Chapter 1 As Sikh children, we were told to give back. In fact giving back to one’s community, or Dasvandh, was one hallmark among my many memories as a Sikh child. My parents gave ten percent of their income in tithings. It’s part of Sikh tradition to give a tithing, even if very small, at …
Ram Das Puri
Satellite Google Maps view of the 3HO sponsored summer solstice and Peace Prayer Day events in Northern New Mexico. Yogi Bhajan’s real name was Harbhajan Singh Puri. He named the solstice site Ram Das Puri back in the late 70’s. I guess he named it after himself and no one noticed or cared? Isn’t Puri …
The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword
Firearms training, and exposure to firearms were normal growing up in 3HO Sikh Dharma. My parents owned two or three handguns and a rifle. Even as a young child I knew where they were stored – inside their bedroom closet, loaded, and inside a padded, brown leather holster. Yogi Bhajan had a 24-7 cadre of …
Trauma at boarding school and before
For a large portion of my life I managed to satirize my experiences in boarding school in India. In social situations with my “Indiakid” peers, I can keep up with the laughing and mockery and the absurd story-telling… which is usually how most social situations wound up. But then a silence will fill the room …
Steven Hassan on Huffington Post
Have you been reading any of the articles about the current schizm in Sikh Dharma? If so, what’s your response as a 2nd generation adult? Here is the op-ed piece by cult recovery expert, Steven Hassan. From there, is a link to a piece in the Santa Fe Reporter. The Eugene Register Guard also has …
Remembering US Independence Day in India
The GNFC school year was the reverse of what it is in the States. We got two and a half months off during the winter months, and spent March through November in India. Our July Fourths were not spent cooking out, or going swimming, watching fireworks, lighting sparklers, or feasting on fruit cobblers. Our parents …
Response to “Sikh Dharma Next Generation” (2010)
Many of us who chose not to live “in the Dharma” left on our own accord, and are quite happy forging our paths as we see fit. We enjoy autonomy, anonymity, freedom of expression, freedom in our attire, dress, hair, the freedom to consume anything we want to consume, etc, etc. But it’s possible that …
Continue reading “Response to “Sikh Dharma Next Generation” (2010)”
They pimped us out
In the time between school in India and my leaving 3HO for good, I lived in the Española ashram, and briefly worked for the Khalsa companies. This was the most difficult time in my young 3HO life. By order of the Siri Singh Sahib (aka Yogi Bhajan), I was ordered to leave college, and told …
Library Point
Indiakids: Are we “Third Culture Kids”?
I was spending time recalling the many boarding schools in Mussoorie (Waverly, Wynberg-Allen, Woodstock, Mussoorie-Modern just to name a few) and came across this term on Wikipedia: “Third Culture Kid” Third Culture Kids or Trans-Culture Kids, (abbreviated TCKs or 3CKs,) whom are sometimes also called Global Nomads, “refers to someone who, as a child, has …
A brief summary of the India program
The boarding schools I went to were GNFC school in Mussoorie and GRD Academy in Dehra Dun. At first GNFC was the school all the parents collectively sent us to, until about 1989. It was a traditional Sikh boarding school that had a British influence, and had separate campuses for boys and girls. The majority …
On Consensus and the Bully Pulpit
Normally when we think of consensus, we think of it in a positive, unifying kind of context – like solidarity. But growing up in 3HO, and having left when I was 18, I’ve developed a different kind of outlook toward consensus and consensus-building. I wasn’t granted an opinion or a voice once I left 3HO. …
On punishment
We were punished a lot. Even before India, at children’s camp, we were often given very unreasonable and bizarre punishments. I’ll go into those children’s camps again soon… Sometimes I think GNFC was actually a haven from those camps – once we were sent off to school, we didn’t have to go to camp anymore. …
On Vegetarianism
Growing up in 3HO I was raised a vegetarian. We ate dairy and cheese, but no eggs and we avoided any food with other animal by-products like lard or chicken stock. I’d say that our diets were very strict, health food diets, but not vegan. Yogi Bhajan often instructed his students to go on fasts, …
Found an interesting blog post by a Kundalini Yoga practitioner. 3HO – Cult or Spiritual Environment? I’m frankly a bit relieved by the writer’s awareness of this issue, because it’s rare that someone deeply engaged in the 3HO or Kundalini Yoga community would ever even use the word “cult” in reference to one’s self. If …
I found this quote on Rick Ross’ website and it struck a chord: “I was researching 3HO for a friend who was asking me about it, and I found this site. I found it interesting, and I’m glad you have it. The group needs to be exposed for what it really is, and not many …
On Given Names
I can’t believe I haven’t yet written about the broad issue of the given name. It’s an issue that I know plagues a number of young adults born and raised in 3HO Sikh Dharma. Sikh Dharma/3HO converts are given a “spiritual” name, with roots in sanskrit and gurmukhi. My given name was three syllables, plus …
Video and the Cult Leader
There are thousands of hours of videotape of Yogi Bhajan’s lectures. Every single lecture I ever had to sit in, there was a video camera on record. When I saw the PBS documentary called Jonestown, the reels and reels of raw footage of Jim Jones reminded me of Yogi Bhajan’s own narcissism, and I hoped …
Pilgrimage to Hemkund, elev. FIFTEEN THOUSAND FEET
View GNFC to hemkund in a larger map My first trip was in 1985 when I was 11. The trip from Mussoorie consisted of two full days on a bus, mostly along a mountain precipice that may or may not have had several land-slides blocking the way, followed by two full days of steep uphill …
Continue reading “Pilgrimage to Hemkund, elev. FIFTEEN THOUSAND FEET”
at GNFC: the teachers
In my years at GNFC school, I and my classmates were routinely harangued by our teachers. They did not understand that we children had just been dropped into a foreign culture, a society with very different rules, behaviors, conventions, languages, and politics. For instance, as American we were accustomed to raise our hand if we …