Group teaches peace in becoming grounded for life

Bruce Emond The Jakarta Post Jakarta

It's a little after 6 p.m. as a trickle of people files out into the creeping darkness from a house on a quiet side street in South Jakarta.

At a time when many of us are making one last mad dash through the malls, or preparing for the I-hate-Mondays return to work, there is a distinct sense of calm on the faces of the group, ranging from an older couple, a few young men in T-shirts and jeans as well as a smiling young woman wearing a Muslim headscarf.

They are "first-timers" at a meditation class run by Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization, founded in the 1930s through the vision of one man to educate people in human, spiritual and moral values to make a better world.

Like the members of the beginners' meditation class, Mala, one of two national coordinators for the organization's activities in Jakarta, identifies herself as a "seeker" in her youth, hunting through bookshops in her hometown in Australia for works on philosophy and yoga.

She chanced upon a poster in a shop window for free yoga lessons as she rode her bike one day.

"I was really interested in raji yoga because I had read a lot about it, and when the Brahma Kumaris centers first opened in Australia that was how they were first advertised, as places for raji yoga meditation," she said.

For Mala, it was the end of her spiritual seeking and the beginning of a journey into herself to find inner peace.

"I had sat in on discussions of other philosophies, but it never really jived with me ... I remember waking up so early the next morning and going there for class, which was strange because I was a late riser and still am," she said.

After visiting the organization's headquarters in Rajasthan, India, she moved into her local center a year and a half later, adopting the principles of vegetarianism (the diet also includes avoiding eating "stimulating" foods like onions and garlic) and daily meditation. She now has the rank of a "sister" within the organization.

As an international organization, Brahma Kumaris was still relatively new when Mala joined, having opened its first center in London in 1974, and others in Sydney and Melbourne in 1975 and 1977 respectively.

"When I first went to the headquarters in India, there were only 50 foreigners -- that was all there was. But going there really helped me increase my knowledge and reach out."

The organization came into being in 1936 when Brahma Baba, an Indian from a poor family who had made his fortune in the jewelry business, felt the need to become more reflective about life and its meaning. During meditation over a period of months, the 60 year old (his benign visage stares down from walls in the center) saw a number of visions depicting the process of world transformation into a more peaceful place.

The organization was initially limited to a small self- sufficient community in Karachi (before it became part of Pakistan in the partition of India), but in 1952 Brahma Baba sent several sisters out to set up centers in Bombay and New Delhi.

Brahma Kumaris was already looking farther afield when its founder passed on in 1969. But spiritual organizations from India were a dime a dozen in the early and mid-1970s, blossoming as flower children making their way along the subcontinent and Goa in the quest for new spiritual horizons. Mala remembers having to deal with shouts of "hippie" in those first days in becoming part of the organization in Australia.

Unlike other groups which have fallen by the wayside over time, Brahma Kumaris has continued to grow, with estimates in 1996 of 3,200 meditation centers in 70 countries and more than 450,000 students (women, like the first sisters sent out to spread the word of peace, continue to play a prominent role in the organization).

The success is no doubt thanks to an approach which is, naturally, a bit preachy about its convictions for a better world without ever being overbearing. Thankfully, the members are not shoving flowers on people at the airport, chasing the unwilling down the street or banging on doors to foist piles of their literature on you.

At its core is a simple code for spirituality that we all can understand: Get number one in order, and the rest of the world will follow.

At the Jakarta centers located in Kebayoran Baru and Sunter, North Jakarta, that drive is focused on meditation classes, although classes on positive thinking and stress-management are offered at other centers around the world.

It's other draw is that it does not impose an "all-or-nothing" philosophy; the interested, like those who showed up on that recent Sunday night, do not have to swear off meat or go through some wacky initiation ceremony to set foot in the door.

"People come here for different reasons. I was seeking knowledge and understanding, but others come to stop worrying or something like that through meditation," Mala said.

"I was looking to commit to something, because I think life is not worth living if you can't do something constructive to make a difference."

For "Sheila", a 30-something expatriate who has taken meditation classes at the center, it's been an enriching experience.

"I had just gone through a bad period in my life, coming out of a bad work environment," she said.

"The meditation, even in a few short lessons, has helped me peel off the layers, and return to who I really am."

For more information on free meditation classes, call Mala at Tel. 7246-794.