BY RITU CHUGH
IRVINE, CA - The simplicity of white, in its purest form! A tall, slender figure clad in a simple sari of that color. Single handedly, she touched a crowd of thousands. She is known to do this every time she opens her mouth - most easily and most comfortably. She is the face and voice of the Brahma Kumaris -- she is Brahma Kumari Sister Shivani.
IRVINE, CA - The simplicity of white, in its purest form! A tall, slender figure clad in a simple sari of that color. Single handedly, she touched a crowd of thousands. She is known to do this every time she opens her mouth - most easily and most comfortably. She is the face and voice of the Brahma Kumaris -- she is Brahma Kumari Sister Shivani.
When IJ asked how she manages to stay so peaceful and resist anger, Sister Shivani responded with a smile, “being peaceful is our natural way of being. In the world today, being peaceful and not getting angry is what surprises people.”
The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University is a movement that originated during the 1930s. The Brahma Kumaris movement was founded by Dada Lekhraj Kripalani, who later took the name Brahma Baba. It is identified distinctly by the prominent role that women play in the movement. They have 8,500 centers in over 100 countries
This year the BK are celebrating 40 years in the US and marked the occasion with a 12-minute film recapping their beginnings and purpose. They believe in creating loving, peaceful and positive communities where people do not judge each other for their differences but accept one another as “pure loving souls”. They state that they are “planting the seed of change” with a worldwide spiritual movement.
The movement teaches a form of meditation called Raj Yoga that focuses on our identity as souls not bodies. The Brahma Kumaris believe that all souls are intrinsically good and that God, the Supreme Being is the source of all goodness. They also preach to give up labels that are associated with the body such as race, nationality, religion, and gender, and it aspires to establish a global culture based on what it calls “soul-consciousness”. Sister Haleema warmly welcomed devotees with the traditional greeting Om Shanti”, a phrase she said, “just melted her”, at her first encounter at the Brahma Kumaris center. “It is not something you resort to when you are in pain, it is what you practice daily”, she said referring to the practice of Raj Yoga.
The event was hosted by the Seal Beach Center under the leadership of BK Diane Tillman who 37 years ago took a sabbatical and went to Mt. Abu. Since, she has adopted the BK lifestyle and heads the Orange County center
Sister Shivani sat in her calm demeanor as always, with a perfect answer to every question, simple, straight, and clear as crystal. “We should reflect our peaceful inner-self to the outside world and spread peacefulness”, she said “the world is not complicated, our thinking is. If you think simple, the world will be simple”, she explained - most simply!
The University of California Irvine Bren Center bustled with “restless souls”, as a few thousand Southern Californians fought the Friday June 8 evening traffic and ended another week in the company of the peaceful Sister Shivani. Emotional and excited the crowds seated themselves in the best seats they could find to self-review each of their karmic accounts as they were treated to over 100 minutes of BK wisdom.
The atmosphere was a bit tense, a bit quiet. White clad (mostly) ladies moved around the arena. They seem to have an aura of peace and calm. Eyes wandered in anticipation for the main speaker who finally graced the well decorated stage at 7:15pm.
The voice of Sister Elizabeth echoed the words – “In this moment, in this place, I remember who I am. Let worry fall away from me…I am a peaceful soul”. Sister Shivani captivated the crowd with a kick-off meditation exercise, reassuring in her ever so familiar calm voice - “Om Shanti…” There emerged a strange calmness, in this group of Los Angeles angles. They felt grounded and ready to soak the message of love, peace and happiness.
She explained the power to be able to “operate at a higher vibration”. To take the high road at every subsequent scene of your life and not allow the outside world or any situation to affect our behavior. “Ask yourself the question - is it the world that I can change or is it my thinking? Each time you will realize that the world and situations are simple – only our thinking gives them confusing and complicated energy,” she said.
The Brahma Kumaris believe in rebirth and that we run a “karmic” account in each of our lives. They also believe that each time we come back as humans and carry forward the consequences of our deeds or karmas. It is a long ledger of good and ill deeds that grants us the life we have. Very beautifully Sister Shivani recited a couplet, “zindagi bhar galti karte rahe, mitti thi ainey par – chehra saaf kar te rahe”. She translated for the many non-Hindi speaking audience, “clean that one thought – the one speck off your face – off your mind. It’s not the mirror that is dusty, it’s our mind”. She preaches that life is not “out there” but inside us and that we must remove the “blockage – the pure flow of energy” from our mind to our outside. This she explains, “is done by unconditional acceptance of every soul without judging.” “We have come to believe that pain is natural, it is fair, it is genuine and true. It has become our destiny and we believe that people and the world outside are the cause of our pain”, she said. “Pain is not natural – it does not have to be”, stressed Sister Shivani. Speaking of the three pillars of life, “happiness, peace and love,” Sister Shivani believes them to be “innate to the human being.” Feelings like hurt, stress and anger are contradictory to our being and thus cause discomfort. “The right thought creates the right feeling,” she said. John Levoff, a writer and producer in the entertainment industry spoke about the BK organization and its influence on him and how indebted he is to them for inspiring him. Calling the BKs a “powerfully empowering organization”, he stated “the BKs have no money and no possessions; however, what they do have are hearts full of love for all souls”.
The calm of the evening lasted about a hundred minutes with one solitary, powerful voice being listened to word by single word. The actual ringing of a cell phone was in Sister Shivan’s words, “out there” and not to influence our inner peace by the creation of distracting or negative thoughts. As the clock neared 9 pm, the evening was coming to a close. Sister Shivani invited the crowd to “let go”. She said, “it is a lot easier to let go and lighten the burden than it is to carry it from you past, sometimes for many years.” She held a glass in her hand and then put it down many times over, demonstrating how easy it was to let go and how burdensome it is to hold on! Never has a crowd of thousands of Indian-Americans left an event in such an orderly and quiet manner as they did that evening. It was Sister Shivani’s request they move in silence and order – they abided by that!
The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University is a movement that originated during the 1930s. The Brahma Kumaris movement was founded by Dada Lekhraj Kripalani, who later took the name Brahma Baba. It is identified distinctly by the prominent role that women play in the movement. They have 8,500 centers in over 100 countries
This year the BK are celebrating 40 years in the US and marked the occasion with a 12-minute film recapping their beginnings and purpose. They believe in creating loving, peaceful and positive communities where people do not judge each other for their differences but accept one another as “pure loving souls”. They state that they are “planting the seed of change” with a worldwide spiritual movement.
The movement teaches a form of meditation called Raj Yoga that focuses on our identity as souls not bodies. The Brahma Kumaris believe that all souls are intrinsically good and that God, the Supreme Being is the source of all goodness. They also preach to give up labels that are associated with the body such as race, nationality, religion, and gender, and it aspires to establish a global culture based on what it calls “soul-consciousness”. Sister Haleema warmly welcomed devotees with the traditional greeting Om Shanti”, a phrase she said, “just melted her”, at her first encounter at the Brahma Kumaris center. “It is not something you resort to when you are in pain, it is what you practice daily”, she said referring to the practice of Raj Yoga.
The event was hosted by the Seal Beach Center under the leadership of BK Diane Tillman who 37 years ago took a sabbatical and went to Mt. Abu. Since, she has adopted the BK lifestyle and heads the Orange County center
Sister Shivani sat in her calm demeanor as always, with a perfect answer to every question, simple, straight, and clear as crystal. “We should reflect our peaceful inner-self to the outside world and spread peacefulness”, she said “the world is not complicated, our thinking is. If you think simple, the world will be simple”, she explained - most simply!
The University of California Irvine Bren Center bustled with “restless souls”, as a few thousand Southern Californians fought the Friday June 8 evening traffic and ended another week in the company of the peaceful Sister Shivani. Emotional and excited the crowds seated themselves in the best seats they could find to self-review each of their karmic accounts as they were treated to over 100 minutes of BK wisdom.
The atmosphere was a bit tense, a bit quiet. White clad (mostly) ladies moved around the arena. They seem to have an aura of peace and calm. Eyes wandered in anticipation for the main speaker who finally graced the well decorated stage at 7:15pm.
The voice of Sister Elizabeth echoed the words – “In this moment, in this place, I remember who I am. Let worry fall away from me…I am a peaceful soul”. Sister Shivani captivated the crowd with a kick-off meditation exercise, reassuring in her ever so familiar calm voice - “Om Shanti…” There emerged a strange calmness, in this group of Los Angeles angles. They felt grounded and ready to soak the message of love, peace and happiness.
She explained the power to be able to “operate at a higher vibration”. To take the high road at every subsequent scene of your life and not allow the outside world or any situation to affect our behavior. “Ask yourself the question - is it the world that I can change or is it my thinking? Each time you will realize that the world and situations are simple – only our thinking gives them confusing and complicated energy,” she said.
The Brahma Kumaris believe in rebirth and that we run a “karmic” account in each of our lives. They also believe that each time we come back as humans and carry forward the consequences of our deeds or karmas. It is a long ledger of good and ill deeds that grants us the life we have. Very beautifully Sister Shivani recited a couplet, “zindagi bhar galti karte rahe, mitti thi ainey par – chehra saaf kar te rahe”. She translated for the many non-Hindi speaking audience, “clean that one thought – the one speck off your face – off your mind. It’s not the mirror that is dusty, it’s our mind”. She preaches that life is not “out there” but inside us and that we must remove the “blockage – the pure flow of energy” from our mind to our outside. This she explains, “is done by unconditional acceptance of every soul without judging.” “We have come to believe that pain is natural, it is fair, it is genuine and true. It has become our destiny and we believe that people and the world outside are the cause of our pain”, she said. “Pain is not natural – it does not have to be”, stressed Sister Shivani. Speaking of the three pillars of life, “happiness, peace and love,” Sister Shivani believes them to be “innate to the human being.” Feelings like hurt, stress and anger are contradictory to our being and thus cause discomfort. “The right thought creates the right feeling,” she said. John Levoff, a writer and producer in the entertainment industry spoke about the BK organization and its influence on him and how indebted he is to them for inspiring him. Calling the BKs a “powerfully empowering organization”, he stated “the BKs have no money and no possessions; however, what they do have are hearts full of love for all souls”.
The calm of the evening lasted about a hundred minutes with one solitary, powerful voice being listened to word by single word. The actual ringing of a cell phone was in Sister Shivan’s words, “out there” and not to influence our inner peace by the creation of distracting or negative thoughts. As the clock neared 9 pm, the evening was coming to a close. Sister Shivani invited the crowd to “let go”. She said, “it is a lot easier to let go and lighten the burden than it is to carry it from you past, sometimes for many years.” She held a glass in her hand and then put it down many times over, demonstrating how easy it was to let go and how burdensome it is to hold on! Never has a crowd of thousands of Indian-Americans left an event in such an orderly and quiet manner as they did that evening. It was Sister Shivani’s request they move in silence and order – they abided by that!
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