Apocalypse in Hindu India

Members of the Brahma Kumaris actively prepare for what they believe will be the imminent end of the world, as prophesied by their founder. Yet they readily engage with consumer culture publicly proclaim that their brand of meditation works as a form of stress-reduction that can improve marriages and careers. How do they reconcile these seemingly competing orientations toward everyday life and the eschaton? In this paper, I address this question through a comparative ethnographic treatment of Hindu apocalypticism in North India. The Brahma Kumaris, along with the Gayatri Pariwar, are two of the most prominent millennialist groups within Hindu India today. I identify the approaches these two organizations take toward the end of the world (as we know it) to be two styles of Hindu apocalypticism. Through comparison, these two styles offer new ways of thinking about end times preparation in the twenty-first century.