YOGI BHAJAN 26/08/1929 – 06/10/2004
His story
- Kundalini Yoga Master at 16
- Master of Hatha Yoga and Ayurveda (Indian Medicine)
- 1969: discloses Kundalini Yoga, hitherto kept secret, to Americans
- 1969 : creates the 3HO foundation (Happy, Healthy, Holly organization, (to live happily, in
health, related to the divine)) which is now part of the Economic and Social Council of the
the United States.
- 1970: sacred Siri Singh Sahib for the Western Hemisphere (the highest authority of the Sikh religion)
- 1971: becomes Mahan Tantric, Master of Yoga Tantra, one in the world per given era
- 1994: Founded IKYTA, International Association of Kundalini Yoga Teachers
- June 1985: creates the international day of prayer for peace in the world
Yogi Bhajan has taught all over the world about Kundalini Yoga but also about health and hygiene rules for healthy, happy and spiritual living. He has tirelessly nurtured, educated, trained and became considerably involved in inter-religious dialogue and, in this capacity, met the world’s main religious and political leaders.
Harbhajan Singh, called Yogi BHAJAN, was born on 26 August 1929 in Punjab, India.
He studied Kundalini Yoga, Tantric Yoga and Gong Meditation under the guidance of Sant Hazara Singh who was Kundalini Yoga Master and Great Tantric Master.
At the age of 16, Yogi BHAJAN was recognized as a master of Kundalini Yoga by his own master.
He perfected his knowledge of Hatha Yoga and the nervous system with Acharaya Narinder Dev and studied Veda philosophy at the Sivananda Ashram in Rishikesh.
At 24, he married and had 3 children.
He became an officer of the Indian government and was assigned at the age of 31 to the district of the Sikh holy city, Amritsar. There, for 4 and a half years, he will wash the marble floor of the Golden Temple every night and it is there that his spiritual and personal bond with Guru Ram Das, the 4th Guru of the Sikhs will be revealed to him.
In September 1968, while in charge of customs at Palim International Airport, he was invited to teach yoga at the University of Toronto in Canada. Left to his new post, his luggage was lost on the way and, on arrival, he discovered that the person who had invited him had just died in a car accident. It is without money and without post that he will rebuild his new life in the West.
In December 1968, invited to spend a weekend with a friend who lived in Los Angeles, he discovered the student movement and immediately recognized its spiritual expectations. He then decided to settle in this city to put at their disposal all his knowledge and all his experience of Kundalini Yoga technologies. Also master of Hatha Yoga, it is Kundalini Yoga that he chooses to teach to the general public, which was previously reserved for a very small minority of initiates and which is much more powerful in its effects than Hatha Yoga.
Faced with the growing success of his teachings, he created, in 1969, the “3HO” foundation.
corresponding to the first letter of the following 3 adjectives : Healthy, Happy
(happy) and Holy (connected to the divine) which, according to Yogi BHAJAN, are the fundamental rights of every human being when he comes into the world. 3HO will work to spread the science of Kundalini Yoga throughout the world. In 1994, he founded IKYTA, the International Association of Kundalini Yoga Teachers, which has since trained thousands of teachers worldwide.
His goal was not to have a crowd of “students”, but to train Kundalini Yoga “teachers” so that the technique of Kundalini Yoga would be as widespread as possible to help the planet live in peace in an era that would become increasingly chaotic.
In 1971, Yogi BHAJAN became the only Grand Tantric Master (Mahan Tantric) living on Earth.
He inherited this power upon the death of a Tibetan monk, the lama Lilan Po, who had just passed away and had inherited it himself upon the death of Yogi BHAJAN’s spiritual master, Sant Hazara Singh. With this power, he has led many sessions of White Tantra around the world during which participants, dressed in white and seated in lines of men and women facing each other, practice meditations that gradually free them from their unconscious blockages and allow them to live in their inner truth.
In 1970, Yogi BHAJAN, who has practiced the Sikh religion since childhood, was appointed Siri Singh Sahib in recognition of his activities as a teacher, spiritual master, organizer and administrator of a worldwide network of communities and businesses serving the Sikh community. As such, he will become the first spiritual leader of this community in the Western world.
In 1970, Yogi BHAJAN, who has practiced the Sikh religion since childhood, was appointed Siri Singh Sahib in recognition of his activities as a teacher, spiritual master, organizer and administrator of a worldwide network of communities and businesses serving the Sikh community. As such, he will become the first spiritual leader of this community in the Western world.
Yogi BHAJAN was also a man of peace and healing. In June 1985 he created the International Day of Prayer for World Peace. He was considerably involved in inter-religious dialogue and, in this capacity, met the main religious leaders of the world. The 3HO Foundation has been heavily involved in the healing of former drug addicts and, as such, is part of the UN Economic and Social Council.
Yogi BHAJAN died on Wednesday, October 6, 2004 at 9 p.m. in his home in Espanola – USA, after travelling continuously around the world, sleeping very little for many years, to teach Kundalini Yoga and White Tantric.
“Upon his death, Yogi Bhajan joined a small group of privileged people – Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II – through the adoption by members of the United States Congress of a bipartisan resolution honouring the life and work of “a person who was a wise teacher and mentor, a remarkable pioneer, a defender of peace and a compassionate human being.
In April 2005, in New Mexico, Highway 106 was renamed Yogi Bhajan Memorial Highway.”