Yogi Bhajan's Clap Trap Theories of Kundalini Yoga

by Gursant Singh , Yuba City California USA, Wednesday, April 28, 2010, 08:07 (5328 days ago)
edited by Gursant Singh, Friday, May 07, 2010, 20:23

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

Yogi Bhajan's Clap Trap Theories of
Kundalini Yoga in the Light of Sikhism

In their article, "The Secret Science of Yoga" (Beads, 29, 30), the theorists of 3HO say on page 37 that the steps enunciated by Patanjali "are clearly necessary ones to be achieved in order to reach a state of enlightened consciousness." And they further make a fantastic statement, "the Sikh Dharma has come about because our Gurus were the greatest Yogis." And then the writers try to prove by misquoting and misinterpreting that the Raja Yoga which they also call their own brand of Kundalini and Tantric Yoga is the one which is alluded to wherever the word Raj Yoga is found in Sikh scriptures. These writers and other 3HO exponents of the same subject deliberately misquote and misinterpret passages from Sikh scriptures. In the absurdest of their absurd mystical theories they say that Pineal glands and the Pituitary glands are the seats of tenth consciousness (Dasam Duar), and the Tantric-Sex Yoga they preach and practice are sanctioned by Sikhism. The author will decisively prove in this chapter (1) that Sikhism rejects Patanjali's 8 steps of Yoga (ashtang) and has its own distinct eightfold path, very much as Buddha had his own. The difference is in meditation technique and ethical and spiritual outlook; (2) that in Sikhism the Tenth Seat of Consciousness also known as the Turiya (Fourth State or Param pada the Supreme State) has no such physiological basis as Pineal glands or Pituitary glands; (3) that Tantric doctrines involving sex-poses or physical contact poses are extremely repulsive to Sikhism. The Sikh Gurus repeatedly ask the Sikhs to shun Tantric practices because they are based on a mentally perverted outlook of life. The Sikh Gurus ask the Sikhs to shun the very presence and association of Shakti-Cult Tantrics.
The eight steps given by Patanjali for his Yoga are: (1) Yama, restraint; (2) Niyama, discipline; (3) Asanas, bodily postures and attitude; (4) Pranayama, Control of breath through rhythm of respiration in three stages: inhalation {puraka), exhalation (recaka), and retention of the inhaled air (kumbhaka), each filling an equal space of time; (5) pratyahara, emancipation of sensory activity from the domination of exterior objects; (6) Dharma, concentration; (7) dhyana, yogic meditation; (8) samadhi, ecstasy. Vyasa gives a fine commentary, and on the subject of restraints he details the ethical code as ahimsa, non-violence, satya, not to lie, brahmacharya, sexual abstinence, and aparigraha, not to be avaricious. We shall now give the Sikh view of these eight Yogic steps. Sikhism rejects them as such.

II

Eight Steps of Sikh Mystical Path

Bhai Gurdas, the Father of Sikh Philosophy, has recorded the names of some prominent disciples of the first six Gurus, giving some outstanding quality of each of his work, The Vars: 11. Bhai Mani Singh, a theologian and martyr who led the Sikh community with rare wisdom and spirit of sacrifice, has written short biographies of all these contemporary saints, giving the original sermons of the Guru which were related to him by the tenth Guru. The book is called Sikhan di Bhagat Mai. It is a historical and theological work of great importance.
Ajita Randhava, a prominent disciple of Guru Nanak, asked the Guru his opinion about the eight steps of Yoga.

Rejecting Patanjali's eight steps of Yoga for acquiring knowledge of the Self, Guru Nanak recommended the following alternatives for those eight stages:
5) Yama (restraint): keep the mind humble, and never be proud of any quality or virtue of your own.
6) Nyama (discipline):to go to the Sikh Congregations and listen to interpretations of Sikh scriptures and Kirtan (hymn singing). If one can read, he should read religious books regularly or listen to readings from inspirational books every day.
7) Asanas (bodily postures for meditation): concentrate on the Presence of God with a single-pointed attention. (Sitting in any position when ekagarta single-minded concentration is achieved, that is the best asana.)
8) Pranayama (controlling breath)

9) Purak (inhaling): to imbibe the inspired Word of the
Guru and fill the mind and heart with its spirit.
10) Kumbhak (retention of breath): always keep the Spirit of the Word of the Guru in your heart and soul and never forget it.
(hi) Rechak (exhaling): to discard and eliminate all low desires which the Guru wishes the disciple to discard.
11) Pratyahara (to prevent and emancipate the mind from dissipating and remaining stable in meditation): to intuitively know and visualize the divine Presence of God.
12) Dharma (concentration, ekagarta): If the mind wavers or wanders away into sense passions, the seeker should make a determined effort to bring it back to the meditation of the divine Name.
13) Dhyana (meditation): when one reads or listens to Gurbani (the sacred writings of the Guru) his mind should be absorbed in its meaning and Spirit. This is dhyana and it should be fixed in the thought and spiritual content of the sacred Word. He should not allow any other thought to disturb his mind.
14) Samadhi (ecstasy): to be absorbed in the music and spirit of the Name of God or the Hymns of His Praise is samadhi. A man may start disciplining his mind in such a samadhi first for a short time, then for a few hours, and then increase it through daily discipline (abhayasa). There are two types of samadhi:

(a) Savikalp Samadhi (ecstasy within the realm of consciousness): to be absorbed in the meaning and philosophical and mystical contents of the Divine Word is Savikalp a samadhi. (b) Nirvikalpa Samadhi (ecstasy of the Transcendent vision of God): to be absorbed in the Spirit and Essence of the Divine Word is Nirvikalpa samadhi. Thus Guru Nanak clearly rejects the eight steps of spiritual progress as enunciated by Patanjali and replaces them with ethical and spiritual discipline of his own. The Sikh scriptures also clearly reject asanas (physical postures), pranayama (breath control), nauU-dhautz (cleaning the intestine with a piece of cloth inserted in the mouth and taken out through the anus). Those followers of Yogi Bhajan who frequently quote him as saying that the Scriptures of the Sikhs sanction all these Yoga practices, voice only his glaring ignorance of Sikh scriptures. I have not known any saint or seer in contemporary or past Sikh history who ever practiced these Yoga asanas. But all saints and all scholars have firmly called these and more so Tantric practices as directly opposed to Sikh doctrines. The following quotations, from Adi Granth make it clear that there is no place for Yoga practices in Sikhism:
If a man learns all yogic asanas of perfect adepts, If he controls and subdues his senses through such feats;
Even then impurity and dirt of his mind cannot be removed.
The filth of egoism will not depart from the heart. The human mind cannot be cleaned and made pure, By any yogic discipline and restraint. It can be made pure and controlled only by seeking, Through love the sanctuary of the true Enlightener.
Adi Granth, Guru Amar Das, Vadhans p 558
For me the only asana (posture) worthwhile is to fix steadfastly the mind on the Vision of God and let the heart and soul be absorbed in such a spiritual condition of transcendent revelation as to continuously reflect on His Presence and listen to the enchanting melody of Unstruck Music (Anhad Shabad)

I have learnt the technique of true Yoga from the divine Guru. The True Guru has revealed this technique with the Light of the divine Word. Within my body He has revealed the Light that pervades all the regions of the earth. To this Light within me I bow and salute every moment. The initiation of the Guru are my Yogic rings and I fix my mind steadfastly on the One Absolute God.i,

A. G. Guru Arjan, Gaudi, p 208

If one does the nauli dhauti karma (of cleaning the intestine with a piece of cloth), and becomes adept in eighty-four asanas, and yogic exercises, he cannot attain any peace of mind by these yogic techniques. Let him do such Japa or Tapa through such techniques for years and years and wander about in search of perfection, he will not attain genuine inner peace even for a moment.
A. G. Guru Arjan, Majh, p 98

Let one practice nauli and dhauti and all the elaborate yogic feats associated with it; let one make an offering of incense and light lamps before the Deity. None of these yogic feats and formal acts of worship match with devotional contemplation of the Name of God.
A. G. Guru Arjan, Sarang, p 1229

The Sidha Yogis perform their sadhana (yogic feats)
With all their efforts, symbols and techniques;
With such methods and formal garbs of holiness,
One cannot attain the Yoga of God's Vision.
It is only attained through companionship of the saints,
And the teachings of the true Guru.
The Guru's Wisdom unveils the Light within us.
A. G. Guru Ram Das, Kanada, p 1297

In the Dasm Granth, Guru Gobind Singh says,

The, Yogis do countless asanas, and practice Yoga according to the eight stages of the text; they bend this way and bow that way hoping to know the Divine; they merely blacken their face with the ignorance of true divine Knowledge. Without inwardly worshiping and contemplating God, they go at last empty-handed to the grave.
Guru Gobind Singh, Akal Ustat 252

To a Yogi typical of the present day yogis marketing their goods in the U.S.A., Guru Gobind Singh says:
Listen O Yogi, you have acted like a hypocrite and after a misleading display of being a Yogi you have plundered innocent people. You pretend to have renounced worldly wealth (maya) but maya (worldly wealth) has not abandoned you.
Guru Gobind Singh D. G. Shabad
In contrast to Patanjali's Yoga, and other schools of Hindu Yoga (Hatha, Tantric, Laya, Kundalini, etc.) the Sikh Gurus call Sikh mystic path, Brahm Yoga (the Yoga which does not use any yogic technique but concentrates on God and achieves Him through devotion and contemplation). It is also called Gurmukh Yoga (Yoga of the Enlightened), Sahajya Yoga (Natural Yoga based on spontaneous devotion and contemplation). The word Yoga is used just to mean union with God. All the so-called techniques of ashtang Yoga are considered unnecessary and a waste of time and energy. Even physical health can be maintained by other exercises in a much better way than by Yoga. The Sikhs have proved it by being the best sportsmen in India and by being men with the best physique in their country without ever resorting to Yoga asanas or practices. I have never seen any Sikh sportsman or Army man doing any Yoga for his physical fitness and achieving excellence in sports.

III

Classical Doctrines of Tantra and Kundalini

In the centuries-old Yoga traditions and movement in India, emerging even from the pre-Aryan period, there emerged what may be called an 'anti-ascetic' and anti-speculative school which got involved in the hedonistic emotional sex involvements which ranged from aesthetic poetic sublimation of sex-desires and love to the most degrading sex-orgies under the name of Tantric Yoga. Sex Energy became identified with all the spiritual energy, and sex organs, both male and female became objects of worship and symbols of Deity. Historically it reached its lowest depths just before the Muslim invasion of India, when the Hindu-Buddhist India became so decadent and morally weak that a handful of Muslim invaders struck terror in the whole vast continent. It is in this context Guru Nanak even calls Babar's invasion five centuries later the Scourge of God who came with Yama, the Devil's hordes, as his armies.
There was a school of Tantra which took the easy road expecting identification with Shiva and Shakti through ritual indulgence in meeting of opposite sexes first by looking into each other's eyes, and then touching each other on various parts of their body, and ending up with closed door sexual union. Some of these ritualistic and real exercises are performed in the open, while others within secret recesses of the ashrams. The Tantric Text, Kularnava (VIII, 107 ff) insists that union with God can be obtained only through sexual union. The famous Guhasamaja Tantra affirms, "No one succeeds in attaining perfection by employing difficult and vexing operations, but perfection can be gained by satisfying all one's desires." The same text adds that a Tantrist may kill any kind of animal, may steal, commit adultery, etc.1
"Tantra teaches that the Kundalini Shakti can also be unraveled by the practice of asanas, the sexo-yogic disciplines. One must rise by that by which one falls. Those very aspects of human nature which bind us can be stepping stones to liberation. In the act of asana a man and a woman unite, and its fulfillment lies in the realization of one's potential with the experience of joy. During sexual union the adepts withdrew their minds from their environments. The mind aspires to be free."2
"Tantra asana demonstrates the way by which sexual energy can be harnessed for spiritual fulfillment. It teaches us to explore our senses rather than subdue them. The Tantras are unique in the sense of being a synthesis of the opposing dimensions, bhoga (enjoyment) and yoga (liberation). Our hedonistic urges based on the pleasure principle can be transformed for a spiritual experience. To involve oneself in gross pleasures, therefore, can itself be regarded as an act of spirituality." A very dynamic role is played by the female aspirant in the practice of Tantra asana. Potentially she embraces within her all the positive attributes with which Shakti is endowed. She is in flesh and blood, the goddess.
Thus in the Tantra ritual, woman is the reflection of the female principle, becomes the object of worship. She is symbolically transformed into a goddess through the rituals as in Kumari Puja (virgin worship) or Shakti Upasana (female worship). The aim of all asanas in the Tantric Yoga is to transcend normal human conditions through gross sexual energy of man and woman. The desire for mental and spiritual union is expressed on a biological level. The Tantrics believe that the intensity of joy derived from sexual gratification whether it is dissipated in a gross form or revitalized in a subtle form for a spiritual pursuit, differs only in a degree. "The ritual and asanas are performed with a partner who is considered the reflection of Shakti, and unless the adept has the attitude of complete surrender to the object of his worship, in this case the female participant who plays the role of divine energy, the practice cannot be successful. The divine woman epitomizes the entire nature of femaleness, the essence of all shaktis in their various aspects. She becomes a perennial source of joy. From whatever station of society she comes she must bear certain auspicious signs in appearance and physical condition in order to be an ideal participant. She must be in good health, have lotus eyes, full breasts, soft skin, slender waist, swelled into jeweled hips." (Lalaita Vis tar)3
Then the asanas (postures) go through stages of body worship, yoni (vagina) worship, and then Shakti (the woman partner involved in asanas) places her hands on the Sadhaka's (male partner's) head and recites:
Get up
Wake up,
Be strong.
And then she continues, "Now I am giving you the command to immerse yourself within me . . . enjoy yourself now with the full bliss within me. I am your shakti and you are mine. According to the command of my Kaula Avadhuta, I as Visva Yoni (Universal female organ) am asking you to implant your cosmic linga (male organ) in my field. My Satguru is here to protect you from your negative desires. You are Shiva in the form of my Satguru, and I am nothing but shakti. May my divine self bless you and lead you to the eternal joy of bliss."4 Sadhika (male partner) is now god Shiva worshiping his female partner as goddess with flowers and he holds her embracing, kissing, touching, sucking, penetrating and uttering the mantra. In the initial stages of Sadhana if the aspirant cannot prolong the union, they may change the asana positions. The period of retention of energy may also be gradually increased. Sometime herbal preparations are taken only to increase its duration. (We shall record subsequently the herbal preparations recommended by Yogi Bhajan.) The Tantrics generally utter Shiva mantras while indulging in these sex asanas. We shall note that Yogi Bhajan recommends Sikh mantras like Satnama for the occasion, and that is what makes his Tantric Yoga, Sikh, according to him.
The medieval mystics believed the heart to be the seat of divine knowledge and experience. They also believed that the head was the highest seat of spiritual consciousness, and the lower tip of the spine the lowest point involving lower passions of sex. Mystics who have achieved some measure of illumination also talk of the Flame within the inner Being. Leadbeater, the Theosophist leader who was not favorably inclined towards Yoga, in his The Inner Life (p 443-478) calls it the "Serpent Fire" which enhances the mental vision. The early Indian mystics call it the Coiled Serpent (Kundalini, or Bhujangi which in Sanskrit means serpent). In the Sikh scriptures it is referred to as Bhujangam and only once as Kundalini. It is also identified in Indian literature as Cosmic energy in the body. "Kundalini is the static form of the Creative Energy in bodies which is the source of all energies including Prana." "The mere rousing of the Kundalini (Serpent Power) does not from the spiritual Yoga point of view amount to much."4* Agehananda Bharati in his excellent work, The Tantra Tradition, brings out a significant point about Kundalini when he emphasizes that Kundalini has no objective existence or physiological structure and function. We shall note later that Yogi Bhajan has contrived imaginary physiological existence not only for Kundalini but also for Turiya state, the Super-conscious state (Dasam Duar, the realm beyond the Tenth door of Consciousness). Aghananda Bharati says, "All yoga discipline postulates on the theoretical side the existence of a secondary semetic system consisting of centers, circles or lotuses (mandalas,chakras, Kendras ) located along an imagined spiritual column in the secondary body. It is important to know that this yogic body is not supposed to have any objective existence in the sense the physical body has. It has a heuristic device aiding meditation, not any objective structure. The physical and the yogic body belong to two different logical levels.5 The Buddhist scholar, Lama Anagarika Govinda, describes Kundalini as a "latent energy—a dormant force which embodies the potentiality of nature, whose effects may be divine or demoniacal." This energy ignorantly released leads to self-destruction. Symbolically it is represented as a coiled serpent (Kundalini) which is coiled around the lingam (penis) in male and in the center of the triangular Yoni (vagina) in the female.6
To the Buddhists Shakti is maya, the very power that creates illusion, from which only prajna can liberate us. It is therefore not the aim of the Buddhist to acquire power . . . either to become their instrument or to become their master, but on the contrary he tries to free himself from those powers, which since eons kept him a prisoner of samsara. He strives to perceive those powers which have kept him going in the rounds of life and death, in order to liberate himself from their dominion. However he does not try to negate them or to destroy them, but to transform them in the fire of knowledge, so that they may become forces of enlightenment.7 This is very much the attitude of Sikhism towards Kundalini. When higher consciousness is awakened in man, the flame that lights up within blazes into higher and higher consciousness. George Santayana calls it the 'Flame of the Spirit' when he says, "I can identify myself heartily with nothing in me except with the flame of Spirit itself. Therefore the truest posture of my inmost being would show none of the features of my person and nothing of the background of my life. It would show only the light of understanding that burned within me and as far as it could, consumed and purified all the rest." We shall be clarifying later that Sikh mysticism does not give much importance to it, and the few quotations picked up from the Adi Granth by Yogi Bhajan and his theorists have been either deliberately or ignorantly misquoted and misinterpreted.
Many myths have been created about the inner 'fire' kindled by the ascent of Kundalini. The awakening of the Kundalini arouses intense heat during its progress through various stages, when the lower part of the body becomes inert and cold as a corpse, while the part through which the Kundalini passes becomes burning hot. "To hasten the ascent of the Kundalini, some Tantric schools practice asanas along with sexual indulgence. The underlying idea is the necessity of achieving simultaneous 'immobility' of breath, thought and semen. Unlike other sober schools of Yoga the Tantrics also believe that Kundalini Shakti can also be unraveled by sexo-yogic disciplines." The Tantric asanas demonstrate the way by which sexual energy can be harnessed for perpetual fulfillment of desire.

IV

Yogi Bhajan's Clap Trap Theories of Kundalini

Yogi Bhajan claims that there is always one Maha Tantric in the world, and he is the only Maha Tantric living in the present age. He invented this mythical history of his spiritual ancestry in 1971-72. The circumstances under which he did it will be described in the fifth chapter, in which the Film-documentary version of his 1970-1971 activities is given. Not only does he pose as the only Maha Tantric in the world, but his well-paid charming secretaries started proclaiming him the Redeemer of the Aquarian Age which they allege started in 1969, the year in which he came to the U.S.A. after his failure to establish himself in Canada. They even back him as the Redeemer who is making the sun rise in the West by supposed prophecies of the ninth and tenth Gurus of the Sikhs. When false prophets have to spin lies to build a delusional system around them, they do so exactly as Yogi Bhajan has done. The most remarkable thing about it is that there are about two thousand Americans who have suspended their thinking and believe everything he says about himself, or rather his mythical self and its past existence that had quite a different history. He has thereby even persuaded or cajoled or bribed two or three Sikh politicians to enlist support for him, not because they believe what he says, nor because they have any faith in his spirituality, character and integrity, but because of his unprecedented achievement of making so many Americans believe what he declares is his unique Gospel of Tantra-Sex-Sikhism. We shall give a series of quotations from his lectures published in 3H0 Journals (the Beads and K.R.I.) and seek the indulgence of the readers to make an effort to know what they mean if they possibly can.
In Beads 1972, Yogi Bhajan says, 'Tantric is the oldest science in which man has the power to understand himself up to the point of bindu (dot) where the longitude and latitude meet that decides the orbit of the being through space of the Time on the planet Earth. And if the electro-magnetic field of the bindu (human) is raised the frequency of travel on that orbit through the space of time on the planet Earth becomes fulfilled. That makes a person completely aware and happy. This is a science of vibration and electro-magnetic field concerning the human mind and it directly relates to the control of centers in the brain."8
"By the grace of God, Maha Tantric Yogi Bhajan has come to America so that people can be cleansed of their negativity and their consciousness can be raised through this ancient, sacred science of Tantric Yoga. Tantra exercises are done with male and female partners and their unit (Individual) electro-magnetic fields become merged for a time during the class session, it is required that the teacher be able to observe this phenomenon and keep it under control and separate the two beings following the practice."9
Stephen Gayle (New York Post, Dec. 1972) writes that each inmate of 3H0 pays 125 dollars a month for "good house, good vibrations, and good people." Kundalini Yoga, Bhajan explains, is the yoga of awareness. It involves the channeling of sexual energy through breathing, meditation, exercises and diet. According to Bhajan, there are 22 forms of Yoga, all of which he has mastered. In order to bring Kundalini Yoga to the West, Bhajan had to break a 25,000 year old proscription stating that anyone teaching it to outsiders would not live to see the sun a year from the day he began. "I sat on this," said Bhajan, "and I felt what is the purpose of this great and powerful knowledge if it cannot serve people." The paper adds, "Bhajan's language is a mixture of the American youth culture, the Indian mystic and hip financial parlance."10
Some interesting methods of this Kundalini Yoga are revealed in Philip Garvin's interview with Gurshabad Singh Joseph, Head of Boston ashram, in his book Religious America.
Gurshabad Singh Joseph says, "When I perform the exercises of Tantric Yoga I look into my partner's eyes and she is absolutely beautiful. As I sit in the proper position I feel totally divine. Then all of a sudden, I begin to feel pain. When it becomes almost excruciating I say to myself, 'This is heaven.' But another voice inside me speaks up. 'If this is heaven how come it hurts?' And I reply, 'Do you think there is no trouble in heaven? How boring it would be if there weren't a little pain.' " (p 1.17) "There is no sin," continues Gurshabad. "There cannot be any sin. There are only lower and higher actions according to your own consciousness and your own abilities. You try always to do the highest thing, but when you fail there is no guilt. That's really unnecessary. Guilt is a waste of time. To be guilty is not to be living in the present."11 One of the most mendacious statements made by Gurshabad Singh Joseph in this interview is that this type of meditation and Yogi Bhajan's own brand of Kundalini Yoga "are part of the Sikh method for achieving this knowledge." There is absolutely no truth in this statement. In a dissertation on Yogi Bhajan's Tantric Yoga, Gurshabad Singh Joseph writes: "Yogiji is the Mahan Tantric, the Master of Tantric Yoga, and in a gathering of over 1000 people he surrounds the sangat with his magnetic field, screening their negativity through his consciousness. As men and women sit facing each other, eyes looking into eyes, chanting mantras, their fears emerge, and full of fears or full of love they face their partners. With eyes into eyes, they have no place to hide." "June of 1971 was the time of my first Tantric Course in the mountains of Colorado ... He seemed so wise and so strange. He did not look like a Yogi. Yogis were scrawny. Whoever heard of a six foot two inch, two hundred ten pound Yogi? He spoke slang. He coined slang. He played with words, and he played with us. Harness your horniness and you will be a living God.' He had to be kidding. 'Yogiji, are you kidding?' A huge warm hand fell on my shoulder. 'Sonny,' he said, 'It's your energy. You do what you like with it.' Aw, come on, I suppose masturbation makes you blind. But, maybe he was right. . . . My relationship with women at this point were friendly, sexual, and definitely transient. We were all existential heroes then, and whoever knew if the next moment might not bring wholly different circumstances that would make the present relation obsolete?"
"Tantric Yoga is no ordinary yoga. It cannot be practiced without the Mahan Tantric present, because it takes his mastery over emotions to be not only effective but safe. Partners face each other in lines, while Yogiji who sits at the front of the group projects his astral body (astral body—a vibratory self that can be projected to places other than where the physical body rests) to the other side of the group. He connects his psychoelectric magnetic field between his physical and astral bodies, and spreads that field over the group aura. Under that protection the auras of the students may not merge with each other, and neither can their destinies entwine. The tantric students' auras change to blue and gold (devotion and perfection). Yogiji controls the group energy with his own and screens the negativity through his own consciousness. If he were not himself totally detached, the negativity released from such a group would probably make him ill, if not kill him. Tantric Yoga needs special circumstances. . . . Homosexuality is , a natural outcome of the breakdown of trust and respect between the sexes. Homosexuality is not wrong, but there is no future in it; there are no children in it and children are our future."
One of the funniest experiments recorded in Beads, March 1974 is photographing the various states of samadhi of Premka Kaur. Premka is shown sitting in Samadhi with eyes closed meticulously dressed for a photographic pose. The gentleman who conducts the experiments writes, "After the adjustments were completed, Yogiji directed Sardarni Premka Kaur in for the first state of meditation which he called 'Compassion consciousness,' where there is complete communion with nature. The next state Sardarni Premka Kaur was guided into was 'God consciousness expanded.' Then Sardarni Premka Kaur was transported into the state of 'Universal death to Universal light.' This state of experiencing death and rebirth is phenomenally very different from the previous state of confident God Consciousness."12 It is indeed remarkable to note that a man (Yogi Bhajan) can conduct the ascent and descent of the consciousness of a particular woman (Premka Kaur) up and down as a lift-operator takes the lift up and down.

V

Sex, Satnam, and Tantric Asanas

We have noticed that the main object of Yogi Bhajan's Tantra is vitalizing sexual energy, and channeling that sexual energy to stages of exaltation which have spiritual basis in theory but physiological and physical basis in practice. All Tantrics recommend some mantras to be recited in their Tantra ritual and ceremonial practices of asanas, and the mantras are efficacious only when it is received from a guru by his disciple. Most of the Tantric mantras are unintelligible sounds, Hrim, Srim, Krim, Phat. The seed syllable (Bij) mantra is Om. Taking cue from this theory of Tantra, Yogi Bhajan has introduced all the Sikh mantras, real or fictitious. He has taken some words and lines from Sikh scriptures and distributed them to his followers as mantras, although they are not mantras. They are either theological terms or just lines from some normal Sikh prayers which he has converted into mantras, probably because these are the few lines he knows from the sacred Sikh scriptures, the language of which Yogi Bhajan can speak but cannot read and write. He received some of these mantras from his first teacher, Sant Virsa Singh of Delhi, who is an illiterate man, popular in a small circle, but does not teach or preach Yoga. These mantras are intended for japa or repetition and counted on beads with 12, 18, 28, 32, 64, 108 in a rosary. Throughout this section of the chapter we are quoting from Yogi Bhajan's Journal along with the editorial comments of his Editors. We shall give some asanas in detail as taught by Yogi Bhajan, and their effects, while we will give page references of others for the benefit of those who wish to study the details along with their results as taught by Yogi Bhajan:
Exercises for Transmuting Sexual Energy (Beads 11, page 37): The following exercises are for transmuting the sexual energy up through the spine to the pineal gland to raise the consciousness and universal consciousness. It is recommended that couples do only one of these a day. They are not a series, but a selection of exercises for transmuting energy.

(1) Position Man sits on hands and knees, woman sits on man's back with arms at right angles.
Action Man slowly arches and unarches his back, putting a pressure on his neck, concentrating on third eye. Woman meditates on third eye.
Picture see Figure 5 reproduced from Beads 11 page 39 39
(2) Position Put yourself in a shoulder stand 4 feet away from your partner, then bend your legs and join the soles of your feet together.
Action Meditate at the third eye point for 31 minutes. Relax.
Picture see Figure 6 reproduced from Beads 11 page 41 41
(3) Position Sit facing your partner looking into each other's eyes. Put palms together with your partner's. Knees must be touching.
Action Chant the Maha Shakti Mantra. On each word you will push one palm to the shoulder of your partner as he pushes the other to your shoulder. The Maha Shakti Mantra is: gobinday, mukanday, udaray, Haring, Karing, Nirnamay, Akamai. These words are the 8 aspects of God.
Picture see Figure 7 reproduced from Beads 22 page 42





Exercise to Transmute Sex Energy into Higher Consciousness (Beads March 1970):
Assume Cow Pose, back arched up, eyes fixed at one point. Now maintain this position with the head, flex the spine up and down vigorously for 1 1/2 2 minutes exhaling up and inhaling down. Immediately sit on heels (Vajra asana), extended arms overhead, hands together and begin Sat-Kriya (this is done by exhaling strongly on the sound Sat while pulling mull bandha and releasing it on the sound NAM). Do this for about 2 minutes, inhale and circulate the energy; rest in position briefly, then repeat.
Women, Sex and Satnam: Beads 33 and 34 (Quotations from page 4 and 5):

(1) Kundalini Yoga, Tantric Yoga and Laya Yoga are the three Shakti Yogas. Shakti means power, power that is feminine in nature. It is that power that rises in the spine and illuminates the mind. If there is ever an elevation of consciousness it is because the Kundalini has arisen. Within the science of Kundalini Yoga there is a Chant:
Adi Shakti, Adi Shakti, Namo, Namo,
Sarb Shakti, Sarb Shakti, Namo, Namo.
Pritham Bhagvate, Pritham Bhagvate, Namo, Namo.
Kundalini Mata Shakti, Mata Shakti Namo Namo, Adi Shakti.
(2) Where does one look these days to find his sexual identity? To the culture? The Culture as represented by what? By Time Magazine. According to the culture in which today's adolescents find themselves, it is all right to be just about anything—heterosexual, homosexual, transsexual, bisexual, asexual.
"In summer solstice in Elk, California, we had lined up in Tantric lines. This time there were over a thousand of us. The men had their palms on the foreheads of the women, and again, eyes were locked into eyes. The women pounded the men on the chest and chanted the mantra Sat Nam (God is infinite Truth) and the men simply responded in unison chanting Wahe Guru (an expression of ecstasy of experiencing Infinity). The women started out somewhat tentatively. Their Sat Nam's were weak and a little on the giddy side, but as the exercise progressed it became serious business. The blows to the chest became more forceful. Tears started to form, and many of the women were crying. And the men were just trying to keep calm . . . Satnam became almost deafening and there were definitely no longer any pulled punches. I felt that as men we were just paying back a little karma for all these sleazy bill boards. 'Hi, My name is Dolores, Fly me to Miami.' "

Kundalini Research Institute Newsletter 1 and 2 (page 23):
(1) Every woman should understand one thing. She should ask her husband to put his hand like this (see Figure 8 below) and check me all the way to the naval point:


If the navel point is out, you're in trouble. The moment the navel point is out of center, your menstruation cannot be right. And whenever you have physical intercourse, you cannot have a release, period! You may try,
(2) Massaging Woman's Breast and Man's Buttock page 25: K.R.I. Newsletter 1, 2 Alright, now I come to this crucial point. Ladies, you have got one problem. You should not get up from the bed without massaging your breasts. How many of you know that this has to be done? This is the only area where the nerve point of the life nerve, of the Ida and Pingla passes very near, and if you take your hand in this way in the morning, and massage this area for a couple of minutes, you will be very healthy and energetic. It is the grace of God to you and it is the privilege which man does not have. The buttock of the man and the breast of the woman is the same for this. A man cannot massage his buttocks. You know what they have to do? They have to get into the shoulder stand and lick their buttocks. That is equal to your massaging the breast. I am saying when you get up it is the beginning, the first exercise.
Kriyas and Meditations: K.R.I. Issue 4 and 5
1) Sat Kriya: "Sit on the heels and stretch the arms over the head so that the elbows hug the ears. Interlock all the fingers except the first ones which point straight up. Begin to chant Sat Nam emphatically in a constant rhythm of about eight times per second."
"Sat Kriya is fundamental to Kundalini Yoga and should be practiced every day for at least 3 minutes. Its effects are too numerous to be listed in detail. Sat Kriya strengthens the entire sexual system and stimulates its natural flow of energy. This relaxes phobias about sexuality. It allows you to control the insistent sexual impulse by re-channeling sexual energy to creative and healing activities in the body." (page 21)
2) Sex Energy Transformation, 12 funny poses given on page 38, 39, 40 In our culture, we are taught to view sex in terms of pleasure and reproduction. We are not educated in the need for moderation in sex in order to maintain our health and nerve balance. Sexual experience in the correct consciousness can give you the experience of God and bliss, but before that can ever occur you must charge your sexual batteries and possess a real potency. The seminal fluid is reabsorbed by the body if it is allowed to mature. Its essence or "Ojas" is transported into spinal fluid . . . About 90 percent of your sexual energy is used to repair and rejuvenate the organs of the body, (page 41)
3) Hunsani Meditation invented by Yogi Bhajan on 1/13/75: Sit in an easy pose with the spine straight. Make fists of both hands. Put both with back of palms towards you 6 to 8 inches in front of the brow point. Extend and press the thumb tips together until they become white. Fix the eyes on the white thumb . . . The early Christians used to practice this in the caves. It was one of the techniques mastered by Jesus when he studied Yoga in India. As you continue to meditate, you will reach a stage where the hands will become still and calm and the arms will start supporting themselves.
4) Smiling Buddha Kriya: Sit in an easy pose. Curl the ring and little fingers and press them down with the thumb keeping the first two fingers straight. Bring the arms up so the elbows are pushed back and a 30 degree angle is made between the upper arm and forearm.

Historically this is a very outstanding kriya. It was practiced by both Buddha and Christ. The great Brahman who taught him this kriya found him in a nearly starved and unhappy condition. Buddha was unable to walk after his 40 day fast under the fig tree. He began eating slowly. That great Brahman fed him and massaged him. When Buddha started smiling again, the Brahman gave him this one kriya to practice.
Jesus also learned this in his travels. It was the first of many that he practiced. If you love a man as great as he, it is important to practice what he practiced in order to earn his state of consciousness (page 36).
5) Beads Jan 1972: If you eat apples for three months this will make your ovaries relax and will make you fertile. There are also two kinds of saqua roots that may be made into tea or taken as birth control and, if the root is red it will prevent pregnancy and if it is green it will make you more fertile (page 16).
Divine intercourse should be fun. The entire lovemaking process should take six hours. The whole day should be special (page 18).
6) Kundalini Yoga: Resources and Information: Shakti Parwha's Notes:
** After intercourse if the woman is completely satisfied, the solarplexes are completely relaxed and her back is cold. Whose experience gentle and loving. Important to be affectionate but don't become attached to it and look for it or demand it (page 3).
** Sexual union like tantric yoga must be developed. Key word moderation (if too often semen doesn't get chance to go to pineal glands, age faster, if promiscuous, lower back trouble (page 50).
** American man—too fast orgasm because circumcised and semen must travel to top head (golden)
**Once a woman makes love, she is opened up and needs to be made love to once a month, she has let down all defenses (it leaves her never insecure)
**Shouldn't eat four hours before sexual intercourse (but can drink), after it eat light and nourishing (fruit, milk)

Author's Comments

Authorities on Sex, Tantra, Buddha, Jesus can say competently about the Tantric asanas of Yogi Bhajan mentioned in the foregoing pages. But from the point of view of Sikh philosophy and theology I would like to state that Yogi Bhajan is using the sacred Sikh mantras and the sacred name of Guru Ram Das as a mantle for his Tantric Sex Yoga which will inevitably lead to mental and physical debauchery of those who take his brand of Sikhism contaminated by crazy sex-energizing asanas seriously. Every Sikh having even rudimentary knowledge of Sikhism, and even every non-Sikh scholar of Sikhism, would agree with me that Sikhs and Sikhism in America will go down the drain if these things continue to be practiced secretly or openly in the name of Guru Ram Das, and with sacred Sikh mantras as instruments of this type of Tantric Yoga which is extremely repulsive to Sikhism.

VI

Pituitary and Pineal Glands As Seats of Highest Spiritual Consciousness

The Sikh scriptures, the Adi Granth, contain over 500 hymns about the highest state of spiritual consciousness known as Param Pad, the Supreme State, Dasam Duar, the Tenth Seat of Consciousness, Turiya Pada, the Fourth State. Bhai Gurdas has written about 200 verses vividly describing this state in his Kabit Szoeyyas. The eminent mystic and saint, Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh, with whom the author was associated for about 25 years of his life, has written a book on Anhad Shabad—Dasam Duar (Unstruck Music and the Tenth Seat of Consciousness) which has gone into a number of editions, and in it he clearly describes the mystic path and the highest illumination. But Yogi Bhajan who claims to be an authority for the Western Hemisphere on the Sikhs and also perhaps on Sikhism, puts up a fantastic theory that Pituitary glands and Pineal glands are the highest seat of consciousness. We first give Yogi Bhajan's theories in his own words:

(1) KRIJournal, Summer 1975
"From the rectum to the vocal cord is known as the silver cord. From the neck to the top of the head is the passage. From the third eye to the pineal gland is the gold cord. To make energy rise in these cords and passages, you must apply hydraulic locks. You must put pressure.
"The pineal gland or seat of the soul does not work when the tenth gate (top of the head) is sealed, but if the pineal will secrete (when the Kundalini heat comes) your pituitary will act as radar, keeping the mind from negativity." (page 1)
(2) KRI Journal, May 1975, Issue 6, page 42
"It is written that in 40 days your entire consciousness within and without you will be known to you. Each morning you will get up to meditate in this state of consciousness. "The temples will start to pain. Then this vibratory impulse will move to the top of your head. You will start feeling a dripping; something will start secreting which has not secreted. The pineal gland is like a stone, but it radiates. When it radiates at 3to2 cycles to 4 cycles the awareness is increased and man can start using his brain capacity. From a normal capacity of 3% it can increase to 100%. It will give you the power to transmit energy to anyone you like and then you can help a lot of psychological and sociological phenomena." (page 42)

(3) Editorial Rejoinder to Dr Narinder Singh Kapany's Article
Guru Nanak and his successors freely made use of the terminology of Yoga in order to accurately describe the path of the Sikh in scientific terms:
There are nine doors, and nine doors are tasteless;
It is in the tenth door that the Ambrosial Elixir flows.
Show mercy, mercy unto me, my Beloved.
That I may drink God's Elixir through the Guru's Word.
Guru Ram Das (p 1323)

Here, the Fourth Guru describes in poetic language how, through meditation on the Word, "amrit" is secreted by the pineal gland (the tenth door). Sikh Dharma Brotherhood, Vol II, 3, Gurubanda Singh's article, page 2.

We could give dozens of other quotations. In the third quotation from Gurubanda Singh's article we can see how they can distort Gurbani (the Sacred hymns of the Gurus) to their own end. Nowhere does the Fourth Guru refer to any gland, least of all Pituitary glands or Pineal glands. Dasam Duar, the Tenth Seat of Consciousness, has nothing to do with any physical glands of the human body. We shall be discussing shortly the various distortions and misinterpretations of Sikh scriptures which 3HO theorists and their leader do, either out of sheer ignorance of the scriptures or deliberately. We shall first give the views of Medical Experts on Pituitary glands and Pineal glands, research work on which has been done for me very kindly by Dr Rajinder Kaur Chhokar M.D.
Views of the Medical Experts

The Function of Pituitary Glands. The Pituitary gland is a small structure—less than 1 cm in diameter and about 1/2 gram in weight, attached to the base of the brain and lying in a depression in the spheroid bone. It consists of four parts and three types of cells. Different functions have been attributed to, different parts. It has a controlling effect on all other ductless glands. Six very important hormones plus several less important ones are secreted by the anterior pituitary and two important hormones are secreted by the posterior pituitary. Some hormones stimulate the adrenal glands and others stimulate the sex glands. Some hormones raise blood sugar and act upon the pancreas and parathyroid. Secretion from the posterior lobes controls the rate of water excretion into the urine and it also helps to deliver milk from the glands of the breast to the nipples during sucking. It sometimes raises blood pressure by some sort of action on blood vessels. Over-activity leads to Gigantism. Disturbances of the Pituitary gland lead to physical disorders such as premature senility, extreme wasting, development of painful overgrowth of fat, and various disturbances of growth and sexual development.
The Function of Pineal Glands. The Pineal gland is a small reddish structure situated on the upper part of the mid-brain, resembling a Pine cone. Its function is unknown. In the lower vertebrate animals like lizards an imperfect structure like the third eye is found, but it is not there in human beings. In man it reaches the greatest development by the age of seven and then it slowly regresses. Dr Richard J Wurtman M.D. In Textbook of Endocrinology writes;

“The pineal has undergone marked changes as vertebrates have evolved from amphibians to mammals. The amphibian pineal is a photo receptor which sends information to the brain; the mammalian pineal is an endocrine organ which has no direct connection to the central system and whose metabolism is controlled by environment lighting via an indirect pathway. It secretes Mala-tonin which acts via the brain and perhaps directly depresses the rate of gonadal maturation. Mala-tonin is secreted into the blood and apparently acts on the brain to influence several physiological processes that share a tendency towards time dependency; these include the onset of puberty, ovulation, and sleep. Considerable information is available about the factors that control pineal function: much less is known about the uses to which the body puts Mala-tonin and other possible pineal secretions. Tumors that destroy the pineal organ often cause precocious puberty in young boys, and tumors that are able to synthesize Mala-tonin may inhibit gonadal function.” [p 839]

Conclusion

The reader can now seriously reflect on the technology of their own brand of Simrin (Contemplation) and scientific approach of 3HO brand of Sikh Dharma, which no Sikh theologian or mystic has ever accepted. Nor can any intelligent man knowing something about medical science and mysticism ever accept such absurdities. By saying that the Pineal gland is Dasam Duar, the tenth seat of consciousness, where according to Sikh scriptures one can visibly see the Light of God, Yogi Bhajan and his uncritical followers express their ignorance of the real functions of the Pineal gland and the Pituitary bodies, and of the mysticism of the Sikh Religion, which is in no way concerned with any endocrine glands.

VII
Distortion of Sikh Scriptures And Copyright Translations

Yogi Bhajan takes care that his journals and propaganda sheets are not sent to intelligent and educated Sikhs. They are circulated mainly to his followers who are expected to accept his utterances as inspired and prophetic teachings. The 3HO Writers (about four or five of them) start writing everything with the words: "Yogi Bhajan says ..." and no matter how unreasonable, illogical and self-contradictory may be his speeches and statements, they must believe it as oracular truth or be damned by his curses. Even if their Pituitary and Pineal glands are beyond the grasp of their perception and awareness, they must pretend that their inhaling and exhaling exercises ranging from 3-32 minutes duration trickle down ambrosia.
They even go a step further. To suit their utterly false mystical theories and practices and falsely relate them to Sikh scriptures, they do not hesitate to misquote, twist the translations and falsify copyright works. It is generally believed that the Devil can quote scriptures, but the Devil has been known to be quoting them correctly, though with the intentions of rationalizing his activities. Yogi Bhajan and his theorists have not even cared to quote scriptures correctly. Their ability to distort published material can be judged from the few references given below only from one article written by Premka Kaur and published in Beads 29, 30, dated March 1976. All the quotations in their distorted form are from this article published on pages 38 and 39:

(1) Premka Kaur's Distorted version
sant charan darao mathe chandna greh hoe andharae, sant prasad kamal bigasa gobind bhajao pekh narae.
Meditate on the feet of the Satguru at the brow chakra
(third eye point) The pituitary will secrete and man sees the inner light. The Satguru will open the heart chakra, center of divine compassion then repeating God's Name you will receive His vision
(p 1301, p 4293 M.M.S.)

Manmohan Singh's Correct version
Lay the saint's feet on your forehead and your dark home
shall be illumined. By the saint's grace, the heart lotus blooms. Seeing the God Lord near, meditate ye on Him.
(p 1301, p 4293 M.M.S.)

Author's Comments:

The reader will note that Premka Kaur has not only changed the whole translation and put it into 3HO Tantric jargon but distorted the original version of the author from the first word to the last. Only Yogi Bhajan's ace-disciples could do such an illegal thing involving infringement of an author's copyright and damaging his reputation by imputing to him ideas and concepts which he never dreamed of, and which he never accepted. I knew Sardar Manmohan Singh, and the moment I saw this translation in print—pituitary glands and pineal glands, the chakras of divine compassion, the third eye point—I realized that these trite platitudes have been thrust upon Manmohan Singh's translation. This is exactly what Guru Arjan's rivals, who were condemned by Bhai Gurdas as Minas (Highway Robbers) did with the original Gurbani of Adi Granth.
(2) Premka Kaur's version
sukhman nari sahaj samani pivae pivan hara, Aodhu mera man matvara,
Unmad choda madan ras chakhia tribhavan baia ujiara
The Sukhman (central channel for kundalini energy) is in balance (between prana and apana) and the drinker drinks the wine (kundalini shakti) With this wine my soul is intoxicated.
When that wine ascends to the brain, man tastes not the relish (worldly attachments) and sees the three worlds clearly.
(p 939, p 3178 M.M.S.)

Manmohan Singh's Translation
The wind pipe, Sukhmana by Name is merged in equipoise
and soul the drinker, quaffs this wine.
O Yogi, with this wine my soul is intoxicated.
(p 939, p 3178 M.M.S.)

Author's Comments

Once again Premka Kaur starts making alterations from the very first word and introduces Kundalini, prana, apana, Kundalini shakti and what not. If the Sikh scriptures and the existing English translations do not support a word of their Tantric jargon, they can force it to present acceptability by the art of distortion and misrepresentation.
(3) Premka Kaur's version
Kundalini surjhi satsangat Parmanand Guru mukh macha
Associating with the saints their Kundalini radiates
and through the Supreme Guru they enjoy the Supreme Bliss.
(p 1402, p 4634 M.M.S.)

Manmohan Singh's Translation
Associating with the saints their mind's tongue is opened and through the Supreme Guru they enjoy the Lord of Supreme bliss.
(p 1402, p 4634)

Author's Comments

Once again we note that the Translator does not mention anything about the Kundalini radiating. This line is generally quoted by 3HO people to suggest that the Guru's believed that the Kundalini can be awakened only by the technique suggested by Yogi Bhajan. This and other hymns to be discussed presently are by Bard Poets who were from birth trained in Vedic studies and Hindu traditions, but after years of search they received spiritual enlightenment at the feet of Guru Amar Das. They lived up to the time of Guru Arjan and as eye witnesses they described the mystic personalities of the Gurus and the illumination they achieved. The complete verse and its translation in the correct idiom is as follows:
jinhu bat niscal Dhrua jani tei jiv kal te baca
tin tario samundr rudr khin
ik meh, jalhar bimb jugat jag raca
kundalini surjhi sat sangat, parmanand Guru mukh maca Siri Guru Sahib sabh upar man bac kram seviai saca
Those persons who have accepted the Word of the Guru for inspired meditation with as steadfast determination as did Dhruva, after whom the Pole star was named, they are saved from the noose of death. They swim across the fearful ocean of this world in a moment. They realize the world to be a passing cloud, and begin to visualize the world as a passing cloud. In the companionship of the divine lovers of Truth, Kundalini, is naturally awakened, and the supreme state of infinite bliss is naturally attained through the Guru's Word. The Glorious Guru is the Lord of all. The True Lord should be served with mind, speech and actions.
Adi Granth, p 1402 Bard Gyand
Bard Gyand makes it clear here that no yoga, no asanas are necessary for awakening the Kundalini, which is considered the be all and end all of Yoga techniques in Hatha Yoga. On this path of-Simon (contemplation of the Name of God according to Sikh mystical traditions), it is naturally awakened; Not only that but also the highest spiritual state of bliss and enlightenment is achieved by His grace if a disciple lives according to the Sikh discipline with loyalty and faith which pervades his mind, speech and soul.
The word Kundalini is used only once in the whole of Adi Guru Granth by Bard Poet Gyand. The Gurus used the word Bhuyangam meaning Serpent power. The Gurus criticize all Yogic methods of controlling and awakening the Kundalini and they say that Enlightenment and bliss cannot be attained by these yogic asanas and mere awakening of the Kundalini. Here are a few comments by the Gurus:
(A) I have recited and studied the Vedas; I have performed nauli-dhoti karma of cleaning the intestine; I have awakened and controlled Kundalini (Serpent power) but still I have not been able to get rid of the five lower passions. I am still ensnared by egoism. My beloved friend, you cannot meet the Lord in this way. I have made many efforts. At last I have fallen at the door of the true Enlightener and begged him to give Wisdom and Light to my mind and soul.
Adi Granth, Guru Arjan, p 641
(B) It is I, it is me, boasts he, And in this egoism he is ensnared. You cannot meet the Beloved in this way He has performed eighty four asanas Of Yogis adept in Yoga techniques. He has thus wasted his years. He aims to prolong his life. But he dies and would be born again and again. Alas, he has not sought the companionship of the Lord.
Adi Granth, Guru Arjan, Sorath, p 642
(C) I have performed nauli-dhauti karma (of cleaning intestine), I have inflamed and awakened the Serpent Power [Kundalini: Bhuyangam) by Pranayama practice of inhaling (purak), retention (kumbhak), exhaling (rechak). Without the divine Wisdom of the True Guru no spiritual realization can be attained. By such practices one wanders in wilderness of delusion and drowns himself in the error. The spiritually blind cleans his body from inside by filling and emptying air, but he can never thereby clean the inner dirt and pollution within him. Without contemplation of His Name with devotion all yogic techniques and ritual cleaning of body from within are useless. They are like jugglers who perform deceptive tricks.
Adi Granth, Guru Nanak, Prabhati, p 1343 line 8-21
(D) Friend, you cannot attain any peace whatsoever by nauli-dhauti (cleaning the digestive system) and by becoming adept in eighty-four yogic asanas. For many many years, you have recited the mantras (Jap) and did penance through Yogic sadhana, and wandered about (the holy places and teachers). Even for a moment you have not attained peace. O Yogi, your mind still wanders away in craze for passions.
Adi Granth, Majh V, p 98

Premka Kaur has summed up her views on Kundalini in the article under discussion {Beads, 29, 30) as follows, and these words are one way or the other repeated in all their major articles in which they aim to rationalize their Tantric practices: "In this perfect ecstasy of Wahe-Guru a being glows and his Kundalini rises from the base of his spine to the top of his head to the pineal gland. The pineal gland radiates and the pituitary gland secretes. The Pineal gland is the Dasam Duar or the Tenth Gate. This experience is the real Yoga and without this experience there is no Sikh Dharma because Dharma is based upon experience of this occurrence."
This statement of Premka Kaur, inspired probably by her Master Bhajan Yogi, is undiluted nonsense and shows that neither she, nor her Master, have had any real mystical and spiritual experience as revealed in the Sikh scriptures and the Sikh Path. As has been proved in the foregoing pages, there is not an atom of truth in this statement. If this statement is the key to Premka and her Master's understanding of Sikh Dharma, then I am afraid they have not understood the ABCs of Sikh religion and mysticism. All these inane and stupid notions about Pineal glands being the Dasam Duar (Tenth Seat of Consciousness)have absolutely no place in Sikh scriptures and no place in Sikh theology and mysticism. The Dasam Duar is the highest state of transcendent vision of God, where the Light of God is visibly seen in all its infinite aspects. If Yogi Bhajan and Premka Kaur are sure that their Pituitary and Pineal glands are giving out some extraordinary secretions they should get them examined by some competent medical scientist, and help the cause of science if not of mysticism. This bluff-mysticism has no place in Sikhism, at least.
It is a pity that this senseless article was reprinted by Sikh Sansar in their Theology Number (Vol 6, 1) probably because they did not have anything better to print. It is a matter of extreme regret that half a dozen learned members of the Editorial Board of Sikh Sansar have not been able to do any editorial checking of the article. Either they have never cared to read the Adi Guru Granth and Bhai Gurdas intelligently all their lives, in which there are hundreds of hymns clearly revealing the mystical experiences of Dasam Duar or they were so badly in need of material that they considered any trash to be better than nothing. I would feel honored if Dr Narinder Singh Kapany, the Chief Editor, and about half a dozen learned Editors could be good enough to tell me what is theologically correct in this article, which is full of criminal distortion of Gurbani and other people's translations, and an open insult to Sikh mysticism and scriptures.

VIII

Misinterpretation of the Sikh Ideal
of Raj-Yoga: Political and Spiritual Sovereignty

Patanjali's Yoga has been called Raja Yoga (Kingly or Royal Yoga) by Vivekananda and other great savants. Later on, every school of Yoga started applying this term to their own school of Yoga. So in Yoga literature this term simply means Royal Yoga or the Chief and outstanding Yoga. Yogi Bhajan applies it to his own brand of Yoga. Sikhism is not a school of Yoga, and as we have seen, it is highly critical of many Yoga systems, and positively the antithesis of Tantric Yoga. But Yogi Bhajan's theorists who are expert in distorting scriptures and translations employ the same trick on the interpretation of Raja Yoga also:

(1) Premka Kaur's distorted version
Raj jog takhat dian Guru Ram Das. The throne of Raja Yoga was given to Guru Ram Das forever.
p 1399, p 4621 M.M.S.

Manmohan Singh's Correct Translation
Guru Amardas has blessed Guru Ram Das with the secular and spiritual throne.

continued at reply