Bhairava of the very dark complexion was
forced to travel the Earth begging alms with the
skull as begging bowl. It was he who wandered
through the three worlds to arrive at the Deodar
Forest where sages (RISHIS) dwelt with their wives.
The sages did not recognize Shiva in this naked,
fierce beggar, but he was irresistibly attractive to
their wives. In a final act of defiance against the
confounded rishis, Bhairava brandished his erect
penis before the wives to their delight and passion
(as he was the ruler of the universe). The rishis
put a curse on him to lose his penis, which flew
around the worlds like a missile, destroying every-
thing in its path. Finally, they had to call upon the
Great Goddess to offer her YONI or vagina to hold
it in place and pacify it. This is the origin of the
Shiva LINGAM, which is always depicted as a phal-
lus held in an encircling yoni.
Further reading: Don Handelman and David Shulman,
Shiva in the Forest of Pines: An Essay on Sorcery and Self-
Knowledge (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2004);
Stella Kramrisch, The Presence of Shiva (Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press, 1981); Wendy Doniger
O’Flaherty, Shiva the Erotic Ascetic (Oxford: Oxford Uni-
versity Press, 1981).
Bhajan, Yogi (1929–2004) Sikh guru
Harbhajan Singh Puri was instrumental in estab-
lishing the Sikh religion in North America. The
future guru was born on August 26, 1929, in what
is now Pakistan to a family headed by a medical
doctor. He spent a privileged youth in private
schools (he attended a Catholic convent school)
and summer retreats. At the age of eight he began
training in yoga with an enlightened teacher, Sant
Hazara Singh, who proclaimed Harbhajan a mas-
ter of KUNDALINI yoga at the age of 16.
During the unrest of partition in 1947, the
young Harbhajan led thousands of villagers from
their residence near Lahore, Pakistan, to resettle
in New Delhi. He went on to study comparative
religion and Vedic philosophy and received a
master’s degree with honors in economics from
Punjab University and a Ph.D. in communications
psychology. He married Inderjit Kaur in 1952 and
they had two sons. He entered Indian government
service, employed in the internal revenue supervi-
sion and customs service.
In 1968 Harbhajan immigrated to the United
States, via Canada, with a vision of introducing YOGA
to the West. He announced that he had traveled to
the West “to create teachers, not to gain students.”
A devoted SIKH, he helped legally incorporate the
Sikh Dharma (order) in the United States in 1971.
That year Sant Charan Singh, president of the
governing body of Sikh Temples in India, named
Harbhajan Siri Singh Sahib, Chief Religious and
Administrative Authority for the Western Hemi-
sphere. The Akal Takhat, the Sikh seat of religious
authority in Amritsar, assigned him responsibility
to create a Sikh ministry in the West. He redirected
young people who were experimenting with drugs
and altered states of consciousness to seek higher
consciousness, pointing to their deep desire to real-
ize holistic and liberating states of mind.
In 1969, Yogi Bhajan created the HEALTHY,
HAPPY, HOLY ORGANIZATION (3HO) to integrate
kundalini yoga, MEDITATION, compassionate phi-
losophy, and healthy living. It was one of the most
popular of the new religions in the United States in
the 1970s and 1980s. He died on October 6, 2004.Further reading: Yogi Bhajan, Guide to Aquarian Pregnancy:
Birth and Child Care through Yoga (San Diego, Calif.: 3HO
Foundation, 1977); Yogiji Harbhajan Singh Khalsa, The
Inner Workout Manual: Kundalini Yoga (San Bernardino,
Calif.: Borgo Press, 1990); Yogiji Harbhajan Singh Khalsa,
Kundalini Yoga for Youth and Joy (San Bernardino, Calif.:
Borgo Press, 1990); Yogiji Harbhajan Singh Khalsa and
Harijot Kaur Khalsa, Owners Manual for the Human Body:
Kundalini Yoga (Eugene, Oreg.: KIT Catalog 1993).bhajans
Bhajans are Hindu devotional songs, sung to a cho-
sen deity. They are often sung in gatherings, some-
times led by a teacher or guru. The songs praise the
divinity, listing his or her aspects and virtues andbhajans 75 J