Sikh Dharma

Sikh Dharma, also called "Sikh Dharma International," is a religious organization established by Harbhajan Singh Yogiji, popularly known as Yogi Bhajan in the United States in the early 1970s. Dharma is a term used especially in India for spiritual traditions originating in that culture. "Sikh Dharma" is also the original term for Sikhism used by non Sikhs in the Punjabi language, which is also known as "Sikhi."

Sikh Dharma international, originally known as "Sikh Dharma of the Western Hemisphere," traces its origins to a tour of the historic Sikh heartland conducted by Yogi Bhajan with eighty-four of his students in the winter of 1970-71. According to a history published by the Sikh Darma in 1979, the Sikhs in Punjab had never seen Westerners in turbans before, and at first, they were suspicious. The Sikh administration in the holy city of Amritsar was in a turmoil. Once they understood that the devotion of the Westerners was genuine, they approved of the visit. Of the eight-four Americans, twenty-six took vows to join the Order of Khalsa as full-fledged Sikhs.

On March 3, 1971, outside the Akal Takhat (the traditional seat of Sikh temporal authority in Amritsar), Sant Fateh Singh and Sant Chanan Singh bestowed on Harbhajan Singh a ceremonial sword and a robe of honor and a unique designation. They had reasoned that Singh had indeed created "Singh Sahibs" (noble lions), and to continue in his work he would need a higher designation. For this reason, they gave Singh the unprecedented title of "great, noble lion": Siri Singh Sahib and a letter requesting that he organize Sikh Dharma in the Western countries. That letter, signed by Sant Chanan Singh, President of the chief religious organization of the Sikhs in Punjab, the S.G.P.C., also authorized him to perform marriages and final rites, and to administer baptism into the Order of Khalsa according to Sikh traditions. It is to be noted that at the time there was no overarching Sikh religious organization to govern the affairs of Sikhs outside of India and the S.G.P.C. had no effective influence in the West.

The designated "Siri Singh Sahib" started his mission with several initiatives. In 1971, he commissioned a translation of the main Sikh prayers into American English called "Peace Lagoon" and a life story of Guru Nanak entitled "Guru for the Aquarian Age." In August of that year, the Siri Singh Sahib also commenced the importation and distribution of dozens of copies of an English translation of the entire Sikh scripture published by the S.G.P.C. In December the Siri Singh Sahib purchased a property at 1620 Preuss Road in Los Angeles which he named Guru Ram Das Ashram and designated as a base for his mission. In January 1972, the Siri Singh Sahib ordained the first Western-born Sikh religious ministers. By June, he was also ordaining women ministers, in keeping with the principal - both American and ostensibly Sikh - of equality before God; though in Punjab, Sikh women would not hold religious office for some years.

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