Cults often encourage their followers to change their names as a way to disrupt a person’s authentic identity and replace it with a new identity. This is one of the ways cult leaders achieve their goal of promoting an “us vs. them” mentality and successfully isolating members from their former, pre-cult lives³. Changing names can also be a way for cult leaders to exert control over their followers.
By now, you may have heard about Pamela Dyson’s lawsuit against 3HO cult founder Yogi Bhajan in 1986. At the time, her lawsuit was one of two lawsuits handled by the same lawyer against Yogi Bhajan. This is the story about the second lawsuit, the one you probably have not heard about.
This idea has been very effective in insulating Yogi Bhajan and his reputation to this day, especially with some of his remaining diehard followers.
"First and foremost, whether placed with other families, in ashrams, or in schools, children lacked the security and comfort of their parents from early ages and for long periods. Comfort and caring from other sources, with a few temporary exceptions, was also lacking. Interviewees felt they had no one to turn to for comfort or help. - Alexandra Stein, Ph. D. Report on Themes and Impacts of 3H0 Childhoods
Unfortunately, this academic book review of Pamela Dyson and Peter Blachly's books from Nova Religio is behind a paywall. Here is the text: Premka: White Bird in a Golden Cage. My Life with Yogi Bhajan. By Pamela Saharah Dyson. Eyes Wide Publishing, 2020. 206 pages. $14.99 softcover. The Inner Circle—Book One: My Seventeen Years in… Continue reading Book Reviews – ‘Premka: White Bird in a Golden Cage’ and ‘The Inner Circle’
He would, within the same lecture, praise his students as the saviours of mankind and then without missing a beat, berate them as ingrates, worms, dogs. His lectures were often populated with profanity, things you don’t expect from a ‘spiritual teacher’.
...there is a battle for control of the Siri Singh Sahib Corporation, the organization that controls the 3HO Kundalini Yoga cult.
Yogi Bhajan died in 2004, but the techniques he used to create the cult of 3HO are alive and well and being used by Kundalini Yoga teachers to build their own little cults. Guru Jagat was an example. She passed away at a young age in 2021, but was well on her way to building a cult following.
“we can no longer draw a line and say this is where the self ends and this is where the rest of the world begins, so the brain concludes, it has to conclude, that at this moment you are one with everything.”
This two-part podcast focuses on the grifter/Kundalini Yoga teacher Katie Griggs/Guru Jagat, but in the introduction, there is a decent summary of Yogi Bhajan's abuses and scams.
Kundalini Yoga/3HO Cult Info 