WHO IS HARBHAJAN SINGH KHALSA YOGIJI AKA YOGI BHAJAN
YOGI Bhajan is a Sikh spiritual leader, who pioneered the teaching of kundalini yoga.
Kundalini yoga incorporates movement, dynamic breathing techniques, meditation and the chanting of mantras, such as Sat Nam, meaning “truth is my identity”.
The goal is to build physical vitality and increase consciousness.
Bhajan was born Harbhajan Singh Puri on August 26, 1929, in the part of India that became Pakistan in 1948.
He was the son of a medical doctor and spent his youth in a privileged environment in private schools.
When he was 8, he began his yogic training with an enlightened teacher, Sant Hazara Singh, who proclaimed him to be a master of kundalini yoga when he was 16.
In September 1968, Bhajan left India for Canada to teach yoga at the Toronto University.
After two months in Canada, he went to Los Angeles.
Bhajan met young hippies, the spiritual seekers of that era, and recognised that the experience of higher consciousness they were attempting to find through drugs could be achieved by practising the science of kundalini yoga.
Breaking the centuries-old tradition of secrecy surrounding the practise, he began teaching kundalini yoga publicly.
With the yogic sciences of yoga, meditation, yogic philosophy and loving acceptance, he gave the soonto-be-called baby boomers an effective alternative to the prevalent drug culture. He called it the 3HO (healthy, happy, holy) way of life.
From humble beginnings, teaching first at the East West Cultural Centre
and then in a student’s furniture store in West Hollywood, he was soon teaching at colleges and universities and accepting invitations to teach in other cities.
In July 1969, the non-profit 3HO Foundation was incorporated in California.
Travelling extensively in the 1970s and 1980s, Bhajan crusaded tirelessly to educate, uplift and enlighten everyone he met.
Becoming the Mahan Tantric (only living master of white tantric yoga) in 1971, he conducted workshops in cities around the world.
In 1976, he became a US citizen and changed his name legally to Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji.
He died on October 6, 2004. | www.yogibhajan.org