“Time needs teachers and I must push out teachers as fast as possible, any way possible, every where possible, so there may be one line of communication of brotherhood and love. We call it healthy, happy, holy family. We want to create a family of love, a family of togetherness, a family of people who have found how to sacrifice.” ~Yogi Bhajan, 1971
Read: "Teaching"Categories: Yogi Bhajan Quotes
Yogiji was a charismatic speaker; he was a poet and consummate story teller. He mesmerized his audience, to whom he gave hope and inspiration. Every person felt he was connecting directly with him or her. He had a wonderful sense of humor and a sharp wit. Yogiji was a master of punning on words, and created many slogans. “Keep up and you will be kept up!”, “The time in now, now is the time.”
Read: "Yogiji was a Charismatic Speaker"Categories: Our Stories
Yogiji was very fond of animals. When he first came to America, he had his dog “Nasi” flown in from India. She arrived pregnant, and with one eye! As he travelled, his 3HO family grew, as did his family of animals.
Read: "Yogiji was Very Fond of Animals"Categories: Our Stories
“When I lie down in my bed, I can’t sleep. I say, Yogi Bhajan, they love you so much, and like a nut you are sleeping! What for are you sleeping on this bed? Don’t they need you? Are they not supposed to progress? Then, if they are supposed to progress more, what are you, boy, doing here? Get up and do something! Help them in some way or another. If you do nothing, sit there. Even your presence is enough pressure to put them on the alert. Write them a letter, do something! This is known as, if I may not even write you a letter, I may not even come, but the very thought that I have thought about you, does connect me subconsciously to that factor and that area. And that is known as communion of the mental projectivity with the heart, because there is a positive vibration.”
Read: "When I lie down in my bed, I can’t sleep"Categories: Yogi Bhajan, Yogi Bhajan Quotes
After the big earthquake in Los Angeles in 1995, the headquarters were moved to Espanola, New Mexico. Yogiji’s students built him a geodesic dome for his personal living space and meditation. Gurbani Kirtan (music from the Siri Guru Granth Sahib, the sacred text of the Sikhs) played 24 hours a day. It created an environment that enhanced awareness. Yogiji was not bound by time. He did what he needed to do. He worked deep into the night, made phone calls to various time zones, sat at his altar to pray and meditate, before finally going to bed at around 4:30am. He only slept for a couple of hours, if at all.
Read: "The Dome"Categories: Our Stories
“We have no enemies. Our enemies are our own limitations.” ~ Yogi Bhajan
Read: "We Have no Enemies"Categories: Our Stories
Yogiji was extremely fastidious about cleanliness. Personal hygiene and spotless surroundings paved the way, he believed, to pristine souls.
I have a special memory of his shawls. He massaged his body with sandalwood oil every day, and the sweet fragrance lingered on them
Read: "The Ranch – 1987"Categories: Our Stories
There was a time in Santa Fe, when the metal symbols on the front hoods of expensive cars would frequently get stolen. This particularly applied to the Mercedes. Yogiji devised a system where you had to remove this symbol once you parked your car, and that would automatically lock it. So, if you forgot to remove the symbol, and it got stolen, there was no way you could start the car. On one occasion I was stranded outside a shopping plaza, with a car that I couldn’t start and needed to be rescued.
Read: "The Ranch"Categories: Our Stories
“What is the reality of a person? It is to be graceful and as vast as Infinity. The first test is to give and forgive. Don’t expect. There is no such thing as tomorrow. Tomorrow has to become today. When it comes, you will face it. What is there to fear?”
Read: "What is the Reality of a Person?"Categories: Yogi Bhajan Quotes
Yogiji said he learned a lot from his students. There was a give and receive relationship both ways. For example, Yogiji did not approve of skiing, and gave Guru Prem Singh a hard time about it. “You go up, you go down, you break your leg, what’s good about it?” Subsequently however, he joined him at the ski basin.
Read: "Yogiji and Skiing"Categories: Our Stories
Yogiji was the recipient of several gifts, including the instrument on his lap. All presents were first placed at the altar, both for his prayers and blessing for the gift giver. Anything that was presented to him was considered sacred, and found a special place in one of the residences, or went to the archives. It was very important to Yogiji that all correspondence was acknowledged immediately. Every letter or communication he received was preserved in the archives.
Read: "Receiving Gifts"Categories: Our Stories
Seeing Yogiji in deep meditation on his lawn at the Ranch on a crisp New Mexico morning, would not give you any idea that one of the things he particularly enjoyed, was to have us do PT (physical training) on the dew drenched grass. Bundle rolls were his favorite, where we rolled across the grass like logs.
Read: "Yogiji Reading His Banis"Categories: Our Stories
Yogiji didn’t place himself on a pedestal. He was very much a friend and a guide; warm, approachable and human. Here he is enjoying a game of volleyball at Summer Solstice.
Read: "Yogiji Playing Volleyball at Summer Solstice"Categories: Our Stories
This picture was taken in Santa Fe in January, 1988. Look closely at his sunglasses, and you may see reflected in them the ski basin in Santa Fe, where Yogiji is enjoying the sun and snow. He was a family man who loved life and wanted to take everyone along with him to have a good time. His entourage was often forty people. When he wanted to go somewhere, he just stood up and said, “let’s go!”. We learned how to always be dressed and ready to get up and go, or “hurry up, and then wait!”.
Read: "Yogiji – Ski Basin in Santa Fe"Categories: Our Stories
