Encountering the Brahma Kumaris, and "Raja Yoga."

By Robert Searle






My first encounter with Indian mysticism proper was with the devotees of Brahma Kumaris. They teach a system referred to as Raja Yoga, but it is not the same as the Patanjali version which they would probably regard as being a later corruption. Anyway, I first discoverd the BKs back in 1980, or thereabouts. I saw an add in the local rag claiming that someone was teaching hypnosis, or something very much like it. I got into contact with the advertiser who happened to be a certain Brother Julius Larsen. He was a pleasant enough person, and seemed more interested in making me aware of the BKs. I had to confess this supplanted my initial interest in discussing hypnosis. Yet, the more I learned about its philosophy the more doubts it engendered. Ofcourse, apart from Julius the devotees were very pleasant. Unfortunately though, the former appeared to have blind faith in it altogether. It was if his critical mental faculties were totally suspended which was a shame, and this caused undue stress in his family life.
BK philosophy is fine as far as it goes...the Raja Yoga as it is propounded by them is positive, and uplifting. It uses visualization, and auto-suggestion in which one imagines oneself being a point of light at the Third Eye, and one mentally repeats that "I am a point of light"...et cetera . The aim of this is to become "bodiless", and at the same imagine being bathed in the reddish light of God, or Shiv Baba residing in the Silent Ocean of Bliss in Brahmloka. Yet, official communication from the "Supreme Being" comes in the form of "mediumistic" sourced teachings (or Murlis, meaning the flute of Krishna). Baba made the following claims to his "sweet children."


1) He has stated that God is not omnipresent, and that no guru, or incarnation is manifestation of the Supreme Power in human form

2)There are only a certain number of souls who are meant to follow Shiv Baba. They are the ones which are meant to start the Golden Age at the beginning of the so-called Five Thousand Year Cycle (made up of the Four Ages). This Cycle is repeated again,and again EXACTLY IN EVERY DETAIL. At the present time, we are living in what is called the Iron Age which is soon to come to an end. Those souls who do not follow Shiv Baba are born in in one of the Four Ages of the Five Thousand Year Cycle. This whole process is called Drama. Shiv Baba claimed that "No one can question Drama" even though it is clearly nonsensical...and the traditional Hindu Swastika sign is used in their illustrations of this "evolutionary" process.

3) The BKs believe that Sat Yuga, or the Golden Age would be a world of wonders. The life expectancy of the reborn BKs would be extremely long, and healthy. Special vimanas, or "aircraft" would be able to take them to various destinations at the speed of thought. Buildings would be built like palaces, and if one recalls rightly crystals would be used as special energy rather like electricity.

4) The BKs try not to mention anything about the above claims concerning "doomsday", and the succeeding Golden Age. This is deliberate as to not alarm newcomers into their sect. This is arguably dishonest of them.

5) Ofcourse, the BKs claim that religions are based on subconcious memories of the Golden Age when concious knowledge of the Five Thousand Year Cycle was known about but later forgotten.

6) It has been claimed that at the end (ie.doomsday)of the Iron Age (ie. our present time) the magnetic fields of the earth could be altered leading in part to repitilians suddenly growing in size, and becoming dinosaurs. This is an explanation for the prehistoric remains of such creatures! This though is not something suggested by Shiv Baba himself as far as I know...

Also, I made Brother Julius (mentioned earlier) aware of a certain section(s) in the book Treastise on Cosmic Fire by Alice Bailey which seem to predict the emergence of the Brahma Kumaris. This was something which was recognized by Benjamin Creme (a noted esotericist) when I phoned him. In Sant Mat, the reddish sky or "Brahm Element" in which Shiv Baba resides is usually associated with Kal, or Universal Mind Power which is concerned with the continuation of the physical creation.....