Spiritual Education – Brahma Kumaris

Spiritual Education is based on universal spiritual laws.

Such laws apply to every human being regardless of his or her place of birth, culture and religious.
The goal of a spiritual education is to develop the original qualities of the soul.

Spiritual Education has nothing to do with a person’s intellectual capacity. Anyone, with or without previous knowledge or training, can enhance the quality of his or her life through spiritual wisdom.

Spiritual study teaches you to make optimal use of your mind, so the concentration, clarity and the ability to make positive choices, increase.

Look around you and you will probably have the feeling that many of the universal laws of life have been forgotten. After all if, we truly understood these spiritual laws, wouldn’t we also have the wisdom to apply them? However, this does not seem to be the case.

Clarification is needed on a variety of spiritual concepts – ‘.For example:

• Who is God?
• What is the meaning of life?
• Where do we come from? Where are we going?
• What does a virtue like serenity really mean?
• What is the difference between religion and spirituality?

Even if we know all of these things, are we also integrating these understanding into our everyday life?
For most part, no. On the contrary, it’s as though we have lost the meaning and value of the soul and its relationship to the body and nature. It’s as though we have forgotten what life is all about. 
A spiritual education is aimed exactly at this – at rediscovering the value of life in a practical way.

This is why a good spiritual education needs to include a thorough explanation of these vital, spiritual laws and concepts, in addition to creating a good meditation practice. the deeper you go into such understanding, the deeper will be your meditation experience. A good spiritual education teaches you how to live life as an art – happily and with fulfillment.

The Purpose of a Spiritual Education

• Gaining Insight into the Self, God, Others and Life – Insight to these aspects create answers to four main questions that humanity has been asking throughout the ages:
  
  
• Who am I?
• Who is God?
• What is the purpose of life?

Why haven’t we been able to find satisfying answers to these questions up to now? The most obvious reason is that we are too involved in the problem itself, too much a part of the questions and there is too much at stake.Therefore, we do not have sufficient ‘distance’ to see reality as it is. However, there is one Being who retains total objectivity, One who never comes into the cycle of birth and death, and so alone maintains the ‘distance’ needed to be an impartial observer.

Such is the part of the Supreme Soul. He alone sees the complete cycle of time, knows the past, present and future. He alone has the reliable overview. Also, He is without any selfish motives.
For all the above reasons, the Supreme is ideally positioned to teach us great insights about ourselves and the state of the world.

• Understanding the laws of life and their application –
  Insights into the laws are useful only if we are able to apply them to our daily life. Otherwise it is armchair knowledge. Such impractical knowledge can result in mental tension – we know a lot but aren’t necessarily able to live up to it.

Knowledge of this sort just makes us unhappy. It is only when we thoroughly understand the spiritual laws (such the laws of karma, entropy, love, etc.) that we can then start applying them in our life. 
In short, the study of Raja Yoga is based on a practice, which is oriented towards the situations of everyday life. It is not knowledge for the sake of having large discussions or philosophical debates. Rather, it is knowledge for studying, inculcating and applying in our own lives.

• Giving meaning to life –
  Many of us might have had the feeling that (our) life is not very fulfilling or meaningful.
  We might have wondered at the use of getting up every morning at the same time, to go to the same job, etc or we might have wondered at the meaning of so much suffering on earth.
  
  What is the purpose of the increasing violence everywhere? And what can I, ‘just an insignificant, single human being in a big world’, possibly do to make this world a little better? Thinking about life in this way can lead to feelings of frustration, hopelessness, apathy, aggression or boredom. However, the more we begin to understand and see the spiritual reality behind the visible reality, the more interesting life becomes.

It is as though a new dimension opens up to us. We begin to understand that behind each action, each gesture and each outer appearance, there is a world of significance. Nothing happens in a vacuum, everything has purpose, meaning and consequence.

Looking at life in this way makes life exciting; it makes it a challenge. 
When we begin to understand the way events are interconnected, we see that our ‘one small insignificant life’ can be very important indeed for the whole life in this planet.

One person’s personal growth and spiritual development has an effect on everything and everyone, even on people who live far away from us. We are all interconnected. When we begin to realize this, life becomes more meaningful; it becomes more valuable. This is when we begin to live!

• Changing the self through conscious choice –
  
  If there is one thing certain in life, it is that everything is constantly changing. And whether we like it or not we will also have to change.
  
  If we do not consciously choose to change, we might end up feeling forced to, later by circumstances. This usually creates a general feeling of resistance to change – the feeling of being pressured, like swimming against the stream.
  
  This attitude is a source of tension. 
Knowledge and understanding of the current time and the condition of the human soul gives us the insights and power to consciously choose to make changes in our life.
  
  Through such action it is as though we change ahead of time, before time forces us to change.
  We no longer simply react to change, but actively take part in the process of creation.

The four Subjects of Spiritual Study

• Knowledge – First subject
  In each Brahma Kumari’s center there are early morning lessons. These lessons begin with half hour meditation followed by 45 to 60 minutes of class.
  These classes – called the Murlis- The interesting thing about these Murlis/study is that people who have been studying here for over twenty years listen to the same Murlis as do people who have only been studying here for a few months. God’s teachings are so deep and yet so clear that each and everyone can extract from them whatever he/she is looking for.

• Meditation – Second subject
  Apart from the study of knowledge, Rajyoga Meditaton is also important. Rajyooga Meditation means linking the mind to the Supreme Soul, and it is this which gives us power and enables us to have the realization and experience of everything we learn.(This is the importance of the 30 minutes meditation before the Murli class and at least 10 minutes meditation after listening to the Murli.)
  
  Knowledge without Meditation is impractical and burdensome. Meditation without knowledge will not have any power - it will be an experience, but there will be no understanding; thus we will not be able to recreate that experience at will or integrate it into our personality. It is only when both knowledge and Meditation come together that there can be deep insight – wisdom.
  
  
  
• Dhaarna  - Third Subject
  Dhaarna means the inculcation of divine virtues and powers. Dharna is the result of taking up this knowledge through a combination of study and Meditation. When the experience of the union with God (Meditation) and insight (knowledge) come together, thoughts, feelings, words and actions all become the same. There is no longer a difference in what we think, feel, do or say. This is dharna – when we start to embody the teachings.

• Service– Fourth Subject
  When dharna increases, we automatically begin to share our treasures with others – treasures like peace, love, patience, respect and happiness. The experience of our own spiritual efforts and transformation is what enables us, in a very natural way, to explain to others and also to sustain them in different ways. This is called service.

Consciousness - A clear mind is an important ingredient of this study as the clarity of our consciousness determines the degree to which we will be able to take this knowledge in.

It is good to be reminded that alcohol, drugs and other mind altering substances (and also watching television for long stretches of time) have a negative effect on our clarity and should be avoided as much as possible.

In any case be sober when you come to the Raja Yoga centers. Only then will you experience maximum benefit from the lessons and the experiences you will have during meditation.

Responsibility And Regularity– The interesting part of this education is that everything done here is done for the self. There are no examinations (other than those in our daily life) and no fees & neither do we get any kind of certification or diploma. Regular meditation and study is our own responsibility.

This gives us the opportunity to build a certain discipline and regularity into our own life. It is an enormous challenge to really do something for one’s own benefit, out of self-respect and not for our friends, our parents, our teacher, but for ourselves alone.

The Spiritual Teacher

An important aspect of the spiritual study offered by the Brahma Kumaris is the realization who exactly is teaching it? You will meet many BK teachers at center, But all you would be learning & exploring has actually been giving by 'GOD' - The Supreme Soul. All the teachers there are, at one and the same time are students. All teachers are also a student of God. they stressed this point to prevent people from seeing them as a guru. so all the senior students of this institution (whom we call brothers and sisters) are models, not gurus.

It is important to be aware of this, otherwise we might be tempted to start praising or even defaming others. If we become attached to a certain teacher or fellow student, we will miss the point of these teachings. So, the best way to proceed is to remember that all of us here are students, and that it is God who is the Teacher.

Results of a Spiritual Education.

The results of this spiritual education are divided into short term and long term.

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