About the Yogis and the Gurus

Next to visiting Sikh communities that root their life in the dharma, the yatra also paid tribute to the Udasis, the often overlooked yogis that carry on the legacy of Baba Siri Chand, the eldest yogi son of Guru Nanak. And they talked to Amandeep Singh, whose studies shed new light on the relationship between the yogis and the gurus.

Yogi Bhajan was a Sikh by origin. He introduced us to the Gurus and to Sikh Dharma. He was appointed the Leader of Sikh Dharma in the West with many people following his lead. He cherished a special relationship to Guru Ram Das, whom he considered his personal guide.

And he was a yogi, a very accomplished one. He studied with yogic masters, and became a master himself.

These two aspects have been present in his life at all times. The question is how do we as the ones that carry on his legacy relate to what he personified? Do we all end up as Sikhs if we take our yoga practice seriously? And why are there so many Sikhs that have no yoga practice at all? Do we look at two mutually exclusive paths? Is there a choice to make? Studying the life of Yogi Bhajan it would seem that there is a way to reconcile the two aspects if only we were willing to choose a more inclusive perspective. Yogi Bhajan as a person made us understand that the meaning of life is not in the polarities. In fact, there is no choice to make.

Being a Sikh was never a religious statement for him but an expression of living an elevated life. The Sikh gurus are archetypes representing different facets of how to elevate yourself and life your full potential. Through studying their lives and creating a relationship with the qualities they represent we enter a deeper understanding of the teachings. The lineage of the gurus shows us a way how to lead the life of a householder and at the same time transcend ordinary life, the samsara. We merge into life but we do not belong to that life: This is the meaning of Kundalini Yoga as the path of the householder.

Then there is the lineage of the yogis which we have access to through Baba Siri Chand, who embodies the essence of a yogi. He lived for almost 150 years completely withdrawn from the world in renunciation of all earthly comforts. Whereas earlier historic works would stress the incompatibility of the two lineages, latest studies do show that there is a link between the yogis and the gurus. Now there is proof that it was actually Guru Nanak himself who passed on the yogic teachings to Baba Siri Chand who embarked on that path out of love and reverence for his father. It seems that he was not the rebellious son who broke with the lineage of the gurus as whom earlier sources would portrait him. In fact both lineages go back to Guru Nanak and are an inherent part of the tradition of Kundalini Yoga.

Yogi Bhajan was at the crossroads of these paths, a very unique moment in time. He did have a family and a social life. He trained as a customs officer and worked in that profession for many years. Later he lived the life of a bramacharian (celibate priest.) He taught us to be teachers in the normal life but he went beyond that. He made us understand that being a yogi in the world (path of the householder) requires a minimum of discipline to break through the samsara. At the same time his life is an example that the practice of yoga in its most sincere and pure form is a total sacrifice. In him the two lines came together. Through his own life he taught us that dharma is more than the dharma of the gurus. And he challenged our often limited ideas of what it means to be a true yogi.