ABSTRACT
This chapter will therefore be concerned with presenting a genealogical analysis of the Brahma Kumaris from their inception in India in the 1930s to the present day. Its focus will be three developmental stages of, or ruptures within, their world-
orientation and organisational structure. These transitions, I will argue, cannot be adequately accounted for with reference to the typologies of Wilson (1969, 1970) and Wallis, hence the development of the notion of world-ambivalence. This shift will be analysed largely in relation to the Brahma Kumaris’ changing relationship with the ‘outside’ world, in terms of how their beliefs developed in relation to both local persecution and then, later, international acceptance. The analysis presented in this chapter will then be further developed in later chapters with reference to the University’s beliefs and membership.
