Researchers
This site has been established as a way to start publicly documenting the history of the Brahma Kumaris while also making all the original documents available in one place.
This website is a work in progress. Our aim is to provide a clear, comprehensive and transparent portrayal of the Brahma Kumaris through its beginnings until today. Any errors are unintentional. If you have information which adds to or conflicts with what you find here, please do inform us.
The Researchers
brahmakumarisresearch.org
Tamasin Ramsay, PhD, Anthropologist
Tamasin joined the Brahma Kumaris in 1984 at the age of 18. Straight out of high school she had a brief but spectacular television career before coming down to earth, gaining her blackbelt in Goju Karate, becoming a paramedic, and receiving her Graduate Degree in Medical Anthropology (Melbourne) and her PhD in Anthropology and Health (Monash). Tamasin has lived in BK centres and retreat centres around the world, and represented the Brahma Kumaris (an NGO) at the United Nations in New York between 2010 and 2015. Tamasin works as an environmental anthropologist, animal rights activist and social researcher.
“A good history offers a thick contextual description to past events. It offers multiples standpoints, allows a variety of views to form the narrative, and also presumes that people who read it are intelligent enough to decide on its probity.”
Patrizia Heise, MA, Clinical Psychologist
Patrizia Heise earned a Masters degree in ethnology and comparative religions in Berlin and studied psychology and jungian analysis in Zurich/Switzerland. She has been practicing Raja Yoga from the 1980s and lives with her family in Freiburg (Germany) where she runs her own psyschoanalytical praxis. She teaches at the Jung Institute and her special interest is to integrate spirituality into psychotherapy, ways of transformation and contemporary spirituality in East and West.
Wendy Sargent, PhD, Sociologist
Wendy (1953 - 2010) joined the Brahma Kumaris in the mid 1970s and started service in Israel and Japan. Wendy gained her PhD in sociology and coordinated UN Dialogue among Civilisations Forums in Australia. In response to re-discoveries at the British Library, in 2008 Wendy was appointed to undertake an historical reappraisal of the Brahma Kumaris. Wendy conducted significant social and historical research, establishing a draft timeline of key historical events.
“Sensitivity to criticism of the Brahma Kumaris need not cause us to water down the story and make it seem much less than it is.”
Linda Persson, BA (Honours), Oral Historian
Linda joined the Brahma Kumaris in 2004, when she started living in a retreat centre in Australia, working in the garden. Prior to this Linda worked for twenty-five years in landscape gardening and horticulture.
Linda went back to university obtaining a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and has studied Sociology, Political Science, Library Management, and History and Environmental Management at Graduate level. A keen interest in Social Anthropology led to a teaching and research position in New Zealand. Linda has recently established an Oral History business which integrates her skills, life experience and personal interest.
Linda is currently recording interviews of BK Raja Yogis for the future publication ‘Stories of BK Life from Australia’.
“Oral History is a way to capturing and acknowledging peoples stories which are powerful tools of learning and teaching. Oral histories pass on culture, tradition and meaning through lessons learned, memories, narratives and life philosophies to others.”
Additional Authors
There are a number of others who are contributing and offering feedback to this website. Their contributions are greatly valued and we acknowledge their time, effort and good will in contributing to brahmakumarisresearch.org. Some, on the other hand, wish to be named. We are grateful for the historical work done by the administrators and members of brahmakumaris.info. Open access and the internet enable many to have an ongoing conversation, leading to greater understanding of this remarkable organisation.
Images and Photographs
Images and photographs here are used by kind permission from the Photography Department, Pandav Bhawan, Mount Abu (Rajasthan) India and Art Department, Gyan Sarovar, Mount Abu (Rajasthan) India. Other photographs have been kindly donated by individuals.