Spiritual leader, Yogi Bhajan, discusses the effects of yoga and meditation on the mind, his beginnings with such practices, and his own philosophy about the human condition. This was originally broadcast on WFCR’s Five College Forum on December 9th, 1972.
Harbhajan Singh Khalsa, more commonly known as Yogi Bhajan, was born on August 26, 1929 in the Punjab province of India (now part of Pakistan). He was known for being a spiritual leader, yogi, and entrepreneur. During the partition of India in 1947, his family was forced to flee to New Delhi. Bhajan eventually joined the Indian Civil Service as a Customs Inspector, a job which took him all around the country.
He maintained his pursuit of yoga throughout this whole period, before emigrating to Canada in 1968. That same year, after visiting a friend in Los Angeles, Bhajan decided to stay in the American southwest to teach Kundalini yoga. The yogi emphasized that his students should focus on training their minds to experience god, rather than worship god. He is also known for encouraging his students to engage in society, rather than renounce it. Bhajan is most famous for founding 3HO (Healthy Happy Holy Organization), a foundation that now has over 300 facilities in 35 countries. Yogi Bhajan passed away on October 6, 2004 from heart failure.