I left 3HO but have not left Sikhism
My spouse and I are some of the only people I know of who have left 3HO for strong reasons of conscience, but have not left Sikhism. Our allegiance is, and always has been, to the Guru first, last and always. There was a time when we believed that Yogi Bhajan was a righteous and honorable spiritual representative of the Guru, but after many years of denial, we had to sadly admit that he is corrupt, unethical, manipulative and cruel.
Nevertheless, we understood the teachings of Guru Gobind Singh, that no Sikh should ever bow to a man, and when we were betrayed by that man, we simply turned our backs on him and turned our faces towards the True Guru, where we should have looked for guidance all along. We are grateful that he led us to the feet of the Guru, but there our relationship with him ends. All the guidance that a Sikh will ever need is found in Siri Guru Granth Sahib. When a man, no matter how exalted in position, tells his followers to commit acts that are in direct violation of the teachings of Siri Guru Granth Sahib, a true Sikh must make a decision whether to follow that man or to follow the Guru. We chose our Guru.
Yogi Bhajan teaches and practices many things that are specifically forbidden in the Sikh Reht. Among these things are numerology, astrology, corrupt business practices (phone rooms for example), and support for marital infidelity. By his own admission he is corrupt, and to quote his exact words, "Truth is whatever works." These are not the words of a spiritual man, but of a sociopath. He has authorized his followers toturn people away who do not have a lot of money, saying that he does not want people like that around, he only wants people who make a lot of money.
This is not hearsay this is direct experience. Many, many innocent and idealistic people have been taken in by his false words, and left with nothing to show for their loyalty but broken hearts and broken lives. To warn people about Yogi Bhajan is not a slur against Sikhism, but a public service. One point I disagree with you on is when you equated his "Inner Circle" followers with being "Spiritually High". The one does not automatically assume the other to be a fact. Most of his inner circle was chosen for reasons of having large trust funds, or for more unspiritual reasons.
In almost every example from Sikh history, the most spiritually exalted devotees were the most poor, and the most humble, not the ones in fancy clothes dripping jewels, who refused to eat Langar with the Sangat.
A common practice in cult mentality is to label everyone inside the cult as "good", and everyone who leaves the cult as "bad". It is this kind of cult thinking that makes us know that 3HO is not practicing true Sikhism, but is instead largely a personality cult around Yogi Bhajan. To say that everyone who leaves goes downhill lost in drugs and booze is nothing more than a scare tactic designed to control followers.
There can be many reasons why a person would elect to leave 3HO. One of the best reasons is that many people after experiencing 3HO found it to be severely codependent and dysfunctional, and intolerant of anyone wishing to assert healthy boundaries and a high degree of psychological functionality. I personally know a number of people who have left 3HO who are highly functional people, raising happy, healthy, spiritually evolved and highly functional children. I cannot say the same thing for many of the children in 3HO, especially those in the India Program.
Please, do not make the mistake of equating 3HO with Sikhism. There are millions of Sikhs in the world who are not members of 3HO, and who do not regard or need Yogi Bhajan as their spiritual teacher, who nevertheless are very devoted, moral and decent human beings. We are two of them.
Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa,Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh.
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I left 3HO but have not left Sikhism
ਠਗਾ ਨੀਹੁ ਮਤ੍ਰੋੜਿ ਜਾਣੁ ਗੰਧ੍ਰਬਾ ਨਗਰੀ ॥
Break off your love with the cheaters; realize that it is a mirage.
ਸੁਖ ਘਟਾਊ ਡੂਇ ਇਸੁ ਪੰਧਾਣੂ ਘਰ ਘਣੇ ॥3॥॥
Your pleasure lasts for only two moments; this traveller wanders through countless homes. ||3||
ਓ ਜੀਵ, ਇਹਨਾਂ ਮਾਇਆ ਦੇ ਅਗਰਕਾਂ ਭਾਵ ਠਗਾਂ ਨਾਲ ਜੋ ਤੇਰਾ ਨੇਹ (ਪਿਆਰ) ਪਿਆ ਹੋਇਆ ਹੈ, ਉਹ ਤੋੜ ਦੇ ਤੇ ਮਾਇਆ ਦੇ ਰਸਾਂ ਕਸਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਗੰਧਰਬਾਂ ਦੀ ਨਗਰੀ ਵਾਂਗ ਝੂਠ ਜਾਣ। ਇਸ ਮਾਇਆ ਦਾ ਸੁਖ ਤਾਂ ਦੋ ਘੜੀਆਂ ਦਾ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਹੈ ਪਰ ਇਸ ਦੇ ਰਸਤੇ ਤੇ ਪਏ ਮੁਸਾਫਿਰਾਂ ਨੁੰ ਕਈ ਘਰ ਬਸਾਉਣੇ ਪੈਂਦੇ ਹਨ ਭਾਵ ਜਨਮ-ਮਰਨ ਦੇ ਗੇੜ ਵਿਚ ਪੈਣਾ ਪੈਂਦਾ ਹੈ।
In the first pankiti ‘Gandharba Nagri’ has been translated as mirage which is not correct. The correct meanings in my humble opinion are - to consider the maya and it’s agents as false as the mythical Gandharba Nagri.
In the second pankiti ‘wanders through countless homes’ should be elaborated and translated as wandering through several homes by taking births and rebirths.
I think we have gone through the questions that this Gursikh poster has raised but let’s go through them one by one:
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Who are the cheaters?
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The thugs here are referred to the agents of Maya. Anything that takes one away from Vaheguru is maya or it’s agent. Specifically Gurbani has listed five thugs that are very prominent agents of maya and under their influence one does not care about Vaheguru. They five thugs are as follows:
ਰਾਜੁ ਮਾਲੁ ਰੂਪੁ ਜਾਤਿ ਜੋਬਨੁ ਪੰਜੇ ਠਗ ॥
ਏਨੀ ਠਗੀਂ ਜਗੁ ਠਗਿਆ ਕਿਨੈ ਨ ਰਖੀ ਲਜ ॥
As per the first pankiti, the five prominent thugs are
Raaj (kingdom, power)
Maal (money, wealth)
Roop (beauty)
Jaat (high caste, great family)
Joban (youth).
The second pankiti states that these thugs have not spared anyone’s honour in this world i.e. everyone is under their influence.
Whoever possesses these above stated 5 thugs of maya, finds it very hard to get out of their influence. One who is handsome or beautiful stays conscious of this and develops ego because of it. One who is of high caste thinks that just because he or she belongs to a great family, he or she is superior to others and so on.
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What is the mirage?
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Maya is that mirage. One thinks one can have maya but no one can really possess it. This is why Guru Sahib has said that:
ਇਹ ਜੁ ਦੁਨੀਆ ਸਿਹਰੁ ਮੇਲਾ ਦਸਤਗੀਰੀ ਨਾਹਿ ॥1॥
This world is an enchanted world that seems real but is not. There is no dastageeri here i.e. one cannot possess anything here.
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Who is the traveller?
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Jeev of course. If this jeev goes astray from the path of Gurmat then he becomes the traveller in countless homes i.e. takes several janams.
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What are the countless homes?
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Countless homes are countless homes that we will reside in if we don’t follow Gurmat. So far, we have had countless parents, brother, sisters, daughters, sons and Gurus as per the following pankiti:
ਘਰ ਦਰ ਫਿਰਿ ਥਾਕੀ ਬਹੁਤੇਰੇ ॥
ਜਾਤਿ ਅਸੰਖ ਅੰਤ ਨਹੀ ਮੇਰੇ ॥
ਕੇਤੇ ਮਾਤ ਪਿਤਾ ਸੁਤ ਧੀਆ ॥
ਕੇਤੇ ਗੁਰ ਚੇਲੇ ਫੁਨਿ ਹੂਆ ॥
ਕਾਚੇ ਗੁਰ ਤੇ ਮੁਕਤਿ ਨ ਹੂਆ ॥
In the above pankitis Guru Sahib talks about several houses that we have wandered around. These houses that we have resided in are so many that they can’t be counted. There have been countless mothers, countless fathers, countless sons and daughters to us in our previous lives. Then we have had several gurus and several disciples. But because these gurus were not Satguru, we did not get salvation