Dada Lekhraj: Difference between revisions

=== Om Mandali ===

{{Main Article|Brahma Kumaris}}

In 1936, Lekhraj established a spiritual organisation called Om Mandali. Originally a follower of the [[Vaishnavite]] [[Vallabhacharya]] sect<ref>The Brahma Kumaris as a 'reflexive Tradition': Responding to late modernity by Dr John Walliss, 2002, {{ISBN|0-7546-0951-0}}</ref> and member of the exogamous [[Bhaiband]] community,<ref>The Sindh Story, by K. R. Malkani. Karachi, Allied Publishers Private Limited, 1984.</ref> he is said to have had 12 [[gurus]]<ref>Adi Dev, by Jagdish Chander Hassija, Third Edition, Brahma Kumaris Information Services, 2003.</ref> but started preaching or conducting his own ''[[satsang]]s'' which, by 1936, had attracted around 300 people from his community, many of them being wealthy. According to Brahma Kumaris, a relative reported that a spiritual being ([[Shiv baba|Shiv]], the supreme soul) entered in his body and spoke through him.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1080/13537909908580876 | last=Walliss | first=John | date=October 1999 | title=From World Rejection to Ambivalence: the Development of Millenarianism in the Brahma Kumaris | journal=Journal of Contemporary Religion | volume=14 | issue=3 | pages=375–385 }}</ref> Since then, Lekhraj has been regarded by the Brahma Kumaris as a medium of God, and as such, speaking channeled messages of high importance within the religious movement's belief system.<ref>Peace & Purity: the Story of the Brahma Kumaris, Liz Hodgkinson. Page 58</ref>

In 1937, Lekhraj named some of the members of his [[satsang]] as a managing committee, and transferred his fortune to the committee. This committee, known as ''Om Mandali'', was the nucleus of the Brahma Kumaris.<ref name="Elizabeth_Abbott_Celibacy" /> Several women joined Om Mandali, and contributed their wealth to the association.<ref name="Hardayal_Hardy_Struggles">{{cite book

| last=Hardy | first=Hardayal | title=Struggles and Sorrows: The Personal Testimony of a Chief Justice | year=1984 | publisher=Vikas Publishing House | isbn=0-7069-2563-7 | pages=37–39 }}</ref>

The [[Sindhi people|Sindhi community]] reacted unfavourably to Lekhraj's movement due to the group's philosophy that advocated women to be less submissive to their husbands, going against that strong cultural aspect at the time in India, and also preached chastity.<ref name="Liz_Hodgkinson_Peace">{{cite book | last=Hodgkinson | first=Liz | title=Peace and Purity: The Story of the Brahma Kumaris a Spiritual Revolution | year=2002 | publisher=HCI | isbn=1-55874-962-4 | pages=2–29 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Chryssides | first=George D. | title=Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements | year=2001 | publisher=Scarecrow Press | pages=35–36 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Barrett | first=David V. | title=The New Believers: A Survey of Sects, Cults and Alternative Religions | year=2001 | publisher=Cassell & Co. | isbn=978-0-304-35592-1 | quote='sex is an extreme expression of 'body-consciousness' and also leads to the other vices', probably stems in part from the origins of the movement in the social conditions of the 1930s India when women had to submit to their husbands. | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/newbelieverssurv00barr }}</ref>

Organizations like the [[Indian National Congress]] and [[Arya Samaj]] accused Om Mandali of being a disturber of family peace. Some of the Brahma Kumaris wives were mistreated by their families, and Lekhraj was accused of sorcery and lechery.<ref name="Elizabeth_Abbott_Celibacy" /> He was also accused of forming a cult and controlling his community through the art of [[hypnotism]].<ref name="Om_Radhe">{{cite book | last=Radhe | first=Brahma-Kumari | title=Is this justice?: Being an account of the founding of the Om Mandli & the Om Nivas and their suppression, by application of the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1908 | year=1939 | publisher=Pharmacy Printing Press | pages=35–36 }}</ref>

To avoid persecution, legal actions and opposition from family members of his followers, Lekhraj moved the group from Hyderabad to [[Karachi]], where they settled in a highly structured ashram. The [[Bhaibund]] anti-Om Mandli Committee that had opposed the group in Hyderabad followed them.<ref>{{cite book | last=Howell | first=Julia Day | editor=Peter Clarke | title=Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements | year=2005 | publisher=Routledge | isbn=978-0-415-26707-6 | pages=63–64 | quote=The call for women brahmins (i.e. kumaris or 'daughters') to remain celibate or chaste in marriage inverted prevailing social expectations that such renunciation was proper only for men and that the disposal of women's sexuality should remain with their fathers and husbands. The 'Anti-Om Mandali Committee' formed by outraged male family members violently persecuted Brahma Baba's group, prompting their flight to Karachi and withdrawal from society. Intense world rejection gradually eased after partition in 1947, when the BKs moved from Pakistan to Mt. Abu. }}</ref> On 18 January 1939, the mothers of two girls aged 12 and 13 filed an application against Om Mandali, in the Court of the Additional Magistrate in Karachi. The women, from Hyderabad, stated that their daughters were wrongfully being detained at the Om Mandali in [[Karachi]].<ref name="Liz_Hodgkinson_Peace" /> The court ordered the girls to be sent to their mothers. [[Radhi Pokardas Rajwani|Om Radhe]] of the Om Mandali appealed against the decision in the High Court, where the decision was upheld. Later, Hari's parents were persuaded to let their daughter stay at the Om Mandali.

Several Hindus continued their protests against Om Mandali. Some Hindu members of the Sindh Assembly threatened to resign unless the Om Mandali was finally outlawed. Finally, the Sindh Government used the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1908 to declare the Om Mandali as an unlawful association.<ref name="Hardayal_Hardy_Struggles" /> Under further pressure from the Hindu leaders in the Assembly, the Government also ordered the Om Mandali to close and vacate its premises.<ref>{{cite book | last=Coupland | first=Reginald | title=The Indian Problem: Report on the Constitutional Problem in India | url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.137042 | year=1944 | publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref>

After the [[partition of India]], the Brahma Kumaris moved to [[Mount Abu]], Rajasthan in India in April 1950.<ref>{{cite book | last=Chander | first=B. K. Jagdish | title=Adi Dev: The first man | url=https://archive.org/details/adidevfirstman00jagd | url-access=registration | year=1981 | publisher=B.K. Raja Yoga Center for the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University }}</ref>

Lekhraj died on 18 January 1969, and the Brahma Kumaris subsequently expanded to other countries.<ref name="Stephen_Hunt_Alternative">{{cite book | last=Hunt | first=Stephen J. | title=Alternative Religions: A Sociological Introduction | year=2003 | publisher=Ashgate | isbn=0-7546-3410-8 | pages=120 }}</ref>