Abstract: Abstract This paper reviews published literature on Yogi Bhajan/Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Yogiji and the main organizations that he founded in North America in the early 1970s – the Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization (3HO) and the Sikh Dharma Brotherhood (now, simply, Sikh Dharma or Sikh Dharma of the Western Hemisphere). I focus particularly on the way that Yogi Bhajan's and 3HO/Sikh Dharma's teachings, practices, and history intersect with wider Sikh teachings, practices, and history. Woven into the paper are suggestions on areas where further scholarly attention might be merited. Notes 3HO was established in California in 1969 and registered there as a tax-exempt 501(c) 3 educational organization. The Sikh Dharma Brotherhood was registered in California in 1973 as a tax-exempt 501(c) 3 religious organization. Currently, two contesting organizations – Sikh Dharma International (www.sikhdharma.org) and Sikh Dharma Worldwide (www.sikhdharmaworldwide.org) – claim to be the rightful keepers of Yogi Bhajan's religious legacy and the legitimate representatives of Yogi Bhajan's Sikh followers. In this article, I use 'Yogi Bhajan' as the name for the man who was known as a young man in India as Harbhajan Singh Puri, who became 'Yogi Bhajan' to his 3HO followers and 'the Siri Singh Sahib' to his Sikh Dharma followers, and who is often referred to as Harbhajan Singh Yogi by other Punjabi Sikhs. I use '3HO/Sikh Dharma' as a short hand for the complex of organizations that look to Yogi Bhajan/the Siri Singh Sahib as the founder/inspirational teacher/spiritual guide. For instance, the Kundalini Research Institute (www.kundaliniresearchinstitute.org), founded in 1972, is the repository of Yogi Bhajan's Kundalini Yoga teachings and attempts to establish the effectiveness of Kundalini Yoga practices and to maintain professional standards for Kundalini Yoga teachers. Kundalini Yoga is, to my mind, a component of 3HO. The 'slash' suggests that the relationship between 3HO and Sikh Dharma is itself open to investigation. But see Geaves (Citation2004), Lewis (Citation1999, 2005 [1998]), Melton (Citation1992 [1986]). Jakobsh's (Citation2008) article not only demonstrates that 3HO/Sikh Dharma merits consideration within the ongoing conversation about New Religious Movements but also addresses 3HO/Sikh Dharma's relationship to the wider Sikh Panth, concluding that its continuing practices 'do not align with the norms of the wider Sikh panth to date' (403). Thus, for example, there are only passing references to Yogi Bhajan and 3HO in Syman's (Citation2010) recent overview of yoga in America. Other early ethnographic accounts include Alan Tobey's article on a summer solstice gathering (Tobey Citation1976) and Hugh Gardner's on a New Mexico ashram (Gardner Citation1978) as well as various unpublished theses and dissertations (Dusenbery Citation1973, Citation1975; Bailey Citation1974; Josephs Citation1974; Geller Citation1979; M.K. Khalsa Citation1982). For example, see Nesbitt (Citation2005, 101), McLeod (Citation1989, 118–9, Citation1997, 202–3), Jakobsh (Citation2012, 109–11), Mann (Citation2004, 101–2) – where 3HO/Sikh Dharma is generally mentioned briefly in the context of sectarian or Sant-focused groups within the Sikh orbit. Although I enjoyed generally positive relations with 3HO/Sikh Dharma members during my research in the 1970s (in the Portland ashram in summer 1972, while visiting the summer solstice gathering in New Mexico and ashrams in the western USA and Canada in summer 1974, and during my research with Sikhs in Vancouver in 1978−1979) and was able to interview Yogi Bhajan in 1974, the organizations themselves and the gatekeepers around Yogi Bhajan and his legacy did not seem particularly welcoming of outside researchers. Scholarly publications by 3HO/Sikh Dharma members on 3HO/Sikh Dharma include K.S. Khalsa (Citation1986) on 3HO businesses, G.S. Khalsa (Citation1993) on relations between 'American Sikhs' and Punjabi Sikhs in North America, and S.K. Khalsa (Citation2007) on 3HO/Sikh Dharma outreach to Punjabi Sikhs, especially through Sikhnet.com. More popular accounts include G.F.S. Khalsa (Citation2008). And then there are the official 3HO/Sikh Dharma publications and websites. For example, Yogi Bhajan's explanation for requiring his students to wear the turban were first given in terms of the 'science of hair' (and it continues to be promoted in that way by the Kundalini Research Institute), whereas wearing the turban was subsequently also explained as required as part of the Sikh dharma (duty) as a result of Guru Gobind Singh's injunctions on the founding of the Khalsa. Michael Stoeber's article (2012, 351–368) seems to take the latter approach in emphasizing the Naad Yoga ties to Sikh understandings of sacred sounds and in characterizing Yogi Bhajan's approach as 'Sikh Yoga'. Elsberg (Citation2003, 25–53), on the other hand, seems to treat the two as complementary systems in her ethnography, while Takhar (Citation2005, 158) treats them as largely distinct. For this reason, it is hard to put a number on Yogi Bhajan's followers or 3HO/Sikh Dharma members. When 3HO officials speak in terms of tens or hundreds of thousands of Yogi Bhajan students, they are likely counting every person who has ever attended a 3HO-affiliated Kundalini or Tantric yoga class or read one of Yogi Bhajan's books or visited a website run by 3HO/Sikh Dharma members. Most researchers talk today of there being at most a few thousand 3HO/Sikh Dharma members worldwide whom one might consider Gora (white) Sikhs – the term by which they are known by Punjabi Sikhs. Despite their small numbers, I argue that this unprecedented conversion of non-Punjabis to Sikhism has been consequential for the Sikh Panth (see CitationDusenbery in press). See my discussion of these polemical writings in Dusenbery (1989a, Citation2008a [1988], Citationin press). See also Mann's (Citation2006) acknowledgement that 'Sikhs have to draw lines between the religious and cultural aspects of the Sikh heritage. The [Punjabi Sikh] children growing up away from Punjab and the small group of Euro-Americans who have joined the Sikh community have brought this distinction into focus' (48). See Note 6. In fact, when Yogi Bhajan took his students to India in 1971, they spent time at Gobind Sadan where, it is claimed, there was a falling out between Yogi Bhajan and Baba Virsa Singh over whether Yogi Bhajan was properly acknowledging his own master and the spiritual lineage linking Virsa Singh to Yogi Bhajan's students. 3HO/Sikh Dharma accounts generally credit Yogi Bhajan's grandfather and a Sant Hazara Singh (about whom little is known), rather than Swami Dhirendra Acharya, as the primary sources of Yogi Bhajan's yoga training. Rather than coming out of the Sanatan tradition, the Akhand Kirtani Jatha position traces to the radical Bhasaur Singh Sabha, headed by Babu Teja Singh Overseer, whose position on turbans-for-women was taken up by Bhai Randhir Singh. We do not know whether Yogi Bhajan's position was influenced by this line of thinking or whether it was pushed upon him independently by his western students' egalitarian interpretations of the Sikh amrit ceremony. Note also that Sikh Dharma follows, contrary to the SGPC's Sikh Rehat Maryada, the Akhand Kirtani Jatha position that, during the amrit ceremony, all 29 stanzas of Benanti Chaupai and all 40 stanzas of Anand must be recited (McLeod Citation2003, 182). For an early biography produced by 3HO/Sikh Dharma, see S.P.K. Khalsa and S.K.K. Khalsa (Citation1979) (especially, S.P.K. Khalsa and G.S. Khalsa Citation1979). More updated accounts can be found at 3HO/Sikh Dharma websites. T. Singh (Citation1977) includes information on Yogi Bhajan's background in his book. See also a recent, largely hagiographic, Punjabi language account (Balram Citation2005). After his break with Virsa Singh, Yogi Bhajan reached out to Giani Mahinder Singh, Secretary of the SGPC; Hukum Singh, President of the Siri Guru Singh Sabha Shatabdhi Committee; and Gurcharan Singh Tohra, President of the SGPC. They, in turn, recognized him for his missionary work (see, e.g. H. Singh Citation1974; H. Singh and G.S. Tohra Citation1974) and were ultimately responsible for his claiming the titles 'Siri Singh Sahib' and 'Bhai Sahib' (see Dusenbery Citation1989a, Citationin press). For one attempt at explaining the origin and relationship of these organizations as created during Yogi Bhajan's life and the various changes subsequently made to them, see http://mukhtiarsingh.wordpress.com/sdi-legal-summary-attachments-background/ (accessed June 27, 2012). Legal documents related to these two cases can be found at the Sikh Dharma Worldwide website (http://www.sikhdharmaworldwide.org/legal/archive), with discussion at the Sikh Dharma Worldwide blog (http://sikhdharmaworldwide.wordpress.com/). As of August 2012, Bibi Inderjit Kaur had lost her case in New Mexico and a settlement in the Oregon case had been reached whereby control of the contested assets had been 'returned to the Sadh Sangat and the Yogi Bhajan/Siri Singh Sahib inspired family of organizations' (G.K. Khalsa Citation2012). See, for example, the archives of legal cases involving Yogi Bhajan and 3HO/Sikh Dharma at http://www.rickross.com/groups/3ho.html and discussions of the legal cases at 'Wacko World of Yogi Bhajan' (http://www.forums.delphiforums.com/KamallaRose/) and at the website of Gursant Singh (http://www.gurmukhyoga.com). Miri Piri Academy is a residential school, grades 3–12, built on land outside Amritsar given to 3HO/Sikh Dharma on a 99-year lease by the SCPC. The school is 'based on the teaching of the Siri Singh Sahib Yogi Bhajan'. And while the school's program is 'based on the teachings of Sikhism', it accepts non-Sikh students. Graduates 'earn a Cambridge accredited education and Kundalini Yoga Certification' (http://www.miripiriacademy.org).
Publication Year: 2012
Publication Date: 2012-12-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 3
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