I would like to make a comment about one of the things that Gurujiwan Singh has talked about in his letter ('Law of Opposites at Play', Feb.22).

Gurujiwan Singh quoted: "God Bless us all to live to the Reht of our father Guru Gobind Singh who set before us a path so well defined with baana, bani, simiran, and seva. May we all live to his example and so inspire humanity to do the same by our own actions."

If only this was true. This is the stickiest point of contention between "Sikh Dharma" as taught by Yogi Bhajan and mainstream Sikhi.

The Reht is an inclusive document. This is what the Guru Khalsa Panth has decided what the minimum is to be a Sikh. This is the base line and if a jatha wants to elaborate or add to it that is permissible. However what is not permissible is to alter the Reht to fit the views of a jatha or individual. If this is done then the Reht has been rejected and at the same time the Guru Khalsa Panth has been rejected. Anyone who does that is "no friend of the Sikhs."

For example:
(1) "A Sikh should wake up in the ambrosial hours (three hours before the dawn), take bath and, concentrating his/her thoughts on One Immortal Being, repeat the name Waheguru."

These along with the Guru's Banis are the sadhana for a Sikh. An individual who establishes his own sadhana to be used by his jatha and states that this is as powerful as doing your daily Banis has violated the Reht.

(2) "In the congregation, kirtan only of Gurbani (Guru Granth's or Guru Gobind Singh's hymns) and, for its elaboration, of the compositions of Bhai Gurdas and Bhai Nand Lal, may be performed."

An individual who dictates, to his jatha, the singing of geet along with Gurbani has violated the Reht.

(3) "For taking the command (Hukam), the hymn that is continuing on the top of the left page must be read from the beginning. If the hymn begins on the previous page, turn over the page and read the whole hymn from the beginning to the end."

An individual who allows the taking of a Hukam from any part of the page has violated the Reht.

(4) "The method of preparing the Karhah Parshad is this: In a clean vessel, the three contents (wheat flour, pure sugar and clarified butter, in equal quantities)..."

An individual who changes the recipe for Karhah Parshad and even changes the name to Gur Parshad has violated the Reht.

(5) "Not believing in..., magic, spells, incantation, omens, auspicious times, days and occasions, influence of start, horoscopic dispositions..."

An individual who advocates the use of astrology, numerology, auspicious days and other superstitious beliefs has violated the Reht.

(6) "A Sikh, when he meets another Sikh, should greet him with "Waheguru ji ka Khalsa, Waheguru ji ki Fateh" ...

An individual who dictates the use of a different greeting has violated the Reht.

(7) "Then the holy Hukam (command) should be taken. A name starting with the first letter of the hymn of the Hukam (command) should be proposed by the granthi (person in attendance of the holy book) and, after its acceptance by the congregation, the name should be announced by the granthi."

An individual who dictates that he should name all babies of his jatha has violated the Reht.

(8) "...the first five and the last pauris (stanzas) of Anand Sahib."

An individual who dictates that the short form of Anand Sahib shall consist only of the first five pauris has violated the Reht.

All these violations add up to a complete disregard for the Reht Maryada and the Guru Khalsa Panth. That individual cannot claim the Panth as his Guru and is "no friend of Sikhs." It states in the Reht: "The Guru Panth (Panth's status of Guruhood) means the whole body of committed baptized Sikhs. This body was fostered by all the ten Gurus and the tenth Guru gave it its final shape and invested it with Guruhood."

It was the Guru Khalsa Panth that wrote the Reht Maryada. Therefore the Reht has the imprint of the Guru on it, in that Guru Gobind Singh invested the Panth with Guruhood. A person may have a deep belief in both Sat Guru and the Guru Granth Sahib, but if that person does not recognize the Khalsa Panth as Guru and the Reht Maryada as a product of that Guru, then that person is "no friend of Sikhs."

Since Yogi Bhajan is the individual that I am talking about, I would say that he is "no friend of Sikhs."

He is no better than any of the other "Babas" and "Sants" who have taken Sikhi and distorted it to fit their image of the Panth. Humans have a weakness for following a living "spiritual teacher" and those who take advantage of this weakness for their own purposes are the lowest of the low.

Gurujiwan Singh would quote "And for those who slander a saint there is a special fate, those who now croak like ravens will crawl like worms and snakes." But I would prefer to quote Yogi Bhajan, when he said: "if a spiritual teacher ever betrays a student, he will return as a cockroach."

And he has done nothing but betray his students.

Amar Prakash Singh