jannisder wrote:Well it is obvious, Read the Murli and what you have to do is remember Baba over and over again, at least eight hours a day! That makes you a devotee! And cult leaders print their wish in your brain so you can not do anything else anymore. That's how brainwashing works but BKs brainwash them self this way, so you can never blame the one who is telling you to remember and wash their hands in innocents.Everything bad happening to you like sorrow and illness is your own fault if you do not remember Baba, you are weak!! And then the BapDada pictures??? Oh boy, that is definitely devotion!! But you must know that!
It is devotion on the level of intensity of devotees of Krishna and Mary. The way the BK introduce it, is as being universal spirituality. Then it is the lectures of a charismatic person, with a charismatic disembodied visitor. It is necessary to be as a devotee to these lectures and the lecturer to be knowledgeful, powerful, virtuous and successful. You'll have more success with God through us. That is our life and our business.
Then, what irkles me, or perhaps titillates, is that they edit their Murlis where Dada says it is sinful to remember Brahma. That remembering Brahma you become even more sinful, will not be purified. (I have this Murli -- two versions seven years apart -- in storage somewhere).
Dada was charismatic and everyone was hopelessly in love with him in a love that he returned to the fulfillment of many. From the BKWSU point of view, it is a disservice to direct people away from Dada, given the personal relationship they themselves enjoyed. For them Dada said those words (sinful to remember Brahma) to divert attention to God from himself, but they know his life is the model of Godly student life, being the No. 1 effort maker. And therefore everyone should know about Brahma Baba, who after all they consider the Mother.
But there is another angle I can think of.
There are always a percentage of students who are attracted more by the idea of Shiva than by Brahma. Since the beginning many tried to connect to God without going through Brahma. Dada brings this up repeatedly in Murlis, 'you cannot get to Shiva Baba by yourself at home, you have to come here. This is the real thing', and if you're not here, you're an unfortunate square.
Heidi Fittkau wasn't the first to think she could speak directly with God, and she won't be the last. Many believe that God is democratic, they have as good a right to contact God as any other.
With ten possible breakaway BKs at every center, many needed for their capacity to work for the group, for their readiness to donate and to testify at BK gatherings, why give them ammunition to leave? Probably that thought also entered the Murli-editor's mind because as Baba tells us in the Murli, at every center their are "children" who are dissatisfied with their center-in-charge sister. Of course, they don't need Baba to tell them that many are dissatisfied. Center life, after all, is an emotional pressure cooker driven by devotion seasoned with religious ecstasy.
The Murli editor probabably thought, "A bunch of people left last time that Murli came around, so why not take away those objectionable lines that will be so memorable to those who hear them".
Perhaps the PBKs, with their more laid back attitude of getting mentally and financially in contact with God, offer an acceptable alternative allowing millenial and prophetic certainty, and a life path based on spiritualistic practices and principles. A new science of virtue.
The BKs say their path is knowledge. But knowledge doesn't need special initiation rites or beliefs. Their practice is fervent devotion: it is enough to be an ignorant mother to be most beloved of God. The one who takes care of a home, can take care of the world.
It is the mothers who have the same devotional attitude to the BKs as they have to other holy men. "It is enough that they love Baba," Rajni said to me. "What more do you expect from them? It is enough! Baba gives each what they need."
So devotion is accepted as a legitimate form by the group, and they do celebrate the Hindu religious festivals. They distinguish their celebrations as being based on 'knowledge'.
It would be knowledge if their methods were magically successful and universal, like gunpowder or mathematics.
