May 6th, 2007 by Siri Ved Kaur
One year, and only one year, 1972, Summer Solstice was held in California, in the northern forests of Mendocino County. Even though I had begun practicing Kundalini Yoga a year and a half earlier, this was my very first Summer Solstice. Here are a bunch of photos from then, along with some of my memories. I hope you enjoy!
Apr 30th, 2007 by Hari Bhajan Singh
It was our third year of a father/son camping trip. Sat Sangeet was six years-old and we were venturing farther from home than the previous two trips which were in the Angeles Crest Forest, only a few miles from Los Angeles. This time we were going up north to the Sierra’s, to Tioga Pass, the highest paved passage over the Sierra’s at over 9000 feet. We loaded up our Toyota pick-up we had named “Ralph” (just where that name came from escapes me now) with our new 2-man domed tent, sleeping bags, cooking utensils, gas stove and food which included mung beans and rice, buckwheat pancake mix, Wha Guru Chews, and some of those not-so-yummy freeze dried dinners.
Apr 21st, 2007 by Ganga (Bhajan Kaur) Barrett
I have many memories of the Phyllis house as well as its genesis. Shakti may have already told it all but here’s a bit from my end starting with what I know of Toronto to California. That part is culled from my memory of what YogiJi used to say when I met him in March of 1969 in Los Angeles. After his Toronto experience he was invited by Dr. Marwha to come for a weekend to Los Angeles. Once here he stayed. Next he was somehow invited by the ladies of the East/West Cultural Center where I believe he began to teach his first yoga classes. Again, Shakti would know best as she was there a bit before I was. At that point he had a tiny little studio apartment near the Center around Vermont, I think.
One day a bus load of hippies from New Mexico comprised of me and the Juke Savages: Lisa Law, Tom Law, Paul Ehrlich and Steve Samuels (who went on to open Banana Ananda Ashram in Marin), pulled up to take his class. Oh, we were a sight alright!
Apr 16th, 2007 by Hari Bhajan
Over the years of being in the presence of Yogi Bhajan I have seen his amazing facility with language and emotion to reflect the consciousness of whomever he is teaching at that moment. I remember being the object of his intense "fire" energy many years ago when my marriage was going through a difficult period and I just couldn’t get it through my thick skull that my husband needed me right then to come through for him. He minced no words (words I won’t repeat here) and made it very clear that I needed to wake up and act with compassion and commitment or there would be great loss for all concerned.
Apr 13th, 2007 by Siri Ved Kaur
Shakti Parwha Kaur Khalsa is one of the original “True Talers” going back to 2002 when we first started writing our stories. Known as the “mother of 3HO,” Shakti is also my very long time friend, neighbor, confidant, support, and constant inspiration for keeping up… I don’t think she has ever missed a day of sadhana since she first woke her neighbors at 4:00 in the morning with her powerful long Ek Ong Kars back in 1969.
I had the blessing of being one of her next door neighbors from about 1978-1985. Many a night she’d pop over with a bowl of popcorn or some freshly baked apple “soggy,” just to simply share in love.
Apr 5th, 2007 by Siri Ved Kaur
I spent almost all of last Saturday scanning old photos. Pictures are fading, albums are falling apart, everyone in my family lives in a different city, and I thought if I scan them in, they’re sure to be preserved and easier accessible for all my family and also for all those interested in the early days of 3HO and Sikh Dharma in the west.
Mar 31st, 2007 by SatSimran Kaur
He said he didn’t read books, and yet the Siri Singh Sahib’s lectures are full of quotes from the classics. One that he was especially fond of and often quoted, was, "Theirs is not to reason why, theirs is but to do and die.”*
Interpreting what a spiritual teacher quotes, does, remembers, or says, would usually not be a profile for a student of that teacher. However, for me it has always been very much a part of my student-teacher relationship with the Siri Singh Sahib. I not only enjoyed the student-teacher process myself, but also enjoyed watching how it played out between him and the countless numbers of people that he interacted with.
Mar 24th, 2007 by Siri Ved Kaur
The first akhand path (nonstop reading aloud of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib, from start to finish) at Guru Ram Das Ashram in Los Angeles was held some time in 1972, and akhand paths have continued, every single week since then. For the first few months, at Yogiji’s instruction, each person signed up for 2-1/2 hour reading slots. He explained that the first hour was all ego, “Oh, I am great, I look fantastic…,” the second hour was all nodding off, fidgeting, and misery, “When is this going to end? I want some pizza! My back hurts!” and the last half hour was simply bliss. I experienced all these phases, that’s for sure. But, mostly, I remember reading along with the English translation, overcome with the longing to be able to sing out in the original Gurbani, reading the Gurmukhi script. I felt as though I already knew how to read Gurmukhi, as if from another lifetime, but simply could not remember. That was the misery I felt! This is the story of how I finally learned to read Gurmukhi (this time around).
Mar 21st, 2007 by Siri Atma
I am assigned to a team with two other women. I don’t know them, they’re grown-ups. We are to get over an eleven-foot wall, the three of us, with no ladders, no ropes, and no footholds - just the three of us, using our “shakti power.”
Mar 18th, 2007 by Siri Chand Singh
It was in the fall of ’71 when I first attended a Kundalini Yoga class. I had been studying art at a small junior college in Prescott Arizona, when I saw posted at school the announcement of the yoga class.
Wow, I thought after my first class, now I knew there were better highs than drugs. At last I found something real that I could get totally into.
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