arjun wrote:Only it is more Bhakti and idol worshipping. At the end of Murli reading (with "parts" taken off) BKs were told to end meditation by asking God Shiva to give strength to the now very frail and very sick Dadi Janki.
His first morning there was actually a shock. They offered small bowls of cooked food to the picture of Brahma Baba. He then participated in their Q & A sessions.
In the first place, that is sick. That is pure Bhakti and has no place and no grounds in Gyan ... why should anyone "pray" to make Dadi Janki better? It is just institutionalizing rank, status and personal important into young BKs at an early stage and I cannot see what grounds from the Murlis they have for doing it.
And if the kids version of karma that the Brahmakumaris teach is true ... ho-ho-ho ...
a) how can praying to Shiva sort out someone else's Karma or in anyway benefit the one that is praying!?! So what sort of karma is it? Answer; negative or binding Karma taking the soul away from "God".
b) from a logical point of view, does Shiva not know Dadi Janki and her condition well enough to know or decide what to do himself ... and where does it say anywhere that his wisdom can be swung by the force of x number of BKs wanting something else!?!
Its a farce .
Are the Sisters who decide on such rubbish wiser than God or even Lekhraj Kirpalani now? I don't think so ... may be they are just asking for prayers for their own good because if Janki goes they will have no one else with the same brains and Yoga power to do PR and use for service.
As far as the offering of Bhog to a picture of Lekhraj Kirpalani, that is how it was always done in the West, is it not done in India like that? It reminded me completely of Bhakti; little stainless steel pots with lids, little girlie lacy cloths to cover them, a special tray and cleaning equipment all kept separate. If someone had not done Vaishnavite (or even some Buddhist) Bhakti then they would not know and recognize this BUT it is
exactly the same.
• We should explore when it come into fashion and who started it.
For Westerners who had not, they would never know that this was not a Brahmin thing but a Bhakti thing. They would presume that it was a Brahmin thing. That is how we were taught it and that was how they were taught by the Indians, it is
exactly the same as a Krishna worshipper thing ... so draw your own conclusions.
As far as the PBK Q and A sessions go ... I think you guys are on a losing streak there and I would give it up. It is a dead give away that you are PBKs and does not work. It is very, very Indian. A kind of "didactic punditry" that is dishonest in a way because, of course, it is not so much meant to be a genuine question but rather a sort of leaden logical club to beat the one who has to answer them into submission. It is more about showing how stupid and illogical the one who has to answer is.
As a technique, and it is an old technique beloved of pundits and dharma warriors, it has been developed to propose a logical projection that do not necessarily follow. In posh English, it is something like "association fallacy", an "apagogical argument" or "reductio ad absurdum" as a techinique (although I am not 100% sure if those or which is the correct definition). It is basically very crude and bullying, and in the case of the PBKs, I think it is mostly self-defeating and will only make the BK defensive. If nothing else, as this PBK found out, all it does is expose the individual for being a PBK because they all sound the same.
I don't know who or where it comes from, may be from Virendra Dev Dixit himself, but PBKs seem to be trained in "How to mug BKs" with the same questions. Of course, the BKs themselves used to be trained in exactly the same way to mug non-BKs but they have largely improved on their techniques (in the West at least).
It works by pointing to 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... illogical or inconclusive theories in the one who holds them, pushing them entirely back into their fears, ignorance and insecurities; and then offering them a solution on which they can grab a hold of. "
a) if this is true, b) if this is true, c) if this is true ... then d) this must true! "
Bingo. Which, of course, does not need to be true either.
As I said, the BKs did or do exactly the same thing. I remember it. That was why they used to ask all those question to newcomers, to expose the weakness they could then lean on and offer solutions to. They probably still do in India. In the West now, instead of defeating beliefs, they just dangle carrots of wealth, status and self-importance and the fish jump into their net quicker without an argument. Did you see that Shiv Ratri post I made? It was all about business and executive status ... I find this practical aspect of the manner in which Gyan is passed on interesting. Its a shame no one else is interest or capable of following the conversation because I would like clarification of it.