MBOMBELA – “Spirituality in a fragmenting world” was the subject of a lecture given by the Baba Kumaris on Friday night at Ingwenyama Lodge. Guest speaker Jayanthi Kirpalani, from the United Kingdom explained to the large audience the importance of meditation.
The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University is a religious movement that originated in Hyderabad, Pakistan during the 1930s. The Brahma Kumaris (“daughters of Brahma”) movement was founded by Brahma Baba. It is distinct from other Hindu movements by the prominent role women play in the organisation.
The Brahma Kumari teaches a form of meditation that focuses on their identity as souls (as opposed to bodies).
They believe that all souls are intrinsically good and that God is the source of all goodness. The university teaches people to transcend labels associated with the body, such as race, nationality, religion, and gender, and aspires to establish a global culture based on what they call “soul-consciousness”.
In 2008, the movement claimed to have more than 825 000 regular students, with over 8 500 centers in 100 countries.
“I attended a UN peace summit. The World Health Organization, Unicef, Children at Risk were all there. They told me over the last 60 years they have received more money, information and technology, but in every case things were worse.”
What was worse was the breakdown of mental health affecting people. “They explained that they had to call in religious leaders and spiritual leaders, as human hearts needed to change.”
She explained that sitting in meditation was not a battle to quieten your thoughts, but to train the mind to connect to a person’s inner core qualities which are inherently good and part of the divine.
Kirpalani said there was hope for the future, as every person has inherent goodness inside of them. “We did a survey and asked people around the world what their vision was of a better world. They all came back with the same answer; peace, honesty, responsibility, integrity, love and happiness.
“Just spend a few minutes every day to connect with yourself. There is too much emphasis on the material and physical world, that we lose touch with our
inner being.”
