What former Yogi Bhajan followers are saying about 3HO and their practices

by Gursant Singh , Yuba City California USA, Saturday, July 19, 2014, 15:21 (3562 days ago) @ Gursant Singh

Here is a post by Vikram Singh on GLZ I think Sikhs will find helpful in this discussion: Antion Vikram Singh Meredith says:

Veer Jaspal Singh ji, After more than 40 years the number of Bhajanists who left Bhajanism and remained Sikhs - like myself - can be counted on the fingers of two hands. For Bhajanists Sikhi and Bhajanism are one and the same. When they tire of Bhajanism they leave Sikhi - except for a very small handful. What kind of miracle is that?

Antion Vikram Singh Meredith says:

Veer Jaspal Singh ji - I don't know how many amritdhari Bhajanists you know but I have known many. I'm sorry to tell you that - overwhelmingly - they do not differentiate between Bhajanism and Sikhi. For example all the ones that I knew put Yogi Bhajan's morning practices before their nitnem - if they did nitnem at all. Their knowledge of Sikh History, History of Guru Sahiban, Sikh Rehat Maryada and Punjabi Culture was verging on the non-existent. All this came second to Yogi Bhajan's yoga teachings. I'm not saying this is true for all - just for the overwhelming majority. You might say - well, you don't need to know these things to be a good Khalsa. That may be true. But if your Sikhi knowledge is only made up of and concerned with Yogi Bhajan's yoga teachings, what kind of Khalsa can you be?

This is another post by Vikram Singh on Gurmat Learning Zone which I think is appropriate here also: Vikram Singh is responding to a statement made by a Yogi Bhajan follower on a social media forum: Yogi Bhajan follower says, "Punjabis can be some of the most racist. They don’t relate to white Sikhs, or black people, or Hispanics. Amazing. Almost as bad as the Japanese. But this is changing, as well. Many Punjabis see us as the saviors of the faith. Inclusion will come to them, or they won’t survive." Antion Vikram Singh responds to Ranbir Singh Bhai who posted the Yogi Bhajan followers statement on GLZ to get a response from the Sikh community:
Vikram Singh Says:
As an "American" Sikh (20 years as a Bhajanist and 24 as an "ordinary" Sikh) I have heard this kind of talk many times. When I was a Bhajanist the level of understanding of Sikh History, Sikh Rehit Maryada, Punjabi culture and history of our Guru Sahiban amongst my peers was abysmal, verging on non-existent.

In addition, the level of arrogance that we had the "right way of Sikhi" or that we were ongoing to "save Sikhi from extinction" was extremely high.

Personally I am deeply disturbed by what I see happening in the Bhajanist movement. In the field of teaching Kundalini Yoga the movement seems to be expanding exponentially. There is nothing wrong with that per se, but the "New Age People" (sorry, I can't think of a better term) to whom the Bhajanists are teaching this yoga are very open to and somewhat familiar with Hindu terminology and practices. Thus the Kundalini Yoga they teach veers more and more towards Hindu practices. The Bhajanist movement is becoming more and more Hindu like. Sadly no one amongst them seems to care.

Few Bhajanists have any idea of what sacrifices were made by those who went before to maintain the purity of Sikhi in the face of the relentless drive of certain factions amongst the Hindus to subsume Sikhi back into the relentless juggernaut of Hindutva. They don't care about the persecution, genocide and economic warfare pursued by the Indian Government against Sikhs in India.

Instead they have this arrogance that they have the "true path of Sikhi" and that the Punjabis will somehow have to follow along.

This kind of talk makes me very sad and I only see further misunderstanding and miscommunication in the future between Bhajanists and Punjabi origin Sikhs.

Vikram Singh
Hawaii