The Power of Projection

By PhD Yogi Bhajan

These 15 Lectures from Spring 1985 and 1986 are centered around the theme of Projection and its importance on your impact on your life. With titles like Projection and Balance in Life Energy, Projection is the Property of Life, and Excellence and Projection, the groundwork is laid for living a conscious, effective life for yourself and in r

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kundalini Research Institute
• Release date: Aug 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781940837888

PhD Yogi Bhajan

Yogi Bhajan was declared a Master of Kundalini Yoga at the age of 16. He came to the United States in 1969 and openly taught this transformative technology for the next 35 years, until his last breath in Aug 2004. In the turbulent drug culture of the 70s, Yogi Bhajan first reached out to the youth. He recognized that their experimentation with drugs and "altered states of consciousness" expressed a desire to experience themselves and a longing for family, for connection to their soul and their community. In response to this innate longing, he created a family known as 3HO (Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization). Soon, 3HO ashrams began springing up across the United States and throughout the world.He sparked a movement whose tendrils have woven their way into numerous aspects of our culture. Yoga and meditation have gained widespread acceptance in the West and the holistic health movement he introduced through diet, herbs, and lifestyle technologies. Born Harbhajan Singh in what is now Pakistan to a family of healers and community leaders, Yogi Bhajan studied comparative religion and Vedic philosophy in his undergraduate years and received his Masters in Economics with honors from Punjab University. Years later, he earned his Ph.D. in communications psychology from the University of Humanistic Studies in San Francisco. Yogi Bhajan emerged as a religious, community, and business leader with a distinguished reputation as a man of peace, world vision, wisdom, and compassion. He founded several food companies that manufacture and distribute natural products based on these teachings. He fostered economic development in communities around the world. He is also the author of several books on yoga philosophy, business, and communication during his lifetime.The Kundalini Research Institute continues his legacy through The Yogi Bhajan Library of Teachings, the International Teacher Training in Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan®, and the publications of lectures and kriyas to serve the community of teachers, students, and practitioners around the world. See www.kundaliniresearchinstitute.org to learn how you can help keep the legacy alive!

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LIFE IS NOTHING BUT A TENNIS MATCH : ONLY SOMETIMES THE SERVICE IS HARD

March 18, 1985

Our life is nothing but a pure, simple gift. It is not a gift of your life to you. It is a gift of your incarnation to straighten the matter. This is how it is. The soul has gone through the karma. Therefore there is X amount of the journey of the soul which has to be settled. The final graduation is earth. Don't think that there is no life on other planets. There are zillions of people alive on other planets and they are all in their subtle bodies. You can see them. You can feel them. They can feel you. They can know you. It is just like on this earth. Subtle body ghosts are there. I see millions of them running around, and you can't. And if I start saying that I see millions of people running around, you will say I am crazy. But I see them. I feel them. I talk to them, I pray for them. They talk to me.

There was a guy. He was a Gursikh. He left because he wanted to bring souls. I told him this was not the way to do it. He said, I have energy to deal with the soul. I said, You don't have energy to deal with dead people. You should have the energy to deal with living people. It is a most ridiculous thing to deal with the dead. Deal with the living. He couldn't take it.

The final graduation is earth. You come to this earth to deal with earth. If you want to start a business, somebody gives you $25,000 to start your trip. That is called principal capital. Similarly, you are given X amount of prana as a principal energy. Actually the formula is: PE is equal to WE plus EE. Principal energy is to work energy plus essential energy, which is also called elementary energy. EE means elementary energy. So, when your soul leaves the subtle body, it will go by the force of EE, not by WE. WE is for this planet. So you have to decide. You take the principal energy, you work out the work energy with your life for fifty or sixty years, whatever your years are…. You want to fashion yourself; you may want to be a prostitute; you may want to be a saint. It is your problem, nobody is after you. Nobody even cares for you. All these cares and feelings are electromagnetic psycho interrelation reactions. Wife, husband, son, brother, sister, enemies, friends, it is all just a joke. It is a very big cosmic joke.

Life is a tennis match. How hard you serve is up to you. How many points you win is up to you. And if somebody gives you a hard service and you can't take it, you may freak out. If your feet slip and you break your ankle, it is your problem. Rules are rules, games are games. How bad you play or how well you play is your choice. You can't blame it on other people. You can't blame it on the weather. You can't say, Well, opposite me was the sun, or It could have been that person's fault. It is not. There is nothing to lose and there is nothing to gain. It is the game to be played for which you are in the match, and the match is called life. Somebody becomes a doctor. Somebody becomes an engineer. Somebody becomes a nut. All three are professionals. A nut does his nutty thing. A prostitute is equally essential. It is the first, most primary profession of the world, and so is the saintly woman. How can you compare what is saintly and what is a prostitute if you do not know the vibration of both?

I know what I am going through. Sir. I say, Yes. You can't expose yourself. I say, What else can I do? If I can't expose myself, who the hell is supposed to do that? If I teach compassion and kindness and I can't practice it, then why do I teach it? I call myself a son of Guru Ram Das. If I can't sit on this metal hot plate and smile through the treachery every time, who is going to smile? You? If I am going to react to abuse then what is the difference between me and a man walking in the street? Why spoil the name of a yogi? A yogi means one who does not care for the effect of the opposite. That is the first condition. If somebody abuses me and I abuse that person back, then I am that person. If somebody abuses me and I smile, that is the game.

Well, you want to judge me as a man? Go ahead. You want to judge me as a teacher? Fantastic. But one day I will tire you so much that you will forget judging. It will become impossible for you to judge. Because your life is a vengeance. It comes from anger. It has a judgement. My life has no judgement. Those who judge shall be judged. Those who judge not will never meet the judge. It is a simple law. I can't judge what you do to me. I only know what I nave to do to you. That is why, when I came to America, I told you that I have come here to learn nothing. I have just come here to share something with you. If you take that knowledge, fine. If you don't take it, fine, okay. It is not my problem. Sir, how long can you take this abuse? So long as I live and so long after I live. It is my duty to take abuse. It is my duty to show patience. It is my duty not to show reaction. It is my duty to not react to lies. It is my duty to sit calmly and let another person know that I am there. Otherwise I will be betraying the house of Guru Ram Das. Nobody goes from this house disappointed. How can I disappoint even the worst of mine? And what is gone wrong with you? Because I have brought you to Siri Guru Granth, now you want to judge me? Because I do not listen to you and your garbage? Because I cannot act like you? Because when people insult me and are rude to me I cannot back off and be rude to them? Because I am not an American? I am an American like you? Don't expect that I will not hug the prostitute. Please. Don't expect that I will not help the orphan. Don't expect that I will not reach out for a mental destitute. Don't expect that I shall not walk into the mud of the dirt. Don't expect that I will not prostitute myself to elevate somebody. I have told you a million times, I am a forklift. I have got to go in the dirt and pull somebody out. If you want to come along with me, fine. If not, adios.

Let me do what my Guru wants me to do. I have never been you, I can never be you, and I will never be you ever. I am, I am. And that is the grace of God. As I have given you a job to do, so my Guru has given me a job to do and that is purely human. You get hurt when somebody hurts me. Thank you. I appreciate those feelings, but you have no right to hurt the one who is hurting me. One who hurts me is calling for help. It is his or her neurotic way to reach to me. I am parents to all. I am father to all. I am mother to all. I am friend to all, and I am a cleaning and cutting board for all.

You have to understand the psychology of a teacher. You don't know that. I am not a preacher, I am a teacher. I am going to push your buttons to the maximum, to the hilt. That is my job. And I have to push it at the worst of you for the best of you, right? Mostly your love will sustain you and you will carry it on. But at a time when you face failure with me, I will be most likely to be slandered, to be abused, to be the object of your animosity. I have to take that risk, and everybody who wants to be a teacher has to take that risk openmindedly and gracefully. Because, you understand, we are spiritual people; and the first strength of the spirit is not to react, not to be afraid.

Nirbhao, nirvair, akaal moorat. You look like akaal moorat. You wear a bana, you read the banis, you do seva, you do simran, and I tell you you are beautiful. You stand out. Your aura is bigger than everybody else's. But why are your actions not the best of all? You look great and you look different. When you identify yourself as Khalsa then why do you react to impurity? If somebody tells me I am a womanizer, I have become a womanizer. Hallelujah. What difference does it make? Jesus slept in every grove with every prostitute known to him. He was sold for thirty silver pieces. For what? And you're a damned liar if you don't know even that. All I told you is, do what you have to do and do it really fast. Get the karma over with. Well, he got nailed once. I get nailed twice a day. That is the only difference, because life is very fast. It is very modern. Things happen quickly and I don't need your sympathy telephone calls. Sir, I feel for you. Don't feel for me. Feel for yourself. You don't have to feel for me. I go through it every day. It is a routine. To get hurt, get betrayed, get cheated, get slandered, get abused. It is a routine. People are in agony. People are in pain. They don't know what to do. So, first come, first served. And I am always first.

So relax, for God's sake. Just remember, life is a gift. And it is specific. And within that specific energy, you have to perform. Don't waste that energy on these minus, sad, dirty issues. It is not worth it. It is not worth it for me.

Once, you know, somebody wrote a very, very long, dirty abusive letter to me. My reply was, I have received your very long abusive letter. Now listen to this. Thank you very much. I do hope one day you will write a very long appreciative letter. Sincerely yours, humbly yours, so and so. Acknowledge it. One who can abuse you today can love you tomorrow. One who can love you today can abuse you tomorrow. It is part of the game. It is life. Are you steady? Can you take it?

In every condition, I cannot act as a man. I cannot act as an intelligent man. I cannot even act as a graceful man. I cannot even defend my honor. I am Siri Singh Sahib of Sikh Dharma. All I can do is serve, protect and elevate. I am a Yogi Bhajan. All I can do is bring things on the line again. Therefore, please, if you ever happen to be my student or have any respect or regard for me, just don't tell me what I have to do. Because my Guru has not gone on leave and has not abandoned me. He tells me, on every step, what I should do. I have the healthy hand and the love in my heart of one whom I love to the utmost, and I shall not break any tradition of the house of Guru Ram Das and shall not disappoint anybody. However horrible, ugly, miserable or dirty I may look to you, I shall not reject, disappoint or throw away anyone. It doesn't matter what anybody has done to me or to us. Is that principle of life understood? Does it ring true with you? Please, do anything you want to. Do any corruption you want to do. You shall be forgiven. But never judge your teacher. It is the worst in human life. When a student is reacting to a spiritual teacher, it is between the two of them. It is a fight between destiny and fate. Don't participate in that fight; otherwise, you will become sakit. Your entire spiritual light will go away. Sakit and nindak. In the Siri Guru Granth it is so well explained—the slanderer and one who participates with a slanderer. That is not Guru's way. It is your right to love me, and it is also your right to hate me, and it is also my right not to be overwhelmed when you love me and not to squeeze you when you hate me. So let me do my job. You do yours, and let us see what goes on.

And all of you who represent the House of Guru Ram Das must understand, this is the house of ultimate healing and ultimate compassion. You have to be totally healing and totally compassionate. There are no ifs or buts. Wrong is wrong. Then what is wrong with the wrong? Correct it. Heal it, serve it, uplift it. Show the person the right path. If a scorpion cannot lose the habit of stinging, why should a saint leave the habit of sheltering? Give it a thought. Life is for giving. Dendaa de lainde takh paae. The giver gives. It is those who take who get tired.

Some people don't come to class. Not that it costs a few bucks, but because they cannot take the truth. Some people say, I am afraid to take your time. My God, look at that. In the whole life there may be one opportunity to speak to your spiritual teacher. You don't want to take the time. What else is time meant for? What is its use? You cannot learn for your soul? What other learning will mean as much to you? I don't want to take your time. Then time will take you away. Then what will happen? When the soul goes away, what are this body and this mind and this joke about?

You were born. The female and male who may or may not have been parents—these days everything is possible—joined together, had intercourse, cohabitation, and you were conceived. But did their minds have intercourse? Did their minds cohabit? Did the mental egg of the female and the spermatozoon of the male also join mentally? Did the spirits join to receive the soul? Was there any sacredness to that intercourse? If not, it was a prostitution of two bodies. It doesn't matter if you are married or you are not. What happened? Your juices went up, his juices went up, and you just poured into each other. That is all. Then you are a juice company. You let your steam get out, that is all. Nothing more than that. Well, what can you call that? In the rhythmic sense of law of human consciousness what can I call it? Tell me. What name can you give the damned thing? A few bacteria were exchanged. Kisses and hugs were done. Certain skin was rubbed against certain skin. He let the juice go. She let the juice go. It was a relaxation. They both slept. In the morning they got up, they forgot their sadhana. They just washed up. At night they came home and, you know. But was there any reverence? Was there any sacredness to it? That is why the book Kama Sutra and Koka Sutra and all those sutras were written. Those spiritual granthas were written to bring sacredness to simple human intercourse. So that a baby can be born, or at least two people can be energized and the mind and the soul and the body refresh itself.

Physical intercourse is called the bridge of seven constructions. You can elevate your physical, mental and spiritual body seven times over if it is an intercourse of mind, body and soul, if it is sacred, if it is worthwhile. Otherwise it is the dumbest thing to do. Did the female come with the mind and attitude that she is going to serve her lord, or did she just come to get yucked. See how polite I am. You can't blame me that I use wrong language, but I did tell you the right meaning. Did she serve the Lord? Did she appreciate him? Did she get elevated? Was it bhakti, total devotion?

Iaanaree-e maanraa kaa-e kare.

Aapanarai ghar har rango ke na maaneh.

Baahur kiaa dhoodheh.

Bhai kee-aa deh salaaheeaa nainee bhaav kaa kar seegaaro

O silly woman, why takest thou pride?

Why enjoyest thou not the love of God, in thy own home?

Thy bridegroom is quite near, O foolish bride. What for searchest thou abroad?

Put the salve needles of God's fear into thine eyes and make the decoration of the Lord's love.

Did she go through all this?

Jaae puchhoh sohaaganee

Vaahai kinee baatee soh paaee-ai

Go and ask the chaste brides by what actions is the Spouse obtained.

Ask the most beloved woman how to find her husband, so much around you, the light in you.

Aap gavaaeeai taa soh paaeeai aor kaisee chaturaaee Efface thy ownself and then shalt thou obtain the Groom.

What can other cleverness avail?

I have lost myself in him. As you sow, so shall you reap. I have sowed my whole self in my Lord and I reap him totally. If you can't reap him, you have to weep with him. You know, he didn't come home. He has got another woman. Da da, da da. You know. You didn't