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Yogi Bhajan

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Yogi Bhajan
In 1985
Born
Harbhajan Singh Puri

(1929-08-26)August 26, 1929
Kot Harkarn, Punjab, British India
DiedOctober 6, 2004(2004-10-06) (aged 75)
Española, New Mexico, United States
Citizenship
  • India (1929–1976)
  • United States (1976–2004)
EducationPanjab University, New Delhi, India (Master of Economics, 1952), University for Humanistic Studies, Solana Beach, CA, USA (PhD, Psychology of Communication, 1980)
OrganizationsHealthy, Happy, Holy Organization (3HO), Sikh Dharma International, Kundalini Research Institute, Siri Singh Sahib Corporation
Known forPromoting Kundalini yoga, Sikh missionary activities, alleged serial sexual assault and abuse
TitleYogi, Siri Singh Sahib, Bhai Sahib, Panth Rattan
SpouseBibi Inderjit Kaur
ChildrenRanbir Singh, Kulbir Singh, Kamaljit Kaur
Signature

Yogi Bhajan (born Harbhajan Singh Puri)[1] (August 26, 1929 – October 6, 2004), also known as Siri Singh Sahib to his followers, was an American entrepreneur, cult leader, yoga guru,[2] and putative spiritual teacher. He introduced his version of Kundalini yoga to the United States. He was the spiritual director of the 3HO (Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization) foundation (and business ventures), with over 300 centers in 35 countries.[3] He was accused of sexual abuse by several dozen of his female followers; an investigation called the Olive Branch Report found the allegations most likely true.[4][5][6]

Biography

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Early life

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Harbhajan Singh Khalsa was born on August 26, 1929 into a Sikh family in Kot Harkarn, Gujranwala district in the province of Punjab (now in Pakistan). His father, Dr. Kartar Singh Puri, served the British Raj as a medical doctor. His mother was named Harkrishan Kaur. His father was raised in the Sikh tradition and young Harbhajan was educated in a Catholic school run by nuns. Singh learned the fundamentals of Sikhism from his paternal grandfather, Sant Bhai Fateh Singh. Theirs was a well-to-do landlord family, owning most of their village in the foothills of the Himalayas.[7]

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, Harbhajan Singh attended Camp College – a hastily put together arrangement for thousands of refugee students – and was an active member of the Sikh Students Federation in Delhi.[8] Four years later, he graduated with a master's degree in economics.[9]

In 1953, Singh entered the service of the Government of India. He served in the Revenue Department, where his duties took him all over India. Eventually, Harbhajan Singh was promoted to a customs inspector at Delhi airport.[10]

In his final years in India, he also learned from Baba Virsa Singh at Gobind Sadan Institute.[11]

Coming west

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In 1968, Singh emigrated to Toronto, Canada equipped with an endorsement from that country's High Commissioner to India, James George, who was also a student of his.[12] Harbhajan Singh 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][14]

Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization

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Main article: 3HO
1970 gathering at Santa Clara Canyon, New Mexico

In 1969, Singh established the 3HO (Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization) Foundation in Los Angeles, California to further his missionary work. His brand of Sikhism appealed to the hippies who formed the bulk of his early converts. The Sikh practice of not cutting one's hair or beard was already accepted by the hippie culture, as was Sikh vegetarianism. They liked to experience elevated states of awareness and they also deeply wanted to feel they were contributing to a world of peace and social justice. He offered them all these things with vigorous yoga, an embracing holistic vision, and an optimistic spirit of sublime destiny.[15] Interest in yoga increased worldwide at this time.[16] 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.[17]

In 1984 he started the famous Yogi Tea brand.

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.[18]

Aquarian age timeline

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With Sant Fateh Singh 1971

Singh incorporated the storyline of the dawning new age into his teachings, a case of melding Western astrology with Sikh tradition. He proclaimed that "Guru Nanak 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.[19][20]

Inter-faith work

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With A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and Sushil Kumar (Jain monk), San Francisco 1975
Meeting Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, 1984

In the summer of 1970, Singh participated in an informal "Holy Man Jam" at the University of Colorado at Boulder with Swami Satchidananda (another Eastern yogi who has been accused of sexual abuse of his students), Stephen Gaskin of The Farm in Tennessee, Zen Buddhist Jakusho Kwong, and other local spiritual leaders. A few weeks later, he organized a gathering of spiritual teachers to engage and inspire the 200,000 attendees of the Atlanta International Pop Festival on the stage between the performances of the bands.[21]

Political influence in U.S.

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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. The program attempted to treat heroin addiction through the practice of yoga and the consumption of garlic juice.[22]

Death

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Congressman Tom Udall with Harbhajan Singh Khalsa's widow, "Bibiji"

Harbhajan 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.[23] Obituaries appeared in The Los Angeles Times,[24] the Times of India,[25] The New York Times,[23] and Yoga Journal.[26] Khalsa's passing was noted by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which closed its offices to commemorate his death.[27]

The State of New Mexico honored him by renaming State Highway 106 as the Yogi Bhajan Memorial Highway.[28] The New Mexico Government took the unprecedented measure of flying its flags at half-mast for two days (Oct 7–8) in honour of Yogi Bhajan after his death on Oct 6, and declared Oct 23 "Yogi Bhajan Memorial Day".[29]

Allegations of sexual abuse

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In 2019, Yogi Bhajan's former secretary Pamela Saharah Dyson published the book Premka: White Bird in a Golden Cage: My Life with Yogi Bhajan, reporting that she and other women had sexual relationships with Harbhajan Singh.[30]

In March 2020, anti-cult activist Be Scofield published an article in her magazine The Guru reporting sexual abuse and rape of female followers and assistants including Dyson by Harbhajan Singh, based on "over a dozen original interviews".[31]

Later that month (March 2020), the Siri Singh Sahib Corporation commissioned An Olive Branch (AOB) to look into the allegations. The AOB report, published in August, found that it was "more likely than not" that Yogi Bhajan raped three women, injured eight women during sex, engaged in nonconsensual touching of nine people, showed pornography to minors, used sexually offensive language, directed women to shave their pubic hair, and directed women to have sex with other women, that his followers' claims that he was celibate were inaccurate, and that he "employed a variety of methods to control his students including compartmentalization, quid pro quo, promises, threats, slander, phone calls, guarding, and/or telling women they were his wife."[32]

The report acknowledged "the convictions of Yogi Bhajan's Supporters as accurate representations of their beliefs" rather than deliberate falsehoods. Soon after, other media published stories based on the report that considered the allegations to be true.[33][34][35][36][37][38] The 2023 book Under the Yoga Mat by former member GuruNischan includes testimonials of traumatizing experiences shared by former members.[39]

Reception

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Media coverage

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In 1977, Time published a critical article, titled "Yogi Bhajan's Synthetic Sikhism". The article alleged that Gurucharan Singh Tohra, former President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), had stated that Harbhajan Singh is not the leader of Sikhism in the Western World as he claimed, and that Tohra had denied the SGPC had ever given Singh the title of Siri Singh Sahib.[40]

Harbhajan Singh is featured in books discussing the successes of Sikhs who migrated from India to the West, including Surjit Kaur's Among the Sikhs: Reaching for the Stars.[41] and Gurmukh Singh's The Global Indian: The Sikhs.[42]

Scholars' views

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Scholars including Verne A. Dusenbery and Pashaura Singh have concurred that Harbhajan Singh's introduction of Sikh teachings into the West helped identify Sikhism as a world religion while at the same time creating a compelling counter-narrative to that which identified Sikhs solely as a race with a shared history in India.[43]

Philip Deslippe, a historian of American religion, wrote a 2012 article "From Maharaj to Mahan Tantric: The Construction of Yogi Bhajan's Kundalini Yoga", using 3HO source archive material and news articles to reveal how Harbhajan Singh recreated his own story after his first trip back to India:[11]

I set out to answer the question "where did Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan (KYATBYB) come from?" and not much else. I tried to support my findings with as much evidence as possible, and for that evidence to be as clear, specific, verifiable, and close to the source, such as interviews with first hand witnesses (Pamela being one of them), quotes from Yogi Bhajan, contemporary newspaper accounts, and exercises taken from manuals. I concluded that in the early years of 3HO, Yogi Bhajan was using the physical yoga of Swami Dhirendra Brahmachari and the persona and mantra of Baba Virsa Singh, and that the figure of Sant Hazara Singh only became prominent after the first trip to India in 1970-1971 when Yogi Bhajan had a falling out with Virsa Singh.

— Philip Deslippe[11]
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In October 2024, HBO premiered the series Breath of Fire, which talks about the mental and sexual abuse of Yogi Bhajan.

References

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  1. ^ "Biography". Sikhnet. Retrieved January 2, 2011.
  2. ^ Shearer, Alistair (2020). The Story of Yoga: From Ancient India to the Modern West. London: Hurst Publishers. p. 210. ISBN 978-1-78738-192-6.
  3. ^ "Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization". Oxford Reference. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  4. ^ "Master of Deceit: How Yogi Bhajan Used Kundalini Yoga for Money, Sex and Power". The Guru Magazine. March 5, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
  5. ^ Stuart, Gwynedd (July 15, 2020). "Yogi Bhajan Turned an L.A. Yoga Studio into a Juggernaut, and Left Two Generations of Followers Reeling from Alleged Abuse". Los Angeles Magazine. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
  6. ^ "A New Report Details Decades of Abuse at the Hands of Yogi Bhajan". Yoga Journal. August 15, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
  7. ^ Sardarni Premka Kaur Khalsa,The Man Called Siri Singh Sahib, Sardarni Premka Kaur Khalsa and Sat Kirpal Kaur Khalsam (editors), Los Angeles: Sikh Dharma, 1979, pp. 18-24.
  8. ^ Shamsher Singh, "The Fruits of Inner Searching The Man Called Siri Singh Sahib, Sardarni Premka Kaur Khalsa and Sat Kirpal Kaur Khalsam (editors), Los Angeles: Sikh Dharma, 1979, pp. 44-46; Harbans Lal, "Celebrating the Life of Yogi Harbhajan Singh Ji", The Sikh Review, October 2007, p. 52.
  9. ^ Shanti Kaur Khalsa, The History of Sikh Dharma of the Western Hemisphere, Espanola, New Mexico: Sikh Dharma, 1995, pp. 3–4; Gurcharn Singh Khalsa, The Man Called Siri Singh Sahib, Sardarni Premka Kaur Khalsa and Sat Kirpal Kaur Khalsam (editors), Los Angeles: Sikh Dharma, 1979, pp. 34–35
  10. ^ Gurcharn Singh Khalsa, p. 36
  11. ^ a b c Deslippe, Philip (2012). "From Maharaj to Mahan Tantric: The Construction of Yogi Bhajan's Kundalini Yoga". Sikh Formations. doi:10.1080/17448727.2012.745303. S2CID 144988035. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  12. ^ Sardarni Premka Kaur Khalsa,The Man Called Siri Singh Sahib, Sardarni Premka Kaur Khalsa and Sat Kirpal Kaur Khalsam (editors), Los Angeles: Sikh Dharma, 1979, p. 33.
  13. ^ Edna Hampton, "Yoga's Challenges and Promises", The Globe and Mail, November 28, 1968, p. W11
  14. ^ Wayne Edmonstone, "Sikhs open first temple in Toronto", Toronto Star, August 25, 1969, p. B5
  15. ^ Cowley, Susan Cheever; Kasindorf, Martin; Lisle, Laurie (April 21, 1975). "Sikhdom, U.S.A.". Newsweek: 65.
  16. ^ Corliss, Richard (April 15, 2001). "The Power of Yoga". Time. Vol. 157, no. 16. pp. 54–63. PMID 11330024.
  17. ^ "IKYTA History | IKYTA - International Kundalini Yoga Teachers Association". Ikyta.org. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  18. ^ "Yogi Bhajan's Biography". Archived from the original on January 2, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  19. ^ Kaur, Sardarni (1973). Guru for the Aquarian Age: The Life and Teachings of Guru Nanak. San Rafael, California: Spiritual Community. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-913852-01-9. OCLC 1382622.
  20. ^ Piccalo, Gina (October 23, 2004). "A Yogi's Requiem". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  21. ^ Law, Lisa. Flashing on the Sixties. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. pp. 102–107.
  22. ^ William L. Claiborne, "Heroin Treatment: Garlic Juice, Yoga", The Washington Post, March 22, 1972
  23. ^ a b Martin, Douglas (October 9, 2004). "Yogi Bhajan, 75, Worlds Spiritual and Capitalistic". The New York Times. Retrieved September 18, 2008.
  24. ^ "A Yogi's Requiem". The Los Angeles Times. October 23, 2004.
  25. ^ Rajghatta, Chidinand (October 10, 2004). "The Capitalist Yogi". Times of India.
  26. ^ Phil Catalfo, "Luminaries: Yogi Bhajan", Yoga Journal, Jan/Feb 2005, p. 144 (republished 2007).
  27. ^ "SGPC condoles Yogi's death". The Tribune. October 7, 2004.
  28. ^ "Highway named after Yogi Bhajan". Rediff.com. May 12, 2006. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  29. ^ Hindustan Times, October 25, 2004.
  30. ^ Dyson, Pamela (2019). Premka : White Bird in a golden cage : my life with Yogi Bhajan. Maui, Hawaii: Eyes Wide Publishing. ISBN 978-0-578-62188-3. OCLC 1142816131.
  31. ^ Scofield, Be (March 5, 2020). "Master of Deceit: How Yogi Bhajan Used Kundalini Yoga for Money, Sex and Power". The Guru. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  32. ^ "2020-08-10 An Olive Branch Report to 3HO re YB Abuses.pdf". Google Docs. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  33. ^ Stukin, Stacie (July 15, 2020). "Yogi Bhajan Turned an L.A. Yoga Studio into a Juggernaut, and Left Two Generations of Followers Reeling from Alleged Abuse". Los Angeles Magazine.
  34. ^ "Yogi Bhajan 'more likely than not' raped his followers". Asia Samachar. August 15, 2020.
  35. ^ "Yogi Bhajan's fall from grace. The 'sexual abuse' is just the just beginning". Asia Samachar. August 20, 2020.
  36. ^ "Legacy of Yogi Bhajan swirls in controversy years after his death". Santa Fe New Mexican. November 14, 2020.
  37. ^ "A New Report Details Decades of Abuse at the Hands of Yogi Bhajan". Yoga Journal. August 15, 2020.
  38. ^ "Yogi Bhajan, yoga guru and founder of 3HO, 'more likely than not' sexually abused followers, says report". Religion News Service. August 18, 2020.
  39. ^ Coenen, Els; GuruNischan, eds. (2023). Under the Yoga Mat: The Dark History of Yogi Bhajan's Kundalini Yoga. Izzard Ink. ISBN 978-9464752144.
  40. ^ Wilde, James (September 5, 1997). "Religion: Yogi Bhajan's Synthetic Sikhism". Time. Retrieved January 2, 2011.
  41. ^ Kaur, Surjit (2003). Among the Sikhs: Reaching for the Stars. New Delhi: Lotus Collection.
  42. ^ Singh, Gurmukh (2003). The Global Indian: The Sikhs. New Delhi: Rupi and Co.
  43. ^ Verne A. Dusenbery (1999). "'Nation' or 'World Religion'?: Master Narratives of Sikh Identity" in Sikh Identity: Continuity and Change. Pashaura Singh and N. Gerald Barrier, editors. New Delhi: Manohar Publishers. pp. 127-139; Pashaura Singh (2013). "Re-imagining Sikhi ('Sikhness') in the Twenty-first Century: Toward a Paradigm Shift in Sikh Studies" in Re-imagining South Asian Religions. Pashaura Singh and Michael Hawley, editors. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill NV. p. 43; Opinderjit Kaur Takhar (2005). Sikh Identity: An Exploration of Groups Among Sikhs. Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing. pp. 172-77.

Further reading

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  • Lewis, James R. (2014). Cults: A Reference and Guide. Taylor & Francis. pp. 159–60. ISBN 978-1-317-54512-5.
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