Sangat and Pangat

Sangat and Pangat is a beautiful experience that Yogi Bhajan shared with his students *This image and words by Soorya Kaur (staff member of Yogi Bhajan) were shared on page 35 of her book,  YogiJi – The Light of Our Souls, written in 2005.

Most evenings after he taught class, and he never missed a class no matter what, Yogiji would invite several of his students to sit and have a meal with him.  He believed in Sangat, or group consciousness, and Pangat, where everyone sat in equality.  Very often these would become counselling sessions.  There were no secrets.  He believed in group therapy.  While counselling one, he would counsel everyone in the group.

Soorya Kaur and her Inspiration

I wish to thank God for many, many blessings, but in particular, for my good friend Neesha Singh.  I could never have done this book without her editing and writing skills, and innate sense for photography.  We forged a partnership that made this book a reality in an extremely short period of time.

While I was working on the idea of this book, my pictures (I always attempted to make him smile for me) opened a floodgate of the intimate memories that I share here with you.  If I may humbly say this, I don’t think of this as “my book”. Because Guru Ram Das and Yogiji saw me through it, and it took on a life of its own.

It is difficult to decide whether Guru Ram Das adopted Yogiji or Yogiji adopted Guru Ram Das.  Every morning he performed Seva (selfless service) washing the floors of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India. Yogiji heard Guru Ram Das’ Bani (prayers).  During this period, he was enlightened by a miraculous spiritually elevating experience. He and his bond with Guru Ram Das was sealed forever.  Guru Ram Das became his and our patron Guru.  We learn to call upon him to take our pain, to sort out our problems, to be there for us, to produce a miracle when needed, and he always delivered.