Om Shanti

While in Nagarkot, I had the privilege of talking to two women about their lives in their village. From my short stay in Nagarkot, I learned that the people in the area practiced Hinduism and Buddhism. Oddly, there were no visible temples or places of worship nearby. The two women so kindly offered to take my friends and me to their own personal place of worship.

We approached a dark room where there was a large picture of a man on the wall with a red light glowing above his head. Out of the temples and prayer rooms I have visited, this was the first time I saw a human being at the focus of the worship. I already had so many questions.

We sat down on pillows in a circle as the women started to give us an overview of this spiritual teaching they practice known as “Om Shanti,” which they tied into Hinduism. In Hinduism, the three principal gods recognized are Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the sustainer), and Shiva (the destroyer) with Shiva primarily being worshipped. The women went on to explain that Shiva chose this man, the man on the wall, to be his son. His name is Om Baba. They believe that they can hear from Shiva and worship Shiva through Om Baba.

In this spiritual teaching, they believe each person has 84 lives. At death, the soul leaves the body and then goes into a baby inside a mother’s stomach. If a woman has a miscarriage, it’s believed that the soul who inhabited the baby’s body was very sinful. If someone commits suicide, their soul might not inhabit another body, but rather just float around and become a ghost who haunts people. Suicide is considered the worst sin in Om Shanti.

Strict practices come with Om Shanti. The women told us that they have to wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning every day to worship. After that they go for a morning walk and come back and worship again. Every time they go to the bathroom or sleep, they have to change their clothes.

Anytime they wanted to leave their village or go somewhere they would have to ask Shiva (through Om Baba) if they had permission to leave. They told us they could feel his response and then would act upon it. The women also must treat their husband as they would a brother.

Surrounding the room were posters with information regarding Om Shanti. We asked about some of them and the women grabbed them off the wall to explain. One of the posters had Shiva on it, along with other gods from many other religions. The women told us that, “all other gods from other religions are simply Shiva’s messengers.” They explained that all followers of Om Shanti believe that people today have made the mistake of worshipping these “messengers.” These messengers may have been telling a version of the truth, but in the end it’s all sent from Shiva – or so believe the Om Shanti.

Om Shanti is like nothing I’ve ever heard of before!

I was very thankful to learn so much new information from these incredibly kind women.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahma_Kumaris