Reality is not White
I was in Mt. Abu last week. The place was teeming with innumerable women and fewer men clad in white robes. These people it turned out were Brahma Kumaris. Mt. Abu is the global headquarters for the Brahma Kumari sect. The sect's name itself gives absolutely no inkling as to who or what its members do and even manages to confuse you about their gender. Apparently they are the followers (both sexes are allowed membership) of some guy called Brahma Baba ( a self-styled spiritual leader and ex diamond trader) who had a series of visions about what the world was coming to (sometime in the 1930s) and founded the sect to change/halt/project those images onto 70 mm (i don't know what).
The headquarter of the presumptuously titled BKWSU (Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University) is an uninviting, white building. I went there sometime around sundown and the place looked shrouded both in darkness and secrecy. There was hardly anyone to be seen and most sections of the building were out of bounds for the lay visitor. The main hall had a life-size image of Brahma Baba and an abundant sprinkling of instant, ready to eat and digest moral science lessons in the form of quotes and exhortations. Just as I was about to make a hasty exit ( having been thoroughly bored by this visit to a so-called tourist must see destination of Mt. Abu) I was accosted by a Brahma Kumari of the male sex. He 'prepared to prepare' to give a long discourse on the history of the Brahma Kumaris and their spiritual leader, but I pretended not to understand Hindi too well and managed to make a getaway.
Well to be fair, by most standards, I am distrustful of any religious or spiritual sect. I cannot accept these go-betweeners who presume to help you become spiritually aware and meditative. But my disenchantment with the BKs was not born solely out of this personal prejudice. It grew even worse the next day when our taxi-driver cum local guide took us to yet another Brahma Kumari place of worship/whatever you may call it. This was apparently a Peace Park - a garden of flowers and other delights of nature. Entry was free but only monetarily. Before entering the garden we were supposed to listen to a discourse on the Brahma Kumaris, only then could we enjoy nature. We stubbornly resisted and succeeded in making our way to the garden. There, interspersed among the hibiscus, dahlia and orchids, were platitudes like 'to rid your mind of stress, have positive thoughts toward everyone' and 'love conquers all'. Also we had to take a fixed route through the garden, not being free to just wander among the trees and flowers (at least here I thought they had a valid reason to impose such restrictions, for far too often such gardens become a rendezvous point for young lovers who have nowhere else to go). Photography was not permitted, and BKs were lurking around the plants, to keep an eye on any miscreants.
Anyway, the point of my rambling on and on about the Brahma Kumaris was that I found no point in what they were preaching. Here is an organization presumably founded to help bring people closer to God and spirituality, but why is there no joy in any of their places of worship or teaching? Surely, laughter, a free spirit and unabashed and sensuous enjoyment of nature are not inconsistent with the path to God! Didnt Brahma Baba believe in any of this? Or was he just another go-betweener, a godman who created an organization after himself to pander to his own ego? I searched for clues as to whether the Brahma Kumaris at least contributed in some way to the welfare of the town's common people, but found none. Locals seemed to treat them and their organizations like the Peace Park just as another one of those 'points' that they had to show to tourists.
Do we Indians really need organizations like the BKWSU? Wouldn't we be better off if such spiritually minded people came out of their lofty ideological towers and did something to create wealth or redistribute the vast amounts of wealth which I am sure the members of this sect own? BKWSU claims to be a world organization and is even allied to the UN (another colossally wasted organization with little practical relevance). It boasts of spiritually elevated members from all over the world, which to my mind is a grand way of stating that it is a refuge for confused Westerners.
I would really like to see Brahma Kumaris shed their white robes and don the garb of reality, which as you and I know, does not come in pristine white.
The headquarter of the presumptuously titled BKWSU (Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University) is an uninviting, white building. I went there sometime around sundown and the place looked shrouded both in darkness and secrecy. There was hardly anyone to be seen and most sections of the building were out of bounds for the lay visitor. The main hall had a life-size image of Brahma Baba and an abundant sprinkling of instant, ready to eat and digest moral science lessons in the form of quotes and exhortations. Just as I was about to make a hasty exit ( having been thoroughly bored by this visit to a so-called tourist must see destination of Mt. Abu) I was accosted by a Brahma Kumari of the male sex. He 'prepared to prepare' to give a long discourse on the history of the Brahma Kumaris and their spiritual leader, but I pretended not to understand Hindi too well and managed to make a getaway.
Well to be fair, by most standards, I am distrustful of any religious or spiritual sect. I cannot accept these go-betweeners who presume to help you become spiritually aware and meditative. But my disenchantment with the BKs was not born solely out of this personal prejudice. It grew even worse the next day when our taxi-driver cum local guide took us to yet another Brahma Kumari place of worship/whatever you may call it. This was apparently a Peace Park - a garden of flowers and other delights of nature. Entry was free but only monetarily. Before entering the garden we were supposed to listen to a discourse on the Brahma Kumaris, only then could we enjoy nature. We stubbornly resisted and succeeded in making our way to the garden. There, interspersed among the hibiscus, dahlia and orchids, were platitudes like 'to rid your mind of stress, have positive thoughts toward everyone' and 'love conquers all'. Also we had to take a fixed route through the garden, not being free to just wander among the trees and flowers (at least here I thought they had a valid reason to impose such restrictions, for far too often such gardens become a rendezvous point for young lovers who have nowhere else to go). Photography was not permitted, and BKs were lurking around the plants, to keep an eye on any miscreants.
Anyway, the point of my rambling on and on about the Brahma Kumaris was that I found no point in what they were preaching. Here is an organization presumably founded to help bring people closer to God and spirituality, but why is there no joy in any of their places of worship or teaching? Surely, laughter, a free spirit and unabashed and sensuous enjoyment of nature are not inconsistent with the path to God! Didnt Brahma Baba believe in any of this? Or was he just another go-betweener, a godman who created an organization after himself to pander to his own ego? I searched for clues as to whether the Brahma Kumaris at least contributed in some way to the welfare of the town's common people, but found none. Locals seemed to treat them and their organizations like the Peace Park just as another one of those 'points' that they had to show to tourists.
Do we Indians really need organizations like the BKWSU? Wouldn't we be better off if such spiritually minded people came out of their lofty ideological towers and did something to create wealth or redistribute the vast amounts of wealth which I am sure the members of this sect own? BKWSU claims to be a world organization and is even allied to the UN (another colossally wasted organization with little practical relevance). It boasts of spiritually elevated members from all over the world, which to my mind is a grand way of stating that it is a refuge for confused Westerners.
I would really like to see Brahma Kumaris shed their white robes and don the garb of reality, which as you and I know, does not come in pristine white.
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