Follower of Yogi Bhajan:"Yogi Bhajan is "distorting" Sikhism

by S. Singh, Thursday, April 29, 2010, 05:12 (5105 days ago) @ Jimmy Ji

Yogi Bhajan's Teachings

By AMAR PRAKASH SINGH
Amar Prakash Singh was a follower of Yogi Bhajan for about fifteen years (from about 1975 to 1989). He left Yogi Bhajan when he realized that Yogi Bhajan was "distorting" Sikhism. He can be reached via his Web site (http://www.prismnet.com/~khalsa/index.html) or via email at khalsa@prismnet.com or amarprakashs@yahoo.com. (Courtesy: learning-zone at Yahoo! Groups).

The Sikh Times, Apr. 3, 2005

1. Yogi Bhajan taught that you had to make a connection with a living spiritual teacher.

2. Yogi Bhajan taught that you should meditate on his photograph.

3. Yogi Bhajan taught that the reason that Sikhs wear turbans is to adjust the plates in your skull and thus regulate your electro-magnetic energy.

4. Yogi Bhajan taught that the reason that Sikhs wear kachaa [breeches] is that the pressure of the kachaa on your thighs stimulates your liver.

5. Yogi Bhajan taught that you should have a photo of the golden idol of Sri Chand, that is outside the gurdwara in Espanola, in your home.

6. Yogi Bhajan taught that chanting certain shabads [verses] bring certain results: A) mayraa man lochai gur darshan taaee (My mind longs for the Guru; Guru Granth, p. 96): This brings prosperity, multiplied a thousand-fold squared. B) The twenty-ninth pauree [verse] of Japji: This protects you from your enemies by simply vaporizing those who wish you harm. C) The twenty-second pauree of Japji: This brings you victory in legal battles. D) The thirteenth pauree of Japji: This gives you the occult knowledge of infinity. E) The twenty-fifth pauree of Japji: All your needs are pre-fulfilled. Prosperity, virtue, estate, and wealth are yours without asking.

7. Yogi Bhajan taught that Gurmukhi is a magical, mystical language in that by chanting, reciting, or singing, your tongue is pressing on certain pressure points in your upper palate and thus certain glands in your brain are stimulated to secrete hormones, resulting in a kundalini high.

8. Yogi Bhajan taught that Anand Sahib was the ultimate kundalini experience because for each five paurees your kundalini would pass through a corresponding chakra. Forty paurees divided by five equals the eight chakras. This also holds true for Japji.

9. Yogi Bhajan taught that abortion was all right if it was done before the 120th day, when the soul entered the womb.

10. Yogi Bhajan taught that you could be liberated in forty days if you practiced kundalini yoga.

11. Yogi Bhajan taught that he would take on all the karma of his students and that the reason that he was so sick was that his students had a lot of bad karma.

12. Yogi Bhajan taught he should name everyone, not by consulting the Guru, but by using astrology and numerology.

13. Yogi Bhajan taught that he could read auras and even read your destiny.

14. Yogi Bhajan taught that when he died only his physical body would be gone. His soul would then reside in his subtle body which would hover over his students, while he still taught and led tantric. To his students he would not be dead but immortal.


Below another traditional view of YB:

Satjot kaur ji,

First off. Let's look at his website.

yogibhajan.com .

One.

You see a banner of apparently "sikhs" using mudras. As an extensive background in tantra, and tibetan buddhism, i can tell you that mantras are used to focus the mind, and activate the flow of rLung (life force, prana) into and through certain channels, and have them dissolve into a corresponding bindi (drop, chakra) . Why would sikhs have a need for methods related to tantra and yoga, in order to train and focus their mind? Is Naam not enough for them, or is there something lacking in Sikhism?

Let us move on from the home page, to the "About 3HO" tab.

We see a quote from yogi Bhajan up top in a yellow box. Mine says:

"“Happiness is your birthright!”
This is what Yogi Bhajan declared on Jan 5, 1969 when he founded 3HO."

Above that, you see another banner, with apparently - Sikhs.

And after you read the first paragraph - you learn that he had a mission to spread "kundalini yoga and tantra". He never specifies what kind of tantra. Tantra itself means "thread". As you know, tantras itself, are texts - threads of instruction to enlightenment. The actual act of performing any form of tantra - is "trul khor", or physical asanas, related to some form of deity worship (buddhist or otherwise, i am using mainly busshist terms for "yoga").

What kind of tantras does/did he use?

Apparently, that is never defined in this section. Let us move on to the next tab - "3HO Lifestyle"

Up top on the banner - more Sikhs. What are Sikhs doing practcing hindu and buddhist yoga, and using mudras? And what do mudras (hand posture) have to do with remaining physically fit, akin with yoga?

Nothing i can think of.

Anyways, moving on here, in the same tab - you can find links to numerology. I'll take a look at this later, and give you more info on that. He also gives you "recipes" to try. Okay, that's great. Nothing wrong here... But still some persistence as to why Sikhs are using tantra to find mukthi/moksha/rigpa...

Next tab. Kundalini Yoga. Ah yes, here is what we've been waiting to see.

First paragraph. Okay, helps you cope with stress. Good, nothing wrong with that.

But wait - Here we go. Here is what bothers me.

" "Kundalini yoga classes are a dynamic blend of postures, pranayam, mantra, music and meditation, which teach you the art of relaxation, self-healing and elevation."

Why do you need pranayam - breath control?
Why mantra? (invocations for deities)
and music? All tor elate you to some source deep within?

Let us consult gurbani on use mantra, pranayam, and music in another post.

And what is up with the "Aquarian" teacher. Why is a "Sikh" so obsessed with western forms of constellations and astrology, especially when Hindus used sidereal (not solar) constellations for calculations?

To me it looks like one big marketing scam....

#6 (permalink) 08-01-2008, 07:07 PM
Sherab
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Re: Yogi Bajan and 3HO
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Continuing where I left off.

The next tab is about "Yogi Bhajan"

"The Upanishads, Hindu’s sacred scriptures that date back to the fifth century B.C., describe Kundalini, although the oral tradition reaches back even further into history. For thousands of years, this sacred science and technology was veiled in secrecy, passed along verbally from master to chosen disciple."

Here again, he re-affrims that it is from a hindu source. What more should be said then this? The details is about the rest of his life, however - he does admit that he propagates a hindu practice, supposedly, as a Sikh. Is there anything else to be said?

On the Womens 3HO tab -

"Giving up our self-respect is what the word corrupt means in the spiritual world. For by giving up ourselves, our center, our relationship with Infinity, we deny our essence. Without the essence of 'I am I am' (union with Self) we cannot communicate...Communication is meant to share what our spirit is."
Read More:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=19093 (Yogi Bhajan and 3HO)
Read More:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=19093 (Yogi Bhajan and 3HO)

Gurbani says that we should not entertain egoism, or a sense of self.

Clearly, we see that Yogi Bhajan was a sikh teaching hindu yoga in order to make money, and start a business.

Re: Yogi Bajan and 3HO
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Well, continuing to explore this site -
Please see:

Yoga Photo Yogi Bhajan

At the bottom you see:

" If you would like to make an offering/donation in exchange for receiving your spiritual name, please click here:"
Read More:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=19093 (Yogi Bhajan and 3HO)

Why would you make an offering to someone who is not a teacher or guru?

This guys, is now starting to sound like a cult.

Now, to get onto that numerology i was talking about.
Read More:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=19093 (Yogi Bhajan and 3HO)

All it is basic math - and tries to define you loosely. I suggest you all try it and see how rue it is. However, all of it seems to be the same thing ,recycled over and over - no matter what info you put in.

Link: Tantric Numerology

Next day is Gurbani to refute Yogi Bhajans ideas.