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“It’s
not the life that matters, it’s “It
is the job of a spiritual teacher to
Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji, aka Yogi Bhajan, was born on August 26, 1929 into a Sikhi family in Kot Harkarn, district Gujranwala, in the province of Punjab (British India). His father, Kartar Singh Puri, M.D., aka Papaji, served the British Raj as a medical doctor. His mother was named Harkrishan Kaur. Their's was a well-to-do landlord family, owning most of their village in the foothills of the Himalayas. Harbhajan Singh Puri married Inderjit Kaur Uppal in Delhi in 1954. They had three children, Ranbir Singh, Kulbir Singh and Kamaljit Kaur.
Yogi Bhajan, affectionately known as Yogiji, arrived in Los Angeles in 1968. As part of his mission to share the teachings of Kundalini Yoga and to help people live healthy, happy, and holy lives, he founded 3HO Foundation, Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization. He then established Guru Ram Das Ashram in 1972 where Kundalini Yoga in the West was born. And it was at Guru Ram Das Ashram that Yogi Bhajan first taught, lived, and shared his life.
In 1976, Harbhajan Singh legally changed his name to Harbhajan Singh Khalsa. His wife, Inderjit Kaur, known as "Bibiji" went on to inherit the religious post of "Bhai Sahiba" of Sikh Dharma of the Western Hemisphere in the 1980's.
Most
influential of Harbhajan Singh's relations in his early development
was his paternal grandfather, Bhai Fateh Singh. Fateh Singh taught
him the essence of Sikh teachings and instilled in him a respect for
all religions. As a teen, Harbhajan
Singh spent several years under the strict tutelage of Sant Hazara
Singh who declared his student a Master of Kundalini
Yoga at the young age of sixteen. In 1953, he entered the Indian Civil Service. Harbhajan Singh served in the Revenue Department, where his duties took him all over India. Eventually, he was promoted to the post of customs inspector for the country's largest airport, outside of Delhi. Throughout
his life, he continued his practice and pursuit of yogic knowledge.
His government duties often facilitated his traveling to remote ashrams
and distant hermitages in order to seek out reclusive yogis and swamis. Harbhajan Singh immigrated to Canada in 1968. According to his own account, he left India under pressure to participate in Soviet psychic experiments at their designated research center in Tashkent. In late 1968 a bearded and turbaned Yogi Bhajan went to visit a friend in Los Angeles, but ended up staying to share the teachings of Kundalini Yoga with the already longhaired members of the hippie counterculture of California and New Mexico. In effect, he had found his calling.
Yogi Bhajan began his mission to counter the drug abuse of the time by introducing an alternative and transformational technology in the form of Kundalini Yoga, which was unknown in the West. Yoga practice and philosophy was generally considered a part of Hindu culture, but Yogi Bhajan distinguished himself as a practitioner of Kundalini Yoga and meditation, a teacher (founder of 3HO, the Healthy, Happy, Holy Foundation), and as a Sikh. At the same time his high visibility as a Sikh, represented by his turban and beard, was a compelling attraction for many young people with whom he made a connection. The authority and role of Mahan Tantric, the Master and only-one-at-a-time teacher of White Tantric Yoga, i.e., self-mastery by way of obedience, was bestowed on Yogi Bhajan in 1970.
Yogi Bhajan never tried to convert his students. Although he himself was a devoted Sikh, the fact that he did not proselytize anyone was an added attraction. He was often heard to say that he did come to America to gain followers, only to create teachers by way of the ancient technology of Kundalini Yoga. (It is not the customary practice of the followers of Sikh Dharma to proselytize others. Sikhs often express the term "Sat Kartar," i.e., "God is the Doer." In this sense meaning, only those with such destiny will become Sikhs.) The Siri Singh Sahib of Sikh Dharma
In 1971, at Amritsar, India, Sikh leaders honored him by proclamation, bestowing on him the first-ever title of “Siri Singh Sahib”, i.e., Supreme and Noble Lion, the supreme religious and administrative authority for the Ministry of Sikh Dharma in the Western Hemisphere, with the responsibility of establishing the Sikh Dharma ministry in the West. It was in this capacity that Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib* Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji, ordained Hari Singh and Hari Kaur as Sikh ministers, i.e., Singh Sahib and Sardarni Sahiba* of Sikh Dharma in September 1973 in Denver, Colorado. He later proclaimed Hari Singh, Mukhia Singh Sahib* of Sikh Dharma in April 1978 in Los Angeles, California. See Guru Ram Das Ashram, Los Angeles, CA. See Yogi Bhajan family.
Sat Nam (Naam) means, you are Truth. You are the one Generator, Organizer, and Doer, the One Reality, the Essence. You are IT. Sat Siri (Sri) Akal means, the Supreme Truth never ends, i.e., your True Identity is undying. Singh means, Lion. All male Sikhs have Singh as their middle name. A Sikh's given name, as in many other traditions, usually denotes some aspect of God. Male and female Sikhs often have the same given name, e.g., Hari Singh, man, and Hari Kaur, woman. Hari is another name for God, meaning the creative aspect of God. Kaur means, Princess. All female Sikhs have Kaur as their middle name. Their first name, as in many other traditions, usually denotes some aspect of God. Bhai Sahiba and Bhai Sahib are titles of reverence given to highly respected Sikh women and men respectively for their spiritual insight and knowledge. Sardarni Sahiba and Singh Sahib (S.S.), i.e., Noble Lioness and Noble Lion, are titles given to women and men respectively who have become ordained Sikh ministers through Sikh Dharma Worldwide. Mukhia Sardarni Sahiba and Mukhia Singh Sahib (M.S.S.), i.e., Chief Noble Lioness and Chief Noble Lion, are ministerial titles given to women and men respectively who have given exceptional service to the community. Indicates an elder of Sikh Dharma Worldwide. Siri Sardarni Sahiba and Siri Singh Sahib (S.S.S.), i.e., Supreme Noble Lioness and Supreme Noble Lion, are ministerial titles given to women and men respectively who are the superior religious authorities within a particular domain of Sikh Dharma Worldwide. Khalsa
means, the Body of Pure Ones, i.e., all those who
contemplate the Lord; those who live by their inner purity and light;
those who are pure of heart. See Sikh
Dharma Glossary.
Personal
Profile
"Inspired
leadership occurs on life's drill field A
native of the Midwest, Mukhia
Singh Sahib Hari Singh Bird Khalsa is of Native
American heritage by way of his father and the Cherokee
and Modoc
tribes. Hari Singh is also a yoga
teacher and a Sikh minister, and since
1969 he has been a student of Yogi Bhajan,
who is the founder of the 3HO Foundation
and the master of Kundalini
Yoga. His career as an Optician
began in 1958 following active duty with the U.S.
Marine Corps. Although currently retired, he holds active Optician
licenses in Florida and Arizona. Hari Singh is certified by the American
Board of Opticianry (ABO), and National Contact Lens Examiners (NCLE),
and he's a passionate advocate of a) the resurgence of the Optician
as a Health Care Professional as
opposed to today's Dispensers who are trained mostly as eyeglass merchants,
b) the resurgence of the Full Discovery and Disclosure Life-style
Interview and Design of prescription eyewear, c) the conscientious
and tactile Hands-on-the-Patient design
and delivery of prescription eyewear, and d) most importantly,
the soon-to-be-lost hands-on training of aspiring Opticians
in the art of custom designed lenses. He is currently an Ophthalmic
Dispenser Training Consultant with Opticians
For Change and conducts Hands-on-the-Patient
Workshops that are accredited for continuing education by ABO
and the Florida State Board of Opticians, and sponsored by the POF,
Professional Opticians of Florida.
Hari Singh has a long Kundalini Yoga teaching history at numerous facilities and locations as a volunteer yoga and meditation teacher, counselor and chaplain, which include the Federal Prison in Littleton, CO; the Colorado State Prison at the Buena Vista facility; the Youth Detention Center, Brighton, CO; the Orange County Jail, Orlando, FL; the Florida State Prison, Bushnell, FL; the YWCA, Orlando, FL; Sikh Chaplain at the New Mexico Military Institute, Roswell, NM; and several years as the Drill Instructor for the Select Rifle Drill Team at the 3HO Women's Training Camp, formerly Khalsa Women's Training Camp (KWTC),** Espanola, NM, now International Women's Camp, IWC. See an inspiring account of one woman's Drill Team experience at the Khalsa Women's Training Camp. See Family Photos. "In
my experience as a teacher of Kundalini Yoga, "In
each and every environment, good
Personal
Profile
"To serve is to succeed." "From
a woman all men are born. A
native of the Midwest also, Sardarni Sahiba
Hari Kaur Bird Khalsa was a senior in high school when she met
her husband, Hari Singh. They married soon after Hari Kaur's graduation.
Their first child, daughter Ong
Kar Kaur, came along in late 1964 followed by their son, Sat
Kartar Singh, in late 1966. Hari Kaur is a Certified Home Health Aid, and holds current Real Estate, Mortgage Broker and insurance licenses. At the same time, Hari Kaur continues to serve as a wife, mother and grandmother. And she's served as an administrator and Opticians' Assistant for her Optician husband, and as a Computer Lab Assistant at the New Mexico Military Institute. She continues to serve as a mentor to those in her Florida community. See Family Photos. "Any
woman on this planet who values herself as a The
IWC
**Yogi Bhajan first invited the women of 3HO to gather in New Mexico in the summer of 1976. He said that to renew themselves, women must get together away from their families, work, and the pressures and stress of life. He said it is a basic requirement that a woman arranges her life so that she can focus on her own self. To serve this need, he created the Women’s Camp, defining it as an environment of challenge and excellence. -- 3HO
Kirpal Singh's Early 3HO History The Solstice Sadhana Experience Sat Santokh Singh's Early 3HO History The 1974 Transition of Bhai Sahib Dyal Singh
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Greetings,
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