Here we document the key points of difference between the history narrated in Adi Dev and the history gathered through reference to primary data sources including interviews with original members, original images and original documents archived by independent bodies such as the local government of Hyderabad (Pakistan), Pakistan Library, the New York Public Library and the British Library.

Adi Dev was authored by esteemed senior brother Jagdish Chander Hassia and was written to introduce the public at large to the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University through its knowledge and history. Adi Dev has always been held in great esteem by students within the Brahma Kumaris and has been a core research text of scholars. The dilemma we now face is that we now understand is that Brother Jagdish wove the spiritual knowledge of the 1960s and 1970s through events from the 1930s through the 1950s offering an historical picture that can mislead readers. Adi Dev presents the Brahma Kumaris spiritual path as being born from a rapid succession of illuminating experiences leading to an immediate and complete revelation. In contrast, primary research sources illustrate a thirty year blossoming of understanding that changed markedly over time. As the original generation of BKs is passing, we believe it is important to document - as completely as possible - the historical and spiritual development of the Brahma Kumaris as best we can. 

Further, The Brahma Kumaris identifies as an organisation, a community, a place of spiritual asylum, as well as a spiritual path. Each identity carries its own responsibility. In an age where organisations and particularly NGOs are being held to account, we believe the Brahma Kumaris has an obligation to  be as honest and transparent as possible to the public without whom the organisation would have ceased to flourish decades ago. Please post your comments on the blog page about Adi Dev so that others may be informed. 

Discrepancies between Adi Dev and Original Sources

Adi Dev

  1. God is not omnipresent.
  2. God is a point of light.
  3. Brahma identifies as the child of God Father Shiva, the Supreme Soul from the earliest years.
  4. Mama reported in front of a court that God is not omnipresent.
  5. God Shiva is the sermoniser of the Gita.
  6. Lakshmi and Narayan are two human souls who, having claimed their fortune of complete purity through the practice of Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga Meditation, take birth as deities in the forthcoming Golden Age.
  7. God remains in the Soul World during the world cycle, entering the body of Brahma only at the Confluence Age.
  8. The Brahma Kumaris learn the method of Yoga in the early years.
  9. There are three worlds (soul world, subtle world and physical world).

original sources

  1. God is omnipresent.
  2. God is infinite divine light (1930s and 1940s). God is a ball of light. God is an oval form (1950s).
  3. Brahma identifies as God Brahma, one of the manifestations of Trimurti God (the others being God Vishnu and God Shiv Shankar Mahadev).
  4. Mama reported in front of a court that God is omnipresent.
  5. Lord Brahma is the sermoniser of the Gita.
  6. Lakshmi and Narayan are the bifurcated forms of God Vishnu, and are a manifestation of God whereby God directly supervises the paradisiacal first half of the cycle from those two forms.
  7. God comes down into Heaven in the two forms of Lakshmi and Narayan. 
  8. The earliest mention of Yoga in original text is 1955.
  9. There are two worlds (celestial world and physical world).

Links to original sources will be added in support of the above statements. References are extensive so will be added gradually.