HERBERT LOM [11 Sep, 1917-27 Sep, 2012]

HERBERT LOM PASSES INTO HISTORY AT 95

Herbert Lom was a familiar face on the big screen for more than 60 years, playing a variety of exotic characters, most notably Chief Inspector Dreyfus, long-suffering boss of Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther films.

He was born Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchacevich  ze Schluderpacheru, in Prague in 1917, of aristocratic parents.
He grew up in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and was educated at the city's university.
Lom began acting on stage and screen in what had by now become Czechoslovakia. He left his homeland for England at the start of World War II where he undertook additional training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
His English language debut came in the 1940 feature, film Mein Kampf - My Crimes, with barely a hint of a Czech accent.
He was offered a seven-year contract with Twentieth Century Fox and began securing leading roles including Napoleon Bonaparte in The Young Mr Pitt (1942) and the same character again in War and Peace in 1956.
In a rare starring role he played twin trapeze artists in Dual Alibi (1946).
By the 1950s Lom was considered a British counterpart to the screen idol Charles Boyer, whom he resembled.
He did not get the same number of starring roles as Boyer, though he developed a growing reputation as a character actor.
He played opposite Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers in Ealing comedy The Ladykillers (1955), and opposite Robert Mitchum, Jack Lemmon and Rita Hayworth in Fire Down Below (1957).
Exotic features Later he became a familiar face on British TV in the 1960s when he starred as Dr Roger Corder in the series The Human Jungle.
More notable cinema roles came as Captain Nemo in Mysterious Island in 1961, a pirate in Spartacus (1960) and Ben Yusuf in El Cid (1961).
In 1962 he was the Phantom in the Hammer Films production of The Phantom of the Opera.

 

 Lom (second from left) first appeared with Peter Sellers (left) in The Ladykillers

 

Lom's exotic features and manic eyes made him ideally suited for horror movies and saw him play doctors, vampire hunters, witchfinders, murderers and all manner of obsessive characters.
One controversial film - Mark of the Devil, in which he starred - was acclaimed both as a work of genius and denounced for its inclusion of a litany of medieval torture techniques.

"It's my job to give my best," he said.
 "I can't give anything else."

Sick bags were given out to members of the audience during the film's opening run.
When asked about his various roles in low-budget movies, he said he felt it was better to be miscast than not be cast at all.
It was Lom's depiction of various madmen that persuaded director Blake Edwards to give him his most famous role, as Inspector Clouseau's boss Chief Inspector Dreyfus in the Pink Panther movies.
Although he was not in the 1963 original, he appeared in all the subsequent Pink Panther movies up to Son of the Pink Panther in 1993.
Lom's manic depiction of the man frustrated and literally driven mad by Clouseau's incompetence, resulting in the familiar nervous twitch, became one of the highlights of the Panther movies.
"It was a godsend when I was offered the part", he once said. "But it did become a double-edged sword as people started to associate me with Dreyfus and I lost a number of dramatic parts as a result of it."
In 1983 Lom worked with director David Cronenberg in The Dead Zone opposite Christopher Walken in one of the more successful adaptations of a Stephen King novel.
Lom was married to Dina Schea in 1948 and divorced in 1971. In the meantime he had a long relationship with the celebrated potter, Brigitte Appleby, with whom he had a daughter, Josephine.
As well as acting, Lom wrote two novels Enter A Spy (1971) and Dr Guillotine (1993).
The actor once grumbled at directors who asked him to give it his best. "It's my job to give my best," he said. "I can't give anything else."

SIKH EDUCATIONISTS

Harkrishan Singh, Bawa Educationist, lover of poetry and intellectual (1892-1978)
Was born at Dera Isma'il Khan on 26 July 1892, the son of Bawa Dasaundha Singh. After taking his Master's degree in English literature from Forman Christian College, Lahore, in 1912, he joined the Khalsa College at Amritsar, as a lecturer in English. Later, he had a long spell at Khalsa College, Gujranwala, where he remained Principal for many a long year. Bawa Harkishan Singh was, among the pioneers of the Sikhs' Gurdwara Reform movement of the 1920's. He attended the divan of the Khalsa Baradari in Jallianvala Bagh, Amritsar, on 12 October 1920, and accompanied the group to the Harimandar and the Akal Takht, which event ushered in the movement for Panthic control of the Sikhs' sacred shrines. He was a member of the 9-member provisional committee appointed by the Amritsar deputy commissioner for the management of the Gurdwaras.
The Sikhs formed on 15 November 1920 their own 175-member Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. Its first meeting was held on 12 December 1920. Bawa Harkishan Singh was one of the Panj Piare who on this occasion checked on the religious claims of those present.
Bawa Harkishan Singh took an active part in the Guru ka Bagh agitation of 1922.
During the Akali campaign demanding the restoration of the deposed Sikh Maharaja of Nabha to his throne, both the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and the Shiromani Akali Dal were outlawed by government. Three Professors of the Khalsa College-Bdwa Harkishan Singh, Professor Teja Singh and Professor Niranjan Singhwere taken into custody on 13 October 1923. Professor Tejd Singh was released on medical grounds, Professor Niranjan Singh because of his basic objection to the aims of the movement. Bdwa Harkishan Singh served a longer term in jail and was released only when an overall settlement was arrived at with the government.
Sardar Bahadur Mehtab Singh, a senior leader of the agitation, offered to implement the provisions of the Gurdwara Act as proposed by government. So did some other leaders, among them Bawa Harkishan Singh. The hardliners such as Teja Singh Samundri and Master Tara Singh who refused to accept the terms suffered further detention.
In March 1927 when all detainees were set free the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee set up a forum to formulate the Sikh Rahit Maryada, i.e. code of conduct for the Sikhs. Bawa Harkishan Singh was one of the members of the committee.
The Sikh Gurdwaras Act provided for democratic elections to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. This gave birth to factionalism. Bawa Harkishan Singh not only kept himself aloof from these internal acrimonious wranglings but also worked for amity among the groups. He along with some other Sikh leaders formed a society, Gur Sevak Sabha, for this purpose in December 1933. After several months of protracted talks and arguments, the Sabha managed to bring round certain contestants from the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Central Akali Dal to agree on a common list of candidates for the 1936 shrine elections prepared by Sant Vasakha Singh and Sant Javala Singh. The unity so achieved however proved short-lived.
Bawa Harkishan Singh himself had no political ambitions nor had he ever sought any official position. He was of a shy and retiring nature. However, during the Punjabi Suba agitation of 1955, he was co-opted a member of the Shiromani Gurdwdra Parbandhak Committee and, after the arrest of Master Tara Singh on 10 May 1955, elected its president. The morcha or agitation continued with the jathas or bands of volunteers daily shouting the banned "Punjabi Suba Zindabad" (long live the Punjabi state) slogan and courting arrest. In spite of the restraint shown by the Akalis, police raided the Darbar Sahib complex on 4 July 1955, burst tear gas shells on pilgrims and made many arrests.
The morcha continued until the ban on sloganeering was withdrawn on 12 July 1955. Master Tara Singh on release resumed the presidentship and Bawa Harkishan Singh again became an unencumbered intellectual committed solely to the Panthic weal. He remained till the end the adviser and counsellor of the Sikh Panth. At all crucial moments and on all crucial issues, his advice was avidly sought. He never hankered after power or position. Positions of honour and dignity came to him unasked.
In 1960, he was nominated a member of the prestigious Punjabi University Commission, but he did not take part in any of the meetings of the Commission. He was totally indifferent to fame and exhibition. Earlier in 1955, he had been called upon to assist a very important Sikh committee in its political negotiations with the Government of India. He was named among the six Sikhs to conduct the talks with the nominees of the government. He kept himself aloof from all active transactions, although he stayed put in Delhi for all those days in Sardar Hukam Singh's residence to make himself available for advice and consultation. The committee on the government side was led by the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru himself, but Bawa Harkishan Singh did not attend any of its sittings. He was of a unique calibre among the Sikhs of his time.
Bawa Harkishan Singh died on 20 August 1978 at the Military Hospital, Delhi Cantt.

Source: TheSikhEncyclopedia.Com

PUNJABI FOLK SINGERS

HAZARA SINGH RAMTA

Hazara Singh Ramta (b. August 1, 1926 -) is a Punjabi folk singer, Poet and Comedian. Ramta was born in Sahiwal, Pakistan. Though Hazara Singh Ramta is a born poet and an epitome of artistic faculties, he started his singing career in 1952 with All India Radio and HMV by broadcasting and recording his beautiful ghazals and hilarious songs.

SIKH SAINTS-1

Siri Singh Sahib 

Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogi

Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji (born as Harbhajan Singh Puri)[1] (August 26, 1929 - October 6, 2004), also known as Yogi Bhajan and Siri Singh Sahib, was a charismatic and influential proponent of Kundalini Yoga and Sikh Dharma. He is best known as the spiritual director of the 3HO (Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization) Foundation, which today is one of the world's largest yoga-teaching bodies, and for his outspoken defense of the holistic doctrine of Sikh teachings. He was widely known as a master of Kundalini Yoga and taught thousands to be teachers and spread the teachings. 

Youth and schooling

Harbhajan Singh was born on August 26, 1929 into a Sikh family in Kot Harkarn, district Gujranwala, in the province of Punjab (British India). His father, Dr. Kartar Singh Puri, served the British Raj as a medical doctor. His mother was named Harkrishan Kaur. Theirs was a well-to-do landlord family, owning most of their village in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Most influential of Harbhajan Singh's relations in his early development was his paternal grandfather, Bhai Fateh Singh. Fateh Singh taught him the essence of Sikh teachings and instilled in him a respect for all religions and an awe of the silent mysteries of life. As a teen, Harbhajan Singh spent several years under the strict tutelage of Sant Hazara Singh who declared his student a Master of Kundalini Yoga at the young age of sixteen.

Harbhajan Singh's schooling was interrupted in 1947 by the violence that former neighbors, of different religions, unleashed upon each other during the partition of India, when he and his family fled to New Delhi as refugees. There, Harbhajan Singh attended Camp College – a hastily put together arrangement for thousands of refugee students – and organized the Sikh Students Federation in Delhi. Four years later, he graduated with a Master of Economics.[1]

Indian Civil Service

In 1953, Harbhajan Singh Puri entered the Indian Civil Service. He also married Inderjit Kaur in that year. They were soon to have three children, Ranbir, Kulvir and daughter Kamaljit.

Harbhajan Singh served in the Revenue Department, where his duties took him all over India. Eventually, he was promoted to the post of customs inspector for the country's largest airport, outside of Delhi.[1]

Yogic study in India

Throughout his life, Harbhajan Singh continued his practice and pursuit of yogic knowledge. His government duties often facilitated his traveling to remote ashrams and distant hermitages in order to seek out reclusive yogis and swamis. Sometimes Yogi Bhajan would find them to appraise their worth, for India always had a surfeit of supposed "holy men." At other times, he would sincerely go to learn the specialized knowledge possessed by this or that sadhu.

In the mid-1960s, Harbhajan Singh took up a position as instructor at the Vishwayatan Ashram in New Delhi, under Dhirendra Brahmachari. This yoga centre was frequented by the Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, his daughter, Indira Gandhi, and diplomats and employees from a host of foreign embassies.[1]

Migration to North America

In New Delhi, Harbhajan Singh was faced with a stark choice: to serve his government by joining the Soviet military's psychic research program in Tashkent or leave the country. The Canadian High Commissioner, James George facilitated his immigration to Toronto, Canada in 1968.

Although a promised university position as director of a yogic studies department did not materialize because of the death of his sponsor, Harbhajan Singh the Yogi made a considerable impact in the predominantly Anglo-Saxon metropolis. In three months, he established classes at several YMCAs, co-founded a yoga centre, was interviewed for national press and television, and helped set in motion the creation of eastern Canada's first Sikh temple in time for Guru Nanak's five hundredth birthday the following year.

Late in 1968, bearded and turbaned Yogi Bhajan went to visit a friend in Los Angeles, but ended up staying to share the teachings of Kundalini Yoga with the already long-haired members of the hippie counterculture of California and New Mexico. In effect, he had found his calling.[1]

Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan

Yoga practice and philosophy is generally considered a part of Hindu culture, but Yogi Bhajan demonstrated that yoga was not limited to practitioners of one religion.

While adhering to the three pillars of Patanjali's traditional yoga system: discipline, self-awareness and self-dedication, Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan does not condone extremes of asceticism or renunciation. Yogi Bhajan encouraged his students to marry, establish businesses, and be fully engaged in society. Rather than worshiping God, Yogi Bhajan insisted that his students train their mind to experience God.[1]

Yogi Bhajan became known as a master of Kundalini Yoga, but it was actually Raj Yoga, the yoga of living detached, yet fully engaged in the world that typified his life and teachings.

 

Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization


In 1969, Yogi Bhajan established the 3HO (Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization) Foundation to further his missionary work. It served his premise that every human possessed the birthright to be healthy, happy and holy. It was only a matter of unlearning one set of habits and replacing it with a kinder, more uplifting set of habits.

For some of the free-spirited hippies, Yogi Bhajan's discipline was more than they could take. Others, however, took to it almost naturally. Most of them were already longhaired. Many were already vegetarians. Some experimented with drugs to experience what they saw as elevated states of awareness. They also deeply wanted to feel they were contributing to a world of peace and social justice. Yogi Bhajan offered them all these things with vigorous yoga, an embracing holistic vision, and a spirit of sublime destiny without the use of the psychotropic drugs.

By 1972, there would be over one hundred 3HO yoga ashrams mostly in the U.S., but also in Canada, Europe and Israel. Student-teachers would rise each day for a cold shower and two-and-a-half hours of yoga and meditation before sunrise. Often, they would spend the rest of the day at some "family business" be it a natural foods restaurant, or a landscaping business, or some other concern. A Sikh was supposed to earn honestly "by the sweat of their brow" and many did just that.[1]

By the 1990s, there was a culture shift. There were few communal businesses left, and rising early and overtly being a Sikh was considered more of an option than an implied directive. This period also saw an increased interest in yoga world-wide. To serve the changing times, Yogi Bhajan created the International Kundalini Yoga Teachers Association, dedicated to setting standards for teachers and the propagation of the teachings.[1]

In 1994, the 3HO Foundation joined the United Nations as a non-governmental organization in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, representing women's issues, promoting human rights, and providing education about alternative systems of medicine.[1]

Aquarian age timeline

In spring of 1969, soon after Yogi Bhajan had begun teaching in Los Angeles, a hit medley "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" was topping the music charts and being played everywhere. The performers, The 5th Dimension, happened to be signed to a record label owned by one of his students, musician and entrepreneur Johnny Rivers.

Like great teachers everywhere, Yogi Bhajan used any material that came to hand to good purpose. In this case, he incorporated the story line of the dawning new age into his teachings, a case of melding Western astrology with Sikh tradition. "Guru Nanak," proclaimed Yogi Bhajan, "was the Guru for the Aquarian Age." It was, he declared, to be an age where people first experienced God, then believed, rather than the old way of believing and then being liberated by one's faith.[1]

The timeline for the arrival of the Aquarian age varied over the years, but in 1992, Yogi Bhajan fixed it at 2012 and gave his students a set of morning meditations to practice until that date to prepare themselves.[1]

Aboriginal connections

Some of Yogi Bhajan's earliest students in Los Angeles had spent time in New Mexico influenced by aboriginal, especially Hopi teachings. To fulfill their wishes, Yogi Bhajan accompanied them in June, 1969 to their summer solstice celebration at the Tesuque Indian reservation outside of Santa Fe.[1]

At the next year's celebration, a delegation of Hopi Indian elders arrived. They spoke of their ancient legend that before the end of present age of darkness, a white-clad warrior would come from the East and create an army of white-clad warriors who would rise up and protect the "Unified Supreme Spirit." A sweat lodge ceremony was held and a sacred arrow given in trust to Yogi Bhajan. The elders explained that they had determined he was the white-clad warrior of their legend.

Seven years later, Yogi Bhajan purchased a large parcel of land in the San Juan Mountains where the Hopis had indicated sacred gatherings had taken place for thousands of years. The elders had said this land needed to be prepared so "the Unified Supreme Spirit can once again be experienced by the great tribes and spread through all the people of the world." The land was named "Ram Das Puri" and annual solstice prayers and festivities celebrated there every summer since. Since 1990, these have included a Hopi sacred prayer walk.[1]

Pilgrimage to Amritsar

For Yogi Bhajan, the greatest test of his teaching came in the winter of 1970-71, when he brought an entourage of eighty-four Americans on a pilgrimage to Amritsar in India. It was a hard, grueling trip. The Punjabi Sikhs had never seen Westerners in turbans before. At first, they were suspicious.

For their part, once Yogi Bhajan's students had overcome their hardships, they felt a real kinship with Sikh culture and embraced it. Twenty-six of them took vows to join the Order of Khalsa as full-fledged Sikhs.

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 reflected on the best way to honor Yogi Bhajan for this most unexpected group of new initiates to the Khalsa.

On March 3, 1971, in front of the traditional seat of Sikh temporal authority the Akal Takhat, 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 Yogi Harbhajan 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 Yogi Bhajan the unprecedented title of-- "Siri Singh Sahib" (Great, Noble Lion).[1]

Inter-faith work

In the summer of 1970, Yogi Bhajan participated in an informal "Holy Man Jam" at the University of Colorado at Boulder with Swami Satchidananda, Steven Gaskin of The Farm (Tennessee), Zen Buddhist Bill Quan-roshi, and other local luminaries. A few weeks later, Yogi Bhajan carried that inspiration forward and organized a gathering of spiritual teachers as an opening act for the 200,000 attendees of the Atlanta Pop Festival.[1]

These seminal events served to awaken interest in inter-faith discussion such as had not been seen since the 1920s. In 1972, Yogi Bhajan participated in religious panels at Harvard University, Cornell University, Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That same year, Yogi Bhajan visited Pope Paul VI and advised him to convene a gathering of friendship and understanding for representatives of all religions. He reminded Paul VI that the word--catholic meant "universal" and suggested that, as head of the world's largest religious organization, he would be the most suitable leader to host such a meeting.[1]

Yogi Bhajan maintained his relationship with the Catholic Church under Pope John Paul II, they met again in 1983 and 1984. When the Golden Temple came under assault from the Indian Army with the loss of life of many hundreds of pilgrims, the pontiff offered his official condolences.[1]

During the United Nations Year of Peace 1986, Yogi Bhajan instituted a yearly Peace Prayer Day for people of all denominations at the Summer Solstice near Santa Fe | Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe.[1]

In that same year, Pope John Paul II convened a gathering of religious representatives of the world such as Yogi Bhajan had proposed fourteen years earlier. Unable to travel to Italy for the event, Yogi Bhajan participated in a ceremony held the same day in Los Angeles.[1]

All though the 1970s and 80s, Yogi Bhajan actively engaged in and chaired numerous inter-religious councils and forums, including the Inter-Religious Council of Southern California, the World Conference for the Unity of Man, and the World Parliament of Religions.[1]

Gender relations

Yogi Bhajan, the son of a graceful mother, was deeply shocked and offended by the exploitation of women in America. In 1971, he taught a gathering of his female students that they were the "Grace of God." Thus began the Grace of God Movement for the Women of America. Strip clubs in Hollywood were briefly picketed, but Yogi Bhajan's real emphasis was on re-educating America's largest exploited class.

This work began in earnest in the summer of 1975, when Yogi Bhajan held an eight week camp in New Mexico where he taught the psychology of a successful woman. Successive camps included subjects including martial arts, rappelling, fire arms training and healing arts to build the character and confidence of the women in training, which is why the camps were designated "Khalsa Women Training Camps."[1]

It may or may not have been a coincidence that within a couple of years of Yogi Bhajan's bold assault on the psychological defects within the typical American gender imbalance, a best-selling book called Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus came out which popularized many of Yogi Bhajan's distinctive teachings.

Although Yogi Bhajan did teach a few weekend courses for men, his emphasis was on women because he recognized in them the foundation of any society, and he wanted to fundamentally end the disempowerment of Western women and the destruction of families. In his words: "God lives in a cozy home."

While encouraging his female students to practice natural childbirth and championed breastfeeding (practices which were not widely adhered to in the early 1970s) Yogi Bhajan also revived the ancient Indian custom of celebrating the arrival of the new soul at the one hundred twentieth day of pregnancy. This laid emphasis on the dignity and divinity of motherhood. By adhering to this historic custom (in Catholic tradition, which is very significant to this issue, this would be pre-[[Wikipedia:Pius IX | Pius IX), Yogi Bhajan also encouraged his women students in family planning. They should only embark on motherhood if they were fully prepared to accept the responsibilities – and if they were not, then to terminate a pregnancy before the second trimester was far preferable (and certainly not a sin) compared to bringing a soul into ungraceful circumstances. Here Yogi Bhajan parted company with the Pope who forbid any termination no matter what the circumstances.

Yogi Bhajan also encouraged mothers to swaddle their infants and families to sleep all together, another traditional Indian practice, although he afterwards stated that he lost nearly a third of his students over this one teaching.[1]

As far as homosexuality was concerned, Yogi Bhajan at first was shocked by the phenomenon. Through the 1970s and early 1980s, Yogi Bhajan taught that 'the condition' could be cured through intensive yoga and self-analysis. By the late 1980s, however, Yogi Bhajan resigned himself to the conclusion that "sometimes God goofs" and puts men into women's bodies and vice versa.[1]

During the Sikh Holocaust of 1980s

 

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s personal assault on the Sikh minority in India took advantage of their splintered leadership. After Sikhs, almost alone, had opposed her draconian rule during the Indian Emergency (1975-1977), it was to be expected that the formidable Mrs. Gandhi would retaliate once returned to office in 1980.

That year, Yogi Bhajan sent registered letters to two hundred members of the Sikh leadership, warning them of terrible consequences if they did not unite, which they did not.

When the peaceful campaign of civil disobedience waged by Sikh activists to address longstanding grievances with India's central government turned violent, Yogi Bhajan advised the leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale to call it off and resume another day, which he did not.

Several times in the early 1980s during the Punjab insurgency, Yogi Bhajan went and tried to mediate peace between the members of Indira Gandhi's government and the Sikh leadership in Punjab, which he was uniquely positioned to do. He knew them all, but his efforts were in vain.[1]

When the wholesale assault on the lives and human rights of Sikhs in India took place in earnest in June of 1984, with the attack on the Golden Temple complex and the destruction of the Akal Takhat, Yogi Bhajan uniquely advised that the Akal Takhat had martyred itself to awaken the Sikh nation.[1]

While urging Sikhs in the West not to lose hope or descend into wanton violence, Yogi Bhajan attempted to organize relief supplies for victims and still to conciliate the opposing sides, which both included Sikhs. He especially encouraged the Sikh President, Zail Singh, not to resign in protest at the sacrilege committed by the Prime Minister. This, Yogi Bhajan believed would only further isolate the minority Sikhs and lead down a widening spiral of bitterness and bloodshed.

Despite rising calls for the creation of a separatist Sikh homeland, Yogi Bhajan continued throughout the crisis, from 1984 to 1993, to press for justice, forgiveness and reconciliation.[1]

Work for nuclear disarmament

Beginning in 1982, with the U.S. | United States|U.S. and the U.S.S.R. launched on an expensive, risky and seemingly endless arms race, Yogi Bhajan began to join other civil leaders in demanding mutual nuclear disarmament.

Yogi Bhajan's efforts took the form of his speaking at a number of disarmament rallies and his mobilization of his students, encouraging them to talk to their friends and relatives about the dangers of nuclear war.[1]

Shortly after Yogi Bhajan began his activism again the U.S. government's defense policy, the special Sikh exemption which allowed Sikh males to serve wearing their distinctive turbans and beards was disallowed.[1]

Sikh unity

Even as he ventured out of familiar territory, expanding the reach of Sikh teachings and calling reprobates to task, Yogi Bhajan also kept an eye on Sikh unity. While some in Punjab criticized his efforts – particularly his administrative titles, structures and symbols - as heterodox, others toured the domain and offered their generous approval. This happened once in 1974 when the delegation of Gurcharan Singh Tohra, President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Mahinder Singh Giani, Secretary of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Sardar Hukam Singh, President of the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Shatabdhi Committee, and Surjit Singh Barnala, General Secretary of the Akali Dal, came.[1]

In 1979, the official Professor of Sikhism, Dr. Kapur Singh, came from Amritsar and addressed the Khalsa Council, Yogi Bhajan's governing council, and assured them they remained well within the fold of Sikh tradition.[1]

In 1986, as the Khalistan movement (Sikh separatist movement within India) exerted an increasingly divisive role in the Sikh community, Yogi Bhajan appointed Bhai Sahib Bhai Jiwan Singh of the Akhand Kirtani Jatha as Jathedar (Secretary) of Sikh Unity.

Although he was instrumental in creating a new culture of Sikhs in the Western Hemisphere – Gursikh yogis speaking English, Spanish, German and Italian – Yogi Bhajan did not appreciate artificial divisions dividing Sikhs from one another, whether they be based on caste, race, nationality or any other grounds. He valued Sikh unity and always considered himself a Sikh first and last. This was ably and aptly reflected in the new media of Sikhnet.com which serves Sikhs around the globe. It was begun by students of Yogi Bhajan while the internet was still in its infancy – and has since grown to be the biggest, multi-layered Sikh resource in cyberspace.[1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                              ------------Courtesy: sikhwiki.org

CULTS AND SECTS OF PUNJAB-1

Dr. HARBHAJAN SINGH

Commissioned by Sant Kirpal Singh to carry on His work, Dr Harbhajan Singh was an outstanding personality in the history of Sant Mat. He distinguished himself by performing the task of a master in the role of a disciple (Gurmukh), which he maintained throughout his life. Often he used to quote Sant Kirpal Singh's words, "I want to work through thousands of hands" - "You should all become my ambassadors".
Born on 10 December 1932 in Laaylpur, now in Pakistan, Dr Harbhajan Singh met Sant Kirpal Singh in 1961, after inner experiences and years of intense search. He became disciple, doctor and confidant of Sant Kirpal Singh, who soon entrusted him and his wife, Mrs Surinder Kaur, with important duties. At that time Dr Harbhajan Singh practised as a doctor in Nag Kalan near Amritsar where from the very beginning of his career he supplied needy people of the surrounding with free treatment and medicine. He proved himself as real brother, lifelong called 'Bhaji' (brother) by everyone, and loveably called 'God's doctor' by Sant Kirpal Singh, who in 1973 laid the foundation-stone of his hospital. During the same time, Dr Harbhajan Singh was commissioned by Him with the Project Kirpal Sagar.
In April 1974, Sant Kirpal Singh gave him instructions for His further work, including initiation. When a few months later, on 21 August 1974, Sant Kirpal Singh left His body, Dr Harbhajan Singh was the only one whom He allowed to stay at His bed-side until His last moment.
Deeply mourning the loss of his Master, he explained everywhere the supreme competence of Sant Kirpal Singh and conveyed His instructions for His further work, relying on Sant Kirpal Singh's statement:
'My children are scattered all over the world, when they will come together there will be a revolution of spirituality."
In 1976, He went for the first time to Europe, accompanied by his wife. With the collaboration of disciples over there, Dr Harbhajan Singh started annual lecture tours on spirituality through many European countries. Due to his untiring efforts, the movement UNITY of MAN began to spread on an international level, while the main Centre in Austria near Salzburg was developed.
In India, a special phase was marked in 1982, when with the laying of the foundation stone of Kirpal Sagar the construction work was started. From then onward, Kirpal Sagar remained the central focus of Dr Harbhajan Singh's work.
In the nineties, during his visits to the West, Dr Harbhajan Singh met renowned personalities of the public life to whom he explained spirituality as practical solution to the present problems of our world. In 1993, he represented UNITY of MAN as a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) at the United Nations World Conference on Human Rights at Vienna, where he had the privilege to address the plenary session at the State Conference. In the same year, preparations were culminating for a World Conference on Unity of Man at Kirpal Sagar.
This Conference took place on 3-6 February 1994, the 100th birth anniversary of Sant Kirpal Singh. Personalities of various religious, political, cultural and scientific affiliations from far and wide spoke to an audience of thousands of people from all walks of life.
The following year, after his return from the West, Dr Harbhajan Singh had advanced the work so much that the main facilities of Kirpal Sagar were ready by end of summer. He had fulfilled his promise to spare no trouble for accomplishing Kirpal Sagar. On 25 September 1995, he left his body in the hospital in Ludhiana, thinking of his duties in Kirpal Sagar even up to his last breath. Often He used to remark: "Kirpal Sagar is my heart". His whole life had been dedicated to this huge task.
This applies equally to his wife, Mrs Biji Surinder Kaur, who, as a disciple of Sant Kirpal Singh, had lent him support from the very beginning with the strength of her spiritual achievement. Thus the responsibility for Kirpal Sagar, together with the competent spiritual guidance within the movement of Unity of Man have been entrusted to her. Under her care Kirpal Sagar is steadily developing into a blooming garden. Along with it, further centres have been created meanwhile in India and abroad.

RESEARCH SCHOLARS-1

HARMEEN KAUR SOCH 

‘Best Thesis’ award for Guru Nanak varsity lecturer

Ms Harmeen Kaur Soch, lecturer, Department of Commerce and Business Management, won the "MN Gopalan Thesis Award" for the "Best PhD Thesis" at the 37th annual convention of the Operational Research Society of India (ORSI), Ahmedabad Chapter. The convention was held at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) recently.
Her thesis was guided and supervised by Dr H.S. Sandhu, a professor in the Department of Commerce and Business Management, Guru Nanak Dev University. The prestigious award has been instituted by Prof M.N. Gopalan, Department of Mathematics, IIT, Mumbai, to encourage young researchers.
Ms Soch's thesis is in the area of marketing. It is titled "Impact of customer relationship management (CRM) on the financial performance of companies in India". The jury, comprising V. Venkata Rao (IIMA), Diptesh Ghosh (IIMA), Janat Shah (IIM, Bangalore) and others, selected the thesis for the award.
The work of this lecturer was also appreciated in an international conference on "Marketing paradigms in emerging economies" that followed the annual convention held at the IIMA. She presented the case study on the ITC Limited and its recent forays into foods business in India. Over 250 researchers and academicians attended the conference from all over the world, including the US and the UK.
Earlier in 2003, Ms Soch, in a technical session on the "The quality of management education in India" conducted by Punjab University Business School, Chandigarh, spoke on management techniques through human interactions. Her paper that stressed on "role-play" and "teacher-taught involvement" was appreciated during the session.

                                       -Courtesy: Rashmi Talwar,The Tribune, Chandigarh