The Brahma Kumaris (Sanskrit: ब्रह्माकुमारी ("Daughters of Brahma")) is a spiritual movement that originated in Hyderabad, Sindh, 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 one hundred ten countries and more than one million members. Women continue to hold primary leadership positions within the organisation.

The Brahma Kumaris organisation was founded in Hyderabad, Sindh, in northwest 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 closely connected to the Bhagavad Gita.

Founder Lekhraj Khubchand Kirpilani (also known as Om 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.

Three years after the organization came into existence, it became clear that Om Mandali was giving special importance to 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, and her management committee was made up of eight other women. People from any caste were allowed to attend meetings. The group also advocated that young women had the right to not 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. 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 the campus and caused considerable upheaval in the community. Women attending the discourses were verbally abused. There was an attempt to burn the premises down, and the police made several arrests. Many women and girls were subjected to domestic violence.

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.

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.

In May 1950, Om Mandali moved to Mount Abu in Rajasthan, India, and renamed itself as Brahma Kumaris (BK) World Spiritual University. 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.

In 1980, the Brahma Kumaris became registered as a nongovernmental organisation with the United Nations Department of Global Communications. In 1983, the Brahma Kumaris achieved consultative status with the Economic and Social Council at the United Nations.

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 males, and women comprise eighty percent of the membership. As of February 2015, 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.

The movement has distinguished itself from its Hindu roots and sees itself as a vehicle for spiritual teaching rather than as a religion.

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.

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.

The Brahma Kumaris believe that every action performed by a soul will create a return accordingly, and that the destiny of the soul's next body depends on how it acts and behaves in this life. Through meditation, by transforming thinking patterns and eventually actions, the Brahma Kumaris believe that people can purify their "karmic account" and lead a better life in the present and next birth.

In contrast to linear theories of human history that hypothesize an ancient point of origin for the universe and a final destruction, the BKs do not posit a start, end or age for the universe, believing such concepts to be an erroneous application of the human life cycle to the universe. BKs believe the universe to follow an eternal, naturally occurring 5,000-year cycle, composed of four ages (yugas): the Golden Age (Satya Yuga), the Silver Age (Treta Yuga), the Copper Age (Dvapara Yuga), the Iron Age (Kali Yuga) and each represents 1250 years of the cycle. They also believe that at the end of the Iron Age there will be "Destruction." They believe Destruction will kill everyone on Earth and cleanse the Earth. Then only can the cycle repeat again. The present period 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 lived in complete harmony with the natural environment. The primary enlightenment was the innate understanding of the self as a soul.

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.

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 students of the organization had also made many failed predictions of the violent destruction of the world, between 1987 and 2008 and the original teachings also referred to a particular date 1976, aspects which are now downplayed.

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 BK 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.

Flowing on from the BK belief that everyone is a spiritual being, is the practice of Shubbhawna (pure feelings) and Shubkamna (good wishes). For BKs, all prejudices and ill-feelings are seen as arising from identifying the self and others based on external labels like race, religion, gender, nationality, beauty (or lack of), etc. However, when there is the practice of finding the intrinsic goodness in each one, the prejudice based on those labels is replaced by the vision of one Spiritual Parent, one Human family, and universal spiritual values such as respect, love, peace and happiness. A flagship slogan for the BKs has been When we change, the world changes. It is for this reason that BKs consider bringing about this kind of change within the self as an important form of "world service".

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:

1. Sakar Murlis refer to the original orations that BKs believe to be the Supreme Soul speaking through Brahma Baba.
2. 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.

Avyakt murlis are still being spoken at the BKs headquarters in India. Students must complete the Brahma Kumaris foundation course and start by attending morning Murli class before visiting the headquarters.

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.

Pratibha Patil, the UPA-Left candidate and former President of India said on camera during the 2007 Indian presidential election, that she spoke to "Baba" (a term the BKs use for God) at the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University at their headquarters in Mount Abu, Rajasthan. Patil stated that when she met Baba He had indicated great responsibility was coming her way.

In his book "Ignited Minds," Abdul Kalam recounts an exceptional spiritual encounter he had on February 3, 2002, during his visit to the Brahma Kumari Spiritual Academy located in Mount Abu. During the visit, he witnessed an extraordinary event where one of the disciples, Dhadhi Gurzar, became the medium for the deity of the Brahma Kumaris, Shiva Baba. Dr. Kalam observed her personality undergo a transformation, with her face becoming radiant and her voice deepening as she spoke about the four treasures: Knowledge, Yoga, Virtue, and Service.

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:

• Complete celibacy, whether in or out of marriage
• Sattvic lacto-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 4:45 a.m.
• Daily morning class at approximately 6:30 a.m.
• Frequent wear of white attire to symbolise purity.
• Preference for the company of other BK followers.

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.

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 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 (SYA) is a program started in Northern India in 2009. The program has been a collaboration between Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University in Gujarat India 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 governments support for the program. With the governments 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.

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.

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.

In 1998 the Brahma Kumaris gained consultative status with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Adherents have been criticised by nonmembers for hiding or downplaying their prophesied physical destruction of the world particularly as they still believe that such an event will happen "soon". However, they maintain that their primary purpose is to teach meditation and peace of mind, not to push their views about the different challenges the world is facing on non-members who may be visiting the group to learn about meditation or values based living.

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.

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.

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.

Associated concepts

• Meditation
• Mediumship
• Millenarianism
• Adhyatmik Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya

General

• Hindu reform movements
• New religious movement

Citations

Bibliography

• Official website
• Official Website - India