For those who are keeping count on such matters, I just wanted to drop a quick note that June 28th will be the 500th day out of 1000 on the way to the full-fledged Age of Aquarius! According to Yogi Bhajan, the A of A will begin on Nov. 11, 2011!
500 more days to go!
Sat Nam,
Jim Earles
I am an American Sikh who studied with Yogi Bhajan for 30 years. I want to introduce you to a free e-book “Sikhism and Tantric Yoga”; a rare and out of print book by a Sikh scholar and historian which takes a critical look at Yogi Bhajan’s kundalini and tatric yoga systems. I discovered this book during my two years in India.“Sikhism and Tantric Yoga” has been a real eye-opener for me and makes complete sense when I think about the last thirty years of my life with Yogi Bhajan. Written by the esteemed Dr. Trilochan Singh, author of over twenty books on Sikh history and philosophy and lecturer at sixteen Universities, “Sikhism and Tantric Yoga”, describes the Sikh mystical path and is critical of Yogi Bhajan’s Tantra and Kundalini Yoga.
I have included here a sample of one chapter and the entire book can be downloaded for free at: Gurmukhyoga.com
What I learned in India about the Sikh Mystic Path
By Guru’s grace, while being detained by authorities in India, I lived for almost one year at the Golden Temple. After visiting Guru Sahib at the Harmandir Sahib everyday, singing the divine Gurbani Kirtan and contemplating God’s Name, the Guru showed me, how all the Yogic asanas I performed over the last 30 years were a complete waste of time and cannot match to 1 percent of the devotional contemplation on the Name of God.
“In contrast to Patanjali’s Yoga, and other schools of Hindu Yoga (Hatha, Tantric, Laya, Kundalini, etc.), the Sikh Gurus call Sikh mystic path, Brahm Yoga (the Yoga which does not use any yogic technique but concentrates on God and achieves Him through devotion and contemplation). It is also called Gurmukh Yoga (Yoga of the Enlightened), Sahajya Yoga (Natural Yoga based on spontaneous devotion and contemplation). The word Yoga is used just to mean union with God.” Dr. Trilochan Singh.
II
Eight Steps of Sikh Mystical Path
…….Thus Guru Nanak clearly rejects the eight steps of spiritual progress as enunciated by Patanjali and replaces them with ethical and spiritual discipline of his own. The Sikh scriptures also clearly reject asanas (physical postures), pranayama (breath control), nauU-dhautz (cleaning the intestine with a piece of cloth inserted in the mouth and taken out through the anus). Those followers of Yogi Bhajan who frequently quote him as saying that the Scriptures of the Sikhs sanction all these Yoga practices, voice only his glaring ignorance of Sikh scriptures. I have not known any saint or seer in contemporary or past Sikh history who ever practiced these Yoga asanas. But all saints and all scholars have firmly called these and more so Tantric practices as directly opposed to Sikh doctrines. The following quotations, from Adi Granth make it clear that there is no place for Yoga practices in Sikhism:
If a man learns all yogic asanas of perfect adepts, If he controls and subdues his senses through such feats;
Even then impurity and dirt of his mind cannot be removed.
The filth of egoism will not depart from the heart. The human mind cannot be cleaned and made pure, By any yogic discipline and restraint. It can be made pure and controlled only by seeking, Through love the sanctuary of the true Enlightener.
Adi Granth, Guru Amar Das, Vadhans p 558
For me the only asana (posture) worthwhile is to fix steadfastly the mind on the Vision of God and let the heart and soul be absorbed in such a spiritual condition of transcendent revelation as to continuously reflect on His Presence and listen to the enchanting melody of Unstruck Music (Anhad Shabad)
(a) Savikalp Samadhi (ecstasy within the realm of consciousness): to be absorbed in the meaning and philosophical and mystical contents of the Divine Word is Savikalp a samadhi. (b) Nirvikalpa Samadhi (ecstasy of the Transcendent vision of God): to be absorbed in the Spirit and Essence of the Divine Word is Nirvikalpa samadhi.
If one does the nauli dhauti karma (of cleaning the intestine with a piece of cloth), and becomes adept in eighty-four asanas, and yogic exercises, he cannot attain any peace of mind by these yogic techniques. Let him do such Japa or Tapa through such techniques for years and years and wander about in search of perfection, he will not attain genuine inner peace even for a moment.
A. G. Guru Arjan, Majh, p 98
Gursant,
Thank you for this information. It takes courage to step into a forum such as this and post information that is bound to be controversial–perhaps even met with anger and resistance. On that level, I applaud your boldness.
It may surprise you to learn that I am very open to much of what you have to say, despite the fact that I have been trained as a Kundalini Yoga teacher in the Yogi Bhajan / 3HO system. I have long been aware of the various accusations of wrongdoings on the part of Yogi Bhajan and 3HO. I do not pretend to know for certain whether these accusations are true or false. All I can say for certain is that these sorts of deviant behaviors do not fit in with the personalities of those I have personally met from 3HO. I never met Yogi Bhajan in person and have only met a limited number of people in 3HO, but those that I have met would not willingly be a party to such behavior. It is possible that they are blind to a darker reality, but I judged them to be good and sincere people.
As to Yogi Bhajan himself, I cannot pretend to vouch for his character or motives. I do not know what secrets he may have held in his heart. All I can judge him by is the information which he put forth, and on that level I actually agree with some of the points you raise. It does seem to me as though he espoused a strange mixing of Sikhism and yoga…a mixture which seems to be strikingly at odds with certain statements from the Siri Guru Granth Sahib. I know that some have alleged that YB made up the whole thing and fabricated a lineage along with the existence of his own teacher in India. It is impossible to prove or disprove this, due to there being virtually no recorded evidence of his teacher’s life. The same problem of impossibility to verify exists with YB’s claim that he was the Mahan Tantric (i.e. the only living person capable of teaching White Tantric Yoga). The very existence of a practice called “White Tantric Yoga,” apart from what YB taught, is impossible to prove. Many things he said had to be taken on faith or not taken at all.
For me, then, a final judgment on the matter must come down to personal results. Much of what YB taught seems very curious and is entirely open to being dismissed due to lack of corraborating evidence, but I know many people who have benefitted enormously in their lives because they have practiced what he taught. This must count for something. Also, the religion of Sikhism would still likely be unknown in the Western world if not for YB. One may debate the relative merits of what he did for Sikhism, but he certainly raised the global consciousness of its existence. Like all religions, Sikhism will go through many changes as it spreads to new followers around the globe. This is neither good nor bad; it is inevitable. Those who truly care to do so will investigate matters deeply and come to their own conclusions.
And finally, as a point of order, there is a factual error in what you present as nauli dhauti karma. I may be expressing my own ignorance on this matter, but to my knowledge there is no such yogic practice which involves cleaning the intestines by putting a piece of cloth in through the mouth and removing it through the anus. Nauli and dhauti are separate practices. Nauli involves devoloping advanced control of the abdominal musculature so as to strengthen digestion and improve elimination through the bowels. Dhauti may be performed in various ways, one of which does involve swallowing a long, thin cloth which cleans out the inside of the stomach. However, the entire cloth is not swallowed. A part of it remains unswallowed so that the cloth may be carefully pulled back out of the mouth. The cloth does not make its way into the intestines and is not retrieved out of the body through the anus.
Sat Nam,
Jim