Yogi Bhajan: The Mahan Tantric Master

June 1998

By Terry Michelle Kurtz, MA

In 1971, Yogi Bhajan claimed that a Tibetan Lama by the name of Lo Lian was dead. According to Bhajan, Lo Lilan, was up to that point, the "Mahan Tantric" and "when he passed, he bestowed the One." Bhajan claimed he was now Lo Lilans successor. According to Yogi Bhajan’s claim, there is and can only be one Mahan Tantric on the planet at one time.

Yogi Bhajan told students to
place this photo on an altar

During one of his lectures, Yogi Bhajan was asked, "Why can there only be one Mahan Tantric at a time?" He answered: "I asked this very question of my teacher and he said, ‘I’ll ask God after my death and reply back’. Why not two can be at the same time? Do you want two suns to rise every morning? No, it can not be. And it is right should be not. When you deal with the state of energy of purity, it comes..." (Winter Solstice, 1973)

In all of the 3HO public relations releases on Yogi Bhajan as the ‘Mahan Tantric’, they state: "White Tantric was a tradition passed on from teacher to student in a mystical and selective way. Interpreting this ‘tradition’, Yogi Bhajan decided to teach Tantric Yoga Courses to westerners as his way to...open the experience of White Tantric yoga to anyone who wanted to commit to the discipline". (discipline defined as "control gained by obedience").

Neither The Mahan Tantric nor 3HO have ever given a course on "How to become a Tantric Yogi" or teach Tantric Yoga to others. So, how does anyone "commit to the discipline" if one does not know when or where the ancient knowledge is to be acquired or written--or who is "gaining by obedience" from the mystical practice with the Mahan Tantric? Yogi Bhajan claims to be the only one on the planet, the most advanced incarnate, the Master of "Tantric Energy" at this point in time--but does that make it so?

Note: Terry MIchelle Kurtz (1952-2021), received her undergraduate degree from Webster University in Webster Groves, Missouri and her Masters in Psychology from Prescott College in Prescott, Arizona. She worked with child protective services in Phoenix and was an advocate for those victimized by cults. Ms. Kurtz was also a yoga teacher and a former member of 3HO known as "Kartar Khalsa."