Several former students of Yogi Bhajan claim that when attempting to leave the group, they were threatened with violence.
There have been allegations of various criminal activities, and also Security Exchange Commission convictions of members of Yogi Bhajan's inner circle. Over the past thirty years I have helped former members who alleged sexual and psychological abuse by and under Yogi Bhajan. I am told that most legitimate Sikhs avoid any association with Bhajan's group, and that Yogi Bhajanism is by no means representative of the five-century-old Sikh tradition whose homeland is in the Indian Punjab.įormer members with whom I have worked populate and tell their stories on a Delphi forum, " The Wacko World of Yogi Bhajan". But perhaps his most outrageous claim was that he was the official religious and administrative leader of all Sikhs in the Western world. Bhajan taught, among other things, that he could see auras and see into the future. The audacity of Yogi Bhajan's claims makes this story particularly alarming. Yogi Bhajan's teachings are closer to a synthesis of Kundalini yoga, tantric and New Age practices than anything originating from Sikh teachings. However, according to mainstream members of the religion, by adhering to the doctrine of Yogi Bhajan, they are violating more traditional Sikh teachings. Members of Yogi Bhajan's group claim to be Sikhs. In reality, in India, Bhajan had been merely a civil servant, a customs inspector. He said he was a well-known holy man back home in India. Born Harbhajan Singh Puri, he arrived in the U.S. The head of the empire, Yogi Bhajan, died in New Mexico in 2004 at the age of seventy-five. They are guarding our country's major airports, our busiest public transportation systems, and major corporate and commercial interests. According to the company's website, Akal guards provide security for 26 Army and Air Force bases and installations. Today, Akal Security earns an estimated $500 million annually and employs over 15,000 persons, most of whom are not members of the group. Akal Security started out in 1980 as a small company that hired only Yogi Bhajan group members.
Looking closely at Bhajan's organization, one can't help but wonder why our government officials have not more thoroughly investigated a group with such questionable history.Īkal Security, the largest judicial security contractor in the United States, has been awarded at least $3.5 billion in Federal contracts since the year 2000, and its clients include the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Defense.
There has recently been a debate in the news about the wisdom of outsourcing security contracts to private entities. The group's largest company, Akal Security, has reportedly earned billions in contracts relating to U.S. In an article in the Santa Fe Reporter, "Khalsa vs Khalsa," journalist Corey Pein reported on the dramatic schism erupting between the students and family of the late Yogi Bhajan, who are feuding in Oregon courts over control of Bhajan's religious and financial empire.