Age snake oil at corporate consulting rates with little to no scientific evidence to support any of it.

I am sure it does actually cheer corporate suits up to get out of the office, do some breathing expertise, and learn about cosmic dolphin woo. A change is as good as a rest. But the blurred lines being personal profiteering and BKism is unethical by the BKs' own 'alleged' values.

It seems the BKWSU just goes along with it, as long as there's some kind of commission in it for them, underlining that 'expedience' nor virtue or morality is their primary ethos. Anything goes, including ******** your pretty BK Sister of choice, as long as there's money and/or status by association for the BK leadership in it.

ex-l asked "Clarification here, please. Oxford Analytica or Cambridge Analytica? It's not clear to me which, or what the connection is".

In my post, immediately after I mentioned it, I inserted a link that goes to an article explaining that (knowing it may raise this question). It starts from how many people mistook Oxford Analytica for Cambridge Analytica, which led OA to make some PR efforts to clarify their distinction. But the author contends that these organisations, although not one and the same, have collaborated and do collaborate (under whatever new names they operate). They offer similar services and OA is essentially not much different to CA just as, say, BP is not that different to Shell or Total. Just that CA was "unfortunate" enough to have been outed in such a big, globally big, way.

It is not dissimilar to the US Congress currently voting on laws in an attempt to force Tik Tok to either divest itself of its Chinese company ownership, ie to either allow itself to be taken over by US business interests, or be shut down. They cite that Tik Tok potentially makes user data available to thousands of Chinese "developers" (not sure what they mean by that term in this context).

However, those opposing this legislation, largely US content creators who publish on TikTok, counter that claim by saying Facebook and other US social media platforms make the same kind of user data available to developers too, including in China and to a greater number.

The big seven US tech companies have a net worth greater than all the companies listed on the stock exchanges of UK. France, Germany, China and Japan combined. Possibly even more than all other companies listed anywhere in the world combined. They are in the C21st what fossil fuel companies were in the 20th century, what the British and Dutch East India Companies were in the 18th century, ie they tell goverments what to do, often with many politicians being major shareholders. Any pretence of "government oversight" such as the senate hearings etc we see in news reports is basically a charade. Another front organisation. US foreign policy is about maintaining US superiority. And, in the 21st century, that is all about technology, data/surveillance and "skimming" financial transactions.

Oxford Analytica, Cambridge Analytica, the big consulting firms (PwC, KPMG, McKinsey et al), the major banks, major investors like Black Rock & State Street, these are all part of a machine that siphons the wealth upward to a tiny percentage of a percent of the world's people.

Those who provide "professional services" teaching meditation, positive thinking or mindfulness techniques to enable "leaders" to keep the machine pumping uphill, who coach the executives in techniques that stimulate the spirit of "personal achievement" without seeing the bigger picture (sama dhiti - complete view the starting point of the Buddhist Eightfold Path) of what their task is doing, these "service providers" come into these companies to perform the neoliberal capitalist version, or rather inversion, of the daily Two Minutes Hate in George Orwell's 1984.

Correction: it is more directly an equivalent of "Soma", the aptly named drug in Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World". Huxley's novel is a more accurate depiction of our neoliberal consumer-capitalist dystopia. Soma is a highly addictive drug used by the majority of people, who are introduced to it soon after being born by being "engineered" in artificial wombs for a predetermined class/caste and role, to keep them working "happily"& to keep the peace to produce the prosperity enjoyed by the highest caste.

That is, just as BKs and other religious groups have their psycho-emotional techniques & routines that induce experiences to produce followers and keep them faithful, so too capitalism has appropriated ancient practices and turned them into ways to keep the money churning.

from What does Soma represent in Brave New World?

We can see Huxley’s inspiration for this drug in Brave New World Revisited, a retrospective work he published almost twenty years later. In it, he states, “The original soma, from which I took the name of this hypothetical drug, was an unknown plant (possibly Asclepias aeida) used by the ancient Aryan invaders of India in one of the most solemn of their religious rites. The intoxicating juice expressed from the stems of this plant was drunk by the priests and nobles in the course of an elaborate ceremony. In the Vedic hymns we are told that the drinkers of soma were blessed in many ways. Their bodies were strengthened, their hearts were filled with courage, joy and enthusiasm, their minds were enlightened and in an immediate ex­perience of eternal life they received the assurance of their immortality. But the sacred juice had its draw­backs."

"Soma was a dangerous drug — so dangerous that even the great sky-god, Indra, was sometimes made ill by drinking it. Ordinary mortals might even die of an overdose. But the experience was so transcendently blissful and enlightening that soma drinking was regarded as a high privilege. For this privilege no price was too great.

"The soma of Brave New World had none of the draw­backs of its Indian original. In small doses it brought a sense of bliss, in larger doses it made you see visions and, if you took three tablets, you would sink in a few minutes into refreshing sleep. And all at no physiologi­cal or mental cost.” (Huxley).

Huxley poses the question of how a drug would be used if it were to be seemingly free of drawbacks or side effects. However, this drug may not represent a drug at all. The famous philosopher and sociologist Karl Marx once called religion the “[i]opium of the people.” And that is exactly what Huxley writes of. Any short or long term stress or discomfort is handled by doses of soma. Although due to drug stigmatism in our society, if we were to replace this action with religion, more so prayers or acts of faith [Edit: or affirmation techniques that cover over any signals from the psyche that things ain't right] it would perfectly align with today’s society.

While this is by no means a critique of religion by Huxley, it is an accurate example of how humans choose to distract themselves with short term pleasures rather than face the problems at hand.

Oxford Analytica, Cambridge Analytica, the big consulting firms (PwC, KPMG, McKinsey et al), the major banks, major investors like Black Rock & State Street, these are all part of a machine that siphons the wealth upward to a tiny percentage of a percent of the world's people.

Yeah, well, BK operations like Onepoint Oneness, indeed the WHOLE of the BKWSU operation, is just a little Indian corner shop in comparison to those guys.

But you can see the BKs "spiritual DNA" shine through as usual.

And by spiritual DNA, I don't mean all angels and unicorns. I mean how Dada Lekhraj and the Sindis sucked up the British ruling elite, and exploited their trading networks, for the sake of money and self-advancement during the British Empire.

And now how the BKs are doing the same to today's "emperors" in the Fortune 500.

But you can see how the corporations would LOVE a 'somatic' product that produced docile, compliant, unquestioning, disciplined workforce. Which the BKs offer them.

And growth ... I am not saying Brian is without virtue any more that I am not saying Onepoint cannot do IT. But the lack of clarity and clear divisions between their operation and the BKs' operation/practise, and especially their hiding and obfuscationing of their BK connections, is always worthy of examination.

He mentions his McDonalds experience in the early 2000s, that would mean circa 2003, below. How much of a disconnect is that, for a sattvic, vegetarian "yogi"? Notably, he's talking about meetings with Warren Buffet.

Who on earth would boast about "saving" McDonalds? Each year, McDonald’s buys as much as 1.9bn lb of beef that it packs into burgers. Its suppliers slaughtering north of 7 million cows, producing more than 53m metric tons of greenhouse gas.

Not to mention the decades of wholesale destruction of the Brazilian Amazon rainforests where farmers slash and burn ever more areas to grow feed for the cattle that are turned into Big Macs - and now the Cerrado, a huge Savannah area also being turned to feed for fast food outlets ( not just McDonalds) after agreements to not clear more of the Amazon for soy productionfor stock feed.

Soya linked to fires and deforestation in Brazil feeds chicken sold on the British high street