|
Family
Singh was born on August 26, 1929 into a Sikh family in Kot Harkarn,
district Gujranwala, in the province of Punjab (British India). His
father, Dr. Kartar Singh Puri, served the British Raj as a medical
doctor. His mother was named Harkrishan Kaur. His father was born in
the Sikh tradition, while his mother was a Hindu, and youn Harbhajan
was educated in a Catholic school run by nuns. Theirs was a
well-to-do landlord family, owning most of their village in the
foothills of the Himalayas.[4] Singh married Inderjit Kaur Uppal in
Delhi in 1954. They had three children, Ranbir Singh, Kulbir Singh
and Kamaljit Kaur.[5]
In 1976, Singh legally changed his name to Harbhajan Singh Khalsa.
His wife, known as "Bibiji" went on to inherit the religious post of
"Bhai Sahiba" of Sikh Dharma of the Western Hemisphere in the 1980s.
[edit] Education
Most influential of Singh's relations in his early development was
his paternal grandfather, Bhai Fateh Singh, who taught him the
foundations of Sikh dharma. As a teen, Singh spent several years
under the strict tutelage of Sant Hazara Singh who declared his
student a Master of Kundalini Yoga at the young age of sixteen.[6]
Singh's schooling was interrupted in 1947 by the violent partition
of India, when he and his family fled to New Delhi as refugees.
There, Singh attended Camp College – a hastily put together
arrangement for thousands of refugee students – and led the Sikh
Students Federation in Delhi.[7] Four years later, he graduated with
a Masters Degree in Economics.[8]
Singh years later graduated from the University of Humanistic
Studies in San Francisco with a Ph.D. in Psychology with his seminal
doctoral thesis, Communication: Liberation or Condemnation.[9]
[edit] Indian Civil Service
In 1953, Singh entered the Indian Civil Service. Singh served in the
Revenue Department, where his duties took him all over India.
Eventually, he was promoted to the post of customs inspector for the
country's largest airport, outside of Delhi.[8]
[edit] Yogic study in India
Throughout his life, Singh continued his practice and pursuit of
yogic knowledge.[10] His government duties often facilitated his
traveling to remote ashrams and distant hermitages in order to seek
out reclusive yogis and swamis.
In the mid-1960s, 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.[11]
[edit] Migration to North America
Singh emigrated to Canada in 1968. According to his own account, he
left India under pressure to participate in Soviet psychic
experiments at their designated research center in Tashkent.[12]
Although a promised position as director of a new yogic studies
department at the University of Toronto did not materialize because
of the death of his sponsor, Singh the Yogi made a considerable
impact in the predominantly Anglo-Saxon metropolis. In three months,
he established classes at several YMCAs, co-founded a yoga centre,
was interviewed for national press and television, and helped set in
motion the creation of eastern Canada's first Sikh temple in time
for Guru Nanak's five hundredth birthday the following year.[13]
Late in 1968, bearded and turbaned Singh went to visit a friend in
Los Angeles, but ended up staying to share the teachings of
Kundalini Yoga with the already longhaired members of the hippie
counterculture of California and New Mexico. In effect, he had found
his calling.[14]
[edit] Kundalini yoga
Yoga practice and philosophy is generally considered a part of Hindu
culture, but Singh distinguished himself as a teacher and
practitioner of yoga and a Sikh. Singh would say he was adhering to
the fundamental, empowering roots of Sikh teachings. He would quote
Bhai Gurdas to say, “The Sikhs who are Yogis remain detached and
wakeful in the world of attachments.” (Var 29, Verse 15)[15]
While adhering to the three pillars of Patanjali's traditional yoga
system: discipline, self-awareness and self-dedication (Patanjali
Yoga Sutras, II:1), Kundalini Yoga as Taught by Yogi Bhajan does not
condone extremes of asceticism or renunciation. Singh encouraged his
students to marry, establish businesses, and be fully engaged in
society. Rather than worshiping God, Singh insisted that his
students train their mind to experience God.[16]
Singh was a master of kundalini yoga. His students referred to
Singh's teachings as Raj Yoga which they described as the yoga of
living detached, yet fully engaged in the world.[17] In respect of
the rigor of his teachings, Singh would find kinship with other 20th
century Sikh sadhu saints, such as Sant Baba Attar Singh, Sant Baba
Nand Singh, and Bhai Randhir Singh. In the outreach of his
teachings, Singh's contributions are unparalleled in modern
times.[18]
[edit] Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization
Main article: 3HO
In 1969, Singh established the 3HO (Healthy, Happy, Holy
Organization) Foundation to further his missionary work. It served
his premise that every human possessed the birthright to be healthy,
happy and holy. According to Yogi Bhajan, it was only a matter of
unlearning one set of habits and replacing it with a kinder, more
uplifting routine.[19]
For some of the free-spirited hippies, Singh's discipline was more
than they could take. Others, however, took to it almost naturally.
Most of them were already longhaired. Many were already vegetarian.
They liked to experience elevated states of awareness. They also
deeply wanted to feel they were contributing to a world of peace and
social justice. Singh offered them all these things with vigorous
yoga, an embracing holistic vision, and an optimistic spirit of
sublime destiny.[20]
By 1972, there would be over one hundred 3HO yoga ashrams mostly in
the U.S., but also in Canada, Europe and Israel. Student-teachers
would rise each day for a cold shower and two-and-a-half hours of
yoga and meditation before sunrise. Often, they would spend the rest
of the day at some "family business" be it a natural foods
restaurant, or a landscaping business, or some other concern. A Sikh
was supposed to earn honestly "by the sweat of their brow" and many
did just that.[21]
By the 1990s, there was a culture shift. On a personal level, rising
early and overtly being a Sikh was considered more of an option than
an implied directive. Meanwhile, the surviving communal businesses
had incorporated and many had grown exponentially to keep pace with
the rising demand for health-oriented products and services. This
period also saw an increased interest in yoga worldwide.[22]
To serve the changing times, Singh created the International
Kundalini Yoga Teachers Association, dedicated to setting standards
for teachers and the propagation of the teachings.[23]
In 1994, the 3HO Foundation joined the United Nations as a
non-governmental organization in consultative status with the
Economic and Social Council, representing women's issues, promoting
human rights, and providing education about alternative systems of
medicine.[23]
[edit] Aquarian age timeline
In spring of 1969, soon after Singh had begun teaching in Los
Angeles, a hit medley "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" was topping the
music charts and being played everywhere. The performers, The 5th
Dimension, happened to be signed to a record label owned by one of
his students (and his green card sponsor), musician and entrepreneur
Johnny Rivers.[24]
Singh incorporated the storyline of the dawning new age into his
teachings, a case of melding Western astrology with Sikh tradition.
"Guru Nanak," proclaimed Singh, "was the Guru for the Aquarian Age."
It was, he declared, to be an age where people first experienced
God, then believed, rather than the old way of believing and then
being liberated by one's faith.[25]
His timeline for the arrival of the Aquarian age varied over the
years, but in 1992, Singh fixed it at 2012 and gave his students a
set of morning meditations to practice until that date to prepare
themselves.[26]
[edit] Native American connections
Some of Singh's earliest students in Los Angeles had spent time in
New Mexico influenced by Native American, especially Hopi teachings.
To fulfill their wishes, he accompanied them in June 1969 to their
summer solstice celebration at the Tesuque Indian reservation
outside of Santa Fe.[27]
At the next year's celebration, a delegation of Hopi Indian elders
arrived. They spoke of their ancient legend that before the end of
the present age of darkness, a white-clad warrior would come from
the East and create an army of warriors in white who would rise up
and protect the "Unified Supreme Spirit." A sweat lodge ceremony was
held and a sacred arrow given in trust to him. The elders explained
that they had determined he was the white-clad warrior of their
legend.[28]
Seven years later, he purchased a large parcel of land in the Jemez
Mountains where the Hopis had indicated sacred gatherings had taken
place for thousands of years. The elders had said this land needed
to be prepared so "the Unified Supreme Spirit can once again be
experienced by the great tribes and spread through all the people of
the world." The land was named "Ram Das Puri" and annual solstice
prayers and festivities have been celebrated there every summer
since. Since 1990, these have included a Hopi sacred prayer
walk.[29]
[edit] Pilgrimage to Amritsar
In the winter of 1970-71, Singh brought an entourage of eighty-four
Americans on a pilgrimage to the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, India.
The Punjabi Sikhs had never seen Westerners in turbans before, and
at first, they were suspicious. The Sikh administration in the holy
city of Amritsar was in a turmoil. Once they understood that the
devotion of the Westerners was genuine, they approved of the visit.
Of the eight-four Americans, twenty-six took vows to join the Order
of Khalsa as full-fledged Sikhs.
On March 3, 1971, outside the Akal Takhat (the traditional seat of
Sikh temporal authority in Amritsar), Sant Fateh Singh and Sant
Chanan Singh bestowed on Singh a ceremonial sword and a robe of
honor and a unique designation. They had reasoned that Yogi Singh
had indeed created "Singh Sahibs" (noble lions), and to continue in
his work he would need a higher designation. For this reason, they
gave Singh the unprecedented title of "great, noble lion": Siri
Singh Sahib.[30] Because no one before in all of Sikh history had
received this title, it would ignite controversy in years to come.
Regardless, the title's bestowing on Singh was confirmed in future
correspondence from the religious authorities in Amritsar.[citation
needed]
[edit] Inter-faith work
In the summer of 1970, Singh participated in an informal "Holy Man
Jam" at the University of Colorado at Boulder with Swami
Satchidananda, Stephen Gaskin of The Farm in Tennessee, Zen Buddhist
Bill Quan-roshi, and other local luminaries. A few weeks later, he
carried that inspiration forward and organized a gathering of
spiritual teachers to engage and inspire the 200,000 attendees of
the Atlanta Pop Festival on the stage between the performance of the
bands.[31]
These seminal events served to awaken interest in inter-faith
discussion such as had not been seen since the 1920s. In 1972, Singh
participated in religious panels at Harvard University, Cornell
University, Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. That same year, he visited Pope Paul VI and advised him
to convene a gathering of friendship and understanding for
representatives of all religions. He reminded Paul VI that catholic
meant "universal" and suggested that, as head of the world's largest
religious organization, he would be the most suitable leader to host
such a meeting.[32]
Singh maintained his relationship with the Catholic Church under
Pope John Paul II. In 1983 and again in 1984, they met. When the
Golden Temple came under assault from the Indian Army with the loss
of life of many hundreds of pilgrims, the pontiff offered his
official condolences.[33]
During the United Nations Year of Peace 1986, Singh instituted a
yearly Peace Prayer Day for people of all denominations at the
Summer Solstice near Santa Fe.[34]
In that same year, Pope John Paul II convened a gathering of
religious representatives of the world such as Singh had proposed
fourteen years earlier. Singh participated in a ceremony held the
same day in Los Angeles.[35]
All through the 1970s and 80s, Singh actively engaged in and chaired
numerous inter-religious councils and forums, including the
Inter-Religious Council of Southern California, the World Conference
for the Unity of Man, and the World Parliament of Religions.[36] In
1999, he gave a presentation at the Parliament of the World's
Religions in Cape Town, South Africa.[37]
[edit] Gender relations
Singh, the son of a graceful mother, was deeply shocked and offended
by the exploitation of women in America. In 1971, he taught a
gathering of his female students that they were the "Grace of God."
Thus began the Grace of God Movement for the Women of America. Strip
clubs in Hollywood were briefly picketed, but Singh's real emphasis
was on re-educating America's largest exploited class.[38]
In the summer of 1975 Singh held an eight week camp in New Mexico
where he taught the psychology of a successful woman. Successive
camps included subjects such as martial arts, rappelling, fire arms
training and healing arts to build the character and confidence of
the women in training, which is why the camps were designated "Khalsa
Women Training Camps." [39]
Although Singh did teach a few weekend courses for men, his emphasis
was on women because he recognized in them the foundation of any
society, and he wanted to fundamentally end the disempowerment of
Western women and the destruction of families.[38] In his words:
"God lives in a cozy home."
While encouraging his female students to practice natural childbirth
and to breast-feed, practices which were not widely adhered to in
the early 1970s, Singh also revived the ancient Indian custom of
celebrating the arrival of the new soul at the one hundred twentieth
day of pregnancy. This laid emphasis on the dignity and divinity of
motherhood.[39] By adhering to this historic custom, Singh also
encouraged his women students in family planning. (In Catholic
tradition, which is very significant to this issue in the West, the
belief that pregnancy actually begins at the quickening, around the
fourth month, was adhered to up to the time of Pius IX.) They should
only to embark on motherhood if they were fully prepared to accept
the responsibilities – and if they were not, then to terminate a
pregnancy before the second trimester was far preferable (and
certainly not a sin) to bringing a soul into ungraceful
circumstances.
Singh also encouraged mothers to swaddle their infants and families
to sleep all together, another traditional practice, although he
afterwards stated that he lost nearly a third of his students over
this one teaching.[40]
As far as homosexuality was concerned, Singh at first was shocked by
the phenomenon. Through the 1970s and early 1980s, Singh taught that
the condition could be cured through intensive yoga and
self-analysis. By the late 1980s, however, Singh resigned himself to
the conclusion that "sometimes God goofs" and puts men into women's
bodies and vice versa.[41]
[edit] Sikh rights in North America
Singh played a role in having the right of practicing Sikhs to keep
their distinctive turbans recognized in the United States and
Canada. When, in 1973, 3 men serving in the U.S. Armed Forces took
up the Sikh faith, they faced harsh discipline for maintaining their
beards and turbans contrary to military regulations. Singh arranged
for religious authorities in Amritsar to take notice of their cases,
which caused the U.S. Armed Forces to change its policy in regards
to the keeping of beards and wearing of turbans, so as to
accommodate Sikhs in the service.[42]
This development led to a similar case launched by a student of
Singh in 1977, a test challenge involving the Canadian Armed Forces.
The Canadian Human Rights Commission decided the case in favour of
the Sikhs.[43] A number of subsequent cases in Canada led to
widespread acceptance of the wearing of turbans in a number of
uniformed services, including municipal transit companies and police
forces, most notably the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, where Baltej
Singh Dhillon became the first turbaned member of the national
police force in 1990.
[edit] During the 1984 Ghallooghaaraa
During the 1980s Sikh struggle for civil rights in Punjab, Yogi
Bhajan strove for peace and attempted to mediate between the Sikh
leadership in Punjab and the Indian government under Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi. In 1980, he warned the Sikhs of 'terrible
consequences' if they did not unite and later advised Jarnail Singh
Bhindranwale to work peacefully when the Khalistan movement turned
violent. He tried, in vain, to mediate peace between the members of
Indira Gandhi's government and the Sikh leadership in Punjab.[44]
Singh played a unique role in the unfolding cataclysm. He was
familiar with people on both sides of the conflict. Through his time
in Delhi, teaching at the Vishwayatan Yoga Ashram of Swami Dhirendra
Acharya, he had come to know the ruling Nehru family who were
patrons and students of the swami.[45] He was also well-connected
with Sikhs, holy men and politicians alike. Singh, given the unique
spiritual designation “Siri Singh Sahib” by the elected leaders of
the SGPC and Shiromani Akali Dal in 1971 for his work spreading Sikh
teachings in the west, also brought a visionary sense and a global
perspective to the situation. In the first month of 1980, Singh was
visited by a terrible vision of destruction at the Golden Temple. In
response, he had 250 letters sent to Sikh leaders in India urging
them to unite in order to avoid a tidal wave of destruction within
two years. Singh also spent January and February of that year in
India meeting with leaders on all sides with a view to preventing
that outcome.[46] This effort continued in his annual visits to
India through 1984.[47]
As it turned out, the Sikhs belonging to the Congress party, namely
the Giani Zail Singh the Home Minister, Darbara Singh the Chief
Minister in Punjab, the Maharaja of Patiala - Amarinder Singh, and
Buta Singh kept apart from their Akali party counterparts until June
1984 when Amarinder Singh turned in his party membership and, for a
time joined the Akali party. On the Akali side, by August 1980, it
was divided into two factions. That rift endured for two years,
until the two groups joined with the group led by Jarnail Singh
Bhindranwale to prosecute the civil disobedience campaign against
the Central Government under the leadership of Sant Harchand Singh
Longowal and six other members of a designated high command, namely
Parkash Singh Badal – former Chief Minister of Punjab, Gurcharan
Singh Tohra – President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak
Committee, Jagdev Singh Talwandi, Surjit Singh Barnala – former
Union Agriculture Minister, Sukhjinder Singh – former Punjab
Minister, and Ravi Inder Singh – former Speaker of the Punjab
Legislature. This coalition held together until September 1983, when
the increasing frustrations of negotiating with the Prime Minister
began to take its toll in a growing division between hardliners led
by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and Jagdev Singh Talwandi and the
moderates led by Harchand Singh Longowal.[48]
In early 1982, Singh met with the Akali high command in Teja Singh
Samundri Hall at the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar. On that
occasion, he warned them of the danger in the international
community of Sikhs being labeled as terrorists. Singh also advised
the Sikh leaders that in Indira Gandhi's gambit to win popular
support she could either send the Indian army into Sri Lanka to
protect the Tamil minority there or she could target the Sikhs.
Either way, she could come out as “saviour of the Hindus”. According
to Singh, the choice belonged to the Sikh leaders. He advised they
conduct an information campaign using the Sikh President of India,
Giani Zail Singh as a symbol to show the world Sikhs are peaceful
people. The leaders, all of them members of the Akali party, however
could not fathom using their long-time political foe as a positive
instrument for peace and self-preservation. Harbajan Singh also
suggested highlighting the tradition of Bhai Khanaiya as the first
Red Cross Society in history and the tradition of Guru Gobind Singh
whose arrows were embedded with gold so even enemies who died could
have their last rites done gracefully. He proposed that Baba Nihal
Singh, the leader of the Taruna Dal of Nihung Sikhs based in
Harianbela be made the head priest of the Akal Takhat, the Sikh seat
of temporal authority. He also promised that if they did this and
afterwards anything untoward happened to the Nation of Khalsa, he
would present himself before them to receive any punishment they
would like to award. Rather, he promised that if Baba Nihal Singh
were made Jathedar of the Akal Takhat, Sikhs would come through
their trial with victory and grace. This proposal was also
unacceptable to the political leadership. For all Singh's advice and
consideration, the leaders did not alter their tactics.[49]
On Singh's visit to Amritsar in 1983, he was summoned by Baba Kharak
Singh, the elderly and widely respected builder and maintainer of
holy places. Then, in the presence of Sant Harchand Singh, Sant
Jarnail Singh, and Abhinashi Singh, the SGPC Secretary, Baba Kharak
Singh gave him two blankets, four embroidered sheets, and 800 rupees
as an offering of appreciation. He then predicted that there would
be a time of great pain in the west and the east. As a remedy, Baba
Kharak Singh dispensed a mantra for Singh to recite: “Aap sahaa-ee
ho-aa, sachay daa, sachaa DHo-aa.” Baba Kharak Singh to him: “In the
west, you are going to be hit with a lot of pain, and so all these
people, but these Sikhs may not be ready to take that pain.
Therefore, chant this mantra: 'Aap sahaa-ee ho-aa, sachay daa,
sachaa Dho-aa.'” Harbhajan Singh took it and then he said: “Don't
doubt me. You think I am an old man? I don't know anything?”
Harbhajan Sing said: “No, no, no. I don't doubt you. It's alright.
What kind of hurt?” Baba Kharak Singh said: “None of your business!
Don't ask questions. But I will tell you a story. In such-and-such a
Gurdwara there was a man who made our life miserable and I went to
Santji (my respected teacher). I told him, this man is making our
life miserable, teasing us, beating us, and trying to do all kinds
of treacheries. And then he said, “Chant this verse: 'Aap sahaa-ee
ho-aa, sachay daa, sachaa Dho-aa' and the enemy dissolves.””[50]
Singh subsequently urged all his students to chanted the verse each
day during the heat of the crisis.
When the mobilization against India's Central Government turned ugly
with the targeted killing of six Hindu bus passengers at Dhilwan,
Punjab on October 5, 1983, he sent money to the victims' families
and a telegram to the Sant Harchand Singh Longowal to call a halt to
the campaign for a few weeks, until peace returned. When the Golden
Temple complex was then attacked and overrun by the Indian Army
during Operation Blue Star, Singh proclaimed that the event marked
the end of a dynasty.[51] He also uniquely advised that the Akal
Takhat had martyred itself to awaken the Sikh nation.[52]
Singh's contact with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in the summer
of 1983 may have instrumental in the pontiff's awareness of Sikhs
and his timely proclamation of goodwill at the time of the Golden
Temple attack and massacre.[53] He was also persuasive in keeping
India's Sikh President, Giani Zail Singh from resigning his position
in protest, a move that he anticipated would bring on even greater
disunity and bloodshed. Singh encouraged his students to send
telegrams to the President, urging him to stay on.[54]
Singh convened a conference in New Mexico, June 23–25, 1984 to chart
a response to events in India. The outcome of the gathering was an
agreement on a series of objectives including an international
investigation of the disaster, free media access to Punjab, proper
medical care to the wounded, the return of Sikh temples to Sikh
control, the release of Sikh prisoners, withdrawal of the army,
police and paramilitaries from Punjab, and restoration of civil
rights to Sikhs throughout India.[55] Singh suspected a larger
Soviet agenda behind the humiliating destruction, which he termed
the “martyrdom of the Akal Takhat”. The Soviets and their
influential Marxist allies in India needed to eliminate or
demoralize the Sikhs in order to achieve their objective of a
secular, Communist state in south Asia. The plucky Sikhs were
targeted because they found to be prosperous, essential to India's
agriculture and its armed forces, and proven opponents of political
oppression. The first objective of the Soviet plan was to discredit
Sikhs as violent terrorists. In a November 1984 interview, he
described Jarnail Singh Bindranwala as an “armed plant”. He also
accused the KGB of involvement in Mrs. Gandhi's assassination,
saying the Soviet Union preferred a weaker Rajiv as Prime Minister
over his powerful, independently-minded mother.[56]
Unlike many Sikh leaders in the west, Singh was cool to the idea of
a small separatist homeland where Sikhs might find security. He
pointed out that whenever Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister, the
so-called “President of Khalistan” would be at his post in London,
but when she was out of power, he would come to India. Why, Singh
asked, was this?[57] Singh's vision was vast, global, and inclusive.
Rather than Khalistan, he vouched for “Duniastan” - the World as a
homeland for all the worlds inhabitants ("dunia" in Gurmakhi =
world, and "stan" = land of).[58]
As the international media and human rights observers were kept out
of Punjab, indiscriminate arrests, tortures and killings by the
police left an estimated 10,000 civilians dead, and hundreds more of
the visible minority Sikhs disappeared or detained without charges
or trial.[59] Singh continued throughout the crisis to press for
justice, forgiveness and reconciliation.[60]
[edit] Work for nuclear disarmament
In 1982 Singh joined other civil leaders in demanding mutual nuclear
disarmament.
Singh's efforts took the form of his speaking at a number of
disarmament rallies and his mobilization of his students,
encouraging them to talk to their friends and relatives about the
dangers of nuclear war.[61]
Shortly after Singh began his activism again the U.S. government's
defense policy, the special Sikh exemption which allowed Sikh males
to serve wearing their distinctive turbans and beards was
disallowed.[62]
[edit] Sikh unity
In 1974, a distinguished delegation of Sikhs from India toured North
America and Europe and offered their approval of Singh's work. The
group consisted of Gurcharan Singh Tohra, President of the Shiromani
Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Mahinder Singh Giani, Secretary of
the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, Sardar Hukam Singh,
President of the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Shatabdhi Committee (and
former Speaker of the Indian Parliament and Governor of Rajasthan),
and Surjit Singh Barnala, General Secretary of the Shiromani Akali
Dal.[63]
While some Sikhs, including a Jathedar of the Akal Takhat,
subsequently criticized Singh, deeming his administrative titles,
structures and symbols as heterodox, in 1979 the Professor of
Sikhism designated by the Akal Takhat, Dr. Kapur Singh,[64] came
from Amritsar and addressed the Khalsa Council, Singh's governing
council, and assured their practices were well within the parameters
of Sikh tradition.[65]
In 1986, as the Khalistan movement (Sikh separatist movement within
India) exerted an increasingly divisive role in the Sikh community
by splitting Sikhs between those who demanded an independent
homeland using violent means if necessary to achieve that goal and
Sikhs who wished to work toward a peaceful resolution, Singh
acknowledged Bhai Sahib Bhai Jiwan Singh of the Akhand Kirtani Jatha
as Jathedar (Secretary) of Sikh Unity.[66]
Although he was instrumental in creating a new culture of Sikhs in
the Western Hemisphere – Gursikh yogis speaking English, Spanish,
German and Italian – Singh did not appreciate artificial divisions
dividing Sikhs from one another, whether based on caste, race,
nationality or any other grounds. He valued Sikh unity and always
considered himself a Sikh first and last. This was ably and aptly
reflected in the new media of Sikhnet.com which today serves Sikhs
around the globe. It was begun by students of Singh in 1983 while
the internet was still in its infancy [67] – and has since grown to
be the largest Sikh resource in cyberspace.[68]
[edit] Political influence in U.S.
Singh was not in the least naive about the importance of being
politically connected if one wanted to succeed in the United States,
and did not shy from political functions. While he opposed the
Reagan government’s regime of high debt and high unemployment, Singh
appreciated a strong foreign policy and especially U.S. efforts to
dislodge the Soviet Union from Afghanistan.[says who?]
As early as 1970, Singh was known to call on members of Congress in
their Washington offices.[69] He also befriended successive
governors of the state of New Mexico. Singh was known as a Democrat.
Since 1980, he was both friend and adviser to Bill Richardson, who
served variously as New Mexico governor (2002–present), U.S. Energy
Secretary (1998–2001), U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
(1997–98), and member of the U.S. House of Representatives
(1982–97). Bill Richardson was a candidate for the Democratic
Party's nomination to run for the office of U.S. President in
2008.[70]
[edit] Healing arts
When U.S. President Nixon called drugs America's "Number one
domestic problem," Singh launched a pilot program with two longtime
heroin addicts in Washington, D.C. in 1972.[71] The next year, a
full-blown drug treatment center known as "3HO SuperHealth" was
launched in Tucson, Arizona. The program used Kundalini Yoga, diet
and massage therapy to cure the addicts. It distinguished itself in
1978 as being among the top 10% of all treatment programs throughout
the United States, with a recovery rate of 91%.[72]
Early on, when the term "stress" was still practically unheard of,
Singh warned his students a tidal wave of insanity would soon engulf
modern industrialized societies.[73] As a remedy, Singh taught
hundreds of techniques of yogic exericise and meditation. Many have
been catalogued by their traditionally known effects in calming and
healing the mind and body. Some of those techniques have been
scientifically studied and applied in clinical practice with
favorable results.[74]
One of the most noteworthy successes has been achieved by Dharma
Singh Khalsa, M.D., whose holistic treatment of Alzheimers disease
using yoga with other therapeutic modalities has been lauded by the
U.S. Surgeon General.[75]
[edit] Business life
Singh encouraged his students to go into business and served as a
trusted adviser to a number of profitable enterprises. The best
known of these are the Yogi Tea Company which packages and markets
his tea formulas, Golden Temple Bakery which specializes in natural
cereal products, the Soothing Touch health and beauty care products
company, Akal Security and the Yoga West Center in Los Angeles.[76]
Ten percent of the profits of Peace Cereals go to the annual Peace
Prayer Day, held at Ram Das Puri, near Santa Fe, New Mexico.[77]
[edit] Miri Piri Academy
In 1998, Singh founded the Miri Piri Academy at a short distance
outside of Amritsar, India. The distinctive boarding school offers
studies in a regular curriculum, plus Sikh studies and a daily
regimen of yoga, meditation and service. Currently, students of
seventeen nationalities are enrolled.[78]
[edit] Notable students
* Alfredo Sfeir-Younis
* Dharma Singh Khalsa
* Gurmukh
* Singh Kaur
* Snatam Kaur
[edit] Media coverage
Outspoken and quotable, visually striking and iconoclastic, Singh
received his share of coverage in the North American media,
particularly in the early 1970s when yoga was still a matter of
general curiosity.
Moreover, Singh's message of no drugs, family values and healthy
living struck a chord with the Western psyche. The dozens of stories
were overwhelmingly positive, serving not only to educate the
public, but also to publicize the work of the 3HO Foundation. Some
focussed on the lifestyle, others on the inspiration behind the
organization.[79] Others focussed on Singh's holistic approach to
drug addiction.[80] Some writers reported on Singh's officiating at
picturesque marriages where several couples would be betrothed and
everyone wore white.[81] Others zeroed in on the issue of Sikhs up
against the US Army dress code.[82]
While Newsweek, USA Today and Macleans Magazine in Canada published
favorable articles about Singh in 1977, James Wilde of Time Magazine
wrote a critical article that year, titled "Yogi Bhajan's Synthetic
Sikhism".
One of the most shocking revelations coming from Wild's article was
the following,
Bhajan has repeatedly been accused of being a womanizer. Colleen
Hoskins, who worked seven months at his New Mexico residence,
reports that men are scarcely seen there. He is served, she says, by
a coterie of as many as 14 women, some of whom attend his baths,
give him group massages, and take turns spending the night in his
room while his wife sleeps elsewhere.[83]
Another claim revealed by Time Magazine, attributed to Gurucharan
Singh Tohra, former President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak
Committee, the SGPC, was that Singh is not the Sikh leader of
Sikhism in the Western World as he claims. Also Time Magazine
reports that Tohra denies that the gurdwara committee has ever given
the title of Siri Singh Sahib to Singh.[84]
Time article was followed by emphatic rebuttals came from Gurcharan
Singh Tohra, the President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak
Committee, the leading Sikh organization in Amritsar and other
authorities based in India. There was also a demonstration held
outside Time's London office and a detailed demand for a retraction
published under the title “Time Will Tell” in the 3HO publication
Beads of Truth, Issue 36, Fall 1977.
Singh is mentioned in a range of reference works, including the New
Age Encyclopedia, ed. J. Gordon Melton (Detroit: Gale Research,
Inc., 1990). Western scholarly appraisal of his work may be found in
Hew McLeod's Who is a Sikh? (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989) and
Sikhism (London: Penguin Books, 1997), and in Verne A. Dusenbery's
article "Punjabi Sikhs and Gora Sikhs: Conflicting Assertions of
Sikh Identity in North America" published in Sikh History and
Religion in the Twentieth Century, eds. Joseph T. O'Connell, Milton
Israel, Willard G. Oxtoby, W.H. McLeod, J.S. Grewal (Toronto:
University of Toronto Centre for South Asian Studies, 1998).
BBC interviewed Singh at the 300th anniversary celebration of the
Baisakhi holiday at Anandpur Sahib, India in 1999.[85]
Singh is also featured in a couple of books featuring the successes
of Sikhs who had migrated from India to the West. They are Dr.
Surjit Kaur's Among the Sikhs: Reaching for the Stars (New Delhi:
Lotus Collection, 2003) and Gurmukh Singh's The Global Indian: The
Sikhs (New Delhi: Rupi and Co., 2003). These provide valuable
perspective on the immigrant Sikh who made good as a yogi in America
and beyond.
The 1973 documentary Sunseed stars a number of teachers of eastern
wisdom, including Singh. The Sunseed crew accompanied him to India
in 1970-71 for the filming.
[edit] Obituaries
Singh died of complications of heart failure at his home in
Española, New Mexico, on October 6, 2004, aged 75. He was survived
by his wife, sons, daughter and five grandchildren.[2]
The Los Angeles Times said:
On the eve of his memorial, they recalled the early days when Bhajan
was a good-looking Indian mystic in his 30s, who wore a turban, a
long black beard and black velvet shoes turned up at the toes. "He
was very spectacular," says Shakti Parwha Kaur Khalsa, one of his
original students. Like other hippie gurus of the late 1960s, Bhajan
claimed to possess the ancient wisdom to soothe their drug-addled
minds. He told them he'd come to "the City of Angels" because it was
the natural home of the Aquarian Age and a place of ideas that
inspired the world. "I didn't come to gain students," he famously
said. "I came to train teachers."
But students flocked to him. Women so adored him, it became an honor
just to wash his feet. Men longed for his approval. They trusted him
to arrange their marriages and select their careers. Within a few
weeks of arriving here, Bhajan had a green-card sponsor in singer
Johnny Rivers, who then introduced him to an antiques store owner.
That West Hollywood shop became the site of Bhajan's first classes.
Soon, he was a regular at local love-ins, telling the hippies there,
"I can get you high -- high on your breath."
He brought to America his version of the Hindu practice of
kundalini, a rigorous yoga involving meditation, chanting and
repetitive movement coupled with breathing exercises believed to
harmonize the body's energy centers.[86]
The SGPC, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, the foremost
governing body for Sikhs closed its offices in the Punjab to
commemorate Singh's death. Bibi Jagir Kaur, President, SGPC, Punjab
Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh, Dr S.P. Singh, Vice
Chancellor, Guru Nanak Dev University, Mr Parmjit Singh Sarna,
president Shiromani Akali Dal, New Delhi, and the then Punjabi
University Vice Chancellor Swarn Singh Boparai offered their
condolences over his death.
The Vice Chancellor said simplicity pervaded the life of Yogi.
Describing the Yogi as a missionary, he said the latter had always
preached the unadulterated wisdom and ideals of Sikh religion which
inspired transformation of many modern minds across countries. Mr.
Boparai said the Yogi had built bridges of understanding between the
East and the West through the preaching of Sikh values.[87]
The State of New Mexico honored him with the naming of a highway
after him. It is called the Yogi Bhajan Memorial Highway.[88]
There was an obituary notice for Singh in the Yoga Journal. The
journal said, "In time, he became an influential figure in modern
yoga, attracting a large and devoted following; today there are more
than 4,000 Kundalini Yoga teachers at 300 centers in 35
countries."[citation needed]
The PR Newswire service in Europe mentioned Singh's many
achievements in its obituary notice. The article mentioned his
various achievements: his promotion of Yogi Tea, his teaching of
Kundalini Yoga to 1 million students, and his leadership role to the
hippie movement.[89]
The Times of India titled its obituary for Singh, "The Capitalist
Yogi":
At a time when many Americans are gnashing their teeth at news of
Indians taking away their jobs, Yogi Bhajan's remarkable success in
reconciling religion and commerce while creating employment is worth
relating.
Born Harbhajan Singh Puri in what is now Pakistan, Yogi came west
during his mid-life after a fairly privileged childhood. His father
was a doctor and Singh studied in private schools in the hills.
A life-long yoga practitioner, he came to Canada in 1968 after
holding government jobs in revenue and customs. He drifted down to
Los Angeles at the height of the flower power, and eventually
settled down in New Mexico where he founded the Sikh Dharma, a
slight variant on the Sikh religion.
He professed to teach Kundalini Yoga and his followers - converts to
Sikh Dharma - were almost all white. As can be expected, he had his
share of spooked critics - "Bogi Yogi," some folks called him - and
there were the usual charges of cronyism, moral turptitude, etc.
But is was his business enterprise, as much as his religious
teachings, that was striking. And we are not talking of the
mandatory workshops, books, tapes, etc. And economics graduate from
the Punjab University, Yogi Bhajan (he changed his name when he
settled down in New Mexico) encouraged his followers to start their
own businesses.
He saw no conflict between spirituality and prosperity. One of his
first enterprises was Yogi Tea, now a leading brand in the health
products section. That was just a dip in the kettle compared with
what followed.
Sikh Dharma's main business arm today is Akal Security, a firm that
specializes in protecting government sites, military installations,
missile ranges, civil amenities and even airports across the US. It
is an enterprise of staggering proportions.
In conclusion the Times of India article said that the United States
had seen many spiritual gurus, but Singh was one of a kind.[90]
The New York Times titled its obituary for Singh, "Boss of Worlds
Capitalistic and Spiritual, Dies":
Yogi Bhajan, whose full name was Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji,
introduced and ancient and arduous form of Indian yoga, Kundalini
yoga, to Americans. It is more active than the more common Hatha
yoga practiced by thousands of people across America. He also
introduced Sikhism to this country, but with twists that startled
Indian Sikhs. For one thing, yoga is a Hindu practice, not a Sikh
one. For another, he insisted that his followers be vegetarians,
though Sikhs are renowned as meat eaters. But he more than retained
the Sikh tradition of being superb warriors: he mobilized his
followers into a security company that guards federal courthouses
and Army bases and takes in more than $1 billion a year. Others of
the 17 businesses he helped create included yoga centers and real
estate concerns, as well as his Golden Temple natural foods company,
Yogi herbal teas operation, Soothing Touch health and beauty
products and Peace natural cereals. One of his nicknames was "the
Boss", The Miami Herald reported in 1998. "The whole point of these
ventures is not for an individual to get rich, but to perpetuate the
mission of the community," Avtar Hari Singh Khalsa, chief executive
of Yogi Bhajan's 3HO Foundation, said in an interview with the New
York Times last month. Mr. Khalsa had previously been a television
executive in Hollywood, home to not a few of the guru's disciples.
One of them, Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, has drawn attention for teaching
Kundalini yoga to pregnant celebrities like Madonna, Rosanna
Arquette, Melissa Etheridge and Cindy Crawford. Partly because of
his great visibility, Yogi Bhajan inspired critics, including
traditional Sikhs; the cult expert Rick A. Ross who called him an
"absolute authoritarian figure"; and people concerned with his
sometimes explicit sexual instructions. Sikhism originated in Punjab
in the 15th century and preaches the commonality of all religions,
the virtue of hard work and a believe in one god. Sikh men in India
carry side swords, and so do Yogi Bhajan's disciples, most of whom
are Americans, not of Indian descent. Yogi Bhajan met with two
popes, two archbishops of Canterbury and the Dalai Lama. In New
Mexico he was important not least as a substantial contributor to
both the Democratic and Republican parties; Gov. Bill Richardson
ordered flags flown at half-staff in his honor.[91]
[edit] Honors
As well as his title "Siri Singh Sahib" awarded to him at the holy
Akal Takhat in Amritsar in 1971, Singh was also designated "Bhai
Sahib" in 1974.[92]
The Peace Abbey of Sherborn, Massachusetts awarded Singh the Courage
of Conscience award on November 17, 1995.[93]
In 1999, at the three hundedth anniversary of the founding of the
Order of Khalsa in Anandpur Sahib, India, Singhwas awarded another
rare honorific, the title "Panth Rattan" – Jewel of the Sikh
nation.[94]
After his death, Singh joined a select few – Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr., Mother Teresa, and Pope John Paul II – in having members of the
U.S. Congress pass a bipartisan resolution honoring his life and
work.[95]
[edit] Sikh scholars' views on Singh's mission
This section contains too many quotations for an encyclopedic entry.
Please help improve the article by removing excessive quotations or
transferring them to Wikiquote. Help is available. (November 2010)
According to Bhai Sahib Sardar Kapur Singh, the National Professor
of Sikhism appointed to his post by the Akal Takhat, the highest
temporal religious authority of the Sikhs:
The resplendent wings of the white hawk of Guru Gobind Singh are
visible today on the horizon of the Western Hemisphere. The rise of
genuine and full-fledged Sikhism in the Western Hemisphere, in a
way, is a final fulfillment and completion of the Sikh way of life.
To see these Western-born men and women practicing Sikhism in its
full development and panoply is to know that the white hawk of Guru
Gobind Singh has made an assaultive appearance in the skies of the
Western Hemisphere. The Guru has chosen one servant of His, styled
as Siri Singh Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji. That a section of
Indian Sikhs in the Western Hemisphere does not accept and approve
Singh as a perfect man is nothing new. No man born of woman was ever
let off as beyond reproach and accusation by his fellow humans, be
he Gautam the Buddha or Guru Nanak, the world teacher. From
whispering campaigns and ugly lifted eyebrows of malice, Guru Nanak
himself is said to have sought protection of the God Almighty: Ethe
othe nanakaa karta rakhe patt.
Glory be to the Guru who performs His work in the Western Hemisphere
through this instrument. Blessed be those who have learned from him
the teachings of the Guru, to accept those humble teachings in
unswerving faith and in humble recognition of the good that
Harbhajan Singh has done in furthrance of the Guru's mission. The
Guru Granth tells us: Koee gaavai, ko sunai, koee karai beechaar. Ko
upadesai, ko drirrai, tiskaa hoe udhaar. Whosoever preaches,
whosoever pays attention to, whosoever meditates over the Guru's
Word to accept it and follows it, is verily blessed and saved,
without a doubt. Guru Arjan (300)
To pick holes in this Divine show and the Guru's Miracle is to turn
one's back to the Guru and to mock at the appearance of the white
hawk in the skies of the Western Hemisphere.[96]
Dr. Fauja Singh, M.A., Ph.D, Professor and Director, Department of
History and Punjab Historical Studies, Punjabi University, Patiala,
India offered the following personal observations of Singh and his
work:
I have known Yogi Bhajan for over twenty years now, since the days
of his studentship in Delhi. If I remember correctly, he was no
ordinary student and his reputation, particularly for
boisterousness, went far beyond the confines of his own institution.
Even so, then I could little imagine that this young man had deep
down within him the potentialities of a torchbearer of the Sikh
faith in the West.
After he left the college and entered into worldy life, for many
long years I had no knowledge of his whereabouts until one day in
November, 1974, by sheer chance I met him at Delhi. It happened like
this: under the inspiration of then Vice-Chancellor, Sardar Kirpal
Singh Narang, our University had only lately taken the initiative
and set up an ad hoc working committee headed by Sardar Gurdial
Singh Dhillon to plan celebrations in a befitting manner for the
third centenary due in 1975, of the martyrdom of the Ninth Sikh
Master, Siri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib. I had been appointed to act as
General Secretary and in that capacity, on the suggestion of my
esteemed friend and colleague, Professor Harbans Singh, I addressed
a letter to Sardar Harbhajan Singh Yogi in U.S.A. with a view to
enlisting his active help and cooperation in programming the
celebrations on a world scale. Quick came the reply that he would be
soon making a visit to India and that I could meet him in Delhi on
such and such days in the month of November.
By then I had gone through some of the literature of the 3HO
Foundation set up by Yogi Bhajan in the U.S.A. and had also heard
from knowledgeable quarters great appreciation of the work being
done by him in the Western Hemisphere. Professor Taran Singh was
with me when I called upon him at the Ashok Hotel. We had a long
conversation in which, among other things, we discussed the import
of certain slokas of Gurbaanee. I for one was greatly impressed with
the originality and freshness which the Yogi brought to bear upon
his expositions. But what surprised me most was my discovery that
this Yogi Bhajan was the same Bhaji I had known at Delhi several
years back. It was a matter of real gratification that his dormant
potentialities had in course of time achieved their fulfillment in
such a constructive field. He had come to America with a group of
American Sikhs who were staying with him at the Ashoka Hotel. Next
day the Yogi, accompanied by some of his followers, came to the
Kapurthala House and addressed our meeting and assured us of his
full cooperation in any suitable program of celebrations for the
martyrdom Centenary.
Now a word about his ideas and work. I have gone through some of his
articles besides listening to him at Delhi. Whether his primary
interest is yoga or religion, I cannot exactly say. But the whole
debate about this issue seems to me irrelevant as the one is
complementary to the other, if I have been able to understand him
correctly. To him, yoga without religion has little meaning and
religion without yoga is incomplete. His concept of yoga, however,
is not the sterile notion of the hathayogis and siddhas of the
medieval period of Indian history. Whereas the medieval concept had
for its exponents the object of escaping from the problems of worldy
life and achieving some mystic powers of doubtful validity, the
concept practiced and taught by Yogi Bhajan is distinguished by a
social purpose and is dynamic in nature. In fact it may be said that
he has helped to retrieve it from its distorted image of the
medieval period and has restored it to its original and meaningful
usage and purpose, that is to say, the desire to attain union with
God through its agency (literally, the term yoga means to yoke, to
join, and this shows how it was conceived in the beginning at the
time The Yogashaastra was composed).
Being a believing Sikh and also for the reason that Sikhism takes a
dynamic view of life's challenges rather than escaping from them,
the Yogi has naturally been induced to make yoga and Sikhism
mutually complementary. Rather, it may not be far from truth to say
that in the act of weaving the two entities into a single pattern,
he has so modified the yoga system as to make it answer to the
spiritual, humanistic and theological demands of Sikhism.[97]
Sardar Dr. Gobind Singh Mansukhani, M.A, L.L.B., Ph.D., the author
of ten books on Sikh Gurus and teachings often visited Singh and had
him contribute a preface to a couple of his books. He appreciated
the work of Singh:
Sardar Harbhajan Singh Yogi has endeared himself to the Sikh
community by spreading the message of the Gurus in the Western
Hemisphere. The Sikhs, with their traditional humility, feel justly
proud of his achievements and his selfless devotion to the mission
of Khalsa. I congratulate him and his co-workers who have brought
the teachings of Sikhism and the spiritual wisdom of Siri Guru
Granth Sahib to the notice of the West." [98]
Dr. Trilochan Singh, author of over twenty books on Sikh history,
wrote a book in 1977 highly critical of Singh entitled "Sikhism and
Tantric Yoga."[99] Singh argued that Kundalini and Tantric yoga has
no place in traditional Sikhism. Dr. Trilochan Singh stated in James
Wilde's Time magazine article of September 5, 1977 “Yogi Bhajan's
Synthetic Sikhism.”,[100] "Bhajan's synthesis of Sikhism and
Tantrism is a sacrilegious hodgepodge."
[edit] Publications
* Yogi Bhajan, The Teachings of Yogi Bhajan, Santa Cruz, NM,
Kundalini Research Institute, 1977.
* Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji (Yogi
Bhajan), Furmaan Khalsa: Poems to Live By, Columbus, Ohio, Furman
Khalsa Publishing Company, 1987.
* Yogi Bhajan, The Master's Touch, Santa Cruz, NM, Kundalini
Research Institute, 1997.
* Yogi Bhajan with Gurucharan Singh Khalsa, The Mind: Its
Projections and Multiple Facets, Espanola, New Mexico, Kundalini
Research Institute, 1997.
* Yogi Bhajan, The Aquarian Teacher - KRI International Kundalini
Yoga Certification Text and Manual, Santa Cruz, NM, Kundalini
Research Institute, 2003.
* Yogi Bhajan, The Game of Love, A Book of Consciousness: The Poems
and Art of Yogi Bhajan, Espanola, NM, Sikh Dharma International,
2007.
* Yogi Bhajan, Man to Man: A Journal of Discovery for the Conscious
Man, Santa Cruz, NM, Kundalini Research Institute, 2008.
* Yogi Bhajan, I am a Woman: Book and Yoga Manual, Santa Cruz, NM,
Kundalini Research Institute, 2009.
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