His business was simple, to apparently save wealthy rich Americans from an aimless life of materialism. By adorning the trappings of an Indian Guru, and a persona to match, he followed a well trodden and lucrative path taken by Yogis to the West Coast of America. From relative obscurity, as an airport worker in India, in a short period of time he finds himself rubbing shoulders with Presidents and Popes. Harbhajan Singh’s life story is a quintessential Hollywood ‘rags to riches’ tale.
The difference being that during his life Harbhajan Singh was never actually convicted for any criminal offence. Yogi Harbhajan Singh, once hailed as a hero of the Khalsa Panth for his efforts of taking ‘Sikhism’ to non-Panjabi people in the Western Hemisphere – for which he was was allegedly awarded the honorific title of ‘Sri Singh Sahib’ by the Akaal Takht, the supreme temporal authority of the Sikhs – is now seen in the same light as Weinstein and others. On the other hand, perpetrators, especially those holding powerful positions in society, will deploy every weapon possible to evade justice, and sadly many do succeed! For the victim, the fear of self-blame, shame and not being believed often results in a self-imposed purdah. Talking about and discussing sexual abuse is probably one of the most difficult things to do. Many of these cases involve historical allegations of abuse and it is only with the advent of the internet and social media that the wall of silence is being shattered. Sexual abuse scandals involving high profile individuals, from media moguls such as Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein, to less well known figures in the Catholic Church, have regularly hit the headlines. This is not the first and will certainly not be the last case of a charismatic spiritual leader exploiting human vulnerabilities for ulterior motives with devastating impact on victims. Very honest and courageous words from Snatam Kaur on the revelations of sexual abuse by the former head of the 3HO organisation, Yogi Harbhajan Singh.