AOB summarily dismisses Yogi Bhajan as the standard archetype of a powerful man abusing his power.  However, the reality many of students reported to AOB is that he never shied away from challenging you to live in your higher consciousness.

He was very direct and because sex is such a big issue in our society at large, and for people in their personal lives—it is part of life—he did not shy away from addressing these issues with his students.

Here is an example of a situation which happened between him and someone who made an accusation against him.  It all depends on your perspective.  At the time, this young woman was in big trouble.  She was aggressively acting out, as some teenagers do and was on the verge of being kicked out of her school.  After a family member picked her up from, school, she visited Yogi Bhajan, who invited her to sit with him to watch a movie.   As the accuser describes it, he was a dirty old man, asking her to come to his room to watch the movie “The Whore”.

Here is a review of the movie (by Owen Glelberman on October 25, 1991):

“Despite the come-on of its title, Whore isn’t a raw, tabloid exposé of life as a working girl. It is, rather, a garishly antierotic cartoon…”

The understanding of family members, who were aware of this situation, is that Yogi Bhajan was trying to show this young woman what the behavior she was exhibiting could lead to.  He was acting in his role as teacher, with integrity, to encourage her not to go down that road.

And actually, Yogi Bhajan was so hurt by hearing of her behavior, that he effectively shut down the entire Sikh participation in the school, which involved over 30 students.