stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

100 STRIPPING THE GURUS
since there can only be one on the planet at any given time.
He is a world teacher, a very special instrument whom God
has appointed and anointed to awaken the millions of sleeping
souls on this planet (S. Khalsa, 1996).
The idea that Bhajan is actually the “Mahan Tantric of this
era” via any recognized lineage, however, has been questioned by
some of his detractors.
In any case, Madonna, Rosanna Arquette, Melissa Etheridge,
Cindy Crawford, Courtney Love and David Duchovny have all reportedly
been influenced by Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, one of Yogi
Bhajan’s devoted followers (Ross, 2002). As of 1980, Bhajan
claimed a quarter of a million devotees worldwide, including
around 2500 in his ashrams. The yogi himself was reported to live
in a mansion in Los Angeles.
The late (d. October, 2004) Bhajan’s brand of Sikhism has actually
been rejected by the orthodox Sikh community, but that
seems to derive more from him including elements of (Hindu) kundalini
yoga in it than for any concern about the teachings or practices
themselves.
* * *
As a Master, as a yogi, Yogi Bhajan always sees women—
and men—from a cosmic viewpoint. He never forgets that we
are primarily souls, paying our karma and learning our lessons
in these two different forms....
“I believe that so long as those born of woman do not respect
woman, there shall be no peace on Earth” [Bhajan has
said] (S. Khalsa, 1996).
The particular brand of “respect” offered to women within
Bhajan’s community, however, may have stopped somewhat short
of any enlightened ideal, as one of his female devotees explained:
When I moved into the Philadelphia ashram back in the ’70s,
I was handed a little pink book called Fascinating Womanhood....
[I]t is a practical how-to manual on marriage from
the woman’s point of view, written by a Mormon. It is the
philosophical opposite of feminism, completely committed to
the belief that the spiritual fulfillment of women is achieved
through unquestioning service and obedience to men....
In most ways 3HOers no longer play such extreme sex
roles. It has been a very long time since I have seen a male