Legal Infighting within Yogi Bhajan's organizations

by Gursant Singh , Yuba City California USA, Friday, June 11, 2010, 13:18 (5284 days ago) @ Gursant Singh

Just read in these letters the infighting that is going on in the 3HO Sikh community and decide for yourself if the Tantric yoga Yogi Bhajan taught his students is damaging or not.
Please read an Excerpt below taken from

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

Dear Members of the Khalsa Council and Sadh Sangat,

Sat Nam and blessings. Last Thursday Golden Temple’s attorneys confirmed definitively to SDI and the court that UI no longer owned Golden Temple and that there was a sale pending of the Golden Temple cereal division. While no binding agreement had been entered into, the sale was expected to take place before the end of March.

SDI’s attorneys immediately began work on a Motion for Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to stop the sale. On Monday SDI deposed Golden Temple’s management and following those depositions the attorneys discussed meeting to resolve this matter prior to the TRO hearing scheduled for Thursday, February 25th at 1 p.m. In accordance with the schedule set last week, the TRO Motion was filed with the court on Tuesday, February 23rd. Following up on Monday’s discussion, on Tuesday Golden Temple’s attorneys invited SDI’s attorneys along with three of the Plaintiffs to meet to discuss the proposed transaction and why it was, in Golden Temple’s view, beneficial for the whole community.

Those meetings took place on Wednesday afternoon and evening and continued on Thursday morning as it was clear that this was going to be the avenue of action that would produce the best results, given the circumstances of the proposed sale transaction; albeit contemplating the loss of Golden Temple Cereal is and was extraordinarily disheartening.

After these lengthy discussions, SDI, the Defendants and Golden Temple reached an agreement, in which SDI would withdraw its TRO Motion in exchange for certain promises from the Defendants and Golden Temple. Late on Thursday afternoon, the parties’ agreement was presented to Judge Roberts who approved the agreement and signed it into effect as a Stipulated Order.

The decision not to pursue the TRO was reached after much discussion, prayer and meditation by the SDI Board members, the Plaintiffs and their legal team and advisors. Although our ultimate objective was to prevent the sale of Golden Temple until the litigation was concluded, given the tremendous momentum that had already gone into the sale, the next best alternative was to acquire the provisions included in the Stipulated Order. This was a difficult decision.

In summary, the order states that:
• SDI withdraws its TRO.
• All proceeds of the sale, though they are managed by Golden Temple Management (GTM), KIIT or UI, are held in escrow so that they do not benefit any individual during the period of this litigation.
• SDI will be allowed to share additional details of the cereal division sale with the community, that were discovered in the course of this process, once the sale goes through at the end of March.
• The four individual defendants, UI, KIIT, Golden Temple of Oregon (GTO) and GTM agree that so long as the litigation is continuing they will not sell any other portions of Golden Temple (which is really the Yogi Tea business - neither the US or European divisions) nor will they sell Akal Security.
o Note – GTO is allowed to sell such assets as it may need to in the regular course of business (such as outdated tea making machines)
• GTO will not increase compensation to any of its members during the course of this litigation, except for standard bonuses and cost of living increases.
• The CCC grants will continue to be covered. However the funding will now come from the interest on the escrow account and donations from GTO. This total must make $1.8 million per year. If these two funds total less than $1.8 million ($1.6 million for CCC grants and $250,000 for KIIT operating expenses) KIIT is authorized to withdraw funds from the escrow account to meet this total.
• The remainder of the 2010 grant funds set aside for SDI will be given to the custody of the SDI board that was in place at that start of this lawsuit, within 7 days. (Note – the first quarter grant funds for SDI were given to SDS).

Note, no one has waived any claims or defenses or given up any rights in the litigation by entering into this agreement.

We would invite the sangat to the Sikh Dharma Worldwide website (www.sikhdharmaworldwide.org) to read the order in its entirety to understand more detail of this complex agreement.

It was the Sikh Dharma International Board’s hope that we would be able to serve the sangat to uphold the Siri Singh Sahib’s Legacy Businesses, but because the GTM & UIB had gone to such lengths to conceal their commitment to sell this business that by the time we discovered their plans, it was basically too late to stop the sale. So it is with great sorrow that we must bow to the Will of God recognizing all that happens is for some greater purpose. We are grateful that we have engaged ourselves in this process so as to be able to prevent the likelihood of this happening again, at least for the duration of this litigation.

We live in faith that the Guru is guiding our sangat and future. Your prayers have made a difference and will continue to bring truth and light to this challenge we face collectively.

In Service to the Sangat of the Guru,

The Sikh Dharma International Board of Directors

Update on Court Hearing - Thurs. Feb 25

From: Gurujot Kaur Khalsa <gurujot@jeweloflife.com>
Date: February 27, 2010 7:59:38 AM GMT+02:00

Sat Nam. The following is a letter from the SDI Board of Directors regarding the court hearing on Thursday, Feb. 25th.
Blessings, Gurujot Kaur.

Dear Members of the Khalsa Council and Sadh Sangat,

Sat Nam and blessings. Last Thursday Golden Temple’s attorneys confirmed definitively to SDI and the court that UI no longer owned Golden Temple and that there was a sale pending of the Golden Temple cereal division. While no binding agreement had been entered into, the sale was expected to take place before the end of March.

SDI’s attorneys immediately began work on a Motion for Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to stop the sale. On Monday SDI deposed Golden Temple’s management and following those depositions the attorneys discussed meeting to resolve this matter prior to the TRO hearing scheduled for Thursday, February 25th at 1 p.m. In accordance with the schedule set last week, the TRO Motion was filed with the court on Tuesday, February 23rd. Following up on Monday’s discussion, on Tuesday Golden Temple’s attorneys invited SDI’s attorneys along with three of the Plaintiffs to meet to discuss the proposed transaction and why it was, in Golden Temple’s view, beneficial for the whole community.

Those meetings took place on Wednesday afternoon and evening and continued on Thursday morning as it was clear that this was going to be the avenue of action that would produce the best results, given the circumstances of the proposed sale transaction; albeit contemplating the loss of Golden Temple Cereal is and was extraordinarily disheartening.

After these lengthy discussions, SDI, the Defendants and Golden Temple reached an agreement, in which SDI would withdraw its TRO Motion in exchange for certain promises from the Defendants and Golden Temple. Late on Thursday afternoon, the parties’ agreement was presented to Judge Roberts who approved the agreement and signed it into effect as a Stipulated Order.

The decision not to pursue the TRO was reached after much discussion, prayer and meditation by the SDI Board members, the Plaintiffs and their legal team and advisors. Although our ultimate objective was to prevent the sale of Golden Temple until the litigation was concluded, given the tremendous momentum that had already gone into the sale, the next best alternative was to acquire the provisions included in the Stipulated Order. This was a difficult decision.

In summary, the order states that:
• SDI withdraws its TRO.
• All proceeds of the sale, though they are managed by Golden Temple Management (GTM), KIIT or UI, are held in escrow so that they do not benefit any individual during the period of this litigation.
• SDI will be allowed to share additional details of the cereal division sale with the community, that were discovered in the course of this process, once the sale goes through at the end of March.
• The four individual defendants, UI, KIIT, Golden Temple of Oregon (GTO) and GTM agree that so long as the litigation is continuing they will not sell any other portions of Golden Temple (which is really the Yogi Tea business - neither the US or European divisions) nor will they sell Akal Security.
o Note – GTO is allowed to sell such assets as it may need to in the regular course of business (such as outdated tea making machines)
• GTO will not increase compensation to any of its members during the course of this litigation, except for standard bonuses and cost of living increases.
• The CCC grants will continue to be covered. However the funding will now come from the interest on the escrow account and donations from GTO. This total must make $1.8 million per year. If these two funds total less than $1.8 million ($1.6 million for CCC grants and $250,000 for KIIT operating expenses) KIIT is authorized to withdraw funds from the escrow account to meet this total.
• The remainder of the 2010 grant funds set aside for SDI will be given to the custody of the SDI board that was in place at that start of this lawsuit, within 7 days. (Note – the first quarter grant funds for SDI were given to SDS).

Note, no one has waived any claims or defenses or given up any rights in the litigation by entering into this agreement.

We would invite the sangat to the Sikh Dharma Worldwide website (www.sikhdharmaworldwide.org) to read the order in its entirety to understand more detail of this complex agreement.

It was the Sikh Dharma International Board’s hope that we would be able to serve the sangat to uphold the Siri Singh Sahib’s Legacy Businesses, but because the GTM & UIB had gone to such lengths to conceal their commitment to sell this business that by the time we discovered their plans, it was basically too late to stop the sale. So it is with great sorrow that we must bow to the Will of God recognizing all that happens is for some greater purpose. We are grateful that we have engaged ourselves in this process so as to be able to prevent the likelihood of this happening again, at least for the duration of this litigation.

We live in faith that the Guru is guiding our sangat and future. Your prayers have made a difference and will continue to bring truth and light to this challenge we face collectively.

In Service to the Sangat of the Guru,

The Sikh Dharma International Board of Directors

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