Sikh Dharma of the Western Hemisphere

Yogi Bhajan and the Gora Sikhs

• Non-Punjabi following of the Sikh faith• Yogi Bhajan in America, Harbhajan Singh Puri, now

deceased – strong following• Wife currently taken over• Emphasis on kundalini yoga – many see this as

contradictory to teachings of Sikh Gurus• Emphasis on the Khalsa form and colour white• Not continuation of the Sikh Gurus, take GGS as Guru

of the Panth – mostly translations used• Big following in New Mexico, America; Finchley,

London; Germany and Switzerland.

Yogi Bhajan

• Gora Sikhs adamantly affirm not members of a sect but are mainstream Sikhs, however, position given to Yogi Bhajan and certain practices result in them as being regarded outside of mainstream Panth by many Sikhs

• Detailed look at practices – website of the ‘Sikh Dharma of the Western Hemisphere’ and Takhar “Sikh Identity”

• Majority have converted to Sikhism, rather than being born into the faith – as is case for majority of Punjabi Sikhs

• Tension at times between Gora and Punjabi Sikhs, former accuse latter (sehajdharis) of not being ‘proper’ Sikhs – issues of Sikh identity pertinent here

“There is no gursikh unless he is a student of the Guru first. One is never a gursikh because he happened to be born in India. There is no student of the Guru who has the right to reverse or disregard the hukam of his Guru and still call himself a gursikh. You are truly losing sight of your very foundation stone, your very roots. You are sitting on the end of a branch and you are cutting it off of the tree. You have become more concerned with society, more concerned with your image as a social group, and you have totally forgotten that if you are not Sikhs of the Guru, then Sikh means nothing at all. You can be a Punjabi no matter what you do and no matter where you go, but you cannot call yourself a Sikh unless you are living as a Sikh. . . . Those Sikhs, (or rather those born into Sikh families) who have cared more for profit and more for Western convention and fashion, who have cared more for social acceptance and a life of ease – they are not Sikhs.”

Premka Kaur, ‘Rejoinder’ pp. 52-53.

• Bhajan often been called the ‘Father of the Woodstock Nation’. At a time when drugs and alcohol were becoming increasingly popular in America, he introduced a way of life that aimed at fulfillment without intoxicants.

• Initially beginning with the 3HO teachings, many students went further to find solidarity with the Sikh Dharma of the Western Hemisphere under the leadership of Yogi Bhajan.

Kundalini Yoga• Bhajan expressed the prominence of kundalini

yoga for the gora Sikhs, as well as the students of the 3HO. He states:

“I would like to invoke in you that power that is already yours. It is called Kundalini. Mostly it is dormant, but it’s [sic] very existence creates the radiance to keep you alive. Kundalini will give you what riches and money cannot; it will give you happiness and satisfaction in your life”

‘Message from Siri Singh Sahib Yogi Bhajan’ – www.sikhnet.com

White Tantra• Bhajan also taught ‘White tantra’. • Aim ‘is to purify and uplift the being.’ It is in sharp contrast to the

other two types of tantra namely, Black tantra and Red tantra: neither of these are taught by Bhajan. Black tantra is often depicted as ‘black magic’. Red tantra is associated with sexual energy.

• practice of any tantric rituals is alien to Sikhism generally • Bhajan is popularly referred to by his students as the Mahan

Tantric, ‘The Great Master of White Tantric Yoga.’ • White tantra practiced in pairs at specific times that are known to

the Mahan Tantric only. • Undertaken in the following manner:“All the participants sit in rows, facing each other. The tantric energy

travels in a zig-zag pattern up and down the rows. . . Although it is practiced with a partner, White Tantric Yoga is not a "sexual" yoga. On the contrary, it transmutes the sex energy from the lower chakras (energy centers) to the higher chakras.” Yogi Bhajan website.