The following is taken from "Sikhism and Tantric Yoga" by Dr. Trilochan Singh.

Yogi Bhajan's Adi Shakti Shaktimans And
Shaktis in the Light of Sikh Doctrines

I

Visit to Los Angeles Headquarters in 3HO

A few years ago a friend gave me two copies of Yogi Bhajan's official Journal, Beads of Truth. One of them, an earlier issue, contained the following note: "After more than a year with no name, the day of the Summer Solstice, June 21, 1970, Jules Buccier's garage was converted at 8802 Melrose, Los Angeles into an Ashram which was baptized 'Guru Ram Das Ashram.' Yogi Bhajan considers Guru Ram Das as his personal Guru. Yogi Bhajan married 15 couples in Santa Fe that afternoon." This ashram is now located at 1620 Preuss Road, Los Angeles.
The second copy of Beads of Truth contained a lovely picture of a teenage American girl, in Sikh dress, playing flute in front of the Taj Mahal in Agra. In the caption her name was given as Ramdas Kaur. It was this charming girl, now wife of an elderly attorney, Ram Das Singh, who came to escort me from the house of Dr Amarjit Singh Marwah. With her was a gentle quiet person, Harjiwan Singh, who drove the car while Ramdas Kaur, sitting with me in the back seat, started a lively discussion during the 40 minute drive. Even though I did not agree with many things which she repeated quite seriously exactly as she had been taught, I was greatly impressed by her sincerity, her genuine interest in Sikhism, and her passionate zeal for spiritual knowledge of Sikhism.
At the ashram I was greeted by Niranjan Kaur, Shakti Parwha and three male leaders, Ram Das Singh, Vikram Singh (who performs good Kirtan) and Baba Singh Richards. There were other young and deeply religious and devout girls, namely, Kiranjot Kaur, Sopurkh Kaur, Mahatma Kaur, Gurdarshan Kaur, Sat Siri Kaur and Sooriya Kaur who stood apart at some distance as second class hard-working underlings of the ashram. Throughout our talks they stood patiently, listened intently and waited anxiously to serve and only to serve. Apart from Shakti Parwha every young lady was bubbling with joy and sincere affection.
While Niranjan Kaur and Ramdas Kaur spoke with gracious humility and friendliness, and the three men sat maintaining the calm and silence of Buddha, Shakti Parwha posed and acted like an Egyptian Priestess talking to an alien visitor to her 3HO temple. Out of all the women folk there, this aging Priestess of the ashram alone had put on cosmetics, powder, cream and a little lipstick, while all others had natural radiance of the devout and meditative faces.
This was the second major ashram I had visited, the first one which I visited being the Ahimsa Ashram of 3H0 in Washington. There was one thing clear about the system and the managerial structure which Yogi Bhajan had set up. Some of the heads of bigger ashrams acted as mini-Yogi Bhajans; some more haughty and vain than he is and others gentler and saner than he. Some of these mini-Yogi Bhajans were talented businessmen, intellectuals and musicians, mostly Jews by birth and training. Added to these is a very talented and in many ways loyal, unthinking secretarial staff, called Siri Singh Sahib, Yogi Bhajan's Secretarial staff, namely Premka (formerly Pamela Levinson), Sat Simrin Kaur (Susan), Hari Har Kaur, Black Krishna with the most beautiful white soul, Niranjan Kaur with something Italian about her whom I have already mentioned. In their three or four hourly duty on His Holiness Yogi Bhajan, these talented girls who are supposed to remain unmarried, give charm and dignity to 3HO organizations, but I am constrained to think that Yogi Bhajan could have made much better use of them than keeping them busy massaging his feet and legs, and rubbing his hands and shoulders, and at best writing egomaniac letters and articles for his journals against his reasonable critics, and against those who refuse to accept his brand techniques.
According to published honorifics in the Beads of Truth, Yogi Bhajan is called the Spiritual Guide (Guru in Indian terminology) of the 3HO Cult while Shakti Parwha, who was first a waitress in a restaurant, and then a helper in Dr Judith M Tyberg's East-West Cultural Center, and through a process which will be described in a subsequent chapter, is now no less than the Spiritual Mother of 3HO Cult Followers. How many of the inmates of Yogi Bhajan's organization really consider her Spiritual. and adore her as Mother is questionable. The very mention of her name privately to the inmates of the ashram brings a broad meaningful smile on their faces, a smile that tries not to burst into laughter. What ceremony was actually performed when she along with Yogi Bhajan were installed as Spiritual Father and Mother of the 3HO Organization, I really do not know, and perhaps no one knows.
Throughout her talks with me Shakti Parwha tried to impose herself as my Spiritual Mother also. She perhaps did not know that one who has accepted Guru Gobind Singh as his spiritual Father and Mata Sahib Devi as his spiritual Mother cannot even think of paying any formal reverence to such cheap spiritual fathers and mothers. It is quite possible that Sikh leaders like Hukam Singh, Gurcharan Singh Taura, and Mohinder Singh, who have shown callous disregard of Sikh principles and doctrines, accepted her as their Spiritual Mother or even much more, but to expect the same senseless reactions from me was to expect too much. But I just wonder whether the Polish-born writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, living in India, had such an intimate knowledge of cult mothers, when she wrote her book How I Became a Holy Mother. While Shakti Parwha was talking about 3HO techniques and spiritual tricks about which I actually had considerable firsthand knowledge, the three men sat there listening without comment like dutiful school boys, as if they were not supposed to talk.
A few days earlier I had read the following note on Shakti Parwha's built-in divinity in the Beads of Truth, 1973: "The day following the end of Tantric, the period of silence was officially over. The day was spent for receiving Shakti Parwha (3HO spiritual Mother) as she was to arrive from Los Angeles Headquarters late that afternoon. Hundreds of Shaktis (3HO girls) dressed in their whitest clothes formed two lines to make a pathway for Shakti Parwha to pass through. At the front of her were all the Shaktis holding baskets of flowers. The stage was elaborately decorated with flowers, fluffy skins and a huge painted sign welcoming our Divine Mother." Beads of Truth and Sikh Dharma Brotherhood Journal of 3HO are full of such senseless praise and vain glorification of 3HO superman Yogi Bhajan, distinguished for his huge Mughal style diamond rings, and this Divine Mother, Shakti Parwha.
Said Shakti Parwha in a patronizing tone, "You are a scholar and religious man. You should have come straight to our place which is so very suitable for you. Why are you staying with those worldly Sikhs who are drunks, and undesirable and have nothing in common with your style of living?" I was taken aback with this question, but it clearly revealed the incurably haughty demeanor of the Divine Mother of 3HO. I answered the question with a counter question, saying, "When you great worthies of 3HO go to India you discreetly avoid saints, theologians, seers and scholars and always rush to Chandigarh to have a good time and seek publicity with our characterless ministers of a corrupt anti-Sikh government, every member of which is known to be a drunk and depraved as far as religious morality is concerned. Our elections have shown how much they are respected for their character by our people. You also seek receptions, specially arranged by your stooges in Delhi, from characterless Capitalists and the worst drunks of Chemsfard Club I have ever known in Delhi. May I know why? Besides, if you people claim to be the holiest of the holy, what have I to do with you? My place as a Writer and a very insignificant Sikh of Guru Nanak—Guru Gobind Singh is with the sinners, the down-trodden and the lowliest of the low, to know their problems and help them as best as I can. I am happy with them and would like to stay with them." Shakti Parwha graciously smiled and then said to me very proudly, "Yogi Bhajan, the only Maha Tantric living in the world, has given us a technique of meditation," which she presumed was unknown to Yogis as well as Sikhs, and was secretly revealed only to the inmates of 3HO ashrams. She suggested that I should also learn it, and thereby she wanted to recruit me as Yogi Bhajan's and her spiritual son, a 3HO Shaktiman. I did not oblige her. I told her that I have spent a lifetime with very eminent saints and mystics, and have learnt and practiced all techniques as best as I could in my 25 years of close association with them. "Sikhism," I said, "was one great Path [gadi-rah: well channelized path) on which Kirtan (singing divine songs), recitation of scriptures, simrin (contemplation), service, charity, scholarship, all work equally well. No one path, no one technique is exclusively supreme. The techniques of inner contemplation are intuitively revealed by the grace of God to those who sincerely move on as sincere pilgrims. Saints and mystics guide people according to their intellectual and spiritual ability, stage by stage. They do not make a mechanical display of techniques as is done in 3HO."
Thus for all the two hours I was in the ashram, besides showing me some well-furnished empty rooms, Shakti Parwha, the spiritual Mother of 3HO, tried to pour down my throat her Master's technique of vibrating my Pituitary glands and Pineal glands, which according to their stupid and rattleheaded Kundalini theories is Dasam Duar (Tenth Seat of Consciousness mentioned in Sikh Scriptures), but my glands controlling my patience were no doubt seriously disturbed. Fortunately for me, lunch was announced.
It is only at lunch I found an opportunity to talk to the underlings who work and sweat for the ashram for long hours during the day and night, leaving them so exhausted and empty-headed that the only thing that their sleepy minds are left to receive after 3 or 4 hours of sleep are the Oracular commands of their Maha Tantric Master or Mini Masters called the Heads of ashrams. They are supposed to listen but they cannot question either the Maha Tantric or the Mini-Masters. They must believe and act.

Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh's Life and Writings

Almost everyone in the ashram had read most of my book but they had a passionate liking for my Guru Tegh Bahadur's Biography and Autobiography of Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh. I was told by some American Sikhs earlier that the day Bhai Randhir Singh's Autobiography appeared in the ashrams it caught the imagination of the American readers like wildfire and everyone was eager to read it during their spare time. At lunch Vikram Singh, who can perform Kirtan beautifully, suggested that I should translate more books of Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh and also write the lives of other eminent Sikh saints like Sant Attar Singh. He particularly asked me to translate Rangle Sajjan of Bhai Randhir Singh. I am however translating Anhad Shabad and Dasam Duar, a classic on Sikh mysticism by Bhai Randhir Singh. This clearly indicated that American Sikhs who have caught the spirit of Sikhism care little for Tantric Yoga. They have a genuine interest in Sikhism, its social and spiritual traditions. There may be others who are interested only in Yoga as a profession; and yet some others who have found some financial security in the organization may be interested only in the commercial side of the adventure. They were however eager to have better and better translations of Gurbani. The existing translations of Guru Granth disappointed them very much. They now know S.G.P.C. to be a good for nothing organization which had not produced even twenty-page pamphlets on the Founders of the Golden Temple out of their 3 crore budget, but have become experts on the art of wasting it and draining it in irreligious pursuits. No girl and no gentleman in the ashram showed the slightest interest in Yogi Bhajan's Kundalini Yoga, and some even whispered that they detested it. Some young people in the ashram wanted to ask some serious questions on Sikh mysticism and history, but I was hustled out for a visit to a restaurant and small Brass factory manufacturing beds. It has been the experience of many visitors earlier that whoever visits 3HO is not free to hold any informal discussions with anyone, but is made to feel that he must move about and talk as he is asked to do or quit. That is what the three leaders Hukam Singh, Gurcharan Singh Taura and Mahinder Singh (S.G.P.C. Office bearers) did.
Just before leaving the ashram I took the liberty to examine some paintings. The paintings of the Gurus were excellent. There is one particular picture of Yogi Bhajan, the importance of which in 3HO theology will be discussed in the next chapter. There was one charming picture of Bibi Inderjeet Kaur, wife of Yogi Bhajan, in which she looked as gloomy and unhappy as she is in real life of 3HO fairyland, where everyone should have white dress and white turban, except she. But there were two pictures that were disturbing and threw considerable light on the perverse Tantric doctrines of Yogi Bhajan. One was a painting of Chandi (Ambica) called Adi Shakti. Shakti Parwha explained Adi Shakti as supreme Being and when she was telling me this, she was making a false statement. The official 3HO interpretation of Adi Shakti is given in numerous articles published in Beads of Truth, which we shall be quoting.
The other picture was the Khalsa symbol Khanda with two swords around it. The Khanda (double-edged sword) within this symbol was replaced by a picture of an American woman with Sari-like robes. The woman is called Adi Shakti. I saw this published in the Beads of Truth in London and have already commented on it in my book, The Turban and the Sword of the Sikhs. I told Shakti Parwha that this is the most sacrilegious misrepresentation of our sacred symbol. As usual she dismissed my opinion as unimportant.1

III

Shiva Shakti Concepts in Sikhism

Before I comment on Yogi Bhajan's concept of Adi Shakti and his Sex Tantric interpretation of Shaktiman and Shakti, I would briefly like to explain what Shiva and Shakti mean in authentic Indian tradition and what Shiva Shakti mean in Sikh theology and mysticism. I wrote a paper for Punjabi University on the subject from which I will quote extensively.
Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) writes, "All that is manifest is Power" (Shakti). Power implies a Power Holder (Shaktiman). There is no Power Holder without Power, or Power without Power Holder. The Power Holder is Shiva. Power is Shakti, the Great Mother (Maya) of the Universe. There is no Shiva without Shakti or Shakti without Shiva. The two as they are are one in themselves. In theology this Pure Consciousness is Shiva, and His Power (Shakti) who as She is in Her Formless Self is one with Him. She is the great Devi, the Mother of the Universe who as the Life-Force resides in man's body in its lowest center at the base of the spine just as Shiva is realized in the highest brain center."2 Yogi Bhajan according to his Tantric teachings calls the male members of his ashram Shaktimans and the female members Shaktis, because he appears to be incapable of thinking above the physical plane like all materialist Tantrics.
In one school of Hinduism the worship of Shiva and Shakti has been carried to the highest of worship of Shiva as God and Shakti as divine Mother (Durga, Uma, Ambica) and by the other school to the most degrading concepts and practices of the Shaktas (the Tantrics). In Sikhism they have distinct and well-defined meaning. They correspond to the metaphysical concepts of purusha and prakriti of Samkhya. In the Hindu Bhakti schools Shiva and Shakti have become Rama and Sita, Krishna and Radha, Narayana and Lakshmi. Shiva is the universal Male and Shakti is the universal Female. The fertile mind of Hindu linguistic punditary has actually coined 1008 names for Shiva and Shakti each.
In what is known as the realistic schools of Hinduism, Shakti "whose slender waist, bending beneath the burden of the ripe fruit of her breasts, swells into jeweled hips, heavy with the promise of infinite maternities," is represented by the female principle yoni (female organ) and Shiva by the male principle semen or phallus, Thus in Hindu eroticism, Shiva Shakti are two polar principles revolving around sex. The Vamacaris expect to attain identification with Shiva and Shakti through ritual indulgence in wine and sexual union. The Kutarnava Tantra (VIII 107) even insists that "union with God can be attained only through sexual union." The Guhyasamaja Tantra says, "No one can succeed in attaining perfection by employing difficult vexing operations but perfection can be gained by satisfying all of one's desires." The Sikh Gurus condemned these Tantrics as atheists, epicureans and called them Shaktas, the perverts. Plato wanted these people to be kept in prison for life. (Laws Bk X).
In Sikhism, Shiva symbolized divine Intelligence, Wisdom, pure consciousness within the limits of three modes of existence and this side of the Transcendent State, while Shakti is the cosmic energy manifest as sensuous power at the human plane. On the pure physical and mental plane Shakti is delusion, darkness, and ignorance. Guru Arjan says:
A Sikh ever recites Gurbani (Guru's Hymns), He imbibes the Spirit of God in his heart; The Eternal Light has illumined my inner being (Shiva) And Shakti: the doubts, delusion and darkness is dispelled.
Adi Granth, Guru Arjan, p 1238
Listen O Yogi, he who has not performed any yogic feats,
nor done any acts of formal purity and piety, nor wears
any rosary, he receives from the True Enlightener
the Eternal Light— Shiv- Jyoti, when in his ears
he receives the spiritual awakening through divine Name
as mantra.
Adi Granth, Guru Nanak, Prabhati
Thou hast created both ends of human existence O Lord,
Shiva and Shakti pervades in between, Shakti, darkness and delusion suffers defeat
against Shiva Light Such is the Will of God.
Adi Granth, Maru 1096

Shiva has eliminated Shakti And darkness has been dispelled.
Adi Granth, Nanak, Gaudi p 163
God Himself created Shiva and Shakti,
And operated them through His Will.
The Hindus adore Shiva and Shakti as gods and goddesses, and seek in them various types of religious and emotional worship. Sikhism totally rejects this concept of Shiva and Shakti. In Sikhism Shakti is delusion, and darkness of the lower senses, while Shiva is divine Wisdom and illumined Spirit, this side of the Transcendent State. Bhai Gurdas says, "It is from the confluence of Shiva Shakti that Nature was Created by God." (Var 2, 19) "Only when the seeker goes beyond the Shiva-Shakti consciousness of inner exaltation can a Gurmukh (Enlightened one) reach the Unity of mental concentration on the One Supreme Being in transcendent state." (Var 6, 6) Thus in Sikhism a man must go beyond Shakti and Shiva consciousness. Shiva and Shakti consciousness keeps a man within the three modes of existence, tamas, rajas, and sattva; while the aim of life in Sikh mysticism is to reach the turiya, the Fourth State.

IV

Yogi Bhajan's Concept of Shakti and Shaktiman

We have studied Arthur Avalon's concept of Shakti and Shaktiman as Being and Consciousness, as Power and Power Holder. We have also studied the Sikh conception of Shakti and Shiva. Here is what Yogi Bhajan says about his concept of Shakti and Shaktiman in Beads of Truth, Summer 1972: "A man regardless of how great he be, if he is impotent, he will be beaten by a woman, an in and out business. That will only bring you failure, pain and frustration. Whenever you have to think about a woman, think about her 72 hours earlier than you need her. She must be raised to the optimum point. Man represents the sun, and woman is the reflection of the sun, the moon. She does not shine without the sun's light. The Shakti (woman) must be breathing through her left nostril and the Shaktiman (man) through the right. When union takes place under these circumstances and the vibratory effect of the environment is calm and quiet, in that constancy the awareness happens and man can be with God.
"When your sun aura merges with a woman of a negative moon aura, and she does it only because she feels she has to, she will suck out all your psychic energy. A man must wear underwear at all times. Even it is important when bathing, because the hot and cold water affects the testicles, and they should have support at this time. The contraction and expansion, the movement there, is very important. With your nostrils breathing, you will find the movement underneath happening too. They are interconnected. Some times the mental mind is clogged up. No physical co-habitation may take place if the environment is not secure; there is no perfect peace and you have no actually absolute success of love play. The three roots, garlic, ginger and onion, will maintain you through the time and through the age. Turmeric should also be included in your diet. When you have completed the union the man should take a warm drink of milk, honey, ginger and sesame seeds. No cold drink or a shower should be taken at least for an hour." (Yogi Bhajan: Beads of Truth, Hints to Shaktimans p 34)
For Yogi Bhajan Shaktiman is the man who is his camp follower and Shakti is the woman of 3HO. They can acquire ecstasy, awareness, calm, peace and be with God if they indulge in sexual intercourse exactly in the manner prescribed by the Maha Tantric and take the necessary recipes, starting of course 72 hours earlier. Hukam Singh, Gurcharan Singh Taura, and Mahinder Singh also visited a similar Summer Solstice a year or two later. I wonder if they tried these recipes and this thrilling short-cut to ecstasy and God. We shall be quoting more of these Kundalini techniques of achieving ecstasy and God in the next chapter.

V

Yogi Bhajan's Concept of Adi Shakti

When a Sikh comes to 3HO Ashram, Los Angeles, he is told that the Durga picture or even Adi Shakti as they conceive it is another name of God. They use it in their English translation of Ardasa (congregational prayer). (See Peace Lagoon p 219) The Ardasa begins: "After first worshiping the Adi Shakti, the Primal Power ..." I have already mentioned that in the Ashram hall there is a picture of Chandi which is called Adi Shakti, and even the Khanda, the double edged sword has been replaced in another picture, which was also printed on the title page of Beads of Truth, Winter Solstice 1973, by a woman's picture called Bhagvati, or Shakti. The Sikh visitors are told that a drug addict Mexican artist drew it as symbol of Adi Shakti and they are not worshiping it. But the American followers of Yogi Bhajan are asked to worship it in a particular way and for a particular purpose. This duplicity of giving one explanation to the Sikhs and another to his American followers who are told that the Indian Sikhs are all fallen Sikhs not worth their association is practiced in many spheres of their activities.
In Beads of Truth, January 1972, page 20, is printed the picture of Chandi riding a tiger, and the caption is Adi Shakti. We are giving the exact reprint of the picture. (See Figure 1 ) Alongside this picture is given the interpretation as follows:
Adi Shakti
Adi Shakti is the Mother Energy of the Universe. Adi means first and Shakti means Energy. Shakti is represented as a woman for it is from woman that we are born and it is from this Energy that the Universe is born. She has eight arms, four to bless, and four to take care of us. The Chakra is symbolic of the flow of energy, the conch shell is the infinite sound current, the lotus is sweetness, and the palm is peace. The trident is the trinity of the Creator (Generator, Organizer and Destroyer), the bow and arrow is one pointedness, the sword is Truth, and the hammer is discipline. The Maha Shakti mantra praises these 8 qualities of the great Shakti:
Gobinday, Mukanday, Udaray, Aparay Har-ing, Kar-ing, Nirnamai, Akamai
Beads of Truth Jan 1972, p 20
See Figure 2

VI

Sacrilegious Misuse of Verse 94 and 95 of the
Jap of Guru Gobind Singh in Praise of Goddess Chandi

It is clear from the aforementioned quotations and pictures from Yogi Bhajan's Beads of Truth that:

1) Adi Shakti to him and his followers means Chandi whose picture is worshiped in the ashram and is placed side by side with those of the Sikh Gurus.
2) This Devi is praised and glorified with what Yogi Bhajan calls the Maha Shakti or Maha Tantra Ashtang mantra.
3) This Ashtang mantra or Maha Shakti mantra is nothing but verse 94 and 95 of Guru Gobind Singh's Jap which were written by Guru Gobind Singh in praise of the Supreme Being and not in praise of Chandi as alleged by Yogi Bhajan and taught to his American followers as Chandi mantra. These verses are:

Gobinde, Mukande;
Udare, Apare
Lord God, Liberator
Merciful, Infinite.
Hari-am, Kari-am
Nir-Name, A-Kame.
Destroyer, Creator,
Nameless, Desireless
Guru Gobind Singh Jap 94, 95

Yogi Bhajan and his followers as taught by him, unashamedly use these verses as Ashtang Mantra to glorify Chandi, which is an insult to Guru Gobind Singh, and his morning prayer, which is also one of the prayers used in baptism ceremony. In the first verse of Jap Sahib Guru Gobind Singh is very clear that the whole of Jap is in praise of the Almighty and infinite God and a refutation of any belief in gods and goddesses:

Marks and symbols, caste and class, Or lineage God hath none;
His form and hue, shape and garb
Cannot be described by anyone.
Immovable is His Being.
Self luminous, He shines in His splendor,
Limitless is His Power.
He is the King of kings, the Lordly Indra
Of countless Indras; the supreme Sovereign
Of the three worlds of gods, men and demons;
Nay, even the grass blades of the woodland
Say, "He is Infinite, He is Infinite."
O Lord, who can count Thy names?
Thy Names relating Thy deeds I will state,
Through Thy wisdom and grace.
Guru Gobind Singh, Jap 1
Guru Gobind Singh clearly states that he is relating the Names of the Infinite and Supreme Being, and Yogi Bhajan has arbitrarily picked up verses 94 and 95 out of this composition of 199 verses and presented them as Ashtang Mantra or Maha Shakti Mantra in praise of goddess Chandi. The fact that Yogi Bhajan can be unscrupulous enough to do such a thing is no surprise to me, but what surprises me is that the Jathedar of Akal Takhat, and the S.G.P.C. Executive have been misled by the Hukam Singh—Gurcharan Singh Taura— Mahinder Singh clique to give, as it is alleged by him, the title of Siri Singh Sahib to Yogi Bhajan about which we have to say much more in subsequent chapters.

VII

Sacrilegious Distortion of the Khalsa Insignia: Khanda

We give below a picture of the Khalsa Insignia and its interpretation as accepted by Sikh history and tradition: (Figure 3)


"In the center of this Insignia of the Khalsa is the Two-Edged Sword which symbolizes the Creative Power of God which controls the destiny of the whole universe. It is the Sovereign Power over life and death. One edge of the Sword symbolizes divine Justice, which chastises and punishes the wicked oppressors; the other edge symbolizes Freedom, and Authority governed by moral and spiritual values. On the outside of the Two-Edged Sword we can see two swords:

1) On the left is the Sword of Spiritual Sovereignty (Piri);
2) On the right is the Sword of Political Sovereignty. There must always be a balance between the two, and this balance is emphasized by a circle inside. This circle is what is called a Chakra. The Chakra is a symbol of all embracing Divine Manifestation, including everything and wanting nothing, without beginning or end neither first nor last, timeless Absolute. It is the symbol of oneness, of Unity of Justice, Humanity and Immortality. Almost all Sikh warriors used to wear it in the eighteenth century. It is still worn by Sikh soldiers of the Sikh Regiment in the Indian army. The Chakra which was worn by the great martyr Baba Dip Singh (d 1757 A.D.) is still preserved in the sanctum sanctorium of the Akal Takhat. On it is inscribed the Mul Mantra (the Proem of Sikh Scriptures) and that is what it symbolizes."3
In Figure 4 the reader can see Yogi Bhajan's version of the Khalsa Insignia. This was printed by him in Beads of Truth, Winter Solstice 1973, both on the Title page and page 5. The Double-Edged Sword of the Khalsa Insignia has been replaced by a picture of a beautiful American woman wearing Indian Sari and robes. Yogi Bhajan's obsession with women is singular. He wishes to impose sex and women even where it is a sacrilegious act to do so. This is a typical instance. This picture also takes a place of pride in the 3HO ashram. He calls it the Jantra of his goddess Bhagvati, Chandi. He says on page 5 of this issue, "Her Jantra (defined in the footnote as mandala or the picture representing the mantra) is the two sources of God protracting you. The center of the world, it rolls on a two-edged sword of the being, the meditation and positivity. Bhagvati, the Shakti, All Shaktis, the Infinity. And every mantra must have a Jantra and this is her Jantra, that is her being, these are her feathers." The Editors in the footnote on page 5 make it clear that these are for them the inspired words of Yogi Bhajan. Yogi's speech is given alongside, in which he says, "I am told, 75,000 people in Los Angeles alone, you know who do not know how to relate to a woman, period. And there are an equal number of women who do not know how to relate to a man. I have great sympathy for perversion. When somebody hates woman, I know, it is the total solid mountain of frustration. When one hates to relate, then he becomes totally angry and he cannot relate." (Beads of Truth, Winter 1973, p 5)
For Yogi Bhajan the Khalsa Symbol is now a Juntra of his goddess Bhagvati, that is Chandi. And he unashamedly connects it with women and sex, with lust and perversion. These Maha Tantric and perverted interpretations and distortions of the Khalsa Symbols may suit Yogi Bhajan's dollar-catching postures, but it is the worst and most shameful contamination of the ideals and principles of Guru Gobind Singh. This Tantric cult adopted as a bait to American craze for the miraculous and the sensational is the antithesis of Sikhism and condemned throughout the Sikh scriptures as Sakata Mat (Creed of the Shakti Cult). Sikhs are asked by the Gurus in Adi Granth not to associate with such people and to run away from the very evil sight of people who think and act like that. It is a standing shame to the whole Sikh community that all this Tantric nonsense is being poured down the throat of innocent American seekers of Truth in the name of Sikhism, and this is being done by him after assuming the titles of Siri Singh Sahib and unacknowledged authority over the Sikhs in the Western Hemisphere.
In this very issue of Beads of Truth, one also finds flattering pictures of Sant Gurmukh Singh, Sardar Inderjeet Singh (Chairman: Punjab Sindh Bank) and that incurably corrupt Secretary of S.G.P.C, Mahinder Singh. I can imagine Mahinder Singh and his S.G.P.C. bosses, who do not know a word of English, accepting everything they are shown and given in print, and blindly compromising and overlooking all the un-Sikhlike Shakti-Cult Tantra practices, but I find it hard to believe that Sardar Inderjeet Singh, and Sant Gurmukh Singh should rally behind these people and their anti-Sikh practices.

Conclusion

My visit to 3HO headquarters, even though a guided tour, revealed (1) that the inner working of Yogi Bhajan's multi-faced Organization has as its core, Durga (Adi Shakti worship); (2) it has its own Shakti and Shaktiman theories which are revealed in the light of Sikhism; (3) Yogi Bhajan has made sacrilegious use of hymns of Guru Gobind Singh's Jap; and (4) he has given a sacrilegious interpretation of the Khalsa Insignia, the Khanda. All these errors are revealed in the light of factual truth about them in Sikh theology and mysticism.

NOTES

1. Shakti Parwha, Ramdas Kaur, Niranjan Kaur took me to their Brass factory manufacturing beds and their Restaurant where I took tea and a delicious strawberry pastry prepared by a Japanese girl who had started working that day. And then all three ladies took me to Dr Amarjit Singh Marwah's clinic where Ms Theda Parmer was waiting for me.
3. Trilochan Singh, Turban and Sword of the Sikhs, Chap 6.