period.^21 It was founded by a Sindhı ̄ businessman, Dada Lekhraj, who died
in 1969. It was founded, in part, from a sense of disenchantment with the
world that Sindhı ̄s were experiencing in middle-class households. Sindhı ̄
businessmen were away from home for extended periods while the women
were expected to engage in traditional wifely duties back home. This
sense of disaffection with the world was exacerbated with the dispersal of
Hindu Sindhı ̄s during the partition at the time of independence. In any
case, Lekhraj was given to visions by means of which he reconfigured
Hindu notions about the nature of history and of the self. Succinctly
put, the world would come to an end soon and people should prepare for
it by purifying themselves accordingly. While its official headquarters are in
Mt. Abu in Rajasthan, the movement, nonetheless, has some 800 local
centers especially in such northern cities as New Delhi, and, increasingly,
overseas. The Brahma ̄kumarı ̄s encourage the practice of yoga, vegetari-
anism, abstinence from tobacco and alcohol, and, most controversially,
of celibacy. The group proselytizes vigorously, especially through exhibits,
advertisements, and lectures.
Based on Lekhraj’s visions and teachings, the Brahma ̄kumarı ̄s believe the
real self to be the immaterial self or a ̄tmanwithin one. The self’s true home
isparama ̄ tman(the supreme Self), in which S ́iva or Shiv Baba presides at
the top of the universe. The self’s intention is to eschew material attach-
ments and become one with its true nature at the end of history. History,
for the Brahma ̄kumarı ̄s, is an accelerated form of the Hindu yugasystem;
rather than being comprised of ageless cycles of time, however, history is
a matter of four finite cycles becoming increasingly degenerate. We live near
the end of the final cycle, the kaliyuga, where torpor and ignorance
(tamagun) prevail. This age will come to an end very soon, but, thanks to the
grace of Shiv Baba, through Dada Lekhraj, people can learn how to make
the transition into the world to come.
To prepare for the new world, as in traditional Indian concerns for
cosmology, one must understand the nature of the universe as perceived in
the Brahma ̄kumarı ̄ system. Not only must one knowthe truth, however, one
mustperformit. Lifestyle should be completely transformed, often requiring
living in the established centers: eating proper food, keeping company with
the faithful, practicing ra ̄ ja yoga(as reinterpreted by the group), and
practicing celibacy are among the requisites of preparation. The practice
of celibacy alone can be considered controversial, especially for women, who
were traditionally considered auspicious insofar as they gave birth to sons.
Nonetheless, not only do widows, widowers, and couples whose children have
grown join the group; the core of the movement and, especially of its local
centers, are women (known as sisters) who propagate the faith and serve the
needs of seekers.
Religion in Contemporary India 215