About Furmaan Khalsa

Foreword

Yogi Bhajan asked me to gather together all the poems he had written in Gurmukhi and translate them into English.   The result was a book titled “Furmaan Khalsa” (the command of the Khalsa). 

Yogi Bhajan. Part man part myth; part saint and part warrior.  Within these pages lies one of the most extraordinary works of the twentieth century; a manual of conscious living written in the form of 108 luminous and inspiring poems. Based on the science of human consciousness called Raj Yoga, and writ­ ten as a guide for all the future generations, these poems answer the questions of how to live successfully with an open heart and an open mind in the midst of the turmoil of the modern world. . . how to experience your cosmic identity as a man or woman. . . how to raise children who are strong, secure and fearless. What does it mean to love and be loved? What are the physical, mental, and spiritual effects of what we eat and drink, and how can we unlock the unused potential energies within, so that we can really become effective to create positive changes within ourselves and in the world?

Dedication

This volume is dedicated to the children of the Khalsa, and to all those who have committed themselves to the inner labor of self-purification and to the service of the humanity, our mother earth, and all life upon it. We are the siblings of Destiny, and our time has come.

The pure of heart shall rule the earth. Those who live by greed and falsehood shall live no more. Gathered together in love and gratitude, through the power of the Word, all shall be safe within the protection of the Khalsa.

Introduction

The poems found in this volume were written by Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji (Yogi Bhajan). If you have never met this man, I don’t think that I could ever adequately describe him to you, and if you have met him, then you know why any description I might give would be inadequate.

Yogi Bhajan is a Spiritual Teacher. The role of the Spiritual Teacher is not very well understood in the Western World. In our lives we all have four teachers: The first teacher is our mother. The second teacher is our father, and the third teacher is our environments (our friends, peers, schoolteachers, and work associates, etc.) Many of us never recognize that there is a level of learning that lies beyond these three.

While the Infinite speaks to us in many voices, if we have ears to hear and eyes to see beyond the most mundane levels of awareness, the voice of the Spiritual Teacher is the  one that teaches us how to integrate these deeper levels of awareness into our lives and how to fulfill our purpose on this planet in the most painless and effective way. A Spiritual Teacher is not a middleman between us and God. A Spiritual Teacher is not a preacher. A Spiritual Teacher is a compassionate and clear sighted guide and companion on the Path of Truthful living, someone who has walked the Path at least a few steps ahead of us, and so knows the pitfalls and the twists and turns, and can remind us with just the right few words (or if necessary, the kick in the pants!) that we need at the proper time and place.

These poems were almost all written over a period of a few months in 1980. They are in Gurmukhi, a sound current or Naad language in which every word actually contains the vibratory essence of its own meaning. Gurmukhi is not a symbolic language, such as most of us are familiar with, but a technical tool designed to alter human consciousness by speaking and hearing. When you speak or hear the sounds of Gurmukhi, the vibrations stimulate your nervous system in such a way as to affect the localized secretion of neuro­transmitters in different areas of the brain. It is in this manner that the state of consciousness is altered.

In March of 1986, when the Siri Singh Sahib requested this translation, he said that these poems belong to our children and to all the future generations, and that they contain all the teachings of Yogic technology and Dharmic living which he has shared with us since he came from India to America in 1968.

This work is a labor of Love of the rising consciousness of the Sikh Dharma in the West. Special thanks are due to Sudesh Kaur Khalsa, Bhai Sahiba Bibi Inderjit Kaur Khalsa, and Sardarni Sahiba Ram Das Kaur Khalsa for their help in translation, to Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa for the English transliterations of the poems, and to Sardarni Sahiba Guru Raj Kaur Khalsa, Singh Sahib Ravi Tej Singh Khalsa, and Shubchintan Kaur for their work in the physical production of this volume.

Furmaan Khalsa is available for purchase through Sikh Dharma International or Sat Nam Europe.

The album Furmaan Khalsa showcases beautiful devotional poetry put to music, highlighting a number of poems written by Yogi Bhajan, from his book Furmaan Khalsa.

In 1991 Mata Mandir Singh and friends put a number of poems from the bookFurmaan Khalsa to music and recorded them. This album is drawn from the basement tapes produced in Mata Mandir Singh’s recording studio in Amsterdam, Holland in decades past.  “The gentle arrangements of the music, together with a mixture of the words in English and Gurmukhi, lead you into the depth of God-consciousness, carried by music of great variety” (Sat Nam Europe).

SikhNet has a library of Mata Mandir Singh’s music available for streaming

You can also stream this album via Spotify

You can purchase this album through Sat Nam Europe here.