Selling Golden Temple
The Fight For Yogi Bhajan’s Empire

By Kamalla Rose Kaur, Special to Sikh News Network
Posted: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 | 12:11 am

Kartar Singh Khalsa, head of Yogi Harbhajan Singh Khalsa’s business empire, testified in the Multnomah County Circuit Court in Portland, Oregon, that selling the rights to the ‘Golden Temple’ brand name was just good business.

Oregon Attorney General John Kroger and former religious leaders of Sikh Dharma International, the community founded by Yogi Bhajan, are suing Unto Infinity, which controls the dharma and all the other for-profit and non-profit businesses, and the six executives of Golden Temple Management, which oversees the Golden Temple of Oregon food company, for squeezing funding to the religious community and for unjustly enriching themselves.

Kartar Khalsa is the only male member of the board of directors that comprises Unto Infinity. The other three members of Unto Infinity are women who served on Yogi Bhajan’s personal staff. He also is chief executive officer of Golden Temple Management.

According to a 2009 document from the Khalsa Council, an organization of 200 dharma ministers, Yogi Bhajan was the highest administrative and religious authority before his death in 2004. With failing health and expecting his own demise, he restructured his organization to carry on his mission. In 2003, he created Unto Infinity as the chief administrative authority and placed the chief religious authority with leaders of the dharma. He replaced himself, the highest authority, with Siri Singh Sahib Corporation, which was to include board members from both the administrative and religious authorities. But the corporation ended up with board members only from Unto Infinity.

Kartar Khalsa took the stand on June 7, facing charges that he and Yogi Bhajan’s lawyer, Roy Lambert, masterminded an extremely complicated 2007 reorganization of his multi-million dollar businesses.

The reorganization was crafted in response to a cash crunch caused by the 18 million dollar fine that Akal Security, the group's largest company and also one of the largest security contractors in the United States, had to pay the government for alleged contract fraud with the Army, Kartar Khalsa said. The lawsuit was settled out of court in 2007.

The reorganization also included the selling of Golden Temple foods to the top managers of the company for $100 each. Golden Temple Management executives ended up making millions.

To date, Kartar Khalsa has banked 20 million dollars, which doesn’t include his large share, 45 percent, of the profits from the 2010 sale of the cereal division to Hearthside Food Solutions. The attorney general is asking for that money back, about 17 million dollars. Included in the sale was the ownership and use of the Golden Temple brand name and logo.

When asked about the significance of the name, Golden Temple, Kartar Khalsa told the court that the Golden Temple is a Sikh temple in India. When asked if he felt remorse for selling the brand name Golden Temple to a non-Sikh company, he said, “No. It was just part of the deal.”

But with increased media attention in this case, and with similar issues in India, some Sikhs are becoming increasingly concerned by the use of Sikh terms in brand names and logos for commercial purposes.

According to a December 2010 IndiaExpress.com report, “The Sikh clergy also ordered that Gurbani should not be used for the commercial purpose and on hoardings and bill boards meant to sell the commercial products.”

The World Sikh Council – America Region, a group of 47 American gurdwaras and organizations, also took a firm stand against the use of religious names and symbols.

“WSC-AR does not support use of trademarks that closely resemble Sikh religious association, whether it is Golden Temple, Waheguru, Nanak or other such inference for marketing purposes for any for-profit business, or under the statement that it is for a portion that will go to charity,” said Manmohan Singh, general secretary, in a statement emailed to SikhNN.

“With historical merchant trade in India, where such inferences are typical, the public here has not objected, but now with the increased population presence and awareness, these must be addressed for misuse of religion.”