Brahma Kumari

views updated

Brahma Kumari. A Hindu-oriented movement composed in the main of unmarried women and founded in Hyderabad in 1937 by the one-time Sind diamond merchant, Dadi LeKray. Women are clearly the spiritual and moral leaders in this millennial movement, in which the traditional role of wives and husbands has been reversed.

Through the practice of celibacy and yoga, souls can attain unity with the founder, Shiv Baba as he came to be known, and a right of entry to the golden age. In the late 1960s the movement, with headquarters in Mount Abu, India, began to acquire a following in the West.

More From encyclopedia.com