And then there's the two step programme where you told to think positive and do good ... like doing good stuff for other people or the environment ... and then when you and get involved more, they start redefining what it good and what is bad until nothing is left but doing things for them. Everything else is not just pointless but negative karma.
The further you go, the more it is about them until, as I was told, if there is the thought "my wallet" it is wrong ... there is only "Baba's wallet" (meaning the BKWSU gets and owns all my money as well as labor). That a verbatim quote from a center-in-charge. A centre whose freehold mortgage they paid off with donations in a basically fraudulent manner.
30 years later, various centers-in-charge have come, go, had nervous breakdowns and later left ... but the BKWSU is left owning a multi £100,000 property, 28 years after the world was meant to have happened.
Where do ethics fit into their model of spirituality?
There really is no "depth", there is only passivity and acceptance ... of everything. As Janki says, "don't think, don't question ...". Be a good Brahma Kumaris and (if you are Indian) you might make it onto the payroll and be looked after for life ... albeit you'll be working 16 hours a day, 365 days a year, unpaid, to sustain that status. And to do so you must never question, never voice dissent and keep quiet about any of the failings or corruption.
"It's all about the experience", they keep telling you. The whole of "The Knowledge" you could write on the back of a postcard. Apart from the failed predictions, it basically remains unchanged and unchangeable. The rest of their thought world then develops as a series of patches about patches (excuses and justifications), most borrowed from outside the religion, to stop faith from leaking out. A classic one, for example, being "Baba was testing the soul", when one of his predictions or promises fails.
If you've been damaged by life and want to avoid relationships, the BKWSU is probably a good enough ashram to hang out in ... just don't listen to their philosophy, and *don't* start to get involved in doing PR work for free for them (doing any "service" because cooking and cleaning). But you could do better for the world.
Personally, I hung on as a BK for far too long and allowed them to encourage me to give up parts of my life entirely in their favour and entirely against my interests. I held on because I thought it somewhere within the organization there was deeper understanding, something more mystical ... an inner circle of genuinely gifted, intelligent and wise people studying spirituality ... but there really is just not.
And things are much worse now ... it, it's religion and mantras have become 95% marketing and PR. If they study other religions and philosophies, it is only to pillage them more useful marketing devices from them in the 'Deepack Chopra' marketplace or ideas.
Acceptance via repetition and the bliss of stupidity and not-thinking is as good as it gets ... and then the 4am alarms, the telephone calls from the centre-in-charge, and incredibly boring Murli class rituals replying their Golden Age when Lekhraj Kirpalani was there in person offering them his mind numbingly repetitive stream of consciousness stuff start; "Krishna is not god ... Krishna is not god ... Destruction is coming ... you are pure, they are impure ... you are angels, they are devils". I could still probably spout a Murli myself now for all these contain.
I am with Pink Panther on this ... you may well feel intoxicated once you're hypnotised and learn to self-hypnotise but it will make The Knowledge and all the failed predictions etc add up. It's an opiate. Life without opiates is tough. The world with all its diversity is confusing. In a way, what the BKs have done is just build a much bigger version of the extremely closeted but comfortable world they came from in Hyderabad, Sind where the women never went outside nor got educated.
If there's a God, I am pretty sure he would get his facts right and be infallible ... therefore it's not god their dabbling in.
The further you go, the more it is about them until, as I was told, if there is the thought "my wallet" it is wrong ... there is only "Baba's wallet" (meaning the BKWSU gets and owns all my money as well as labor). That a verbatim quote from a center-in-charge. A centre whose freehold mortgage they paid off with donations in a basically fraudulent manner.
30 years later, various centers-in-charge have come, go, had nervous breakdowns and later left ... but the BKWSU is left owning a multi £100,000 property, 28 years after the world was meant to have happened.
Where do ethics fit into their model of spirituality?
Pink Panther wrote:Also, when you say you may need to immerse yourself deeper into it to find out what it is really about ...
There really is no "depth", there is only passivity and acceptance ... of everything. As Janki says, "don't think, don't question ...". Be a good Brahma Kumaris and (if you are Indian) you might make it onto the payroll and be looked after for life ... albeit you'll be working 16 hours a day, 365 days a year, unpaid, to sustain that status. And to do so you must never question, never voice dissent and keep quiet about any of the failings or corruption.
"It's all about the experience", they keep telling you. The whole of "The Knowledge" you could write on the back of a postcard. Apart from the failed predictions, it basically remains unchanged and unchangeable. The rest of their thought world then develops as a series of patches about patches (excuses and justifications), most borrowed from outside the religion, to stop faith from leaking out. A classic one, for example, being "Baba was testing the soul", when one of his predictions or promises fails.
If you've been damaged by life and want to avoid relationships, the BKWSU is probably a good enough ashram to hang out in ... just don't listen to their philosophy, and *don't* start to get involved in doing PR work for free for them (doing any "service" because cooking and cleaning). But you could do better for the world.
Personally, I hung on as a BK for far too long and allowed them to encourage me to give up parts of my life entirely in their favour and entirely against my interests. I held on because I thought it somewhere within the organization there was deeper understanding, something more mystical ... an inner circle of genuinely gifted, intelligent and wise people studying spirituality ... but there really is just not.
And things are much worse now ... it, it's religion and mantras have become 95% marketing and PR. If they study other religions and philosophies, it is only to pillage them more useful marketing devices from them in the 'Deepack Chopra' marketplace or ideas.
Acceptance via repetition and the bliss of stupidity and not-thinking is as good as it gets ... and then the 4am alarms, the telephone calls from the centre-in-charge, and incredibly boring Murli class rituals replying their Golden Age when Lekhraj Kirpalani was there in person offering them his mind numbingly repetitive stream of consciousness stuff start; "Krishna is not god ... Krishna is not god ... Destruction is coming ... you are pure, they are impure ... you are angels, they are devils". I could still probably spout a Murli myself now for all these contain.
I am with Pink Panther on this ... you may well feel intoxicated once you're hypnotised and learn to self-hypnotise but it will make The Knowledge and all the failed predictions etc add up. It's an opiate. Life without opiates is tough. The world with all its diversity is confusing. In a way, what the BKs have done is just build a much bigger version of the extremely closeted but comfortable world they came from in Hyderabad, Sind where the women never went outside nor got educated.
If there's a God, I am pretty sure he would get his facts right and be infallible ... therefore it's not god their dabbling in.