The Brahma Kumaris (Sanskrit: ब्रह्माकुमारी; "Daughters of Brahma") is a spiritual movement that originated in Hyderabad, Sindh, British India (modern Pakistan) during the 1930s. Founded by Lekhraj Kripalani, the organisation teaches the importance of moving beyond labels associated with the human body, including race, nationality, religion, and gender, through meditation that emphasizes the concept of identity as souls rather than bodies. It aims to establish a global culture centered around what they refer to as "soul-consciousness". The members of the organisation believe that all souls are good by nature and that God is the source of all goodness.
In 2019, the organisation had more than eight thousand centres across 110 countries and more than one million members. Women continue to hold primary leadership positions within the organisation.
Early history
The founder, Lekhraj Kriplani
The Brahma Kumaris organisation was founded in Hyderabad, Sindh, in northwest British India (present-day Pakistan). They were initially known as Om Mandali, as the members would together chant Om before engaging in a spiritual discourse in traditional satsangs (meetings). These original discourses were based on the Bhagavad Gita.
Founder Lekhraj Khubchand Kirpilani (also known as Brahma Baba) was in the jewelry business. In 1935, after witnessing a series of transcendental experiences and visions, he gave up his business to lay the foundation of Om Mandali. He believed that there was a greater power working through him and that many of those who attended the discourses were themselves having spiritual experiences. The majority of those who came were women and children from the Bhaibund caste, which consisted of wealthy merchants and business people whose husbands and fathers were often overseas on business.
The President of Om Mandali, Radhe Pokardas Rajwani (1916–1965) in about 1964
Three years after its founding, Om Mandali was emphasising the role of women and was not adhering to the caste system. The group had named a 22-year-old woman, Radhe Pokardas Rajwani (then known as "Om Radhe"), as its president, her management committee was made up of eight other women. and people from any caste were allowed to attend meetings. The group also advocated that young women had the right not to marry and that married women had the right to choose celibacy. In tradition-bound patriarchal India, these personal life decisions were the exclusive right of men. When the organization began in the 1930s in Sindh, it sparked controversy by empowering women to assert their right to celibacy, especially in marriage, challenging the male-dominated society of the Indian subcontinent. Feminist commentator Prem Chowdry criticized this practice as a form of patriarchal control. A committee headed by influential male members of the Bhaibund community began to form in opposition and became known as the 'Anti-Om Mandali Committee'. On 21 June 1938, this group picketed the premises of Om Mandali and prevented members from entering and caused considerable upheaval in the community. According to Hodgkinson, women attending the discourses faced verbal abuse and domestic violence. An attempt was made to burn the premises down, and the police made several arrests.
The picketing led to criminal proceedings against both groups. On 16 August 1938 the local District Magistrate ordered that Om Mandali be prevented from meeting. This ban was reversed on 21 November 1938 after an appeal to the Court of the Judicial Commissioner of Sindh. In an unusual move, the judges directly criticised the district magistrate for trying to punish the victims for the disturbance caused by the perpetrators and for trying to apply the law according to their own personal bias. Following these events, Om Mandali decided to leave Hyderabad and relocated their activities to Karachi in the latter half of 1938. Approximately three hundred members moved.
Anti-Om Mandali Committee Picketing, preventing children from entering Om Mandali – Hyderabad Sind India 1938
On 31 March 1939, the government appointed a tribunal to enquire into the activities of Om Mandali. When the tribunal released its findings, Om Radhe responded by compiling a book entitled Is this Justice? criticising the tribunal, which they alleged did not have a constitutional basis and made its findings without obtaining evidence from Om Mandali. In May 1939, the government used the tribunal's findings to effectively reinstate the ban, declaring Om Mandali an "unlawful association" under section 16 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1908. Nevertheless, Om Mandali continued to hold their satsangs, and the government did not enforce the ban. Possibly because of this, the committee then hired someone to assassinate Om Baba. The attempt was unsuccessful.
Om Mandali group on an outing at Clifton beach, Karachi, in about 1940
Expansion
In May 1950, Om Mandali moved to Mount Abu in Rajasthan, India. In 1952, a more structured form of teaching was offered to the public through a seven-lesson course.
Brahma Kumaris began an international expansion programme from the mid-1950s. Since the 1970s, it has spread to London and then throughout the West. The most visible manifestations of the organisation are its spiritual museums, located in most major Indian cities.
The organization expanded its presence to the United States in 1976. Following an initial public lecture series in San Antonio, Texas, in January 1976, the first official Raja Yoga Center in the U.S. was established in San Antonio in December 1976 by early practitioners including Sister Denise and Brahma Kumari Chandru. The Brahma Kumaris was subsequently legally incorporated as a Texas nonprofit organization on August 30, 1977.
A photo of the Brahma Kumaris during their relocation from Karachi to Mount AbuRajasthan in May 1950
The leadership and membership of the BK movement remains primarily female: in the UK, only one-third of the forty-two centres are run by men, and women comprise eighty percent of the membership. As of February 2015[update], centres are mostly in followers' own homes with a tendency toward middle- or upper-class membership. Estimates for its worldwide membership range from thirty-five thousand in 1993 to four hundred thousand in 1998 to four hundred fifty thousand in 2000; however, many adherents are probably not completely committed to the group's worldview.
Brahma Kumaris Wings
The organisation's outreach and service activities are organised through the Rajyoga Education and Research Foundation (RE&RF), a society registered under the Societies Registration Act in 1982 and based at the Mount Abu headquarters. The Foundation directs Brahma Kumaris service work through approximately twenty constituent wings, each addressing a particular professional or social sector through training programmes, conferences, retreats and awareness campaigns. Sector-specific wings have been a longstanding feature of BK organisational structure and have been noted in academic accounts of the movement's international expansion and recruitment strategy.
The wings currently listed by the organisation are:
Administrators' Service Wing — runs self-management and meditation training programmes for executives in public- and private-sector institutions.
Agriculture and Rural Development Wing — operates rural literacy, health-awareness and meditation programmes; oversees the Sustainable Yogic Agriculture initiative (see § Sustainable Yogic Agriculture).
Art and Culture Wing — engages with artists and performers through retreats and creative programmes.
Business and Industry Wing — provides training in stress management, ethics and meditation for business owners and corporate professionals.
Education Wing — supplies values-education materials and meditation training for school and college teachers and students (see § Education).
Information Technology Wing — runs introductory meditation workshops and retreats targeted at information-technology professionals.
Jurists Wing — engages with judges, lawyers and other members of the legal profession through ethics-and-meditation programmes.
Media Wing — runs training and dialogue programmes for journalists and other media workers.
Medical Wing — convenes conferences for health professionals and publishes material on what the organisation describes as the role of meditation in holistic health (see § Healthcare).
Politicians' Service Wing — runs meditation and ethics programmes for elected officials and political workers.
Religious Wing — organises inter-religious dialogue events intended to identify shared ethical themes across faith traditions.
Scientists and Engineers Wing — convenes conferences and runs programmes on the relationship between science, technology and meditative practice.
Security Services Wing — runs stress-management and meditation programmes for police and other security personnel.
Shipping, Aviation and Tourism Services Wing — runs meditation programmes for workers in the transport and hospitality sectors.
Social Service Wing — runs awareness programmes on issues such as substance addiction and harmful social practices.
SpARC Wing (Spiritual Application Research Centre) — coordinates research collaborations on scientific and metaphysical subjects between BK members and outside specialists.
Sports Wing — runs sport-psychology and concentration programmes for athletes.
Transport and Travel Wing — provides training for transport-industry workers in emotional regulation and stress management.
Women's Wing — runs meditation, training and awareness programmes for women, with a stated focus on social issues affecting women.
Youth Wing — has run meditation outreach and value-education programmes for young people since 1985.
Sociologists studying the movement have observed that the proliferation of profession-specific wings reflects a strategy of reaching potential sympathisers through their workplaces and professional networks rather than through generic mass outreach.
Beliefs
The movement has distinguished itself from its Hindu roots and sees itself as a vehicle for spiritual teaching rather than as a religion. Hudson describes the Brahma Kumaris as advancing a reformed Hinduism, keeping many doctrines and vocabulary, while rejecting others.
Self
The Brahma Kumaris view humans as composed of two parts: an external visible body, which includes aspects like status and possessions, and a subtle energy known as the soul. The character structure of the soul is expressed through a person's external actions. However, regardless of the outward appearance, whether actions are carried out with love, peace, happiness, or humility, reflects the essence of one's soul. The Brahma Kumaris teach that the soul is an infinitesimal point of spiritual light residing in the forehead of the body it occupies, and that all souls originally existed with God in a "Soul World", a world of infinite light, peace and silence.
The Brahma Kumaris teach that souls enter bodies to take birth in order to experience life and give expression to their personality. Unlike other Eastern traditions, the Brahma Kumaris do not believe that the human soul can transmigrate into other species.
Supreme Soul
Brahma Kumaris believe God to be an incorporeal point of light.
The Brahma Kumaris use the term "Supreme Soul" to refer to God. They see God as incorporeal and eternal, regarding him as a point of living light like a human soul but lacking a physical body, as he does not enter the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. God is seen as the perfect and constant embodiment of all virtues, powers, and values, the unconditionally loving father of all souls, without respect to religion, gender, or culture.
Karma
The Brahma Kumaris teach that each action performed in consciousness leaves karmic traces that shape future experience and eventual rebirth, and that disciplined meditation can purify habitual patterns and thereby improve both present circumstances and successive lives.
Cycle of time
The Brahma Kumaris believe the universe to follow an eternal, naturally occurring 5,000-year cycle, composed of four ages (yugas), each of 1250 years: the Golden Age (Satya Yuga), the Silver Age (Treta Yuga), the Copper Age (Dvapara Yuga), and the Iron Age (Kali Yuga). They also believe that at the end of the Iron Age there will be "Destruction.", which will kill everyone on Earth and cleanse the Earth, and the cycle repeats. The present period[when?] of this cycle is sometimes described as a fifth age or "Confluence age" as it is considered to be the confluence (the junction or meeting) between the Iron Age and the Golden age.
The first half of the cycle (the Golden and Silver ages) is considered to be the age of "soul conscious living". The Brahma Kumaris see this as a time of "heaven on earth" or as a version of the Garden of Eden when human beings are fully virtuous, complete, self-realised beings who live in complete harmony with the natural environment. The primary enlightenment was the innate understanding of the self as a soul.[citation needed]
When the organisation began, emphasis was placed on the physical destruction of the world as seen in the cataclysmic visions of Dada Lekhraj. As the organisation developed, it witnessed World War II, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Cold War, and the destructive aspects of its teachings were reframed as a process of transformation. The original teachings referred to a particular date 1976, and students of the organization had also made failed predictions of the violent destruction of the world between 1987 and 2008. The Brahma Kumaris believe that modern civilization will be destroyed by global nuclear conflict, coupled with natural calamities and that these cataclysmic events form part of a natural and cathartic cyclic process. Adherents have been criticised by nonmembers for hiding or downplaying their prophesied physical destruction of the world However, the Brahma Kumaris maintain that their primary purpose is to teach meditation and peace of mind.
The Brahma Kumaris teaches a form of meditation through which students are encouraged to purify their minds. This may be done by sitting tranquilly, then making affirmations regarding the eternal nature of the soul, the original purity of one's nature, and the nature of God. The aim of the Brahma Kumaris meditation is also to learn to hold meditative states while being engaged in everyday life. For this reason, meditation is usually taught and practiced with open eyes.
Good wishes and pure feelings
The Brahma Kumaris practice Shubbhawna (pure feelings) and Shubkamna (good wishes). Prejudices and ill-feelings are seen as arising from identifying the self and others based on external labels like race, religion, gender, and nationality. The practice of finding the intrinsic goodness in each person is intended to replace such prejudice with universal spiritual values such as respect, love, peace and happiness. A slogan for the Brahma Kumaris is When we change, the world changes.
Study (murli)
Dadi Gulzar, a member of the Brahma Kumaris since its inception in the 1930s
Brahma Kumaris' students study the murli. The Hindi word murli literally translates to "flute". It is an oral study, read to the class early each morning in most BK centres on the world. The murlis are derived from mediumship and spirit possession.
There are two types of murli:
Sakar Murlis refer to the original orations that BKs believe to be the Supreme Soul speaking through Brahma Baba.[citation needed]
Avyakt Murlis are spoken by BapDada. BKs believe BapDada is God and the soul of their deceased founder. BapDada(God) is believed to speak to the BKs through a senior BK medium, Dadi Gulzar.[citation needed]
The Brahma Kumaris believe God's purpose is to be the spiritual re-awakening of humanity and the removal of all sorrow, evil and negativity. They do not regard God as the creator of matter, as they consider matter to be eternal.
Brahma Kumaris recommend a specific lifestyle to achieve greater control over the physical senses. However, many participate in a casual way, electing to adopt whichever beliefs and lifestyle disciplines in the following list they wish:
Sattviclacto-vegetarian diet (excluding eggs, onions, garlic, and spicy foods) cooked only by the self or other Brahma Kumaris members.
Abstention from alcohol, tobacco, and nonprescription drugs.
Daily early-morning meditation (Amrit Vela) from 4:00 to 4:45a.m.
Daily morning class at approximately 6:30a.m.
Frequent wear of white attire to symbolise purity.
Preference for the company of other BK followers.
John Wallis wrote a book examining the status of tradition in the contemporary world, which used the religion as a case study, focusing on recruitment methods, the issue of celibacy, and reinterpretation of religious history. He reported the rewriting of the revelatory messages (Murlis) by the Brahma Kumari. They have been accused of breaking up marriages.[verification needed]
The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion reported that the Brahma Kumaris require a payment from families wishing to dedicate their daughters to the organization, intended to cover living expenses during the trial period, as a way to prevent families from "dumping" their daughters.
Activities
Education
Traditionally, the Brahma Kumaris conducted an introduction to meditation consisting of seven two-hour-long sessions. The sessions include their open-eyed meditation technique and their philosophy. The organisation also offers courses in "positive thinking", "self management leadership" and "living values". They also have a number of voluntary outreach programs in prisons.
With the support of Vicente Fox, the Brahma Kumaris introduced their meditation practice and philosophy to the government of Mexico through the "Self Management Leadership" (SML). The SML course is closely related to the Brahma Kumaris philosophy and is the backbone of Brahma Kumaris management philosophy. 90 trained facilitators ran programs through which 25,000 people at the top level of government have passed.
A large solar generator at the Brahma Kumaris HQ
Renewable energy
The Brahma Kumaris have launched several environment initiatives. Their work in solar energy and sustainable energy has included the 2007 development of the world's largest solar cooker, and a solar thermal power plant in Talheti, Abu Road at the base of Mount Abu, where the international headquarters is located. The 25-acre site is projected to produce 22000 kwh of electricity daily. The project was made financially possible with the support of the Indian and German governments.
Sustainable Yogic Agriculture
Sustainable Yogic Agriculture (SYA) is a program started in Northern India in 2009. The program has been a collaboration between Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University in GujaratIndia and the Brahma Kumaris Rural Development wing. The program has now been publicly backed by the Indian Government. A key member of Narendra Modi's Cabinet, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh announced the government's support for the program. With the government's support the program has been redesigned into Akhil Bharatiya Krushak Sashakatikaran Abhijan (ABKSA), and was launched in December 2015. ABKSA extends the initial scope of the SYA program to include teaching meditation and self empowerment to the farmers themselves. This is possibly a response to the problem of farmer suicides in India. ABKSA now comprises three main elements:
1. A self empowerment program for Indian farmers;
2. Ongoing research on whether the use of meditation can improve crop yields;
3. Education on a blend of traditional and organic farming techniques.
One basic premise of the Brahma Kumaris environmental initiative is that thoughts and consciousness can affect the natural environment.
India One Solar Thermal Power Plant – India – Brahma Kumaris. April 2014
In 2012, experiments were being conducted in partnership with leading agricultural universities in India to establish if the practice of Brahma Kumaris meditation in conjunction with implementing more traditional organic farming methods could be shown to have a measurable and positive effect on crop development. An article published in the Journal of Asian Agri-History reviews two separate studies on SYA. One study was conducted by G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT), Pantnagar, Uttarakhand and the other by Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University (SDUAT) of Gujarat. The review reports that the Brahma Kumaris meditation techniques used enhanced seed growth, seed germination rates and increased the level of microbes present in the soil.
Healthcare
In 1991, the Brahma Kumaris, Ashok Mehta, and the brothers Gulab and Khubchand Watumull opened the J Watumull Global Hospital in the Sirohi district of Rajasthan, offering medical facilities to the local population.:41
↑Melton, J. Gordon, ed. (2002). Religions of the world: a comprehensive encyclopedia of beliefs and practices. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. ISBN978-1-57607-223-3.
12345Tomlinson, Matt; Smith, Wendy; Manderson, Lenore (2012). "4. Brahma Kumaris: Purity and the Globalization of Faith". Flows of Faith: Religious Reach and Community in Asia and Pacific. Springer. ISBN978-94-007-2931-5.
↑Jones, Constance; Ryan, James Daniel; Melton, J. Gordon (2007). Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Encyclopedia of world religions. New York, NY: Facts On File. ISBN978-0-8160-5458-9.
12Kranenborg, Reender (1999). "Brahma Kumaris: A New Religion?". Center for Studies on New Religions. Retrieved 27 July 2007. A preliminary version of a paper presented at CESNUR 99
↑Babb, Lawrence (1984). "Indigenous feminism in a modern Hindu sect, Signs". Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 9 (3): 399–416. doi:10.1086/494068. S2CID144737560.
12Hodgkinson, Liz (2002a). Peace and Purity: The Story of the Brahma Kumaris a Spiritual Revolution. HCI. p.19. ISBN1-55874-962-4.
12Clarke, Peter (2006). Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements. Routledge. pp.71–72. ISBN0-203-59897-0.
↑Chowdry, Prem (1996). "Marriage, Sexuality and the Female Ascetic-Understanding a Hindu Sect". Economic and Political Weekly. 31 (34): 2307–2321. JSTOR4404549. An analysis of the Brahma Kumari sect in its initial years enables us to unravel certain hidden aspects of Sindh society which account for an unprecedented but successful patriarchal attempt to regulate and restrain female sexuality or stimulate its self-restraint under the all-encompassing claims of reforming society. In the later years, with the coming of the partition and subsequent migration to India, this sect, confronting a greatly changed social milieu, assumed a somewhat different focus and identity. Despite this shifting of emphasis and consequent contradictions, the core doctrine of celibacy has remained and its advocacy of female sexual control continues to find receptive echoes.
12Walliss, John (2002). From World-Rejection to Ambivalence. Ashgate Publishing. p.33. ISBN978-0-7546-0951-3. Lekhraj was born in Sindh in 1876 into the Kriplani family who were devotees of the Valabhacharya sect.
123
Howell, Julia (September 1998). "Gender Role Experimentation in New Religious Movements: Clarification of the Brahma Kumari Case". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 37 (3): 453–461. doi:10.2307/1388052. JSTOR1388052.
12Chryssides, George D.; Wilkins, Margaret and Wilkins, Margaret Z. (2006) A Reader in New Religious Movements: Readings in the Study of New Religious Movements. Continuum. ISBN0-8264-6168-9
↑Esposito, John L.; Fasching, Darrell J. and Lewis, Todd (2002) Religion and globalization: world religions in historical perspective. Oxford University Press. p. 340. ISBN9780195176957
↑"Raja Yoga lecture set". San Antonio Express-News. San Antonio, Texas. January 25, 1976. p. 19-A.
↑"Raja Yoga center first in US". The San Antonio Light. San Antonio, Texas. January 1977. p. 23.
↑'Why are Women More Religious Than Men?' Trzebiatowska, Marta. Bruce, Steve. Oxford University Press, 2012. ISBN0-19-960810-5,
↑"Adherent Statistic Citations". Adherents.com. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2007. Worldwide, this path has 4000 centres and approximately 400,000 members.
↑Howell (2006), p. 72: "Since the [Brahma Kumaris] spread to Western societies it has increasingly accommodated people with little interest in its theodicy but attracted to the practical applications of BK spiritual practices. The community service programmes of the 1980s and 1990s stimulated creative renderings of BK meditation as a tool for psychological healing and eclectic spiritual exploration. The casual participants whom the BKs have attracted in this way probably made up the vast majority of the 450,000 people on the BK's records at the turn of the 20th to 21st century".
↑Tomlinson, Matt; Smith, Wendy; Manderson, Lenore (2012). "4. Brahma Kumaris: Purity and the Globalization of Faith". Flows of Faith: Religious Reach and Community in Asia and Pacific. Springer. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-2932-2_4. ISBN978-94-007-2931-5.
123Ramsay, Tamasin (September 2010). Custodians of Purity An Ethnography of the Brahma Kumaris (Thesis). Monash University. p.105.
↑Ramsay, Tamasin (September 2010). Custodians of Purity An Ethnography of the Brahma Kumaris (Thesis). Monash University. pp.107–108.
↑Barrett, David V (2001). The New Believers. Cassell & Co. p.265. ISBN0-304-35592-5. Time is cyclical with each 5,000-year cycle consisting of a perfect Golden Age, a slightly degraded Silver age, a decadent Copper Age, and an Iron Age which is characterised by violence, greed, and lust. Each of these lasts for exactly 1,250 years. Our current Iron Age will shortly come to an end, after which the cycle will begin again.
↑Whaling, Frank (2012). Understanding the Brahma Kumaris. Dunedin Academic Press Ltd. p.42. ISBN978-1-903765-51-7. "In the Bodleian booklet (Om Radhe, 1943) there are some uncompromising apocalyptic passages that are in striking contrast to the more mellow nature of recent Brahma Kumari thought".
↑Jain, Chandra Mohan (1983). Guida Spirituale ion. Rajneesh Foundation International. pp.98–99. ISBN0-88050-575-3. The other is these Brahma Kumaris, they have not reached the whole world, they have remained confined to India. They talk utter nonsense, and they talk with authority. And they go on saying everything. This date that you mention that in 1987 this world will end... This date has changed many times in thirty years, and it will change again..
12"Brahma Kumaris: Conquering A Callous World with Purity". Hinduism Today. May 1995. The most strict will not eat food which is not prepared by a Brahma Kumaris. While traveling they abstain from public fare and carry their own utensils for cooking.
12Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Constance A. Jones and James D. Ryan. ABC-CLEO, LLC 2010, ISBN9780816054589
↑Bartholomeusz, Tessa J. (1994). Women under the Bo Tree: Buddhist nuns in Sri Lanka. Cambridge Studies in Religious Traditions. Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0-521-46129-0.
↑Chryssides, George (2011). Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements. Scarecrow Press. ISBN978-0-8108-7967-6. Members are encouraged to purify their minds by the practise of Raja Yoga. This can entail sitting tranquilly, in front of a screen which Dada Lehkraj's picture projected, then making a number of "affirmations", regarding the eternal nature of the soul (atma), the original purity of one's nature, and the nature of God (paramatmā Shiva). The Brahma Kumaris believe that practice of Raja Yoga enables spiritual progress as well as having pragmatic benefits, for example, business success. Brahma Kumaris frequently organise seminars on business management and on developing personal life skills
123Ramsay, Tamasin (September 2010). Custodians of Purity An Ethnography of the Brahma Kumaris (Thesis). Monash University. pp.108–110.
↑Tomlinson, Matt; Smith, Wendy; Manderson, Lenore (2012). "4. Brahma Kumaris: Purity and the Globalization of Faith". Flows of Faith: Religious Reach and Community in Asia and Pacific. Springer. p.57. ISBN978-94-007-2931-5. Another tenet of the Brahma Kumaris is that, when soul consciousness is properly practiced, it becomes a tool to have genuine shubhawna (good wishes) and shubkamna (pure feelings) for all souls, regardless of the behavior, character, feelings, or attitudes of the other, including their political, social, religious, or financial dispositions.
↑Tomlinson, Matt; Smith, Wendy; Manderson, Lenore (2012). "4. Brahma Kumaris: Purity and the Globalization of Faith". Flows of Faith: Religious Reach and Community in Asia and Pacific. Springer. p.57. ISBN978-94-007-2931-5. This is emphasized in recent teachings as a core discipline and considered an important service for the world.
↑Musselwhite, Richard (September 2009). Possessing knowledge: organizational boundaries among the Brahma Kumaris (PhD). University of North Carolina. pp.51–52. The most recognizable religious feature of the Brahma Kumaris institution is spirit-possession. Ever since God possessed the body of Dada Lekhraj for the first time in 1935, God has continued to descend and possess the body of a Brahma Kumaris host in order to speak to them." "Far from seeking to undermine or protest the world's hegemonic orders, the Brahma Kumaris practice of spirit-possession seeks to quicken it in preparation for the end of days. One could argue that the Brahma Kumaris' ultimate aims are subversive (because they anticipate the end of the world), but the Brahma Kumaris never seek to undermine global order.
↑Ramsay, Tamasin (September 2010). "8: Spirit Possession and Purity in Orissa". Custodians of Purity An Ethnography of the Brahma Kumaris (PhD). Monash University. pp.277–278, 281. However Brahma Kumaris women become core members by being fully 'surrendered,' and their prominence derives from their mediumistic capacities, channelling murlis (sermons) from their dead founder. As a result, their power is veiled...through the device of possession... Hence, the importance of spirit possession, where women are the instruments or mouthpieces of a male spirit. (p277-278, citing Puttick 2003) Possession in the Brahma Kumaris is supported by solid cultural logic that sits in a receptacle of history and tradition. (p281)
↑Ramsay, Tamasin. Spirit possession and purity: A case study of a Brahma Kumaris ascetic. Paper presented at the conference on Medical Anthropology at the Intersections: Celebrating 50 Years of Interdisciplinarity, Yale University, New Haven, USA, 24–27 September 2009.
↑Whaling, Frank (2012). Understanding the Brahma Kumaris. Dunedin Academic Press Ltd. p.61. ISBN978-1-903765-51-7.
↑Hodgkinson, Liz (2002b). Peace and Purity: The Story of the Brahma Kumaris a Spiritual Revolution. HCI. pp.2–29. ISBN1-55874-962-4.
12345Babb, Lawrence A. (1987). Redemptive Encounters: Three Modern Styles in the Hindu Tradition. Comparative Studies in Religion and Society. Oxford University Press. ISBN0-7069-2563-7.
12Wilson, Bryan; Eileen Barker; James Beckford; Anthony Bradney; Colin Campbell; George Chryssies; Peter Clarke; Paul Heelas; Massimo Introvigne; Lawrence Lilliston; Gordon Melton; Elizabeth Puttick; Gary Sherpherd; Colin Slee; Frank Usarski (1999). Wilson, Bryan (ed.). New Religious Movements: Challenge and Response. Routledge. ISBN978-0-415-20049-3.
↑Milner, Murray (1994). Status and sacredness: a general theory of status relations and an analysis of Indian culture. Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-508489-4.
12Bartholomeusz, Tessa J. (1994). Women Under the Bo Tree: Buddhist Nuns in Sri Lanka. Cambridge Studies in Religious Traditions. New York: Rosen. ISBN0-521-46129-4. series edited by John Clayton (University of Lancaster), Steven Collins (University of Chicago) and Nicholas de Lange (University of Cambridge)
↑Barker, Eileen (1989). New Religious Movement: A Practical Introduction. London: HMSO. pp.168–70. ISBN0-14-051261-6.
↑Melton, J. Gordon (1993). The Encyclopedia of American Religions (4thed.). Detroit: Gale. pp.909–10.
↑Walliss, John (2002). The Brahma Kumaris As a Reflexive Tradition: Responding to Late Modernity.
↑Walliss, John (September 1999). "When Prophecy Fails: The Brahma Kumaris and the Pursuit of the Millennium(s)". British Association for the Advancement of Science, Sheffield. In addition, they accuse the hierarchy of actively censoring or altering murlis that could potentially undermine their privileged position or which 'don't suit their philosophy'. The 'Special instruments' (senior members are, they allege 'constantly revising Murlis" to the extent that, for example, a passage from a 1969 murli referring to Shiva being unable to 'mount a virgin' was altered in the 1990 revised edition before being removed completely in the 1993 revision...." Dr. Walliss also notes that while the Brahma Kumaris was "originally a reclusive, world-rejecting organization, over the last 30 years the Brahma Kumaris have begun a campaign of active proselytizing and international growth. Thus, whilst still retaining its original millenarianism, currently within the West the organization promotes itself as part of the New Age movement and emphasizes ideas around the issues of self-development, empowerment and personal success." Finally, Wallis disputes their belief that Raja Yoga is the precursor to all world religions, including those that historically predate it: "This is part of a lengthy answer to the question of how they could claim that Raja Yoga is the precursor to and influence of world religions that historically predate it often by a few thousand years. Again, 'Baba' is cited as the source of ultimate authority".
↑Smith, Wendy A. (Autumn 2007). "Asian New Religious Movements as global cultural systems". International Institute for Asian Studies. 45: 16–17. Conversion involves members changing their daily lifestyles and even leaving long term relationships... Married converts have often had to forgo their marriage partnerships.
↑Kościańska, Agnieszka Z (15–17 May 2003). "On celibate marriages: the Polish Catholics' encounter with Hindu spirituality". On the Margins of Religion, Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, Warsaw University.
↑Nesbitt, Eleanor; A. Henderson (April 2003). "Religious Organisations in the UK and Values Education Programmes for Schools". Journal of Beliefs and Values. 24 (1): 75–88. doi:10.1080/1361767032000053015. S2CID144766672.
↑Bedi, Kiran (2007). It's Always Possible: One Woman's Transformation of India's Prison System. Himalayan Institute Press. ISBN978-0-89389-258-6.
↑Musselwhite, Richard (September 2009). Possessing knowledge: organizational boundaries among the Brahma Kumaris (PhD). University of North Carolina. pp.141, 163–164, 174. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. The problem was that up until that time, my relationship with him had been through the Brahma Kumaris; but now he was President, and he wanted to use... not only Self Management Leadership, but the whole strategic focusing thing, and his party was the centre-right, Catholic party. They're sufficiently fundamentalist for them to have a fit about Brahma Kumaris.... So we went there, but it had to be done within the context of a commercial enterprise. So, we set up a branch of a consulting company there. But the fact of the matter is, most of his senior people have... been to Oxford for the Brahma Kumaris program. Many have been here to Madhuban.... So the Brahma Kumaris have had a huge influence in the reform process there [in Mexico].... We have trained 90 facilitators from the government who are running these programs, 25,000 people, all the top level of government throughout the entire country have been through the course.... a management training program called Self Management Leadership, which has become the backbone of Brahma Kumaris management philosophy.
↑Tomlinson, Matt; Smith, Wendy; Manderson, Lenore (2012). "4. Brahma Kumaris: Purity and the Globalization of Faith". Flows of Faith: Religious Reach and Community in Asia and Pacific. Springer. p.65. ISBN978-94-007-2931-5.
Hodgkinson, Liz (2002). Peace and Purity: The Story of the Brahma Kumaris a Spiritual Revolution. HCI. ISBN1-55874-962-4.
Further reading
Babb, Lawrence A (1986). Redemptive encounters: three modern styles in the Hindu tradition. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN0-520-05645-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
Babb, Lawrence (1984). "Indigenous feminism in a modern Hindu sect, Signs". Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 9 (3): 399–416. doi:10.1086/494068. S2CID144737560.
Babb, Lawrence A. (1982). "Amnesia and Remembrance in a Hindu Theory of History". Asian Folklore Studies. 41 (1): 49–66. doi:10.2307/1178308. JSTOR1178308.
Babb, Lawrence A. (1981). "Glancing: Visual Interaction in Hinduism". Journal of Anthropological Research. 37 (4): 387–401. doi:10.1086/jar.37.4.3629835. S2CID170558313.
Howell, Dr Julia D.; Nelson, Peter L. "Surviving Transplantation: The Brahma Kumaris in the Western World". Nelson Center for Humanities and Human Science.
Howell, Dr Julia D. (1997). "Altered States of Consciousness (ASC) Induction and New Religious Movements". Sociology of Religion. 58 (2): 141–164. doi:10.2307/3711874. JSTOR3711874.
Lalrinawma, V.S. (2004). The Liberation of Women in and through the Movement of the Prajapita Brahma Kumaris. ISPCK, Cambridge Press, Delhi. ISBN81-7214-771-6.
