Integration and chance

The woman to my right in this photo was my neighbor six years ago. She must have been around twelve then. She is now a spiritual leader in the Brahma Kumari Ashram in Jaipur. I was invited to visit her and speak to her this morning in her ashram. She seems to be very happy, and be in good company. Her mother once told me that she had wanted to continue her studies when she was in school, but could not because of hardships that her family faced. Kavita now has the chance that her mother did not and to be a leader and a spiritual teacher. The ashram is a beautiful house in west Jaipur run completely by women who study and teach spirituality and meditation.

While I was there I got the royal tour, and an explanation of the history and beliefs of the Brahma Kumari. The Hindus believe in four degenerative ages that fall from a golden age to a black age of kaliyuga (which I had always been told we are currently in). I had heard of this before, but I had never heard of the in-between age between kaliyuga and the beginning of the golden age once again. According to the pandit who showed me around today this in-between age gives the Brahma Kumari their work of trying to prepare -- in the midst of a world still connected to the kaliyuga age -- for the re-entrance into the golden age.