Yogi Bhajan's Clap Trap Theories of Kundalini Yoga

by Gursant Singh , Yuba City California USA, Friday, April 30, 2010, 04:51 (5103 days ago) @ Gursant Singh
edited by Gursant Singh, Monday, June 13, 2011, 08:42

Author's Comments
Premka Kaur has again taken illegal steps to attribute to Manmohan Singh her own translation, with a motive that is quite clear. The complete text and translation of the verse states that "First it was Nanak Chand who brought to the world Light and Wisdom and then he gave his Sovereign powers and wealth to Angad who gave them to Amardas who gave this throne (gaddi) or Raj-Yoga [Miri Piri) to Guru Ram Das.

(2) Premka Kaur's distorted version
Guru Arjan kaluchare tain raj jog ras janio
O Guru Arjan, thou knowest the essence of Raj Yoga.
(p 1408, p 4652 M.M.S.)

Manmohan Singh's correct version
Says Kali, the bard, thou, O Guru Arjan Dev knowest the relish of both the secular and spiritual sovereignties.
(p 1408, p 4652 M.M.S.)

Author's Comment
God alone knows what will happen to Manmohan Singh's translation of the Adi Guru Granth if Premka Kaur and other 3HO Writers misuse and mishandle it as they have done here. These very Bard Poets have made it clear that this Raj-Yoga is Miri Piri in Persian and it is the well-known doctrine of Political and Spiritual Sovereignty. Guru Nanak and his successors were all called True King (Sacha Patshah) and for the whole of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries the Sikhs paid their loyalty only to this concept. Bard Harbans says:
Guru Arjan sir chatar ap parmesiuar dio God Himself bestowed the Umbrella of Sovereignty on Guru Arjan.
chatar singhasan pirthami Guru Arjan ko de ayio
(Before his ascension Guru Ram Das) gave the throne and
the umbrella of sovereignty of the whole world to Guru
Arjan.
Adi Granth, Swaiyai Bhat Harbans, p 1409
Thus the word Raj jog are two different words having the same meaning as Miri (Political Authority) and Piri (Spiritual Authority). In the first verse Raj jog Takhat dian Guru Ram Das, both 'j' of Raj and *g' of Jog in Punjabi have orthographic marks called aunkad which is put below these letters. These are grammatical indications of the fact that they are both nouns and separate words. It has nothing to do with Raja Yoga of the Yogic Cults, which are in no way related to thrones or umbrellas of sovereignty.

IX

The Name of Golden Temple and its Murals

In this very article, Beads 29 and 30, there are pictures of two murals from the Golden Temple. One shows Guru Nanak addressing the Yogis of Sumer Parbat and conducting the dialogue which is given in Siddha Gosht. This is presented and depicted by 3HO Writers as Guru Nanak and his disciples practicing Yoga. There is another mural of a Yogi who was found buried in the ground where the Golden Temple was constructed. This is also interpreted as some Sikh practicing Yoga.
In England last year a firm advertised some blue jeans as Jesus Jeans. The whole religious world of England rose in one protest and stopped the manufacture of these jeans. The word Golden Temple has become an instrument of commercial affairs of Yogi Bhajan and he has now even named shoe stores as Golden Temple Shoe Store. Then you have Golden Temple Cookies. (See Fig. 9) And when I was taken to a Golden Temple Restaurant I was given "Wah Guru Chew." The shoes which the young ladies wished to present me did not fit my feet.

X

Yogi Bhajan, the Guru and His Instructions to Meditate on his Particular Picture

In his Journal Kundalini Research Institute of 3HO and a number of his other papers he leaves his followers in no doubt that he is the prophet of the new age with such mighty spiritual powers that he controls their destinies, their auras and their magnetic fields. He is their Master, their Spiritual Guide and their Guru. Without a living guru they cannot know the truth, and out of all the living gurus he can reveal the truth best; and out of all his pictures they must meditate on one picture of him. (Fig. 10) Figure 10 Yogi Bhajan "Meditate on this picture of mine" says Yogi Bhajan, "People will enjoy beaming who have meditated on the picture of mine. Look at the Light in the eyes of the photo and travel mentally through the picture to the source of the Light. Meditate from 15 minutes to 4 hours."—Yogi Bhajan.


All 3HO inmates have to get up early in the morning and do this meditation on Yogi Bhajan's picture. I will quote a few vitally important sentences. The interested reader can acquire the whole magazine. “Even a glance from the eyes of a holy man can cure mental and physical imbalances. The eyes and gazing are recognized as a powerful technique to focus pranic energy. As you fix your gaze on various objects new aspects of that object will present themselves to you . . . For these reasons, pictures of saints and objects of inspiration have always been subject of meditation. Not all pictures have the same effect, even if the pictures are of the same person. One picture may show happiness, another sadness, and another contemplation. Meditation on each will provoke those qualities. It is extremely rare for any Master to give a photo that shows neutrality and a direct stare from the eyes. This is the only type of picture suitable for Tratakam in Guru Yoga.” Yogi Bhajan said it this way:
"People will enjoy beaming who have meditated on that picture of mine. You know there is a special meditation picture; not all pictures do anything. However weird that particular picture is, sometimes you don't like it, but that's the only picture that works. All other pictures can do nothing. That is the only one. What should I do? Now, I know some people complain to me, 'Yogiji, your other pictures are more beautiful.' But I say, 'I can't help it. Sometimes non-beautiful things are required, too.' "
“We are fortunate to have such a picture of the Mahan Tantric. If it is meditated on properly and seriously, the karmas can be erased and individual destiny expanded. To properly practice, set the photo about 3-6 feet away. Set one or two candles in front of it so the picture is clear. The rest of the room should be dark. Sit very straight in some easy pose and cover your head and body with a meditation shawl or blanket. Sit on a sheepskin or wool blanket to insulate your auric field properly. Now tune OM Guru Dev Namo. Know that you will receive guidance in all matters. Then open the eyes wide to look eye into eye at the picture. Draw up lower eyelids slightly. . . . Look at the light in the eyes of the photo and travel mentally through the picture to the source of that light. . . Meditate from 15 minutes to 4 hours. A good time is 31 minutes. Just remember to keep your gaze on the light of guidance in the eyes. During the meditation the picture may begin to move and look three dimensional. Have the picture talk and move at your command. Mentally ask a question and listen to the answers. After meditation, close your eyes and picture that face at the brow point and again get it to move and act for you. When this is mastered, you just meditate on your inner photo (p 22).
Nothing else has the value of this meditation. It is a must for any student teacher of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan to practice this regularly. The practice is called mental beaming. Try this practice for 40 days in the early morning before sunrise and see what effects it has on you (p 22).
* This meditation picture is best prepared with a colored background cut to fit around Yogiji's face. Although there are specific colors which can be used on given days of the week and for their different effects, the color orange, as in the Adi Shakti, is recommended for regular use. (footnote on page 22)
So daily meditation on this picture of Mahan Tantric Yogi Bhajan is a must for all his followers from 31 minutes to 4 hours. This is what they should do when they get up early in the morning. But it has been noted that when orthodox Sikhs visit the ashram in the morning, this sadhana is not performed in their presence.

XI

Misrepresenting Siri Chand as Tantric Yogi

Yogi Bhajan has made his American followers believe that Guru Nanak's eldest son Siri Chand was a Yogi. Siri Chand was an Udasi and never a Yogi. No Udasi ever practices Yoga. When Guru Nanak went on his missionary journeys he put on the dress of mendicants without which it was impossible even to enter medieval holy places. Siri Chand was yet a little boy at that time. He got the impression that Guru Nanak had renounced household life, and so he prepared himself as an Udasi (Recluse) ready to carry on his father's mission far and wide. He studied Sanskrit and Persian and lived in every way according to a Sikh because he was initiated into this faith by his father. He was never a Yogi and no Udasi up till this day ever practices Yoga. It was Guru Angad's son Data who went away to learn and preach Yogic asanas, and he was so quickly cut off from the main stream of Sikh faith, that he and his yogi followers were lost in oblivion and completely forgotten even by history. We would not have known anything about him and his followers had not Bhai Gurdas just mentioned him in passing. This is what Bhai Gurdas says:
Siri Chand chose to be a celibate from childhood (bal-jati) and he built Dera Baba Nanak, and preached the Guru's teachings from there. Lakhmi Chand, second son of Guru Nanak, had a son named Dharam Chand who became proud and vain. Guru Angad's son Das was given manji (seat of missionary center). Data went to some Yogis and learnt Yoga asanas and started teaching yoga (to distinguish himself from the mainstream of Sikhism as taught by the legitimate successor of his father).
Bhai Gurdas, Var 26:33
Bhai Gurdas further comments that people like Data were like bamboos living close to Sandalwood trees. Every white and red sandalwood tree gives so much fragrance that all trees in the neighborhood become fragrant except bamboo, which is so lifeless and spiritless that it resists all fragrance. Bhai Gurdas compares Data to this bamboo, because he started learning Yoga asanas, just because he did not imbibe the fragrance of Sikhism.
To justify the practice of Yoga asanas and other practices connected with it, the American Sikhs, as told by Yogi Bhajan, assert day in and day out that Siri Chand was a Yogi and he practiced Yoga asanas. There is absolutely no truth in this statement. Siri Chand was a Celibate, and never thought of sex from Childhood, because Bhai Gurdas tells us that he was a bal-jati (Celibate from childhood). He could never in a dream think of Tantric exercises which according to Yogi Bhajan are all connected with Sex energy. All his life he preached the teachings of Guru Nanak and just before his death during the time of the Sixth Guru, when he was nearly 135 years old, he placed all his disciples under the leadership of Baba Gurditta, eldest son of the Guru, and thereafter the Udasis became a very orthodox missionary wing of Sikhism, and this movement has contributed much more to the glory and greatness of Sikhism than any other movement that I know of. During recent times when Akali leaders foolishly started antagonizing Udasis, Nirmalas, and even the Nihangs, these Udasis have become a self-contained organization, which still has seeds of healthy revival and cooperation with the mainstream of Sikhism. No school of Sikhism that I know of has ever patronized Yoga, least of all Tantric Yoga, and Shakti Cult which have always been repulsive to Sikhism. We give below a recent incident as to how a great Udasi of our own time directed one of our greatest living Yogis who had practiced Yoga up to the age of 135 years, towards Sikhism. The whole story is based on the autobiographical record published by the Yogi's disciple whom the author met at Rishikesh in the late thirties.
Although during my travels in India I met many Yogis and Tantric scholars and adepts, this great seer was the only one who had really practiced all the Yogas, and his book is the only one out of the hundreds I have read in English, Hindi, and Bengali which not only clearly outlines the methods and experiences of various yoga practices but also cautions against dangerously wrong teachings and practices. In the Introduction to his book, Guru-Gian, this great Yogi briefly gives his life-story which speaks for itself. This is the translation:
"I was born in Bengal. One revered Yogi came to our village now and then. His name was Siri Swami Brahmanada ji. The life of this revered Yogi was profoundly mystical; whatever he uttered came true.
"Today when I write this I am over 135 years old. I have seen very few Yogis of his eminence during my life time. My father had great faith in the divine integrity of this Yogi. One day he came right in front of the door of our house and said in a high pitched voice: 'Give me what God has given you for my sake. Give me what belongs to me and is in your house.5 He had never come inside the village. All the members of the family were astounded to see him right in front of our door. What he said left us all the more surprised and wonder struck. My father was confused. In spite of efforts he could not understand what the Yogi really wanted. Yogiji had never given us anything. We had nothing belonging to him. My father could not understand what the Yogi really wanted. Twice the Yogi again repeated, 'Give what God has given you for me and which is mine.' My father touched the feet of the Yogi and begged to know, what is it Sire that you want?
"Yogi Brahmananda entered our house and placing his hand on my shoulders said, 'This boy is my child, he belongs to me. Give him to me.' We were four brothers but to part with one's son was not easy. But it was also difficult to contradict what the Yogi said. Everyone in the house was dumbfounded and started looking at one another. Yogiji once more said, 'Bring what belongs to me to my hut tomorrow' and went away.
"In the evening my father and mother went to Yogi Brahmananda. What transpired between them, I was not told. But early the next morning I was taken to the Yogi's hut and handed over to him. For six months the Yogi stayed near my village in the hut, and then left the village taking me with him.
"Yogi Brahmananda was an erudite Sanskrit scholar and by his character, action and speech he proved to be worthy of his great name: Brahmananda (one intoxicated with the bliss of God). He taught me everything a student could learn from a great teacher. He disciplined me in all the Yoga exercises he knew. Wherever he found any Siddha Yogi more learned and experienced in other systems of Yoga he gave me an opportunity to study under them. I traveled with him to all places of pilgrimage in Madras, Bihar, Orissa and Bombay, Kanpur, Agra and Allahabad and then after many years came to the Punjab. Here we met an Udasi Saint. We spent some days in discussion. The name of the Udasi Saint was Satyananda. He described the Sikh doctrines, practices, techniques of meditations in such a way that Swami Brahmananda felt greatly charmed and fascinated. When he visited the Darbar Sahib (Amritsar: Golden Temple) the very sight of the place had a bewitching effect on his soul, and from that very day he became the most devoted disciple of the Guru. He spent sometime in the Punjab and then went to Hardwar. He was in good health but one day I found his eyes full of tears and reflecting a strange agony. I asked him what pained him so much that he should feel so sad. In a very pensive mood he replied, 'All my life I have been practicing Yoga of all kinds and now late in life I have realized that compared to the Sikh Path of Mystic life I have been trying to find grains of Gold in lumps of sand where there was none. I feel all my life I have been passing sand through a sieve to get even a grain of gold and essence of life by Yoga practices, but I did not get it. The Essence of Truth and spiritual life (tat vastu) I found too late in the Faith and Mystic Path of Guru Nanak. I shall have to take one birth as Sikh.' So saying he passed away.
"I have now acquired the divine mantra Vah-Guru of Guru Nanak and contemplate it according to the discipline of the Guru. I have practiced Yoga at the feet of greatest living teachers in India, and I have been practicing it for years and years. I had never attained that joy and peace and those heights of mystic exaltation from any Yogic practices which I achieved from the Sikh discipline of the contemplation of His Name.
"The Path of the Sikh Gurus is perfect. It is not possible for me to describe the spiritual glory and greatness of the mystic Word: Vah-Guru. The teachings of Guru Nanak-Guru Gobind Singh are ambrosial in essence. I say it from my experience that there is nothing more spiritually ennobling and liberating than Guru-Vani (Sacred Writings of the Gurus).
"Before he breathed his last and closed his eyes to this world, my Master Swami Brahmananda gave me his last Testament and message which I find it my sacred duty to convey to all the people through this book. Those siddhis (spiritual powers) and mystic illumination which can be achieved through the contemplation of the divine Name Vah-Guru quite naturally and easily, when done according to Sikh tradition, they cannot be attained even by the most difficult yogic sadhana. Even by performing the most self-mortifying sadhana (practice) one hardly reaches the fringe of this genuine spiritual achievement. This is the truth, an indisputable truth and for me an experienced fact and truth.
"At this age of about 135 I was not expected to write a book. But my friends asked me to record some of my experiences. Even if one or two people try to benefit from my experiences and findings, then I would feel that this book has achieved its purpose."
Nityananda Nilgiri Now Rishikesh
This is the testimony of a Yogi and his Master. Both of them practiced Yoga from the young age of 10 to over 135 years of age. And then finding the mystic path of Sikhism more exalting spiritually, they gave up Yoga completely and asked their followers to do so. I earnestly hope that the American Sikhs who are being misled to believe that Sikhism and Tantric Yoga are the same thing will awaken to their personal responsibility of finding out the Truth. Sikh studies, theoretical and practical, are open to everyone. We still have very eminent scholars and saints who practice and live according to the Essentials of the Sikh Path with utter humility and devotion. They do not wear long robes. They do not wear gold and diamond rings. They do not contaminate Sikh doctrines and practices with practices of creeds and cults which are repulsive to Sikhism and strictly prohibited. There are piles and piles of correct interpretations of the Sacred Writings of the Sikhs written first by the great contemporaries of the Gurus like Bhai Gurdas, Bhai Mani Singh, Bhai Nand Lai, and our own contemporaries like Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh and Bhai Vir Singh. They not only interpreted it but lived it and suffered for it like living martyrs, never seeking anything but the Grace of God and the Gurus as a reward.
NOTES
6. Ajit Mookerjee and Madhu Khanna: The Tantra Way, p 25
7. Ibid, p 26
8. Ibid, p 165
9. Arthur Avalon, The Serpent Power, p 15, 17
10. Agehananda Bharati, The Tantra Tradition, p
11. Lama Anagarika Govinda,

12. Lama Anagarika Govinda, Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism, p 139-145
13. Mircea Eliade, Yoga, p 245
14. Beads, 1972 p 16
15. New York Post, December 1972
16. Philip Gravin and Julia Welch, Religious America (McGraw Hill Book Co), p 117-118
17. Gurshabd Singh Joseph, K.R.I. Issue 8, 1975, p 30, 32, 33

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“Amid the legal infighting following Yogi Bhajan’s death, critics are offering another portrait of the Sikh leader.”