Siddharth wrote:Their so called "teachings" ... What in the name of heaven is that? Do you people really succumb to it? Its hard for me to believe someone would actually join BK after this, but I must be wrong since so many people are following them apparently.
All good points to make, Sid.
I think a lot of people, especially now, get sucked in gradually through the various BKWSU fronts. The BKs do not deliver the message in full. It is all hidden away - especially from the "interfaith" religious people and Westerners - and people are gradually spoonfed it. They have no idea.
For me, I was a kid interested in Yoga, India and Hinduism. As a foreigner from a fairly non-religious background, I had no real clue about any of it. I was "seeking the master" and wanting to learn "Raja Yoga". I got conned that what the BKs teach was Raja Yoga, just because they use the same name for their practise. Basically, as a foreigner, how the hell would I have known what Hinduism or spiritual path was!?!
I guess the main thing is though, in the early days of one's involvement with the BKWSU, if one is hooked by it, one can go really "high". Its a bit like being on drugs. Plus many of us experienced strong psychic experiences, e.g. having visions, seeing lights, feeling "bodiless" and so on. I cannot deny those experiences happen. They do happen. Often randomly, often very strongly. What I do deny now is that there is any specific mystical or religious value to them. Now, it all appears to me to be some kind of psychic distraction.
In short, I suspect it fitted by illusion of what a spiritual path was closely enough to con me and I got swept along. It was all very exotic ... I suspect you could do a psycho-analysis of me and add more.
If one hits the "high" feeling, one become hooked for a while. They call this 'The Honeymoon Period', and it feels like being in deeply in love. During that period, they suck you in as quickly as they can in every way. They split couples and families up. They make you leave your old friends. They get people to write Wills in their favour leaving them everything. They gradually take over more and more of your life - waking and dreaming - until they ... or at least they will claim, their god spirit ... owns all of your mind and body and has a first call on your wealth.
I suspect that part of us wanted part of this kind of life. We were "seekers" seeking the truth, or a true guru and willing to surrendered. They have a very well polished and attractive package ... at least on the surface. Once you are mentally, emotionally and socially engaged with them, and have no life outside the cult, it becomes increasingly difficult to:
a) admit you have been sucked up by a weird 'End of the World' cult,
b) leave the BKs and go back into the "impure" world as you no longer fit or function well.
I actually left 25 years or more ago. I left because I got sick of all the chasing VIPs and self-advertisement - even back then. They really are full of themselves ... how wonderful and superior they are.
I always thought they were one of the better groups but a few years ago though, I started to hear about all the corruption ... the cover up of the child sex abuse cases ... the suicides ... case of mental illness ... but most of all, how "leading" Western BKs and the leadership were turning the spiritual path into a kind of business network to make money. This was entirely against the old rules I thought ... what I later found out was that they had always broken the rules secretly.
In our day, we were all encouraged to give up our educations and starting a business of career because the End of the World was going to happen in the mid-1980s. Now I see
Brahmakumari Sister Shivani and Didi Nirmala being asked the same questions about the End of the World in 2012 ...
When I came back ... with my head clear of all the psychic effects ... I started to research the religion properly only to discover that they had falsified their first 20 or more years of history. Literally invented an "incarnation of God" story and tricked us all with it. They had hidden all these failed predictions of the End of the World their god made and so on. And I am sure that there is much more than even I know about.
I knew one of the victims of the child sex abuse which happened at their "holiest of holy lands" ... the only place which was "pure enough for God to come to earth". I also knew one of the symbolic suicide cases, a surrendered Sister called Ranjana who threw herself off a 5 storey building ... because that is what they say falling in love and having a relationship is like.
So I thought I should dedicate myself to documenting them as fully as possible, so that others would not go through what I did.
If they only want money and property, they can just as well start robbing banks for all I care. At least that won't destroy human lives.
Ha! You said it. Try asking Sister Shivani what happens to BKs that have mental breakdowns, why BKs commit suicide or any of these other questions.