Every second of the day in camp was utilized. We ended our sadhana with a mile run. We breakfasted fast and dashed off to swimming and tennis. We tilled the land in the garden that provided our food. We clambered over the five foot wall and crawled on our bellies through the dirt of our obstacle course. We learned the noble art of Gatka (Indian sword fighting). At the sound of the bell, we raced to our karate class. Muscles that hadn’t even been thought of in years were restrengthened. We were tested at every turn. The initial trauma of learning to fire the five rounds of bullets turned into a feeling of confidence and power, respect and poise.
After our physical activities, we had intensive Gurmukhi classes; each day we read our Bhanis with more speed, accuracy, and comprehension. Our daily Gurbani classes gave us time to sing and chant together. We lived together, stood together and marched in formation together, through the streets of Espanola while the populous looked on in awe and wonder. We daily marched under the rising sun, learning to command each other as well as to be commanded by each other.
Read: "The First Khalsa Women’s Training Camp in 1976"Categories: 3HO History, Our Stories, Women's Teachings
Tags: Beads of Truth, Beads of Truth - 1976-Fall, KWTC
Chanting this mantra for at least 11-minutes can help eliminate blocks and errors of the past, as well as support letting go of fear, attachment and pain – with ultimate compassion and patience. You are only free when you are above time and space. When you are afraid, ‘What will happen tomorrow?’, you are not living, you are just dragging. Spirit is above time and space.” -Yogi Bhajan
Read: "The Eight Facets of God"Categories: Yogi Bhajan Lectures
As long as humanity does not learn to respect the woman, there will be no peace on this earth. There will be a war always. In our society, woman is used as a tool of the advertising industry. Her sexuality is exploited to sell automobiles and whiskey. The most graceful being on this planet is treated disgracefully as a playmate, as a sexual toy. When we treat the mother of our next generation in such a lowly, negative manner, how can we expect the human condition to improve?
Read: "The Manifestation of Mother Nature through Woman, the First Teacher"Categories: Women's Teachings, Yogi Bhajan Lectures
Tags: KWTC
The Guru is a guide that can take you from the darkness into the light. The Guru is an ocean where you can totally merge yourself and come out washed and clean. The Guru is a store of technical know-how where you can go and get taken care of so that you are fit again to take up the responsibility of this planet. The Guru is the secret chamber of your inner self where you can confide your greatest secrets and be guided in the light of righteousness. Those who qualify according to these criteria are truly the blessed ones who have come to serve humanity and carry us through the times.
Read: "God Has Found You"Categories: Yogi Bhajan Lectures
But what is this meditation? Procedurally, it’s a very simple situation. Coming to the Gurdwara, at the Gate of the Guru, I have seen some people, like myself, who touch the dust of those who have gone before and who leave the dust for those who are to follow. They call it “dil hees.” Dil means the heart. Hees comes from the word “haj” —going to a place for the specific purpose of purification. It is the haj of the heart. So, when a person comes and takes the dust from the feet of those who have gone to the Guru, and leaves the dust for those who shall come, it is a continuous, vibratory, elementary, elevated, conscious action.
Read: "The Greatest Meditation"Categories: Yogi Bhajan Lectures
“The Christians have Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel, and the Sikhs have Mr. O’Brien and the Mural in Espanola. No human being painted this mural. This man was able to do what I could never do – he accurately told the history of this world, and perfectly predicted the events of man up to 5,000 years into the future. I could never make such a prediction, for man would not allow me to do such a thing, but O’Brien quietly told the future of the whole world and then humbly left this planet. O’Brien will be known in the history of man from this time forth and books will be written on his works and pilgrimages will be made to see his murals and the power of his faith captured in paint. I am petitioning to have this O’Brien made the first Christian Saint in the Sikh Dharma.” ~Yogi Bhajan
Read: "Ed O’Brien and the History of the Mural at HGRD"Categories: Our Stories
Tags: art and artists
Nearly six years ago, Yogi Bhajan began working with the young people of this country, to give them an alternative to drugs, to give them a means of keeping their bodies healthy, to give them values of life and to rebuild the structure of family life. He struck at the root of the problems facing the entire western societies today: the lack of respect and reverence for woman, the devaluation of the function of raising children, the breakdown of the family structure and the pollution of the basic vibration – the WORD.
Read: "Dedicated to Woman"Categories: Our Stories
Tags: Beads of Truth, Beads of Truth - 1975-Summer
The story of the first American Sikh enlisted in the U.S. Army who stood by the rights of the 1st Amendment to pave the way for Sikhs to practice their religious beliefs, including the wearing of beard and turban
Yes, there is a place for Sikhs in the United States Army. For this achievement, we can be grateful to those who went before us and who accepted the harassment and went through the Court Martials, who were forcibly shaven, but who ‘kept up’ in order to see that our basic human rights were upheld: the right to practice our chosen religion and to live actively in all aspects of society and the community without discrimination.
Read: "You’re in the Army Now!"Categories: 3HO History, Our Stories
Tags: Beads of Truth, Beads of Truth - 1975-Spring
Society is feeling a great impact and requires comfort from anybody who can give it. The greatest thing on this Earth is to serve the people of God. That is the highest act a man can do for any other man, but it has to be positive—not that you go help somebody and drag yourself down and get into the pit yourself. You have to be very firm, very honest, very constant, very insistent, and very persuasive. And you have to be very sweet, very kind, very serviceful, and very righteous. These two things go together.
Read: "Expand – Now is the Time"Categories: Yogi Bhajan Lectures
We have been allowed the privilege to serve our God and Guru, who gives us two choices – to live in the territory of space or to live in the territory of grace. Space only robs the self of completeness; grace fills the self with the purity and the total ecstasy of the Holy Nam. Thus, we can enjoy the light of the sun and the sweetness of the moon on this visiting trip of earth.
Read: "Letter from Yogi Bhajan – January 30, 1974"Categories: Our Stories, Yogi Bhajan Letters
For any thought you want to eliminate, there are two positive ways of doing it. Either you manifest it or you put it in your meditation—no matter how negative it is. It will never let go if it’s in your subconscious mind, because it will become a block there. It will reoccur, it will haunt you. We call them haunting thoughts. The haunting thoughts can be burned in meditation forever.
Read: "Yogi Bhajan Lecture: Changing Behavior Patterns"Categories: Yogi Bhajan Lectures
