Are the BKs Knocking On The Devil's Door?

I'd agree that it's fair to say that the version of Sufidom that has been sold to the West has been whitewashed and romanticised but, at the same time, Sufism in India appears to be a mishmash of Islam and Hindu/Indigenous shamanism.

Not just in India, sufism at its core is just a derivative of 'Advait Vedanta' and anyone can see the co-relation. The entire Muslim 'Golden Age' was just influence of Indian culture in that region. Their holy book uses Indian numerals even to this day despite all the historical whitewashing.

I would be interested in exploring this area with an expert to try and identify who it was Lekhraj Kirpalani went to see.

Good luck with that. Just a bit of caution from my side. You might be thinking that the BK spirit is bad but trust you me there is no dearth of darkness on this path. Although I have said above that one can realize truth based on any path including dark ones, there is good reason why saints have condemned such paths time and again. So be very careful while finding your experts. If you would take my advice, just don't bother with all this stuff. I, myself, have never been able to find a decent 'guru' in my life. It is not easy to have an innocent, faithful heart while being cheated again and again by charlatans and wicked people.

I don't suppose such "rascals" keep good records of who they initiated, but someone might recognize the signs we have so far, i.e. which 'school' or lineage of rascals it might have been.

Wrong. Their records are far more detailed than we can imagine. Such initiation is 'karmic bondage' for hundreds if not thousands of years and both parties will reap the fruits as they are in 'union' for entire foreseeable future. Whether you will find that 'someone' who will recognize and tell you all this ... well, that depends on your luck. At the cost of sounding irritating I would say just accept it and move on with your life. Don't fall into this trap (again).

I, myself, have never been able to find a decent 'guru' in my life. It is not easy to have an innocent, faithful heart while being cheated again and again by charlatans and wicked people.

Thank you for your concern but I assure you I have no intention of becoming one of their followers, just identifying which method or tradition Lekhraj Kirpalani was initiated into.

I have heard similar warning as yours before. I encountered some Indian man who had a minor power of manifesting. As in physical manifesting what was not there before (in this case, writing on paper/psychic access to personal information). Apparently, there is a cult of them in India who do this "trick", & it's primarily just for money. When I spoke to another old Indian I know, he too warned me that the "power" they were manifesting was not their own, suggesting something like you are, and warned me away from them as not being 'of the good'.

On the other hand, I've not heard that Sufism had its roots in Advaita Vedānta, so I'll remain open minded to that possibility. I am not Muslim so my knowledge of it is limited. There are, of course, other theories that Jesus the Christ was supposed to have wandered East to the Himalayas, & learned his divine arts/siddhis there but how much of that is try, & how much of it is C19th Theosophical Society mythology, it is hard to tell. It was, however, part of the motivation that set me on a path which ended up at the door of the BKWSU.

We did not have so many of such 'rascals' in the West at the time, so I was utterly naive & unprepared to engage with them. It probably wasted, destroyed and sent me on a detour into darkness of about 15 of the most important years of my life, & lost many important experiences, with their nonsense & dishonesty.

The origins of sufism are not truly known. What seems evident is that early sufi practices were similar to other sramana/shamanic/hermitic & tantric traditions that have been around since before the appearance of Aryans or Muslims in India. Ancient Indian sramana could be Buddhist, Jain, Vedics, Carvaka,etc, their philosophies could be contradictory and oppositional to other sramana traditions even if practices seemed similar. Sufi teaching stories often talk of sufis living remotely, alone or in small communities, and through correct practice attaining various powers.

I read somewhere, ages ago and i don't remember the details, that sufism may have evolved after some central asian shamans encountered Islam and made pilgrimages to Mecca.

The wikipedia article on Sramana is an excellent overview, very interesting.