I Know how to Live, I Know how to Die – the Teachings of Dadi Janki

One of my enduring memories of Dadi Janki was an occasion at a conference in Uxmal, Mexico in 1994 when the subject was science and silence – we sat with Dadi Janki in meditation, bathing in the atmosphere of peace and love that she exuded. She is now 99 and was one of the original founders of the Brahma Kumaris movement in the mid 1930s. Although led by a former jeweller Dada Lekhraj (also known as Brahma Baba), the senior leaders were and are women. I met the author at their headquarters at Mt Abu in India in 1987. This accessible book is both an account of Dadi Janki's life and teaching as well as giving some history of the movement, which will be well known to most readers. The BKs have a distinctive teaching about the soul and its relation to God, with an emphasis on purity and detachment from identification with the body. They believe that we are at the end of a cycle when God will intervene to renew the planet and we will attain a more spiritualised form of existence and understanding. Neville writes not only about the importance of purity, but also of truth, positivity, honesty, respect and silence. Throughout, he quotes the wise words of Dadi Janki based on 80 years of spiritual practice. The last section is on death, which also means dying to our old nature and the old world as well as leaving the body. The main thing throughout is to maintain a close connection with the Supreme Being in both life and death.