Lifestyle
Lifestyle
The BK lifestyle includes:
- Celibacy ie chastity, no marriage, no sex within marriage (if already married) or physical relationships or romance.
- No socialising with the opposite sex.
- No friends - all relationships to be brother/sister relationships, and only with fellow members of the Brahma Kumaris "family"
- Detatchment from ones biological family.
- Vegetarian diet, no eggs, no onions, no garlic - no food cooked by non-BKs (including ones own family)
- No alcohol, tobacco, or recreational drugs (pharmaceutical drugs for medical purposes are allowed)
- White clothing (or otherwise very light coloured clothing) - Indian clothing is preferred - even western "sisters" wear white saris.
- No cinema, TV, radio, novels or magazines, although limited reading of newspapers and spiritual publications is allowed.
- Complete shower or bath after bowel movement and change of clothing.
- Early morning meditation (ie yoga) at 4 am followed by morning class at 6.30am, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
- Regular scheduled moments for meditation throughout the day, usually signalled by music playing: known as "traffic control"
There are many shades of intensity with which different people take on the daily principles of the Brahma Kumaris, but it notable that the more vigorous applicants are considered better than those who keep one foot in the outside world. The Brahma Kumaris creates very close ties between members and peer pressure can be extreme.