See more photos and discussion on facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=108156&id=1214270541&l=5a22781e63

“Amid the legal infighting following Yogi Bhajan’s death, critics are offering another portrait of the Sikh leader.”

3HO Sikhs are now fighting amongst themselves in a lawsuit over the millions of dollars in profits made from using the sacred Sikh religious symbols and scriptures for their own personal gain.3HO Sikhs, who follow Yogi Bhajan, funnel the money to support Yogi Bhajan's tantric cult church which 3HO Sikhs have deceptively camouflaged using names like "Sikh Dharma International", "3HO foundation", "Sikh Dharma Stewardship","SikhNet.com","Sikh Dharma Worldwide", "Unto Infinity Board","Khalsa Council" and "KRI(Kundalini Research Institute)". See "Sikhnet's" and "Sikh Dharma International's" slick new websites which were produced with the millions in ill-gained profits using the name of the Golden Temple, names and images of the Sikh Gurus, and sacred Sikh shabads for profit in commercial enterprises.

Read the full front page article about Yogi Bhajan's lust for power and greed of his 3HO Sikhs in Today's Eugene Register-Guard:

""Yogi's Legacy in Question"".[/link]

"New lawsuit hits Golden Temple with fraud!"

Read about the infighting in 3HO and Sikh Dharma--
Today's Eugene Register-Guard:

""Rift in 3HO Sikh community threatens business empire""

LETTERS IN THE EDITOR’S MAILBAG: Friday’s paper
Appeared in print: Friday, May 28, 2010

"Bhajan was a leader ‘by fluke’

Recently, a friend sent me articles from The Register-Guard on litigation involving Yogi Bhajan’s organizations in Oregon. The letters to the editor that followed, critical of the reporter, prompt me to throw some light on the subject. Bhajan was extremely good at what he did, but propagation of Sikhism he was not. Criticism of Bhajan’s cult cannot be construed as criticism of Sikhism.

Trilochan Singh, a distinguished Sikh scholar, in his 1977 book “Sikhism and Tantric Yoga,” describes Bhajan devastatingly: “Yogi Bhajan is a Sikh by birth, a Maha Tantric by choice but without training, and a ‘Sri Singh Sahib’ and self-styled leader of the Sikhs of the Western Hemisphere by fluke and mysterious strategy.” There was no mystery to his strategy. He ingratiated himself with the Sikh religious leadership in Punjab, which was more corrupt than the Vatican during the time of Martin Luther.

According to the Tantrics, the best form of worship is the fullest satisfaction of the sexual desires of man, therefore sexual intercourse is prescribed as a part of Tantric worship. In the annals of abuse of women, some had harems, others had concubines and Bhajan had secretaries. The Sikh gurus condemned the Tantrics and their practices. All the cases mentioned in The Register-Guard had merit.

Humility is the hallmark of a Sikh, and Bhajan had none of it. Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, describes people such as Bhajan succinctly: “Those ... who have no virtues but are filled with egotistical pride.”

Hardev Singh Shergill President, Khalsa Tricentennial Foundation of North America Editor-in-chief, The Sikh Bulletin El Dorado Hills, Calif.

"Sikhism and Tantric Yoga"
by Dr. Trilochan Singh (Link to entire book)

"The book Sikhism And Tantric Yoga is available at: www.gurmukhyoga.com.This website which is operated by a genuine White Sikh is highly recommended. Gursant Singh was a member of the Yogi Bhajan Cult (3HO and the Sikhnet Gora Sikhs or White Sikhs) for over 30 years and has intimate knowledge about the inner workings of this cult which attempts to miscegnate Sikhism with Hindu idolatry. I downloaded the book from Gursant’s website and found it to be absolutely compelling. I read it in one compulsive and sustained draught. It is a study not only about cults in Sikhism but about the miscegenation of the Sikh Religion by Hinduism. It is a classic work rendered in beautiful English prose and it is patently the work of a profound intellectual scholar with a deep knowledge of Sikhism."
Quotation taken from: http://www.sikharchives.com/?p=5513&cpage=1#comment-2011

You may also view individual chapters to "Sikhism and Tantric Yoga" at these links:

Sikhism & Tantric Yoga A Critical Evaluation of Yogi Bhajan
http://www.gurmukhyoga.com/forum/index.php?id=192

Sikh Doctrines and Yogi Bhajan's Secret Science
http://www.gurmukhyoga.com/forum/index.php?id=193

Yogi Bhajan's Adi Shakti Shaktimans and Shaktis
http://www.gurmukhyoga.com/forum/index.php?id=194

Yogi Bhajan's Clap Trap Theories of Kundalini Yoga
http://www.gurmukhyoga.com/forum/index.php?id=195

Yogi Bhajan's Ego Maniac Utterances
http://www.gurmukhyoga.com/forum/index.php?id=205

Yogi Bhajan's Seven Years in America and His Tinkling Titles
http://www.gurmukhyoga.com/forum/index.php?id=206

Yogi Bhajan's Arrest and Release on Bail
http://www.gurmukhyoga.com/forum/index.php?id=207

Yogi Bhajan Becomes the Only Maha Tantric in the World
http://www.gurmukhyoga.com/forum/index.php?id=208

Sikh Leaders without Conscience
http://www.gurmukhyoga.com/forum/index.php?id=209

Call to Truth and Authentic Sikhism
http://www.gurmukhyoga.com/forum/index.php?id=210

Please read an Excerpt below taken from "Sikhism and Tantric Yoga"

The Name of Golden Temple and its Murals

"In England last year a firm advertised some blue jeans as Jesus Jeans. The whole religious world of England rose in one protest and stopped the manufacture of these jeans. The word Golden Temple has become an instrument of commercial affairs of Yogi Bhajan He has now even named shoe stores as Golden Temple. I was given a "Wha Guru Chew.""

"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."

Read about the "war between 3HO Sikh's Unto Infinity Board and Yogi Bhajan's Sikh Dharma". Yogi Bhajan set up all these organizations and installed their leaders. Decide for yourself if the Tantric Sex Yoga which Yogi Bhajan taught inevitably leads to mental and physical debauchery.

Many of these 3HO profiteers have cut their hair and renounced Sikhi! See these pictures below of Kartar Khalsa CEO of Golden Temple Foods and chairman of Yogi Bhajan's "Unto Infinity Board" who has cut his hair and is no longer a Sikh.

(Is it any wonder that Kartar and Peraim, Controlling members of Yogi Bhajan's "Unto Infinity Board",are wearing circus masks in the above photo?)http://cirrus.mail-list.com/khalsa-council/Kartar-Peraim.2-10.jpg

See these articles in today's Eugene Register Guard which shows the greed surrounding this dispute:

"Money trail at heart of Sikhs’ legal battle."

Wha Guru being used sacriligiously for huge profits by 3HO Sikhs
"Five flavors and they're all nuts!"

"What did the magician say to the Wha Guru Chew? Open sesame."

Yogi Bhajan used the sacred name of the Golden Temple, names and images of the Sikh Gurus, and sacred Sikh shabads for commercial enterprises to make millions of dollars. Wha Guru is even used as the name of a candy bar by Golden Temple Foods!Links appearing on the internet advertise Golden Temple along with wine and alcohol such as in this Google search link: "Golden Temple Granola - Food & Wine - Compare Prices" Other internet links associate Golden Temple massage oil with sex and sensual massages as in this Google search: "Sensual Soothing... Golden Temple Soothing Touch Massage Oil."

See for yourself the pictures below of the Darbar Sahib(Golden Temple) in Amritsar and Guru Tegh Bahadar featured on yogi tea boxes:

3HO Sikhs are associating yogis, ashrams, tantric sex yoga rituals,drinking of wine and magicians of the occult with the Sikh Gurus and the Golden Temple See the Rare Photo (above) featuring the Harimandir sahib in 1908 when it was under the control of the Pundits or mahants. Sadhus and yogis felt free to sit wearing only a dhoti and no head coverings.The Gurdwara Reform Movement stopped such practices in India and gave the Gurdwaras back to Gursikhs.

Tantric Asanas taught by Yogi Bhajan for transmuting sexual energy:Reprinted from Yogi Bhajan’s official magazine “Beads of Truth” 11, p. 39

Yogi Bhajan illustrated here controlling tantric shakti "energy". Notice the depiction of Shiva,above Yogi Bhajan's head, Shiva is the god of yoga for Hindus. The illustration also shows Kundalini Yoga Asanas taught by Yogi Bhajan for transmuting sexual energy

Yogi Bhajan's students are intstructed to meditate on Yogi Bhajan's picture everyday which you can see displayed in the 3HO Espanola Gurdwara in the photo above.

Idolatry is forbidden in sikhism....why does an 8-foot high statue of the Hindu god Ganesh, adorn the entranceway to the Siri Singh Sahib (yogi bhajan) lane in espanola. This is the hindu god of "prosperity", as in the 3HO publication "prosperity pathways".Adi Shakti Chandi 3HO Tantric Deity worshipped by 3HO in songs and prayers(shown above). Read about Yogi Bhajan's Shaktiman and Shakti women.

Read these shocking fire pujas and occult numerology,(below), practiced and advertised in the latest newsletter published by 3HO Sikhs. These "kriyas" or pujas are complete rubbish,only adding to the destruction and dissolution of the Sikh faith and should not be practiced by Sikhs of the Guru. The object of these practices is to combine the Sikh faith with Hinduism; to defang, neuter and completely destroy Sikhi. The strategy is to introduce idolatry and a stratified priesthood into the Sikh Religion. Yogi Bhajan and his 3HO shakti cult followers are introducing idolatry and Hindu practices of pujas and tantra mantra into the Sikh religion. The Bhajan movement is attempting to shift Sikh worship from the commonwealth of Gurdwaras to private estates controlled by 3HO priests of Yogi Bhajan's Tantric sex cult church.

Idolatry is forbidden in Sikhism....why does a golden statue of a yogi adorn the entranceway to the 3HO Gurdwara in Espanola. This is a Hindu practise.
3-HO Sikhs demonstrate(in the photo above)their complete subservience to false worldly material power by exhibiting the Flag of God (The Nishaan Sahib) at an even level with the flag of the United States in front of the 3HO Gurdwara in New Mexico. The Nishaan Sahib, (The Respected Mark of God under the shadow of the Sikh Broadsword) should always fly higher than the flag of all the false materialists. The Flag of the Khalsa should occupy a place of exaltation above any government's flag that temporarily inhabits the material world.

Tantric Yoga asanas (above) taught by Yogi Bhajan
and practised in 3HO Gurdwaras

"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." Dr. Trilochan Singh "Sikhism and Tantric Yoga"

Tantric Asana taught by Yogi Bhajan for transmuting sexual energy:Reprinted from Yogi Bhajan’s official magazine “Beads of Truth” 11, p. 39

See how Hindu gods and yogis are displayed in 3HO Gurdwaras, (see link in blue).

See this post which exposes the most shocking relationship Yogi Bhajan had with Jagjit Naamdhari who is considered by his disciples as the 11th Sikh Guru. The Naamdhari Sikhs keep the Siri Guru Granth in a closet while they bow to Jagjit and refer to him as "SatGuru Ji" as you can see in the photos at this link.

Read these comments by traditional Sikhs. "What better way to make money: add a religious tone to the product. All of a sudden, it seems legit."

If you want to stop these degrading and sacriligious practices by Golden Temple Foods and Yogi Bhajan's cult followers; Post a letter of support on this website or write your local food stores and demand they stop selling Golden Temple Food's products. Some of the major stores which carry these products are Trader Joes, Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats but there are many many other stores who sell millions of dollars in Golden Temple Granola, Peace Cereal, Yogi Teas, massage oil and Wha Guru Chews.

Yogi Bhajan's sacrilegious teachings in the name of Sikhism are illustrated quite distinctly by pictures of Yogi Bhajan's portrait, hindu idols being displayed in and around 3-HO Gurdwaras and the practice of kundalini and sex energizing tantric yoga asanas inside 3-HO Gudwaras by Yogi Bhajan's students.

Idolatry is forbidden in Sikhism. Why does an eight foot high image (above) of Yogi Bhajan controlling the tantric shakti "energy" adorn the 3HO Gurdwara in Espanola? You can see the menacing image of Yogi Bhajan overshadowing the Sangat on the right side of the entire Espanola Gurdwara in the photo above.

Idolatry is forbidden in sikhism....why does a golden statue of a yogi adorn the entranceway to the 3HO Gurdwara in espanola. This is a hindu practise.

Yogi Bhajan's students are intstructed to meditate on Yogi Bhajan's picture everyday which you can see displayed in the 3HO Espanola Gurdwara in these photos.


In a painting at the New Mexico 3HO Gurdwara(above)you can see the sacrilegious misrepresentation of our sacred Khalsa symbol "Khanda" with two swords around it. You may also observe in this painting how Yogi Bhajan is depicted on an equal level with Guru Ram Daas(the 4th Sikh Guru): Dr. Trilochan Singh recounts this observation in 1977 when he writes, "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."

The sikh code of conduct says food offerings to the GURU are forbidden, but there is a 'testimony' page over at sikhnet.com, a 3HO run site loaded with volumes of Yogi Bhajan nonsense talks. Yogi Bhajan instructs 3Hoer's to prepare meals as offerings at the gurdwara and calls this "a dish for a wish". This is nothing more than the Hindu practice of puja. The testimony states "a dish for a wish".
Please read an Excerpt below taken from

"Sikhism and Tantric Yoga"
by Dr. Trilochan Singh (Link to entire book)

"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."

Yogi Bhajan studied and taught at the Sivananda Ashram in Delhi. This, in addition to his first Kundalini Yoga teacher Sant Hazara Singh. In the mid-1960s, Harbhajan Singh took up a position as instructor at the Vishwayatan Ashram in New Delhi, under Dhirendra Brahmachari. This yoga centre was frequented by the Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, his daughter, Indira Gandhi, and diplomats and employees from a host of foreign embassies.

Here's an article on Sivananda's approach to Kundalini Yoga:

www.dlshq.org/download/kundalini.htm

These are all Hindu practices.

You can also read about the Gurdwara Reform Movement which stopped such practices in India and gave the Gurdwaras back to Gursikhs.

Gurdwara Reform Movement

A Rare Photo of Harimandir sahib in 1908 when it was under the control of the Pundits or mahants. Sadhus felt free to sit in meditation wearing only a dhoti.The Gurdwara Reform Movement (Gurdwara Sudhar Lehr) is the Legislation passed by the Punjab Legislative Council which marked the culmination of the struggle of the Sikh people from 1920-1925 to wrest control of their places of worship from the mahants or priests into whose hands they had passed during the eighteenth century when the Khalsa were driven from their homes to seek safety in remote hills and deserts.

When they later established their sway in Punjab, the Sikhs rebuilt their shrines endowing them with large jagirs and estates. The management, however, remained with the priests, belonging mainly to the Udasi sect, who, after the advent of the British in 1849, began to consider the shrines and lands attached to them as their personal properties and to appropriating the income accruing from them to their private use. Some of them alienated or sold Gurudwara properties at will. They had introduced ceremonies which were anathema to orthodox Sikhs. Besides, there were complaints of immorality and even criminal behavior lodged against the worst of them. All these factors gave rise to what is known as the Gurudwara Reform movement during which the Sikhs peaceful protests were met with violence and death and ended with them courting arrest on a large scale to gain the world's attention. Before it was all over many would fall as martyrs with some being literally blown apart while they were strapped to cannaon barrels.

‘During the Gurdwara Reform Movement, the Sikh leaders started a publication that was named Akali. From this paper and its policy the leaders began to be called Akalis, in view of which they formed the present Akali party. These Nihang Akalis should not be confused with the members of the Akali party.’ The Turban And The Sword’' , by Dr. Trilochan Singh. (Page 402)

I found this post at SikhSangat.com It exposes the most shocking relationship Yogi Bhajan had with Jagjit Naamdhari who is considered by his disciples as the 11th Sikh Guru. The Naamdhari Sikhs keep the Siri Guru Granth in a closet while they bow to Jagjit and refer to him as "SatGuru Ji" as you can see in the photos below.

The 'Namdhari' cult has been excommunicated from the Khalsa Panth. See for yourself the pictures of Yogi Bhajan depicting his close relationship with Jagjit Naamdhari.

"However their are several instances which I find questionable about Yogi Bhajan. One includes the relationship they had with Jagjit Naamdhari (http://satguruji.blogspot.com/), and the other about an occurance that occured in the late 70's between Yogi and AKJ, where Yogi criticized Jatha for trying to "steal" members."

Yogi Bhajan wore huge gemstones for their so called “yogic energy and power". Yogi Bhajan adorned himself with these yogic rings and precious gems for different days of the week. Yogi Bhajan covered up the fact that these days are represented by different Hindu deities and the practice of wearing these yogic rings is really only the Hindu idea of pacifying the various gods and goddesses. Not only this, Yogi Bhajan used astrology and numerology in choosing these yogic rings. Yogi Bhajan believed the gemstones had "energy affects" and influenced our destiny, thinking and actions.

Yogi Bhajan shown here on Sikhnet wearing a yogic ring for power

Around the year 2000, Yogi Bhajan tried to personally sell me a yogic ring for several thousand dollars. We were at Hari Jiwan Singh's house in Espanola where HJ keeps a vast collection of gems worth millions of dollars. Yogi Bhajan told me. "You're naked." And he stated I needed a ring with a particular stone to protect me.

Yogi Bhajan’s wearing and promoting yogic rings is yet another Hindu practice camouflaged in the sheep’s clothing of "Aquarian or New Age spiritual thinking”. These things should not be practiced by Sikhs of the Guru. As Sikhs we should rely on the Guru alone for strength as Guru Arjan so beautifully states:

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

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

We quote Yogi Bhajan on Precious Stones and rings, which for him are his status symbol, and for possessing which he expends quite a lot of his energy and ingenuity. He says in Beads, Summer 1972, "Precious stones are not precious because the rich wear them and the poor do not. Rather, they are precious because when cut in the proper way they concentrate sun energy and can transmit to the individual through the skin. Hence most rings are worn on the ring finger. The quality of energy channeled by each stone differs and so does its effect on the individual. Stones also correspond to the planets and serve in mediating the scattered energy which comes from retrograding planets."
Yogi Bhajan has given the following comments on stones.
Ruby (Sun) concentrates the heart of the sun's rays.
Moonstone and Pearls (Moon) help balance out too much sun energy. They are commonly worn by Libra.
Diamond (Venus and practically everything) can concentrate miles of sun rays into one beam. Recently in Los Angeles someone was robbed of 100,000 worth of jewel within 72 hours.
Emerald (Mercury) has wonderful effect on the brain and is a cooling stone. Good luck for everyone.
Coral (Mars) is for balancing positive and negative forces.
Topaz (Jupiter) is a good luck stone.
Blue Sapphire (Saturn) can give so much energy to a person that he becomes negative. Those who are interested in details can read the Journal Beads, Summer 1972, p. 16. I do not know what is the opinion of the Jewelers on these statements but from the point of Sikhism these notions are worthless absurdities.
Yogi Bhajan does not wear the earrings of the Nath Panthi Yogis, but he wears precious gold rings (sometimes two and sometimes three) heavily studded with jewels, and cannot help displaying them ostentatiously, probably as a symbol of wealth acquired through the techniques of Tantric Yoga, which he sacrilegiously identifies with the techniques of Sikh mysticism. Bhai Gurdas, however, makes it clear to all Sikhs of all ages that Yoga asanas and yoga techniques are absolutely useless and unnecessary for Sikh meditations and the spiritual path of Sikhism:
jog jugat gursikh gurs am jhay a
The Guru has himself explained to the Sikhs the technique of true Yoga, and it is this: A Sikh must live in such a moral and spiritual poise that while hoping and waiting he ceases to aspire or crave for low ambitions and remains unconcerned and detached. He should eat little and drink little. He should speak little and never waste time in nonsensical discussion. He should sleep little at night and keep away from the snare of wealth. He should never crave avariciously after wealth and property.
Bhai Gurdas, Var 20 / 15

We still have very eminent scholars and saints who practice and live according to the Essentials of the Sikh Path with utter humility and devotion. They do not wear long robes. They do not wear gold and diamond rings. They do not contaminate Sikh doctrines and practices with practices of creeds and cults which are repulsive to Sikhism and strictly prohibited. There are piles and piles of correct interpretations of the Sacred Writings of the Sikhs written first by the great contemporaries of the Gurus like Bhai Gurdas, Bhai Mani Singh, Bhai Nand Lai, and our own contemporaries like Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh and Bhai Vir Singh. They not only interpreted it but lived it and suffered for it like living martyrs, never seeking anything but the Grace of God and the Gurus as a reward.
See an excerpt from a meditation taught by Yogi Bhajan listed on one of his student's websites promoting yogic gems at "YogaGems.com".

"Each finger represents a planet, whose energies we imbue with grace within ourselves and through our projection:

The little finger is Mercury, enhancing communication.

The ring finger represents the sun, empowering our physical bodies with healing and grace of motion.

The middle finger stands for Saturn. We strengthen virtues of patience and self-discipline.

The index finger is for Jupiter. We enshrine the light of wisdom within us.

The thumb represents the earth, ego, “dragons head and dragons tail.” We bring grace to the ego, so it supports our spirit.

I brought this realization of grace through the beautiful Light that had descended with me, wherein I experienced each finger’s cosmic connection—to the planet Mercury, the shining Sun, ringed Saturn, luminous Jupiter, and lastly, Earth—wherein dragons symbolize the spiraling DNA of creation, all these energies equally a part of my soul."

See these links by Yogi Bhajan's students promoting "Power necklaces".

Please read an Excerpt below taken from

"Sikhism and Tantric Yoga"
by Dr. Trilochan Singh (Link to entire book)

"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."

The Register-Guard
http://www.registerguard.com/
Yogi’s legacy in question |
Former followers say he abused his position for power, money and sexBy Sherri Buri McDonald

The Register-Guard

Posted to Web: Sunday, May 9, 2010 12:14AM
Appeared in print: Sunday, May 9, 2010, page A8

A slow, painful awakening led Premka Kaur Khalsa, a top secretary in Yogi Bhajan’s Sikh organization for almost 20 years, to leave the religious group in 1984, she said.

Premka Khalsa, 66, said she could no longer participate because of the inconsistencies she said she had witnessed between the yogi’s behavior and his teachings — the deception and abuse of power.

In 1986, she sued Yogi Bhajan and his Sikh organizations, settling out of court. In court papers, she alleged that the married yogi had sexually and physically assaulted her, that he was sexually involved with other secretaries and that, as the head of his administration, she worked long hours for little or no pay.

The organization’s religious leaders vehemently deny those allegations. Its business leaders did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Kamalla Rose Kaur, 55, another former member of Yogi Bhajan’s 3HO (Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization) who wrote for a grass-roots newsletter in the community, said a light switched on for her when she was researching and writing about religious groups and thought, “Hey, we’re acting a lot like a cult.”

Former member Guru Bir Singh Khalsa, 60, who had been appointed a “lifetime minister” by Yogi Bhajan, said he received a wake-up call in the early 1990s, when Sue Stryker, then an investigator with the Monterey County District Attorney’s office, laid out evidence linking members of his spiritual community to criminal activity. Stryker, now retired, said a member of Yogi Bhajan’s Sikh community pleaded guilty and served time in prison for a telemarketing scam that bilked seniors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

These and other ex-members of Yogi Bhajan’s organization say they aren’t surprised by events unfolding now, six years after his death. Legal disputes threaten to splinter the community. Allegations of the yogi’s past wrongdoing are resurfacing. And the future of the Sikh organization’s businesses are in question.

The outcome will ripple far beyond the religious group, whose companies have become intertwined with the local economy and business community.

In Multnomah County Circuit Court, the group’s religious leaders are suing the group’s business leaders over control of the community’s multimillion dollar businesses, including Golden Temple natural foods in Eugene and Akal Security in New Mexico.

“Organizations/cults that have charismatic leaders and their followings, once their charismatic leader dies, this is generally the kind of thing that occurs,” Premka Khalsa said.

“It’s the meltdown of a cult,” said Kamalla Kaur, who spent nearly 20 years in 3HO, and now runs an Internet forum for ex-members. “They actually kept it together longer than we expected.”

Steven Hassan, a Massachusetts-based author, counselor and former leader of the Moon cult in the 1970s, said he has counseled about two dozen former 3HO members, including leaders, over the years.

“The group, from my point of view, was always about power and money,” he said. “(Yogi) Bhajan is the consummate … cult leader. By not specifying someone to take over, there often are these kinds of political battles and meltdowns — people basically being greedy like Yogi Bhajan was and wanting more of a slice for themselves.”

Attorney John McGrory, who represents the religious leaders in the Multnomah case, said his clients strongly disagree with the description of their organization as a cult. They “believe very strongly that it’s a religion,” he said. “They practice and follow it, and they are ministers.” The proof, he said, is in the thousands of adherents who still practice it.

McGrory said the real source of the discord in the community appears to be that the assets Yogi Bhajan built up over the years are being taken for private use, with the blessing of the managers the yogi appointed to safeguard them.

Gary Roberts, attorney for the business leaders, has said they’ve done nothing wrong and have acted in the interests of the Sikh community.

When a founder of an organization, or the head of a family, passes away, disputes among successors are common, said Krishna Singh Khalsa, a Eugene Sikh for 40 years.

“There’s nothing spiritual or charismatic or cultlike about that,” he said. “It’s simply where interests clash.”

Religious leaders voice concerns

A year before he died, Yogi Bhajan established the “Unto Infinity” board to oversee the network of businesses, property and educational and spiritual nonprofits. Members include Golden Temple CEO Kartar Singh Khalsa and three of the yogi’s former secretaries: Sopurkh Kaur Khalsa, Siri Karm Kaur Khalsa, and Peraim Kaur Khalsa. Kartar Khalsa and Peraim Khalsa are domestic partners.

In the years leading up to the Multnomah lawsuit, the group’s religious leaders expressed concern that the business leaders, the Unto Infinity members, had abandoned the group’s orthodox beliefs, which include not cutting one’s hair, eating a vegetarian diet and abstaining from alcohol.

In court documents, the religious leaders allege that the Unto Infinity members acknowledged in 2008 that they no longer practiced those core beliefs.

Unto Infinity members did not respond to Register-Guard interview requests. But in March 2009, when the Khalsa Council, an international group of Sikh ministers, asked them whether they had cut their hair, were no longer vegetarians, and drank alcohol, the business leaders responded by letter, according to the Khalsa Council.

The letter said, among other things: “The questions raised are irrelevant to our roles and responsibilities in the organization. We are not the religious leaders of the organization; we were given administrative and financial authority and responsibility.”

The Unto Infinity members wrote that they had made many sacrifices while the yogi was alive and that now they’re applying “more kindness into our personal lives.”

“We have learned the importance of factoring back into our lives more joy and balance as we continue to serve this mission for the rest of our way home,” they wrote.

The Unto Infinity members wrote that if the religious authorities decided to narrowly define what a Sikh Dharma minister is, “we may not continue to qualify.”

However, they noted, “many current ministers in Sikh Dharma have broken their Sikh or minister vows, marital vows, and the laws of our country and have remained ministers,” adding that that had been true even while Yogi Bhajan was alive.

Watching the business leaders back away from the group’s religious practices, some former members said, reminds them of what they experienced when they decided to leave the group.

“You go through stages of discovery of how you gave away your power and were deceived,” Premka Khalsa said.

“Once the person who is defining your reality — the charismatic leader — once he’s not there continuing to enforce the beliefs, then your eyes start to open,” she said. “You see things in a different way, and it can be disillusioning.”

Premka Khalsa said that’s especially true for the yogi’s secretaries, such as herself, who sacrificed much of their lives to serve him.

“I met him at 25,” she said. “I was 41 by the time I left, so my life of family, child bearing and (being) productive in the world, that whole piece was gone. Nothing was put into Social Security, and I walked out with the clothes on my back.”

The women in his inner circle “were denied having a personal relationship with any other men,” she added. “Some of us wanted to get married and have children, but we got sidetracked into agreeing to forego that with the intention of serving something bigger than us. Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice.”

Flaws noted by former members

The group’s publications and Web sites praise Yogi Bhajan as an advocate for world peace and as a spiritual teacher who has helped improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.

A resolution passed by Congress in 2005 after his death recognized the yogi as “a wise teacher and mentor, an outstanding pioneer, a champion of peace and a compassionate human being.”

But Yogi Bhajan also had flaws, former members said.

“He was a phenomenal yoga teacher, a phenomenal spiritual man,” said Guru Bir Khalsa, the former “lifetime minister” who left the group after 18 years. But the yogi “sabotaged his own dream,” he said.

Imposing at 6 foot 3 inches and 250 pounds, Yogi Bhajan claimed humility, but had a weakness for expensive jewelry, luxury cars and custom-designed robes, former members said.

“He was a big dichotomy,” Premka Khalsa said. “He was tremendously charismatic. It just drew you in. You felt held and you felt loved and you felt embraced and felt part of something that was magnificent and bigger than you, and always yummy.”

“On the other side, he could be devastatingly harsh and make decisions that seemed so contrary to what he would preach and teach,” she said.

“He was all about power and he became a victim of that experience,” she said.

Lawsuits on assaults, inheritance

With his long white beard, white turban and white robes, Yogi Bhajan advocated for world peace, founding an annual Peace Prayer Day in 1985. But his saintly public image contrasted starkly with his private behavior, Premka Khalsa and other former secretaries said.

In her 1986 lawsuit, Premka Khalsa alleged that Yogi Bhajan repeatedly physically and sexually assaulted her from November 1968 to November 1984.

McGrory, the religious leaders’ attorney, said his clients deny all the allegations in Premka Khalsa’s lawsuit, which “were never verified or substantiated.”

In court papers, she alleged that the yogi was sexually involved with various female followers, and that he ordered her to coordinate his sexual liaisons, including orgies, with other secretaries, which she refused to do.

The head of Yogi Bhajan’s administration, and an editor and writer for his publications, Premka Khalsa said she worked on average 10 hours a day, five days a week. She alleged that she was paid $375 a month — only in her last three years with the group.

“It was another part of how he kept us bound,” she said. “We didn’t have independent resources. He had a fleet of cars — one of which was mine to drive. And he had properties to live on, but they weren’t mine. You had few independent resources, so it made it hard to live out on (your) own. He did that with lots of people.”

Premka Khalsa alleged in her lawsuit that Yogi Bhajan called her “his spiritual wife, destined to serve mankind by serving him in a conjugal capacity.” He said if she did so, he “would care for her for all of her natural life,” she alleged.

When Yogi Bhajan died in 2004, his wife Bibiji Inderjit was to inherit half of their community property, and he designated that his half go to Staff Endowment, a trust to support 15 female administrative assistants. To receive her share, each assistant had to live in accordance with the yogi’s teachings and the Sikh Dharma Order, according to court documents. If she didn’t, her interest would be cut to 2 percent, the court papers said.

Among the trust beneficiaries are Guru Amrit Kaur Khalsa, a plaintiff, and Sopurkh Khalsa, a defendant, in the Multnomah clash between the religious and business leaders, according to court papers.

McGrory said his clients deny that the Staff Endowment was in return for anything relating to Premka Khalsa’s allegations.

Yogi Bhajan’s estate still isn’t settled. In legal proceedings in New Mexico, the yogi’s widow argues that she was not aware of large gifts and expenditures her husband made while he was alive, and she wants an accounting of them, which could result in a determination that she is entitled to more of the remaining estate, said Surjit Soni, the widow’s attorney.

He said the yogi’s widow “does not begrudge or resist in any shape or form the bequest of Yogi Bhajan to his assistants … We just have to figure out what’s hers and what’s his and move on down the road.”

Soni declined to comment on the sexual abuse allegations.

Responding to the unpaid labor allegations, he said that many people volunteered their time to build the organization.

“It started with little or no sources of income and took the effort of a lot in the community lovingly coming together to provide their services,” he said. “They were doing it voluntarily. Nobody held a gun to their head.”

Another sexual abuse case against Yogi Bhajan, also settled out of court, was filed by the younger sister of Guru Amrit Khalsa, one of the yogi’s long-time secretaries.

Today, Guru Amrit Khalsa is one of the group’s two chief religious authorities, as well as one of the religious leaders suing Golden Temple CEO Kartar Khalsa and other business leaders.

Through McGrory, her attorney, she denied all allegations in her sister’s complaint.

The Register-Guard’s policy is not to name sexual abuse victims without their permission. Guru Amrit Khalsa’s sister’s whereabouts are not known, and she could not be reached for this story.

In court documents, she alleged that Guru Amrit Khalsa began trying to “entice” her into Yogi Bhajan’s organization when she was 11, and succeeded when she was 14.

She said she was with the group from 1975 to 1985. In her 1986 lawsuit, she alleged that starting in 1978, Yogi Bhajan repeatedly physically and sexually assaulted her.

The lawsuit alleged that the yogi was sexually involved with Guru Amrit Khalsa, as well as various other members of his administrative staff.

Guru Amrit Khalsa’s sister also alleged that Yogi Bhajan did not compensate her for skin and hair care products and snack foods she had developed and turned over to him in 1983 and 1984, after he had promised her an ownership stake or other payment.

“Truth is your identity”

The allegations in these lawsuits contrast with the public image of 3HO Sikhs in Eugene, who are widely regarded as devout, hard workers who have built a successful company that is a cornerstone of the natural foods industry here.

Firsthand knowledge of the abuse was confined to the yogi’s inner circle, Premka Khalsa and other former members said.

“The Eugene community, in general, is innocent and quite well intentioned,” she said.

Premka Khalsa said she sued Yogi Bhajan to try to expose what she called his lies and force him to change his behavior.

“The greeting we all have is Sat Nam, ‘Truth is your identity,’ and I wanted him to stop lying,” she said.

Premka Khalsa said she also wanted the rest of the community to know about the abuse, and she wanted to lend credibility to the complaint filed by Guru Amrit Khalsa’s sister because she said she was appalled by how badly she had been treated.

The suits were settled for undisclosed amounts, and they didn’t surface again until Guru Bir Khalsa, who had become disillusioned after learning of the group’s ties to telemarketing fraud, retrieved them from the archives of a New Mexico courthouse and put copies on the Internet in 2002.

“Sikh means seeker of truth and therefore I was just a seeker of truth,” he said. “The reason I wanted to put those documents on the Internet was to just turn the light on in the closet.”

“Yogi Bhajan had a dark side, and I think a lot of people don’t want to see it because of what that means about him,” Guru Bir Khalsa said. “I know, for myself, I wasn’t ready and didn’t want to see it. It’s kind of tough when you think you’ve invested as much as you have into something.”

Most of the former members quoted in this article asked to be referred to by the names they were using at the time they were part of the Sikh community.

“You go through stages of discovery of how you gave away your power and were deceived.”

— PREMKA KHALSA, A FORMER top secretary to Yogi Bhajan (SHOWN IN A 1973 PHOTO)

The Register-Guard
http://www.registerguard.com/
Rift threatens business empire
Posted to Web: Saturday, May 8, 2010 11:55PM
Appeared in print: Sunday, May 9, 2010, page A9

When India-born Yogi Bhajan came to the United States in 1968 to teach kundalini yoga, a revolution was sweeping the nation. Young people were rebelling against the status quo, protesting the Vietnam War, and experimenting with free love, psychedelic drugs, Eastern religions and communal living.

(Entire article continues below)

Idealistic young Americans flocked to Yogi Bhajan’s classes. Ashrams focused on his teachings began to pop up across the country, including in Eugene, Los Angeles, and Espanola, N.M. — the group’s main compound.

Soon after his arrival, he founded a nonprofit group 3HO (Happy, Holy, Healthy Organization) and began blending in Sikh teachings and practices.

In 1972, members of the fledgling Eugene ashram launched a tiny bakery in Springfield, which they later donated to the Sikh community. It grew into Golden Temple, an anchor of Eugene’s natural foods industry, and a major local employer and charitable donor.

The Eugene ashram grew steadily, becoming the Northwest hub for Yogi Bhajan’s brand of Sikhism. His adherents, with turbans, flowing robes and leggings, became a common sight.

Over the years, members of the ashram married, bought homes, sent their children to local schools and became part of the larger community.

In 2004, Yogi Bhajan died after devising a succession plan that split control of the community’s religious life and its business life — including Golden Temple, now a lucrative international producer of natural cereals and tea based in Eugene.

Six years later, a dispute over who owns and controls the multimillion dollar businesses has erupted into a court battle that is fracturing the community. The fight in Multnomah County Circuit Court has centered around the shift in ownership of Golden Temple.

In 2007, CEO Kartar Singh Khalsa and five other Golden Temple managers became majority owners of the company, which previously had belonged to the larger Sikh organization.

Last week, sources confirmed that Kartar Khalsa and the other owners plan to sell the cereal business to a Chicago company.

Compounding the woes of the community — and its businesses — are legal claims by the yogi’s widow that have delayed the settling of the yogi’s estate and that threaten Golden Temple’s continued use of the “Yogi” brand.

Amid all the rancor, many wonder whether Yogi Bhajan’s brand of Sikhism will survive, and what will happen to the businesses it spawned.

Membership declining

At its peak in the 1970s, the Sikh community that Yogi Bhajan inspired had up to 10,000 members, according to published reports. Eugene was the Northwest hub of the community, although smaller than other centers in New Mexico and Los Angeles. Today, although down from those peak numbers, it still has several thousand members worldwide, the group’s religious leaders estimate in court papers. The group has about 100 adherents in the Eugene-Springfield area, one local member estimates.

Connie Elsberg, a sociology professor at Northern Virginia Community College who studied 3HO and wrote a book about female members, said the court battles now being fought are a turning point for the community and its businesses.

If Unto Infinity, the community’s board of business leaders, maintains control of all of the businesses, then “I think there will be a great deal of bad feeling and little willingness to compromise on either side,” she said. “There will not be much funding for the religious arm, and the religious branches will dwindle.”

But if Unto Infinity agrees to provide sufficient funding to the other branches, the organization may continue relatively unchanged, with some decline in numbers, Elsberg said.

Krishna Singh Khalsa, a longtime Eugene Sikh, said Sikhs are learning from this experience.

“We’re developing new approaches and new methods of governance,” he said. “This won’t happen again, and we’ll continue to develop and create success. There’s no question about that, and there’s no fear about that.”

Things were much simpler when Yogi Bhajan first gathered his American flock, many of them hippies engulfed in the drug culture.

“We stopped smoking marijuana and started getting high on breathing,” wrote photographer Lisa Law, whose exhibit of ’60s photos at the Smith­sonian includes a shot of Yogi Bhajan teaching yoga outdoors in New Mexico. “Enough of being potheads. Now we could be healthy, happy and holy.”

Yogi Bhajan’s converts were attracted to a variation of Sikhism that he created, incorporating kundalini yoga and vegetarianism — typically Hindu practices. He taught them how to do a form of yoga and meditate. He gave them Sikh names — “Singh” the middle name for men, “Kaur” for women, with the last name of “Khalsa.” He encouraged them to start businesses and “work by the sweat of their brow.” In some cases, he told them where to live, arranged their marriages and named their children.

His 3HO foundation describes its mission as to “practice and share the teachings of Yogi Bhajan so that they may serve, inspire, and empower humanity to be healthy, happy, and holy.”

Yogi Bhajan’s charisma and the teachings he brought from India were “very appealing an

Youre so full of shit. I hope God and Guru will forgive all your invention and blasphemy.Since when touching someones fingertips is a sexual practice?You definitely are so ignorant.Tantric yoga is divided in three groups :White Tantric yoga- the practice for spiritual purposes to purify and uplift the being.,which is what Yogui Bhajan tought,than there is Black Tantric yoga- the practice to obtain mental control of other people,and then there is Red tantric yoga- the practice to experience the senses and the sexual energy. Yogui Bhajan never tought that!!!!He only tought White Tantric Yoga.And are you saying that because you use gewelry you cant be humble??All gems have healing powers and are benenfic for you,get a reading will you?.And vegetarienism and yoga are hindu practices??Do you know that sikhs are vegetarian???And do you know that Guru Nanaks son Sri Chand was a great yogui????And for the love of God,since when having a statue in your home means you are idolatrising it????Please if you have no knowledge than you shouldnt post your inventions here.Youre only hurting yourself.There are white and indian 3HO sikhs all over the world and they will not fall because of your negative comments.I deeply feel sorry for you.??May God open your eyes.

"Bhajan was a leader ‘by fluke’

Recently, a friend sent me articles from The Register-Guard on litigation involving Yogi Bhajan’s organizations in Oregon. The letters to the editor that followed, critical of the reporter, prompt me to throw some light on the subject. Bhajan was extremely good at what he did, but propagation of Sikhism he was not. Criticism of Bhajan’s cult cannot be construed as criticism of Sikhism.

Trilochan Singh, a distinguished Sikh scholar, in his 1977 book “Sikhism and Tantric Yoga,” describes Bhajan devastatingly: “Yogi Bhajan is a Sikh by birth, a Maha Tantric by choice but without training, and a ‘Sri Singh Sahib’ and self-styled leader of the Sikhs of the Western Hemisphere by fluke and mysterious strategy.” There was no mystery to his strategy. He ingratiated himself with the Sikh religious leadership in Punjab, which was more corrupt than the Vatican during the time of Martin Luther.

According to the Tantrics, the best form of worship is the fullest satisfaction of the sexual desires of man, therefore sexual intercourse is prescribed as a part of Tantric worship. In the annals of abuse of women, some had harems, others had concubines and Bhajan had secretaries. The Sikh gurus condemned the Tantrics and their practices. All the cases mentioned in The Register-Guard had merit.

Humility is the hallmark of a Sikh, and Bhajan had none of it. Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, describes people such as Bhajan succinctly: “Those ... who have no virtues but are filled with egotistical pride.”

Hardev Singh Shergill President, Khalsa Tricentennial Foundation of North America Editor-in-chief, The Sikh Bulletin El Dorado Hills, Calif.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The Register-Guard
Eugene, Oregon

Recently, a friend who knew that I have written about Bhajan Yogi in my magazine, The Sikh Bulletin, in the past, sent me a couple of articles on Yogi’s organizations involved in litigation in Oregon, that appeared in The Register-Guard. This was no surprise to me. But the letters to the editor that followed, critical of the reporter and some implied criticism of writing negative about minorities, prompts me to briefly throw some light on the subject. Bhajan Yogi was extremely good at what he did but propagation of Sikhism it was not. Criticism of Bhajan Yogi’s cult cannot be construed as criticism of Sikhism.

Bhajan Yogi’s cult was based in Los Angeles and New Mexico but Oregon has had its own share of cults of Indian origin. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh moved into the central Oregon town of Antelope and created a commune of free love, immigration scam, mass murder plots and 93 Rolls Royces, gifted to him by his very wealthy twenty and thirty-some things, during 1981-85, before his deportation by Presidential intervention.

Dr. Trilochan Singh, a distinguished Sikh scholar, in his book ‘Sikhism and Tantric Yoga’, published in 1977, describes Bhajan Yogi, succinctly and devastatingly, in the following words: “Yogi Bhajan is a Sikh by birth, a Maha Tantric by choice but without training, and a ‘Sri Singh Sahib’ and self styled Leader of the Sikhs of Western Hemisphere by fluke and mysterious strategy”.

There was no mystery to his strategy. All he had to do was to ingratiate himself with the Sikh Religious leadership in Panjab that was more corrupt than the Vatican during the time of Martin Luther (1483-1546), founder of the Protestant Church.

According to the Tantrics the best form of worship is the fullest satisfaction of the sexual desires of man therefore in Tantric worship sexual intercourse with any woman is prescribed as a part of worship. In the annals of abuse of women some had harems, others had concubines and Bhajan Yogi had Secretaries. The Sikh Gurus condemned the Tantrics and their practices. When I received copies of the court documents of cases against Yogi from the Federal Govt. archives in Colorado I was incredulous about one disciple of Yogi luring her own sister into a rape victim but just then news papers reported exactly a similar story where a sister conspired to have her own sister raped by her boy friend. All the cases mentioned in The Register-Guard had merit, otherwise Yogi would not have settled out of court. In some cases, such as lottery scam, some of yogi’s lieutenants shouldered the entire blame and served prison time but some innocent families were destroyed, including their faith in Sikhism (falsely taught).

Yogi devised ‘The Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogi Ji’ as his full name/title. That is eleven words. The person whose teachings Yogi was supposedly practicing and preaching had conquered his ago and used only one word in his name – Nanak. But yogi was full of it. Humility is the hallmark of a Sikh and Yogi did not have any of it. Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, himself describes people like Bhajan Yogi in succinct language, “Nanak, those are real asses, who have no virtues but are filled with egotistical pride. GGS P. 1246.”

Sikhism is unique among the world’s religions because it is unlike any of them, except certain principles of ethics and moral norms which are common to all religions as well as the atheists. Sikhism is the only religion of The Book from the East, ‘Guru Granth Sahib’, like the three Semitic religions of, ‘The Torah’, The Holy Bible’ and ‘The Holy Quran’. But similarity ends right there; fundamental difference being the concept of God. Superficially all four religions believe in one God, but which one? God of Jews favours only his chosen people who are still waiting for their Messiah; Christian God would save only those who believe in his son Jesus Christ, the Messiah who has already come, and the Muslim God has the last word because Mohammed is the last Messiah and there shall be no more. President Bush has a different God than Osama-bin-Laden.

Guru Nanak rejected all the religions of his day, including the one he was born into. Guru Nanak’s God is the God of entire creation, “God is ONE. His name is Truth. He is the creator. He is fearless and not inimical. He is without death and without birth. He is self-existent. Humans can attune to him through Guru’s grace.” “God existed in the beginning; He existed when time started running its course; He exists even now and He shall exist forever and ever”.

When the Pope had Galileo (1564-1642) jailed for advocacy of Copernicus’ (1473-1543) theory, condemned by the Roman Catholic Church as heretical, that earth revolves around the sun, Guru Nanak (1469-1539) was postulating views on the origin of the Universe that will make the Big Bang theorists proud and stating unambiguously that there are countless Earths, Moons and Suns. He called the natural laws that govern their motions in space ‘hukam’ (Cosmic Law). Cosmos is the manifest form of God, hukam (Cosmic Law) is the invisible form that pervades the cosmos. And long before Darwin’s (1809-1882) theory of origin of species, Nanak had declared that life began in water and evolved through many life forms in the water, over and under the land and in the air with human beings the ultimate life form. Death is a loss of consciousness. When a person dies he/she does not go to heaven or hell, because heaven and hell exist only on this earth, in this life and we make them. A person gets human form only once. Upon death, the spark we call soul merges with the cosmic law/God and body turns to star dust.

Guru Nanak was born into a Hindu household but with that faith Sikhism shares nothing, not even the concept of One God. At a very young age he refused to wear the janeu (Hindu sacred thread worn by high caste males); discarded the caste system (a religiously sanctioned discrimination still entrenched in the 21st century democratic India); preached against idol worship; recognized the equality of mankind; asserted the equality of men and women; condemned the Hindu practice of Sati (live immolation of widow on her husband’s funeral pyre); instructed the women to discard veil; allowed widow and widower remarriage; rejected the then prevalent concepts of karma, after life salvation, tapasya, heaven and hell (after death), incarnation, transmigration, 84 lakh juni (8,400,000 life forms) yatra to holy places, fasting, multiple gods and goddesses; and of course, unique only to Sikhism, wished ‘sarbat da bhala’ (wishing well being of all, not just of oneself, one’s own family or one’s own country) in his prayers. His was a faith of Universal Humanism.

Sikhism has neither anything like Ten Commandments nor Sharia. Instead the Guru simply says do not commit an act that you will later regret and do not eat or drink that is unhealthy for your body and mind. Simple as that! Guru Nanak rejected the concepts of virgin birth, resurrection (death is final), specific times and facing specific direction for prayer, starving the body for a day or day time and then gorging at night fall, pilgrimage for spiritual gain and feeding the Brahman to sustain deceased relatives.

In Sikhism, no one place is holier than the other because all places are created by God and God permeates everywhere. Eugene, Oregon is just as holy as Hardwar, Banaras, Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem; no time or day is more auspicious than the other; but only that time is blessed when one remembers God/Truth; Truth is higher than everything, but higher still is truthful living because that is union with God.

Hardev Singh Shergill
President
Khalsa Tricentennial Foundation of N. A. Inc.
Editor-in-Chief
The Sikh Bulletin
editor@sikhbulletin.com
May 24, 2010

KHALSA TRICENTENNIAL FOUNDATION OF N.A. INC.
201BERKELEY AVE ROSEVILLE, CA 95678 TEL: (916) 773-3828

Dr. Harbhajan Singh Soch March 21/2001
Vice Chancellor
Guru Nanak Dev University
Amdtsar 143 005
Panjab, India

DearDr Harbhajan Singh ji, Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa. Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh.
It was most kind of you to take my call last evening and confirm the university's decision to confer Honorary Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (honoris causa) on:

The Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogi Ji.
(That is eleven words. The person who had conquered his ago used only one word in his name - Nanak)

I was encouraged to hear from you that you would like me to send to you the material that supports my contention that your university should not confer this or any other degree on this person. It is bad enough that a centre of leaning named after the greatest religious teacher, thinker, philosopher, and prophet that the world has ever known succumbed to the political pressures and offended the sensitivities of the entire Sikh Qaum by creating "Satguru' Ram Singh Chair, but to compound it by another affront by honouring this man with an honorary degree will further lower the image and the prestige of the university. We hope and pray that one day when Sikhs come to political power in Panjab and Sikh institutions of SGPC and SAD come once again under the control of Gursikhs, 'Salguru' Ram Singh Chair will be abolished and replaced by a chair honouring a true modern day Gursikh exponent of Nanak's teachings.

In the light of this information supplied to you, whether you decide to reverse your decision to confer this degree on this man or not, for the Sikh Qaum it will be a win win situation. Your decision will determine whether the truth sees light of the day before or after he goes to his grave and in his own words creates a place to spit:

"Let the place be built to the beauty that there shall be nothing in the world which can even try to equal it. Do not gold plate it. Put the very bricks of the gold. Somebody was telling me that soft gold gets taken away. I said, "Well, blessed are those feet which will take it away." They said, "What will you do then?" I said, "We'll replace it, it takes very easy." Build a befitting glory to the throne of Guru Ram Das and the day you shall complete, that day you and your generations shall rule the planet earth. If it comes not true, wherever my ashes are, spit at it".

Mr. Gurcharan Singh Tohra has already guaranteed his place in the Sikh Hall of Shame, among other things, by extending to this man the respectability and credibility that he did not deserve. Bhai Jiwan Singh of Akhand Kirtani Jatha and his associate from the same Jatha, S, Ripudaman Singh Malik (now himself in Canadian Jail), are responsible for keeping him out of jail. From now on the Sikhs in Diaspora will not allow these unholy alliances in the name of Sikhi, where the watch word is, 'you scratch my back and I will scratch yours', to flourish.

In the recent past I have seen pictures of Yogi hobnobbing with Dr. Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, Vice Chancellor of Panjabi University, Patiala. Dr. Balkar Singh of that university has accepted the employment of yogi thus demeaning himself and losing his credibility. You have my permission to share this information with your colleague so that he and that university Senate are spared the embarrassment of 'lizard in snake's mouth'.
Bhajan Yogi is very good at what he is and what he does. Sikhi is not it.

Gur Fateh. Yours in Guru Seva
Hardev Singh Shergill.

cc. Lt. Gen. JFR Jacob Chancellor of the University, Governor ofPanjab Govt, Secretariat Chandigarh, India.

Enclosure;
1. Kate Felt Interview4pp
2. Katherine Felt, Plaintiff vs. Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogi Ji, Civil Action No. 86-0839 HB82pp

3. Plaintiff Katherine Felt's Memorandum of Points And Authorities in Opposition To
Defendant Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji's Motion To Dismiss20pp
4. Plaintiff Katherine Felt's Memorandum of Points And Authorities in Opposition To
Corporate Defendants' Motion To Dismiss 26pp
5. Katherine Felt And S. Premka Kaur Khalsa Plaintiffs vs. Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogi Ji et al
2pp
6. Oct. 28, 1986 Doctor's letter Re Yogi's Inability To Appear For Deposition On Dec. 1, 1986
1pp
7. S. Premka Kaur Khalsa, Plaintiff vs. Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji et al, CA 86-0838 3pp
8. Nov. 11, 1987 Doctor's Letter Re Yogi's Inability To Appear For A Legal Deposition1pp
9. Notice of Defendant Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji's Physical Condition 2pp
10. Order of The Court CA No. 86-0838-M Civil and CA No. 86-0839-HB Civil 4pp
11. Katherine Felt, Plaintiff vs. Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji, et al. Order of Dismissal 2pp
12. Misrepresentations That Yogi Bhaj an Made About Himself To Premka Kaur Khal sa 4pp
13. S. Premka Kaur Khalsa, Plaintiff vs. Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji, CA No. 86-0838 M, 44pp
14. Affidavit of Pamela Dyson Aug. 4, 1987
15. Plaintiffs' (Premka and Katherine) First Requests For Admissions, Aug. 27, 19877pp
16. Motion To Compel Discovery, Aug. 27 19875pp
17. Affidavit of Robert C. Fellows, Oct. 9 19874pp
18. Supp. Memo. of Points and Authorities In Supp. of Mot. To Compel Discovery, Oct. 9, 1987 3pp
19. Memorandum Opinion and Order, Oct. 22 1987 12pp
20. Affidavit ofMukhia Sardarni Sahiba Shakti Parwha Kaur Khalsa, Nov. 24, 1987 7pp
21. Affidavit of Plaintiff S. Premka Kaur Khalsa, Jan. 11 1988 18pp
22. Drug Dealers, Cult Leaders, Thieves, Group Picture2pp
23. United States of America vs. Gurujot Singh Khalsa, CANo. 88-210-M, Feb. 29, 1988 17pp
24. Premka Kaur Khalsa, Plaintiff, vs. Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji et al.
Affidavit of Gurujot Singh Khalsa, Aug. 8, 19863pp
25. Katherine Felt, Plaintiff vs. Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji et al. Defendants, Supplemental
Affidavit ofManmohan Singh To Plaintiff Brief In Opposition To Motion To Disqualify 4pp
26. S. Premka Kaur Khalsa, Plaintiff vs. Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji et al. Defendants,
Affidavit ofSwaran Singh, Sept. 9,19864pp
27. People of The State of California vs. Kirpal Singh Khalsa, CANo. MCR 8425, Oct. 27,1992 6pp
28. Guru BirSingh's Story9pp
29. United States District Court, Central District of California, Federal Trade Commission, .
Plaintiff vs. Several Corporation and Hari Jiwan Singh KhXisa and Siri Ram Singh Khalsa,
CV-97-4544 LGB (JGX)
30. First Judicial District Court County of Santa Fe, State of New Mexico,.
Case No. SF 88-2286 (C) Mark Baker, Plaintiff vs. Yogi Bhajan, et al. Defendants.
Affidavit of Richard Ofshe, Ph.D, May. 5, 1985
31. April 15, 1995 Letter To Me With The Letter Head Showing: 'IN GOD I DWELL" Banner
Below 'Siri Singh Sahib, Sikh Dharma', Shield, With A British Lion Holding Khanda
In Its Right Paw and Its Tail Wrapped Around Symbol of Ek Onkar (Reminds Me of
S. Parkash Singh Badal's GauMata (Cow), With Its Belly full of Gurus' Pictures,
Sikh Bulletin Feb. 200 l2pp
32. Letters To The Editor, World Sikh News, Aug. 25, 1995 by Dr. Gubakhsh Singb Gill:
'Jathedar (Manjit Singh) Team Visits Yogi Ashram. Why?'1pp
33. The Temple of Steel2pp
34. My March 16, 1999 Letter To Bibi Jagir Kaur, President, SGPC Requesting
That Certain Persons Should Not Be Allowed To Officially Participate In
The 300th Anniversary Celebrations 1pp
35. Two Pictures2pp
36. Misc. From The Internet

[It is to the credit of Dr. Soch that during his tenure no such degree was awarded to Bhajan Yogi but this despicable act was performed by his successor. HSS]

I really like this article at:http://www.rickross.com/reference/3ho/3ho1.html
The article might help you understand more about what I am talking about when I say that Yogi Bhajan's Kundalini and Tantric yoga has been extremely damaging to people. I think Dr. Trilochan Singh predicted it correctly in 1977 when he said:

"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." "Sikhism and Tantric Yoga"
by Dr. Trilochan Singh (Link to entire book)

Just a quick note about one passage in the article "The Pure Ones"; "The Sikhs say Yogi Bhajan can see and interpret auras, and this is how he matches people. A Sikh can also find someone he wants to marry and take that person to Bhajan for approval. Says Sat-Peter Singh, "Ninety-five percent of our marriages are sanctioned by him, and the divorce rate is practically non-existent--less than six percent."

This struck me as funny since Sat-Peter ran off with a hollywood floozy a few years later leaving 3HO, Sikhism, his wife and children all in one fell swoop!!

The Pure Ones
Who are these people? Why do they practice the teachings of a former customs agent from New Delhi?
New West, December 1980.
By Mard Naman

I was not looking for a way out, just an extra unit, when, as a student at UC Berkeley, I signed up for a yoga class because the tennis classes were all full. My instructor was a young woman in flowing white clothes and a turban. She was an American member of the Sikh faith (as in Sikher of truth), a religion that synthesized Hinduism and Islam and teaches exercise and the realization of God through meditation. But Sikhs are also very much in the material world, something I realized when I saw my instructor drive off in a new BMW.
The special type of yoga she taught was called kundalini yoga (meaning yoga of awareness). It takes the standard yoga exercise and adds what is called "breath of fire", a rapid inhalation and exhalation through the nose. The exercises are quite strenuous and are punctuated with frequent rest. We wound up each class with a series of chants and ended with a song: "May the long time sun shine upon you, all love surround you and the pure light within you guide your way on."
My teacher was a thin, intense graduate student in biochemistry. She was intelligent, gracious, warm and friendly. She explained that she belonged to the 3HO, meaning happy, healthy, holy organization. 3HO, she insisted, was not a religious cult but a group of people perfecting the science and technology of happy healthiness and holiness. Some people chose to live together in ashrams, but anyone could be in 3HO if they exercised and meditated (called "Sadhana") every morning, ate vegetarian, didn’t smoke, drink or take drugs and abstained from sex until married.

Toward the end of the quarter, she encouraged everyone to go to an upcoming tantric yoga session, conducted by 3HO leader, Yogi Bhajan. Tantric Yoga was so powerful, she said, that Yogi Bhajan was the only living master, the one person in the world qualified to teach it. Tantric Yoga wove together the energies of the male and female and was done in pairs. "No one", she added softly, "knows his way around a woman’s body like Yogi Bhajan". "How do you know?" I teased. "I know", she replied evenly. "He can go on for hours".
I never attended that Tantric yoga session, but I have since learned about Yogi Bhajan, a six foot, two inch bear of a man who, it turns out, is a former customs agent from New Delhi. He set up residence in Los Angeles twelve years ago as an unknown yoga teacher and within a year began to introduce thousands of young Americans to the Sikh religion. "America is a mess"; Bhajan is fond of saying. "It is a complete mental mess and our children are suffering". He has struck a responsive chord by combining traditional eastern religious practices with yoga and a cozy communal lifestyle.
Believers swear by him, following his orders on how to dress, what to eat and even whom to marry. But, predictably, Bhajan’s detractors are as harsh in their criticisms as the faithful are in their praise. Many Indian Sikhs abhor the way Bhajan practices the religion. Others have attacked him for the explicit sexual instructions he dishes out and for treating women as though they were back in the 15th century.
Today Bhajan's followers claim there are 250,000 people living his special lifestyle--about 2500 in ashrams, which also often serve as places of worship. The largest single concentration of followers is in California, primarily in LA. Los Angeles is home not only to the 3HO International Headquarters but to the Kundalini Research Institute as well.
The Sikh religion goes back about 500 years and is now practiced by more that eight million Indians. A Punjabi Indian named Nanak was its first guru. In all there have been ten [such gurus] each one taking over when the one before him died. The fifth guru, Arjun Dev, became a victim of religious persecution when he was placed on a burning hot plate and had hot sand poured over him. Since that time, Sikhs have been instructed to bear arms and to be fearless in defending their faith. The tenth and final guru, Guru Gobind Singh, embodied the Sikh ideal of the warrior-saint, which is still maintained: "When all other means have failed," he wrote, "then it is righteous to take up the sword".
Today the Sikhs, who still live mostly in northern India, are sometimes called the Jews of India. They are both bright and industrious and for the most part, solidly middle class. In India, Sikhs allow democratic elections of priests and abhor personality cults. Yoga has no part in Sikhism, and India's Sikhs are known to be meat eaters.
This is all in sharp contrast to Yogi Bhajan's brand of Sikhism, which the force of his personality is definitely the attraction. Also, Yogi Bhajan not only teaches kundalini yoga and Tantric yoga but dispenses advice on breathing and massage techniques to improve one’s sexual performance. Further, he has wrapped the faithful in ritualistic clothing, first given to the Sikhs by the tenth guru.
Ironically it is almost exclusively the young American followers, not the Indian Sikhs, who follow this prescription for dress. It includes white turban with all white clothing, unshaven hair and beard, specially made tight cotton underwear, a steel bracelet, a sword and a wooden comb. Each of these items has come to symbolize the elements of the Khalsa, the "Pure Ones". The white clothing represents purity; the turban helps maintain an elevated state of consciousness and protects the temporal lobes from soaking up negativity. As for the long hair and beard; "The hair functions as an antenna, conducting energy to the brain where it is stored." say a 3HO newsletter. "By wearing the hair coiled and covering the head we increase the efficiency of our antennae".
The tight underwear is a "reminder of the commitment to chastity and procreation", but, here again, Bhajan takes it further: "If you don’t have the proper underwear and don’t control the area, the testicles can become lodged. This is the beginning of sexual problems for the male--male frigidity." The steel bracelet symbolizes "one's bondage to the truth", the sword a vow to "defend the poor, the weak and the innocent", and the comb is a symbol of cleanliness.
Although Yogi Bhajan says, "Our saying is if someone hits your right cheek, blow up his left so he cannot do it to anyone else," contemporary American Sikhs appear to be for the most part, peaceful and gentle. The small swords they carry are mostly symbolic. In fact, it is tough to get a Sikh to unsheathe his weapon. They are instructed that if they ever take out their weapon they had better be prepared to use it to draw blood. There is a story told among Sikhs about two fellows who got into a heated argument and drew weapons. At that point they realized how ridiculous their argument was and ambled down to the blood band to donate a pint each.
The total effect of this garb is that at first glance these young Americans look decidedly foreign. In fact, they are sometimes referred to as "ayatollahs" or "diaperheads". But converse with one and you realize that he is just your average middle-class Joe in a white turban. They are friendly, laugh easily, live in nice houses, drive nice cars and don’t proselytize. It’s their life-style that’s different.
For one thing, every morning they get up at three and take a cold shower after only five hours of sleep. Then they practice Sadhana, the morning spiritual discipline those last two to three hours and include chanting, meditation, vigorous yoga exercises, spiritual readings and songs. After eating a wholesome vegetarian breakfast, they’re off to work.
Sikhs come from all walks of life; their jobs range from construction worker to doctor They are hard workers, put in long hours and abhor welfare. Some work for large companies, others have their own business. In fact, American Sikhs have set up partnerships and corporations, and a number of these businesses are apparently quite successful. These include Golden Temple restaurants; Sunshine Brass Beds; Shakti Shoes a variation on the Earth Shoe theme; Sunshine Scented Oils; and Golden Temple Health Food, which makes a candy bar called Wha Guru Chew. According to Sopurkh Kaur Khalsa, Bhajan’s head of finance, the brass bed and shoe sales each surpass $1 million a year.
Another business Americana Sikhs seem to take an interest in is firearms. Sikh members have been licensed to buy and sell guns in New Mexico and California. Integrity Arms in Los Angeles sells rifles and shotguns. And a Los Angeles firm called Khalsa Security Company provides bodyguards and security for executives and VIPs.
The sect owns 210 acres of prime property in Espanola, New Mexico, much of which is used as a training center and for summer solstice celebrations. Worldwide, they own over 120 training centers, from Anchorage to Hong Kong. The Sikhs have started nursery, elementary and junior high schools for their children. They want to be everywhere, intent on fulfilling the ancient prophecy of "960 million Sikhs rising from the West".
The money for these projects and properties comes form the members of the sect. Like the Mormons, Sikhs are obligated to give 10 percent of their incomes to the church. Of course larger donations are welcome: Joanne Rollo of Homewood, California, says she has had no communication with her daughter since the later signed over a $1.3 million inheritance to Bhajan's cause.
In some respects, Yogi Bhajan appeals to the same group of young Americans who flock to the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, or the Hare Krishna movement. Many come from middle-class and upper-middle-class backgrounds, and a surprising percent of them are Jewish. A lot of them used mind-expanding drugs prior to joining, but anyone who sticks with Yogi Bhajan is quickly broken of any such habits. Sikhs are, for the most part, young, idealistic and searching for that sense of family and spirituality that they can't get elsewhere.
It is the American Sikhs’ outer appearance, more than their behavior that has caused them a few problems. Sikhs also have had some difficulty being accepted in the community. Although they certainly do not invite trouble, they do at all times stick up for their rights. Sat-Peter Singh Khalsa, director of public relations for the 3HO regional office, describes two Sikh victories against discrimination: "We got the army to change the dress code to allow Sikhs to wear turbans and uncut beards" (This is a bit of an overstatement. The army does make allowances for their garb, but in non-combat situations only. Still this is impressive.). He continues, "We had had people laid off in labor positions because they refused to wear hard hats over their turbans. We took that to court to allow Sikhs to maintain their turbans."
Sikhs also have had some difficulty being accepted in the community. About three years ago, for example, when Sikh families started buying homes in a neighborhood in the old section of central Phoenix, the locals got worried. One Phoenix resident, Sue, confesses her reservations: "I was fearful of them diminishing the resale value of the homes. Isn’t that middle class? Isn’t that awful? But that was the general attitude on our street". What was it that so terrified those good citizens of Phoenix?
"Well, first, I always have a Christmas party for the children and one year I wanted to invite the Sikh family. But I was told that it might be insulting to them because I was having a Santa Claus come to the house". And she continues, "you can’t invite them to a block party because you are probably going to have hamburgers and they don’t eat meat. Plus, they have very difficult names and I can never remember what they are. [Names go like this: All followers have "Khalsa", the "Pure Ones"; men have "Singh", "Lion" and women have "Kaur", "Princess"] We just kept finding all these picayune things to prove that they were not like us." Sue did not feel comfortable with her attitude. "This plaguing voice kept saying, "'Jesus I 'm prejudiced.'"
The Sikhs own several houses in Arizona, mostly in Phoenix and Tucson and their attempts to buy houses are evidence of their attitude of upward mobility. So far, they've bought seven in the Robertson/Preuss area of Los Angeles. We're slowly buying up the entire block", says regional director Krishna Kaur Khalsa. "When they see us coming they jack up the price." They also own houses Altadena, Fullerton, Long Beach, Pomona, south central LA, San Bernardino and San Diego. Some of these are single family dwellings, others are ashrams. And individuals own most of the ashrams. But Phil Hoskins, Yogi Bhajan's chancellor and part-time legal adviser until he left the sect in 1976, says that although when he left most of this property seemed to be owned by individuals, a lot of it was actually owned by a clique of five or six top echelon women who were under Bhajan’s control. This, claims Hoskins, made the group look more decentralized that it really was.
If this upwardly mobile approach is in line with today’s "I want and MBA degree", world, Bhajan’s attitude toward women seems to be a throwback to ancient India. In a series of lectures entitled "Man to Man", Yogi Bhajan explains women’s nature to the males: "One day she is very bright and charming and after a couple days she is totally dumb and non-communicative. This is called the ‘normal woman mood’." And because women fluctuate so much, "a female needs constant social security and constant leadership ...when you are not the leader, she is not satisfied".
A woman who sleeps around "trashes her aura," as one female Sikh describes it. Akasha Kaur Khalsa, a Sikh member, explains, "A women holds the imprint of every man she’s had sex with; she brings the imprint to the next bed". And what about the man who does the same? "A man’s aura is not trashed the way a women’s is. The man plants the seed and he leaves. But the women is designed to grow the seed". Lest this sounds too sexist, men are also discouraged from engaging in pre-or extramarital sex. It is just more of a burden to women.
Yogi Bhajan has revealed many exercises designed to repair the damaged nervous systems of America’s wayward youth, who, he says, know nothing of real love. He claims he can help with almost all problems, from trashed auras to premature ejaculation. And it is true that Yogi Bhajan arranges marriages, though not for everyone. "He may be giving a lecture and say ‘Oh, you two people are engaged’. They may or may not even know each other", explains Akasha Kaur Khalsa. And sure enough, perfect strangers often consent to marrying each other.
The Sikhs say Yogi Bhajan can see and interpret auras, and this is how he matches people. A Sikh can also find someone he wants to marry and take that person to Bhajan for approval. Says Sat-Peter Singh, "Ninety-five percent of our marriages are sanctioned by him, and the divorce rate is practically non-existent--less than six percent."

Every summer for six weeks, Bhajan holds a training camp in New Mexico for women. The men don’t get such a camp. In one lecture, Bhajan emphasizes the traditional role of women. "The guy has gone to work at seven o'clock after having done Sadhana. In work he is hassled and hassled and did everything he was supposed to do. He came back home at seven o'clock. Right? Why is he coming home? Tell me. To relax, find comfort, look at the sky. If there is a big bitch with an open mouth waiting for him, how many days can you expect him to come back home?" Later he says, "There’s no such thing as buddyness between husband and wife. No matter how rotten he may be, he will still expect and demand respect…When you start talking to him as your buddy and your friend, then you will also have slaps and black eyes."
American Sikh women, however, are encouraged to study the martial arts as well as to become involved in high administrative levels of the organization. "There is no discrimination as far as a person's ability to do any tasks or hold any position," explains Krishna Kaur Khalsa. And, in addition to everything else Yogi Bhajan says about women, he is also fond of saying things like "A woman is sixteen times stronger than a man."
Yogi Bhajan’s sex lectures to the men aren’t exactly of the "let's transcend desires and reach nirvana" genre. This is your basic sex manual. "The women has nine highly sensitive areas, which are called ‘moon centers’. There is an order in which these centers need to be touched, using any technique you wish. First, the breasts; then the neck; third the lips; fourth is the cheeks; number five is the ears, a most sensitive moon area. After the ears, remember the spine. Then the thighs are seven; the calves eight; and the clitoris or vagina, nine. If you use any other order, you are an idiot."
And, "There are three different positions of the opening to the vagina: upper, normal and lower. The woman with an upper entry has no problem with orgasms. Because her vagina and her clitoris are so close together, all she needs is a little touch, a little entry, a little doing, and there she goes". Unfortunately says Bhajan, "Out of hundred women, sixty will have lower vaginal entry. The sixty- percent is a problem. Never satisfied, always bitchy, always complaining, always blaming".
In another lecture he asks, "All these yogis and swamis who are celibate don’t marry. Why not? They can’t handle women". Handling women, though, does not appear to be a problem for the fifty-one-year old Bhajan. For the six weeks of his summer camp, Yogi works with them in absence of all other men save a few helpers.
Bhajan’s "handling of women" however, has also become a point of criticism. In the summer of 1977, there were accusations of Yogi Bhajan, a married man with three children, being a womanizer. Colleen Hoskins, who was in the group almost seven years, worked for Bhajan in New Mexico. There, she said, he was served by as many as fourteen women, "some of whom attend his baths, give him group massages and take turns spending the night in his room while his wife slept elsewhere".
She now adds, "I saw women go into his bedroom in their nightgowns, and the next morning they would emerge fully dressed." When she became disillusioned and decided to leave the group, she says Bhajan told her she would be responsible for a nuclear holocaust and that her young daughter would go insane by the time she was fifteen. Bhajan denies these charges and says he does not want to discuss "negativity...The critics didn’t spare Jesus Christ, they didn’t spare Buddha, and they don’t spare me."
Now other charges have come to light. Dr. A.S. Marwah, a Los Angeles dentist, is a respected Indian Sikh who has been living in this country 30 years. He was president for many years, and is still chairman of the board of the Sikh Temple. According to Marwah, when Yogi Bhajan left India, he first went to Toronto Canada. There he called Marwah and told him he wanted to come to the States. Bhajan stayed with Marwah for a month, and Marwah got him a job at the East-West Cultural Center in LA. What Marwah didn’t expect was that ten days later a young lady would arrive from Toronto, pregnant, looking for Bhajan. "This poor girl came to my office", remembers Marwah, "so I called him [Bhajan] and said, ‘ This girl is pregnant and she’s looking for you What happened?’ He admitted it at the time."
Marwah went on a short trip to India and when he returned the head of the center where Bhajan worked was distraught and in tears. According to Marwah, Bhajan was living with six girls in his room. Marwah was on the phone immediately. He relates this conversation between him and Bhajan: "What are you doing The same hanky-panky you did in Canada?", he asked Bhajan. "I’m not doing anything with the girls. They’re just staying with me.", Marwah remembers Bhajan saying. Soon after, Bhajan was fired. Today, however, Bhajan scoffs at Marwah’s accusations. "He’s just made at me because I cannot cater to his ego".
American Sikhs have countered such criticism of their leader--and more general criticism from Indian Sikhs about the way Bhajan has distorted their religion--through good deeds in the community and very thorough public relations campaigns. They have several outreach programs, including a successful drug rehabilitation program ("Try meditation instead of medication"), a free food program and a group called the Grace of God Movement has marched in candlelight processions against the topless and bottomless nightclubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities.
Indeed, it seems that Yogi Bhajan has achieved a certain degree of respectability in this county. In Beads of Truth, a magazine published by 3HO there is a photo of Bhajan with former LA mayor, Sam Yorty at a dinner, another of Yogi Bhajan and Liv Ullmann on a talk show together, and another of New Mexico governor Bruce King presenting Bhajan with a proclamation honoring 3HO for its work against drug abuse. There are also photos of Bhajan meeting with Pope Paul VI and Cardinal Manning.
"I’m a very new rising phenomenon on this hemisphere!" Bhajan declares. "I’m a successful religious leader! At first people thought the American Sikhs would never last. They thought we would fade away. But now, I hear them say, "They’re’ going to stay and they’re going to live, and, oh my God, they’re better than us".

alas as the teachings of the Sri Sing Sahib Yogi Bhajan, have once again come into criticism... i for one, can say my life was transformed through the teachings of Yogi Bhajan...which to this day have greatly enhanced my life..and the peace and contentment i feel to this day.

like the teachings of the Buddah, Jesus Christ, and many others, there will always be critics...always someone to cast shadows upon their character ... and i always consider why???

In Yogi Bhajans teachings, i know that to be a great teacher and leader..their must be sacrifice... and a willingness to be open to those who will hate and love...as well as their life is at stake as well....all great teachers have been criticized and this is a mark of true greatness..

for if you know... Gandhi himself was shot by a Punjab Sikh.

blind love and devotion is painful to watch for the ones who consider themselves unloved...for they cannot understand such a beautiful relationship..

and always diminish it to the base- er parts of life from which they draw their understanding... sex, money, survival...all the lower chackras.

when i read you views on Yogi Bhajan..and the disrespect in which you describe the great Yogi G...

i find my self having compassion for the writer... for if we are an educated being...we understand the fundamentals in life

which is ...everything in life exists in duality...for it must to stay here and in balance.

it would seem the tone and timber of ur message would be of a personal and not intellectual bias

and if we know anything about Yogi Bhajsn, he always taught to not take him in a personal way...but to relate to his soul....his radiant being.

what are material things in comparison to the gifts he gave humanity...freely... lovingly... unselfishly... and still to this day gracefully withstands the tyranny of ignorance???

for he says ... if we cant see god in all...we cant see god at all... and this too applies to the haters.

Gems and precious stones... they do protect... and perhaps this was the way he had to teach you a lesson you need to learn to move ahead in ur life without resentment or malice...

would it be so hard to pay a couple grand for a beautiful gem???

i know many Sikhs in the Khalsa as well as out of the Khalsa whom Yogi g has given freely prieless gems to..

the recipes he shared with us... another gift...

my life is for the better as well as so many others i know who have been touched directly or indirectly by the Great Yogi Bhajan...

he did not encourage devotion to him as a person... like the pope... he encouraged devotion to God...

and your personal ideas of him, are of course your choice and you will

but i wonder... is your message the intent of helping??? or hurting???

and everything in this world is based in intention.

for, isnt even a small good greater than no good at all????

you have chosen a battle which seems to be vain, and personally driven ... not unlike a spoiled child who did not get what they want for christmas

and i will go further to say... it is evident you are an unhappy person...still searching for peace

you should have purchased the gem... for you have no idea the lesson of letting go of a little cash could have taught you

he would not ask that of someone who didnt have the cash... he would have given it to them...

you missed the lesson my friend

you denied yourself and still deny yourself love an respect...

you cannot change the good Yogi Bhajan has done for millions and millions on this earth...who only took him for what he is...

an this is a great teacher...

and applied his teachings to thier lives... and received the greatest payoff of all... peace of mind... new found respect for themselves and others..

there will always be critics...and haters... and nay sayers... for something and someone as great as the great Yogi Bhajan could not be as great without great critics..

and i am sure... his love for you is a strong and compassionate as it ever was... even though you hate...

he can love you unconditionally... for man is fraught with contradiction... and misery....

an you are no different..as well as you are just as deserving of love and peace as any of us

to reduce Yogi Bhajan to sex, and money, power and greed, clearly indicates where you are stuck in your own life...and it is sad... but not unpredictable ... nor unique in its quest to debunk a great being...

in fact you are common place...and an ordinary man ... who cannot see feel smell or hear the EXTRAORDINARY LIFE THAT SRI SIRI SINGH SAHIB YOGI BHAJAN IS...WAS...AND ALWAYS WILL BE.... ETERNAL IN THE HOLY SAT NAM

and thank you for reminding me of this duplicity in man...and refreshing me in his greatness... his unmeasured kindness...and worth!!!

humbly and sincerely

Siri Dyal Kaur

I see by your post that you did not spend much time around Yogi Bhajan or his 3HO Sikhs. I spent 30 years around Yogi Bhajan, living in his 3HO cult. Only after a severe wake up call while I was being detained in India and living among true Gursikhs, did I realize what a complete fraud Yogi Bhajan and his 3HO Sikhs are. I know it is hard to believe when you see these young people all dressed in white with perfect bana and turbans but believe me when I say, not all is what it seems to be. I encourage you to read Dr. Trilochan Singh's book "Sikhism and Tantric Yoga" which is the true story of Yogi Bhajan and 3HO.

Please read an Excerpt below taken from

"Sikhism and Tantric Yoga"
by Dr. Trilochan Singh (Link to entire book)

Please read an Excerpt below taken from

"Sikhism and Tantric Yoga"
by Dr. Trilochan Singh (Link to entire book)

You may also view individual chapters to "Sikhism and Tantric Yoga" at these links:

Sikhism & Tantric Yoga A Critical Evaluation of Yogi Bhajan
http://www.gurmukhyoga.com/forum/index.php?id=192

Sikh Doctrines and Yogi Bhajan's Secret Science
http://www.gurmukhyoga.com/forum/index.php?id=193

Yogi Bhajan's Adi Shakti Shaktimans and Shaktis
http://www.gurmukhyoga.com/forum/index.php?id=194

Yogi Bhajan's Clap Trap Theories of Kundalini Yoga
http://www.gurmukhyoga.com/forum/index.php?id=195

Yogi Bhajan's Ego Maniac Utterances
http://www.gurmukhyoga.com/forum/index.php?id=205

Yogi Bhajan's Seven Years in America and His Tinkling Titles
http://www.gurmukhyoga.com/forum/index.php?id=206

Yogi Bhajan's Arrest and Release on Bail
http://www.gurmukhyoga.com/forum/index.php?id=207

Yogi Bhajan Becomes the Only Maha Tantric in the World
http://www.gurmukhyoga.com/forum/index.php?id=208

Sikh Leaders without Conscience
http://www.gurmukhyoga.com/forum/index.php?id=209

Call to Truth and Authentic Sikhism
http://www.gurmukhyoga.com/forum/index.php?id=210

See more photos and discussion on facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=108156&id=1214270541&l=5a22781e63

“Amid the legal infighting following Yogi Bhajan’s death, critics are offering another portrait of the Sikh leader.”

Simple way to look at the damaging affects of Yogi Bhajan's teachings:

Sure the yoga and mantras YB taught get you high and give you a sense of well being but these are false highs like some drug. Eventually leading to corruption and destruction as we saw with Yogi Bhajan's personal life, ie the Premka scandal and other corrupt and illegal practices. What we are now seeing with the infighting and greed between the Unto Infinity Board and Sikh Dharma is another example of the rotten fruit produced from Yogi Bhajan's corrupt teachings and practices.

Below is a discussion I had with Guru Fatah Singh about Yogi Bhajan and his teachings. This might give you some insight into why the Kundalini and tantric yoga which Yogi Bhajan taught eventually leads to "physical and mental debauchery" as Dr. Trilochan said 33 years ago in his well researched book that was highly critical of Yogi Bhajan.

Since you are quoting Jesus I will refer to the entire bible quotation about this subject as stated in Matthew 7:15 through Matthew 7:23:

A Tree and Its Fruit 15"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. 21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

I would say Yogi Bhajan’s fruit looks pretty rotten at this point if you consider the corrupt leaders in 3HO that Yogi Bhajan hand picked for the Unto Infinity Board and Sikh Dharma leadership. If you’re not already aware of the current corruption in the inner halls of 3HO then I will include here a quotation from MSS Guru Terath Singh whom you no doubt respect since you have included in this article’s discussion forum below, a long rebuttal he wrote in 1977 against the Time magazine article which was highly critical of Yogi Bhajan. Yes indeed, "Time will tell" if Yogi Bhajan was a false prophet and whether he produced good or bad fruit. Personally I would rather place my bets for salvation on the traditional values and teachings of Sikhism as exemplified in the lives and teachings of the Sikh Gurus, the scriptures of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib and Dr. Trilochan Singh’s writings rather than the sacrilegious hodgepodge of tantric and shakti cult rubbish which Yogi Bhajan espouses and no traditional Sikh supports. Signed Guru Sant Singh

From: gt khalsa <gtkhalsa_2000@yahoo.com> Subject: [khalsa-council] A Global Settlement To: khalsa-council@mail-list.com Date: Sunday, March 28, 2010, 6:24 PM Sat Nam. If I were a young man searching for a spiritual path - as I was at one time - and read the emails that have been posted for the world to read over the past year, I would see what appeared to be one group that was a bunch of crooks and the other that was a bunch of very angry, self-righteous, old people. The only thing they would have in common would be their spiritual practices. I would, of course, quickly move on with my search. This is the real danger that the SSS's legacy is facing. If this goes on, I expect that there will be a well funded SDI with very few people. There will be a SDW with many more people, but with inadequate, ongoing funding to do much of anything in the years ahead……… M.S.S. Guru Terath Singh

Guru Terath Singh is right, of course. That is why people like me are investing in keeping the teachings, the authenticity and the legacy alive. Guru Fatha Singh Khalsa (talk) 16:12, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

To Guru Fatha Singh Khalsa:

You seem to be overlooking the obvious 800 pound gorilla in the room. [10]The actions of YB’s students prove the result of Yogi Bhajan's corrupt teachings. In fact, Yogi Bhajan set up the insane power structure of the Unto Infinity Board which controls all of the 3HO finances. Yogi Bhajan installed five corrupt people who are not even Sikhs anymore and who control the Unto Infinity Board for life! Guru Terath Singh has so astutely alluded to Yogi Bhajan's folie and the danger of the truth coming out about Yogi Bhajan’s legacy. Signed Guru Sant Singh

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa
Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh!
Dear Guru Fatha Singh Ji,

I am not sure what you mean by this comment "I am Yogi Bhajan's student." If you are saying, look at me I have done allot of good because of what Yogi Bhajan taught me, then my reply would be, think about what more good you could have done and be doing without Yogi Bhajan and his teachings. I know for myself that I am a better person and a better Sikh without the teachings of Yogi Bhajan.

I particularly like this quotation below from a traditional Punjabi Sikh;

"Some people may not like Yogi Bhajan bashing and will say, "Look at what he has done for Sikhi." I personally would have liked to see what Sikhi would have been like without him."