Episode 58: Rita Cleary (Brahma Kumaris Meditation Center)
Meet Rita Cleary! She's the activities coordinator at the Brahma Kumaris Meditation Center here in Watertown. In this conversation we talk about Rita's career path in management sciences, traveling the world for her personal explorations on the big questions in life, what the Brahma Kumaris center does and how it came to be in Watertown, and it's mission and outreach to the community.
(Click here to listen on streaming apps) (Full transcript below)
Find out more about Brahma Kumaris at www.bknewengland.org
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Transcript
Matt: 0:07
Hi there, welcome to the Little Local Conversations podcast. I'm your host, Matt Hanna. Every episode, I sit down for a conversation with someone in Watertown to discover the people, places, stories, and ideas of Watertown. This time I sat down with Rita Cleary, who is the activities coordinator at the Brahma Kumaris Meditation Center here in Watertown, and I'll let her introduce herself and then we'll get into the conversation.
Rita: 0:29
So my name is Rita Cleary. I'm with the Brahma Kumaris Meditation Center in Watertown and my role here is that I actually coordinate the activities of the center. I've been doing that for many years, you know, almost 30 years. The person who was here before, who was doing the coordination, moved to Israel to serve there. We have been in this lovely spot at 75 Common Street for many, many years and it's wonderful.
Matt: 0:54
Gotcha. So let's go, we'll hear about this space, but first let's go back a little bit and a little bit of your story, you know, where you grew up and how you got involved with this organization.
Rita: 1:05
Yeah, so I grew up in New Jersey and in a very small town called Lindenwold, no one's heard of it, but it's close to Cherry Hill in South Jersey. And you know, in growing up, even as a young child, I always had big questions. I was like in this search for understanding life and, you know, understanding the many dimensions of life as well. So I was just like always looking for a missing piece of something that would help me understand what life was all about. But, more importantly, what was it from a spiritual perspective, you know, that would help me to understand why life is as it is? You know, I always held this question as well why is there so much sorrow in the world? And I'd ask myself these big questions and my mother would say, oh, why don't you go talk to the priest? She said, I don’t know, go talk to him.
Rita: 1:57
And so I became very close with this Father O'Sullivan priest down in Jersey. And then I actually thought, well, I just don't understand. And I almost went into a cloistered convent because I couldn't understand, if there was a God, how the world could possibly be as it is. So I went to the priest and what the priest said to me, he said well, why don't you go out in the world and try. You know you're very young, why don't you just go out and get a little experience, get a job, do some things and then come back and talk to me. Well, of course, what happened is well, I never went back to talk to him because life changed and I was with a group of girls that were going to school in Framingham State University that I met in the Jersey Beach, and they said why don't you come up to Boston for some time. So I did. I came up to Boston and I actually fell in love with the city here. So long story short I'm still here.
Matt: 2:47
Yeah, so what did you do for your job, like when you entered the real world? What was that?
Rita: 2:53
Well, it was really interesting. My first job was working with the Internal Revenue Service. And at that time because you have to understand that I'm a little older in life, the computers were just coming in to play, and so they sent me to computer school to learn how to work with computers and to get that kind of experience and background. And so I stayed with them, but I didn't stay long because, being so young, I used to love to quit to go to the beach in the summertime. So I used to go down to the Jersey Shore in the summer. Then I'd come back and I'd get another job. But each job that I got, you know, helped me progress over time. And I don't know if you want me to talk more about where I ended up with my work and so forth.
Matt: 3:32
Sure, yeah.
Rita: 3:34
So when I was working here in Boston, I ended up, you know I won't go into all of the different jobs, but I ended up getting involved with some of the leading thinkers in the management sciences at MIT and some at different universities around the country. And what I did is I helped to represent their work in different parts of the country, different parts of the world actually, and ended up traveling and doing a whole lot of things that were very, very interesting, but most of them related to organizational development and, you know, systemic thinking and things like that. I would have never in a million years, ever thought that I'd end up that way, but that's what happened.
Matt: 4:09
Well, just from what you told me so far, that seems to line up, big questions with big questions. There you go. So how did that, or how, on the side, did that, lead you to where you are now with this organization?
Rita: 4:22
Okay, well, while I was in that journey of trying to establish myself with a career, I always worked for myself. Once I came to Boston and worked a couple of jobs and I started my own business, which was this thing that represented all these different leading thinkers. But at the same time, I still had my interest in understanding more about the world. So what I did is I went shopping to see if I could find my questions anywhere. Traveled to China and I studied Buddhism, and it was quite an interesting time at that time. And then I almost converted to Judaism. And then I went, I had an invitation to come to China and meet with a Confucian master for seven or eight days, which was fascinating. And at the same time, I had found the Brahma Kumaris and was coming here and practicing meditation.
Rita: 5:12
And what I loved about this place was that, I think one of the things that I was trying to find in my life was peace. That search was the need to learn how to become that. There was a method here of meditation that would help me to learn, you know, how to become a master of the mind, so that I could calm down the thoughts and that I could live a life that was full and a life of service, and yet be in the world. So it was sort of for me it was like, by this time I was married, I had kids, I had grandchildren, whatever, but one of the first things that I read when I came here it talked about how this is the time when the impossible becomes possible. You can stay out in the world, you can stay in the world, and you can find this. You can find the peace, you know, you can experience your own fullness and then be able to use those qualities that you're developing through your practice of meditation in order to serve others and help them to find it also.
Matt: 6:09
So for people, you know, they've probably heard of Buddhism, Confucianism, but what is Brahma Kumaris?
Rita: 6:15
So Brahma Kumaris is a world spiritual organization. It's like a movement that helps one to get in touch with what's going on inside yourself. And through the meditation you're learning to transform that which is pulling you down in life and, you know, making you unhappy and feeling sorrow, and helping you to deal with pain that we have to go through and all those things in life. It's a place of reflection. You know, that you come in and you learn to reflect and study and then practice the practice of meditation. Because it's like meditation is like an art form. It's not like you become a meditator overnight and you have to practice. So the practice that's held is a practice that's held here in Watertown every day. Our practice starts quite early in the morning, we practice throughout the day. And then in the evening, you know, we're open for public meditation and we do it on Zoom as well as at the center where anyone can join.
Rita: 7:14
So, for instance, we may be doing meditations just for peace. A lot of that you know for peace in the world. Or you might be doing meditation just to fill yourself, because you're feeling empty, because we can't give what we don't have. Right, and that's why the reflection is needed, to help relieve yourself of all of the past burdens that are inside, freeing yourself up. Because it's not about, it's not just about mastering your mind, but first it's becoming a child, so that you have to, you know, be clean and clear inside, looking at life as an adventure if possible, and then you know, in that clear space, really doing the meditation, that you can send that energy. Because meditation creates an ascending energy within the mind and you have, you know, with your good wishes and your pure feelings for the world and for others, you can begin sending that vibration to others. Does that make sense?
Matt: 8:09
Kind of, yeah, I see what you're getting at. So, for reference, I don't have like any religious experience. So this is, I like talking to religious or spiritual people because it's an interesting point of view for me. Like, my personal experience with meditation is like yoga. You know that type of meditation which I understand. So what is the difference between like meditation you'll see at like a yoga place and someplace like this where, like it's the, it is kind of built around that right?
Rita: 8:37
Well, what happens here is there's spiritual knowledge that one gets when they come here and, for instance, what we teach is that each one of us, right, has a soul that is light. It's like it's consciousness, it's the thing that animates the body, thing that animates the body. And that, that light is an infinitesimal, tiny, tiny point of light that sits in the center of the forehead, where the third eye has been referred to many, many times. What you can do is, when you learn to meditate, what you're doing is you're shifting consciousness from a limited space of understanding just matter. Body is matter, nature is matter. And you're going to another dimension of understanding of the fullness of life. And then, here at the Brahma Kumaris, what we do is we connect with what we call a supreme soul, which is the source of this light, and that light is power, it's might and light. And when you make that connection and you fill yourself with that kind of light in the soul that you can then become, I would refer to it as a world server. Energy flows, right, it just it flows like a river and it's as large as an ocean. So if you learn to use your mind in that way to make a connection.
Rita: 10:01
And what it does, the bottom line is it's a way of getting rid of all of your stress, your anxiety, your fear, and it brings you into a space of peace. It's all about peace and love. You know it reminds me of way back when I used to go to Greenwich Village in New York. You know when it was beatnik time at that time. I don't even know if you know that word, but you know where everybody was chilled out, except it was a different kind of scene. You know, so when you finally recognize that our natural state of being is peace and you want to try to achieve that in your life and you want to be able to let go of the baggage that's come in as a result of all your past experiences. There's a methodology that's given here that helps you to do that. It's called Raja Yoga.
Matt: 10:50
So tell us a little bit more about this place then. So people come here to do meditation. Yeah, tell us a little more about the community here.
Rita: 10:57
Yeah. So the people come from all different, many of them have had different religious backgrounds. They're still searching, because they haven't found their answers, you know, for what this thing called spirituality is all about. So they come, and first they come in and they take lessons on how do you do this, you know, how do you learn to become a master of my own mind? How do I do that? You know, and for some people they think it's impossible.
Rita: 11:21
It was really interesting working with this group over at MIT. There's some of them that traveled to India with me, which is where the original foundation of the teachings began, because they wanted to learn this. And then, when they came back from it, they said, why can't I get my mind still? Why can't I do that? And I said to them well, because it's a practice, it's not going to happen in a second.
Rita: 11:41
It's like drop by drop, you learn how to stop the wastefulness in your mind, the negativity in your mind, and to allow yourself to really become a positive force for yourself, for your family, for your city, for your country, for the world is what you're learning. But you have to be patient with it. So the people who come, as I said, they come from all different backgrounds and what we say is is that there's just one seed of light that is meant for everyone in the world. You know, that we all think we've got all these differences and whatever, but at the core of our being, at the spiritual level, that there's a common ground. And that's a whole other story. I'm not going to go into right now because it might take us in way different directions.
Matt: 12:25
Yeah, and so do you have like, is this like a membership type place? Or, like I'm looking at you right now, you're wearing a specific garb, like what is it like to be a member of this community?
Rita: 12:35
Yeah, well, I'm wearing a sari because I happen to be teaching. That's why I'm in a sari, but if you were to see me this afternoon, I'd be in my casual clothes at home, you know, with my family. Although there are a lot of people like the people who actually are living in the center, you know, are usually the sisters are in their saris, but the brothers that are here, they're all. They're like you, you know, they're just casual.
Matt: 13:01
I'm in shirt and shorts right now. For listeners.
Rita: 13:01
They would wear khakis, you know, with their shirts and stuff. And sometimes when there's a formal meditation that we're all together, and sometimes we put this on because it's like a uniform, you don't have to think about what to wear. But people come in, they just drop in, they come over. The class, those that are coming on a regular basis. Our first meditation here is at 4 am, so a lot of people don't come to that. It takes years to master getting up early in the morning when all of everything is so clear, crystal clear at that time of the morning. It's an amazing experience to be able to.
Matt: 13:33
Or you can have a baby and you'll be up at that time too.
Rita: 13:36
Yeah, and that's another little miracle. So there's many different ways to get to spiritual happiness. But then we have, at 6 am, we have a half hour meditation that people come for, and then at 6.30, we have a class for an hour. And then throughout the day we stop every hour on the hour, just with a very inconspicuous time to just reflect and where is my mind? Is my mind in waste thought? Am I in negative thought? And how can I bring my mind back to that space of peace so that I can live from that space? Does it make sense?
Matt: 14:10
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and so it sounds like a lot of people here too. So you mentioned there are some people who live here? And then there are.
Rita: 14:12
Yeah, so don't forget, this is a house. So when we bought the space, it was much smaller at that time. This was the end of the house here, so it was long and narrow and three stories and, as I said, it was so ornate with these beautiful pillars outside. And, you know, and then about five years ago, we changed it because we were needing more space. This room here used to be the kitchen, which is very interesting, and now we have a whole kitchen and dining room downstairs.
Matt: 14:38
So why don't you tell us about how this organization came to Watertown? You know, how long have you guys been here and what brought you to Watertown?
Rita: 14:46
Yeah, so when I came, you know, which is 35 years ago, the space was in Brookline and it was on Beacon Street. It was a small apartment and then there was another apartment on Commonwealth, I think that we were in or maybe the, I don't know which was first. But what happened is we ran out of space and we wanted to find another space to do that. And because a number of us were coming from not living in the city but living around the city of Boston, you know how that is, that we wanted to find some kind of a central point. And with the Mass Pike being here and it was easy, all roads could lead to Watertown. And we had one of the people who were part of the organization happened to live here in Watertown and they saw this house come up on the market and they suggested that we come. And, as I mentioned to you earlier, when we came in, as soon as we walked in, it felt right. And particularly, you know, it was wonderful because we've got the high school next door, so a lot of people in the town bring and they drop the kids off and then they go back and whatever.
Rita: 15:45
For years we didn't have a sign outside. We had a small sign, but eventually we got the license to be able to put a larger sign out front. We were not very good at marketing. Now that you know there's all the Zoom stuff and everything, we're a lot better at it. But yeah, so that's how it happened that we just decided this was a really good location because it was central to all the surrounding towns and that the population of Watertown whom we, you know we felt that, what we looked into it. You know, about what it would be like, and we felt people from all kinds of backgrounds are living here and that, you know, we wanted everyone to have access to it. And we're free of charge, it's not that we charge anything, you know. So we're open to the community. We opened this in order to serve the community. Yeah, so that's what we're doing here in Watertown.
Matt: 16:31
Yeah, and kind of relate to your free of charge thing, but nonprofit type of organizations making their money work in today's environment is difficult. How do you fund this organization? How is it, how does it work?
Rita: 16:44
So the organization, I mean I go from global to local because that's how the organization runs. So there's over 9,000 centers with over a million people studying worldwide. And the expansion, when it left India and came out to all these different countries, we’re in many, many countries, and it was up to those who wanted to have it in their country to figure out a way to open it. Because there's no central core funds, absolutely none. I never heard of anything like this. You know, I'm an entrepreneur, a businesswoman who has. You know, I'm saying to myself how do you do this? You know.
Rita: 17:18
So this is why, here in Boston, what we did is we found a way of having some folks live here in order that we could fund the house, you know. And so that's how it works. And then everything comes in, no one's ever asked for money. No one's ever told what someone else gives. It doesn't matter if you give a dollar or if you give a million dollars, it's all very incognito. Just the person who does the banking knows, and those who have to manage the current expenses of the building. I had never heard of anything like it before and couldn't imagine it working, but it supports over, you know, these 9,000 centers worldwide. Each one of them works like that, so they're all independently funded by the people who come to the meditation center. You're never asked to put anything in the box. The box sits in the room and it says donations on the or contributions on the box, and if you're so moved to put it in, that's fine, and if you don't have anything to put in, that's fine too.
Matt: 18:11
So what is the overarching mission or value of the organization?
Rita: 18:16
Well, it's all about creating a peaceful world. It's all about helping people to begin doing that by creating a peaceful life. It's about virtues, it's about values. And we do programs for children. You know, we had a big program that we did on living values for kids, with all kinds of wonderful workbooks, and this was a number of years ago. One time we took up, we decided to serve the media. We brought the media in for conversations, for an introduction to a meditation practice in order for them to really have a different way of reflecting on their careers and what they were doing and how they were serving the world. We have conversations for many different levels of people. You know, some it's just general invitation for others to come in, but sometimes it's just for the professions, as I mentioned, like in different professions, sometimes it's for the children. We have a youth group that ranges from, I think, about 18, 17, 18, to maybe 24 that come together and they come to know other people who are living according to values. You know, there's a conscious effort to do good, be good and serve.
Matt: 19:25
Yeah. And how is it different, because you said it came out of India, so how is it different from other religious and spiritual movements from India? How does it differ itself from those other ones?
Rita: 19:34
Well, one thing that's different about it, and I was very pleasantly surprised by it, was the leaders of this organization worldwide are women. It's all women. And that's a very unique feature, because you know, what do women do? We gather, we gather friends, and then we weave ideas about well, what could we do next? It's a very organized organization as far as like nationally, internationally and so forth. But locally what it is, it's just really whatever those who decide to come and who get involved, you know, they come and they volunteer some of their time and then we create things. And then, when we're done creating that, we create something new. And then we invite those that we've invited before to stay in relationship in some way. As friends, some are friends, some come to study, some become students. You know, whatever meets their need of the moment in time, that's what we do with them.
Matt: 20:28
Gotcha. So it's the worldwide thing. It's kind of these meditation techniques and values, and then each individual location kind of takes those and applies it in their own way.
Rita: 20:38
Yeah, the principles and so forth, you know, that you live by are, you know, do good, be good and serve, help others. And we've done lots of different experiments based on people's needs. So we have conversations with those from healthcare. So the doctors and the nurses will come and we'll hold, like maybe from nine in the morning till two in the afternoon, give everyone lunch and breakfast and have a conversation around what's going on for them. Give them the experience of meditation as well, and then they take from it what's good for them. And then those who come, if they decide to go back, they invite their colleagues.
Rita: 21:16
And the next time we do it it's a whole bigger circle, you know, newer circle, and then people come and go and take what they want and take what they need. But they know we're here and that we're here to serve the community. That's our role. And to do our own inner work as well and developing ourselves, you know, to become lighter and lighter in our energy so that we can serve from a place that's clear inside. And you know, and it's quite a, it's wonderful, because you're constantly learning. The learning never ends. You know, and you're doing things that you'd never thought that in a million years you'd be doing, you know, from cooking to cleaning to, and there's just as many men that come in, not just as many. There's men that come in as well and, like here, brother Dev lives here, but, you know. So there's all kinds of activities for everyone.
Matt: 22:04
And is there a particular success story that sticks out that was particularly impactful for you?
Rita: 22:10
Well, regarding the Watertown center, one of the things that was really impactful for me was the expansion of the space five years ago. That was huge. We had the idea that we were going to move because we had at that time there were 70 people who we fit into this really little room and there was truly, it was not an inch of space left and we didn't know what to do. But we needed to find something that was going to allow us to expand. So I said, well, why don't we have an architect come and draw it out? Because this house, we were in such a great location here in Watertown. We didn't, you know, we didn't want to leave and we didn't know where else we could go and get the place that people could live and be public. So why don't we see what we can do to expand? So I had just finished building a new home out where I lived at that time, and so we asked the builder if we could get the architect to come and do some drawings for us. The architect came and we told him what we wanted. And so what's amazing is, if you were to drive by this space, you see a whole area that's totally glass. You can see out on Common Street and Columbia Street, and the room holds 100 comfortably. And we have a dining room, which we never had, that people can actually go downstairs to eat. And a kitchen, big kitchen, as opposed to this room that used to be our kitchen. So we've expanded in a lot of ways. That was a really meaningful, meaningful thing for us.
Rita: 23:33
And when we opened the new space, we had the leaders, the elders from India, the women who began this organization. When they were children, they came to this learning school and they were schooled in it. So they came for our opening and that was one of the high points. But what was more of a high point too, was when we would do programs here in the center and when the community would come. No one understands who we are and what we do because it's, as you can tell listening to me, it's complicated and it's unlimited in some ways. But the wonderful part of it is that there's something for everyone. And if people don't come, then why are we here? That's my question. So we're always looking to welcome the community to come in at any time. Just let us know you're coming and we'll have some tea with you, or sit down and have a conversation, or just let you come in and look around, or whatever you'd like, take some lessons. That's fine too. Yeah.
Matt: 24:31
Yeah. So what are some of the, maybe some of the misconceptions about your organization that you hear, or some of the
Rita: 24:39
From the outside?
Matt: 23:40
From the outside, or from the inside, you know, or from people who come in and they're like, oh this is different than I thought, or just anything like that you know that you might want to help dispel, or you know.
Rita: 24:51
It's really hard for me to answer. I think the biggest thing is people don't understand exactly what this is and it's hard because I mean, we also, like we work with the United Nations. We have consultative status at the UN. So we have every level, from local to national, to the international to the global. And they sort of say, well, this isn't like the local yoga studio. There's a misconception that when they hear yoga, they think it's physical yoga, and this is not about physical yoga. I mean we do do stretching and physical activity, but it's more about mastering the mind, you know, and connecting with the source in order to take the power to stay happy in life. You know, wholesome in life. I mean, we eat vegetarian. That's another thing that people say. Well, why, why?
Rita: 25:40
There's a lot of why-whys that come up. Yeah, and, you know, the fact that we wear the whites. They see everybody in white. What are you doing in white? You know they don't understand that it's just part of a thing that you're coming every day. You want to come in in clean clothes, so you keep your whites, you know, and then you're leaving to go to work. People will have their regular clothes that they change into and go. So for them to understand, I think when people come they ask a question, they say well, why is it that you feel it's so important to be viceless? You know so, instead of being in anger, greed, lust, everything, all of these other things. But we say, no, you know deeply inside of yourself there are these qualities of peace, love, purity, happiness and that if you can live according to your inner truth, that what you'll be able to do is to help in the creation of a peaceful world. So people don't understand that a lot and I think that's all I can think of at the moment.
Matt: 26:38
Yeah. Well, was there any other last thoughts you wanted to put out there before we wrap it up?
Rita: 26:41
Well, the only thing I would say is I would just really welcome anyone's inquiry to feel free to call us or to look us up. Come in, you know, come for a class, you'll see the schedules. We have a website online that explains all the programs that are coming up. But you know, just for you know, chit chat, come over for a cup of tea. You know, we usually have some nice sweets that can go with that. We bake a lot of cookies downstairs. And if anyone else has any questions or would like to learn anything more about us, feel free to come or call.
Matt: 27:09
Great, yeah, I'll put some information in the show notes for people to check out.
Rita: 27:12
That's great.
Matt: 27:13
And, yeah, thanks for sitting down to share your thoughts and stories.
27:16
Yeah, wow, thank you so much.
Matt: 27:19
So that's it for my conversation with Rita. I'll put a link in the show note to the website for the center. If you like the podcast and you'd like to hear more conversations with people in Watertown, you can head on over to littlelocalconversations.com. You can find all the episodes there. You can subscribe to my weekly newsletter. And if you're a fan of the show, you can support the podcast by clicking on the support local conversation button.
Matt: 27:40
To wrap up, I want to give a few shout outs here. First one goes to podcast sponsor Arsenal Financial, which is a financial planning business that is owned by Doug Orifice, very committed community member here in Watertown. And Arsenal Financial helps busy families, small businesses, and people close to retirement. So if you are any of those and need some help, you can reach out to Doug and his team at arsenalfinancial.com. I also want to give a thank you to the Watertown Cultural Council, who have given me a grant this year to help support the podcast. I want to give them the appropriate credit, which is, this program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency, which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency. You can find out more about them at watertownculturalcouncil.org and massculturalcouncil.org.
Matt: 28:21
Lastly, I want to give a shout out to a couple of promotional partners. First, the Watertown Business Coalition, which is a non-profit organization here in Watertown that is bringing businesses and people together to help strengthen the community. They have a whole bunch of events open to the public. You want to come and check one out, you can find out more about them at watertownbusinesscoalition.com. Lastly, shout out to Watertown News, which, if you want to keep up to date with everything going on in Watertown, Watertown News is the best place. It's an online newspaper. You can check it out at watertownmanews.com. So that's it. Until next time, take care.
