Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga is Probably a Cult – But Yoga Alliance?
I recently saw an ad on Craigslist for free meditation classes. They did not include a link to their website, but I gleaned from the email address provided that the organization was Brahma Kumaris, an organization that describes itself as a “spiritual university” teaching Raja Yoga. (Raja Yoga, i.e., “royal yoga,” is the yoga of meditation as originally described by Pantanjali in the Yoga Sutras.)
I always like to know what I’m getting into and a quick search on the Internet reveals that Brahma Kumaris is considered a cult by many. Brahma Kumaris has some heavy duty critics. It’s apparently not just your usual yoga cult – this one is a “doomsday cult,” where the belief is that the world will end soon and those who participate in Brahma Kumaris will ascend to become deities in the new Golden Age.
The doomsday stuff was enough to convince me that the free meditation classes probably weren’t worth my time. I also shy away from organizations that rely on guilt-trip donations and do a heavy sell on tithing.
But I’m not automatically scared off by cult charges. I regularly take kundalini yoga classes even though the kundalini yoga organization, 3HO, has been considered a cult for a long time. In both organizations you’ll find vegetarians who get up at 4 am for meditation, wear all white, and follow other strict rules for living.
Most of the kundalini yoga teachers I go to actually do seem to be “Happy Healthy and Holy” as the 3HO name suggests. These are fantastic spiritual teachers who really do seem to walk the talk. I can tell you, however, from the stories that these folks tell, that I would have never gotten along with Yogi Bhajan. I am too independent by nature. Regular life in an ashram wouldn’t sit well with me. As I mentioned in my last blog post, I believe there are some people who want direction and authority in their lives, and that makes them happy. As long as they aren’t harmed by it, it’s fine with me. If they want to wear all white and wake up at 4 am to take a cold shower every morning, then more power to them. No 3HO member has ever given me a high pressure sell in any kundalini yoga class, ever. I’ve never been asked to tithe away my live savings, though I suppose yoga classes can add up.
I do think, though, that it’s good to be skeptical of charismatic leaders and rigid authority, whether it’s yoga or not. I know of a teacher (not a yoga teacher) who has such tight control of her little community that her students are emotional prisoners. Rather than encouraging the students to leave the nest for bigger and better things, the teacher has emotionally crippled the students so they are dependent on her.
From observing that, I don’t think it’s meditation or yoga that creates a cult, but psychological manipulation, which can occur without these things. People are drawn to yoga-specific cults because meditation and yoga does bring such tremendous benefits.
So some cult watchers go a bit too far, perhaps, when they bash spiritual organizations simply for being weird, or having problem people in it. (Yes, apparently some guy at 3HO was growing marijuana but what does that have to do with the rest of the sincere members?) Leading anti-cult guru (irony intended) Rick Ross has actually gone so far as to warn people against Yoga Alliance, simply because some board members were involved in 3HO and other yoga organizations he deems cults. He wrote back in 2003:
“Anyone considering yoga classes with teachers and/or schools registered by the Yoga Alliance might want to exercise a bit of caution, before beginning any of their exercises.”
A bit over the top, I think. Well, maybe he was unaware that Yoga Alliance is pretty much the de facto yoga certifying organization in America, and that almost all mainstream yoga teachers in the US have their certification through them now.
At any rate, I personally like to keep my toe into organizations without jumping full in to the point where an organization takes over my life. I enjoy the exercises and meditations I have learned in kundalini yoga, but I do not need to go full on American Sikh in white clothes and a turban to benefit. If it works for you, great, but it’s not for me. But I think the key here is that kundalini yoga people allow you to be who you are – on the other hand, those strict organizations that are the cults to be wary of do not.
You say you aren’t put off by accusations of organisations being cults – but only refer to an example where you have got to know the organisation yourself. Shouldn’t you give this organisation the same consideration before making harmful accusations based on what appears to be zero personal experience of them?
I started taking kundalini yoga classes at Golden Bridge from a recommendation from a friend. It’s a pretty well-known yoga center here in Los Angeles and as such there’s a context for me, whereas Brahmas Kumaris is an unknown organization that is actively recruiting through Craigslist.
Of course I’m going to be more suspicious of the organization I’ve never heard of that has been identified as a “doomsday cult.” I had also done homework on 3HO and knew of the Yoga Bhajan controversies. My take on kundalini yoga is that it’s a useful practice and whether or not Bhajan was a sincere guru doesn’t really matter to me at this point. He did not create kundalini yoga – he just brought it with him from India. I’m not interested in getting deeper and giving up my normal clothes and make-up to become a Sikh however…but the point is, the 3HO people don’t seem to be interested in heavy recruiting like other “cults” appear to be.
One of the beefs that I have with the Brahma Kumaris is that they have sucked up practically every Hindu deities name you could imagine … AND the classical term “Raja Yoga” … to describe their own practises which are specifically mediumistic rather than yogic.
The Brahma Kumaris DO NOT teach Raja Yoga. They teach their own practise. Raja Yoga has a 2,000 year tradition. The BK’s practise only goes back as far as the 1950s. The focus of their “yoga” is a channeled spirit entity or entities which speaks and acts through the sect’s mediums at its headquarters. They believe this entity to be “the god of all religions”, their religion to be the supreme one, themselves to be becoming angels … all other religions and all the and Hind dieties to be only poor or partial “memories” of their religion.
Any spiritual master worth their salt would encourage students to do their homework first and check out their would be master’s lineage. That requires people to dig a little bit deeper than the organization’s own PR and the wide eyed “intoxication” of its neophyte devotees.
The big problem with the Brahma Kumaris is … why all the secrecy? Why do they expect people to initiated into a relationships with this spirit entity BEFORE they know ‘the big picture’.
In the BKs case, the big picture included an imminent and desirable nuclear holocaust and the death of 6 billion human being to “purify” the world in order that they leadership can rule a “golden age” on earth as Emperors and Empresses for 2,500 years starting off with only 900,000 of their faithful followers. All of time fitting into one single, identically repeating 5,000 Year Cycle.
The downside with the BKs is that getting to the truth is difficult. They are steeped into their own historical revisionism. The reports of multiple suicides amongst their followers and the leaderships handling of the child sex abuse cases at their headquarters are abysmal.
In this case, starting with the critics and gauging the organization’s response to those criticism, might be the best way of learning about the reality before you surrender your life to them.
I agree with Stephaine, there are lot of people promoting yoga, but yoga is a philosophy in itself and nobody can claim its ownership.
People start yoga practice for getting fit and very few for spiritual upliftment. Anybody can do yoga, it will certainly help you to progress in your spiritual progress irrespective of the religion you follow.
I am from India and here people of all religions do yoga and never feel about shedding their religious beliefs. Those who seriously become real yogis, they are above religion.
“3HO people don’t seem to be interested in heavy recruiting like other “cults” appear to be.” This seems to be a better philosophy, yoga is not for recruiting people to your way of life but to help people to live better.
I quite agree that yoga is really nice, and keeps you active and healthy – so refreshed!
Well, what is a cult? The Catholic Church is certainly one and Christianity in general can also be labeled as “Doomsday”! Read your Bible – Revelation for instance and the the rapture that many Christians believe in. the same goes for Islam, it too has a Doomsday stance. Jehovas Witness..I could go on and on. As for Raja Yoga not being the “true” Raja Yoga, how can you possibly say?
Their eyes-open meditation method appears in Jain temples (statues) which are pretty old! Furthermore, the BKs did not start in the 1950s, but the 1930s (In what is now Pakistan). There are a great many ex-members like myself who left for various reasons but I can assure you that the method of meditation does indeed work. Very few ex-members would doubt that. The problems that they have is with the knowledge that goes with it. Most of us cannot follow such a path of purity, it is like living as a Nun or Monk, but in the real world. It is a hard existance but there are rewards.