A student asked Yogi Bhajan about the relationship between Kundalini Yoga and the Sikh Gurus. This was his reply:
The Guru, the vibratory impact of the word, unites you with the Infinite through the sound current. Kundalini Yoga prepares you and enhances your capacity so you can hear that sound current. You are a physical, mental, and spiritual being. I have shared techniques that allow you to care for and develop all the parts of your structure. When I started teaching Kundalini Yoga, I also began to give people Sikh Dharma. I didn’t want people to be misled. I did not want to be a Sat Guru: neither am I, nor was I, nor shall I ever be. Many people grow in stature and then want to be worshipped in their personal identity rather than taking people to their own Infinite identity. Values must be taught with Kundalini Yoga.
Sikh Dharma is called the “path of the student.” “Sikh” actually means student. The path is to become pure, filled with integrity, truth, and consciousness. This is the state of being Khalsa. As Khalsa, you are whole, purified, and you have a sense of higher priority or mission. There are three things I especially like in Sikh Dharma: no proselytization is allowed; there is no forced conversion; and there is nothing which is not complete as God made it. I have studied many religions, and I like many of them, but the energy of Raj Yoga has come through the House of Guru Ram Das. It is to be open to all and to serve everyone.
Householders Path
I taught this yoga because it helps the householder who must live in and build a better life. You can find the Heavens here within our life; you do not need to wait for a later Heaven. During this lifetime you must penetrate to the core and build yourself to go home.
When you grow and become nucleus or hub of energy within your life, then everything comes to you. You have a hypnotic, electromagnetic psyche which can attract everything. Your very presence can work and have an impact. In all the years I have taught, I have not asked a single person to become a Sikh. It is true that as a person grows naturally and organically, they will end with the consciousness of a Sikh – a student of Infinity who is humble, serves all, and brings consciousness into committed action. Kundalini Yoga is a householder’s yoga. It is a yoga which allows an ordinary person to live in this world, experience the ecstasy of consciousness, then use this consciousness to serve humanity. This is the same as Sikh consciousness, just as it is not necessary to be a Christian to have Christ consciousness.
I have no intention of telling anybody what to do, but you have to tell yourself what to do. Kundalini Yoga does tell you one thing: one day you will stand before your consciousness and God, face to face. Your eyes will totally lock in the Eyes. Your breath will become one with the Great Breath. At that moment you will answer to how truthful you were, and how much you accomplished. The counterfeit currency of emotions and personality will have no worth at that time. If you can collect heavenly currency here through doing heavenly service, good.
The Kundalini Yoga teacher’s personality
A Teacher’s personality is based on pure service. It is your service to elevate, keep up the other person’s spirit, keep the candle burning, and pass on knowledge. It is the highest respect and honor to become a teacher. It is your choice to become real or false. All great men, all their great sacrifice – personal and impersonal – leave behind a legacy and a legend that the future enjoys. They become immortal.
I did break a few rules to bring you these teachings. The first rule was about teaching openly. The old scripture was very explicit: “Whoever teaches this science openly shall die within the next sun.” That means that to teach this openly would bring death within a year. But I taught out of compassion for the Time. One year passed, and I was fine. I thought, “This doesn’t seem to apply to me.” I continued to investigate this old rule. I asked many wise people and sages. They said, “That rule does not apply to Masters; it is for the people of ego. People who teach with ego become empty within the year.” I watched people practice. They became great and then thought they are perfect and exalted. They didn’t make it through even one year. They disappeared and could not contain their ego.
The combination of the knowledge of Kundalini Yoga and the values and humility of Sikh Dharma creates a good combination of balance. It is up to you. How much do you want to excel? With your own ego and definitions, you won’t last. Minus your ego, nothing can destroy you. When a saintly person dies, people drop flowers all around. When an earthly King dies, the pigeons leave their droppings on his statue. It is your choice. That is the idea or your Oath. Eliminate all your biases and work with a concentrated strength and direction of service.
The humility that is in Kundalini Yoga and in the Sikh consciousness is the same. It is a habit to present yourself before the Teacher and your higher consciousness and then to obey it.
Students of Elegant Action
Kundalini Yoga’s origins come from the beginning of time and seem to have roots in the wisdom and traditions of every culture in which a spark of consciousness has been lit. Sikh Dharma originates from the heart of the spirit, and is part of the energy of the great teachers, the ten Gurus of Sikh Dharma and confirmed by the spirit of Guru Ram Das, and served a key function to open the practices of Raj Yoga to all people regardless of caste, creed, color, gender, or age.
Formerly, through thousands of years, the techniques of individual dignity, self-divinity, and worship of the Word – the vibration of the subtle self – were restricted to only a few kings, mystics, and people in the heights. But today in the spirit of the Sikh way, these techniques have been opened up to all people, just as the central temple in Sikh Dharma, the Golden Temple or Harimandir Sahib, has doors open to all four directions. So there has been a primary shift in access to the knowledge of the tools of con