Keeping my kesh is an act of love. - Mai Harinder Kaur
Its been a long time since i've posted on this site. I've mostly been a lurker :P. But as a Sikh who has never cut his hair (although i've wanted too for years) I've spent a lot of time contemplating the Irony of the situation.
As Harinder Kaur mentioned. "God does not punish" a person for cutting his/her hair. What exactly is keeping us Sikh's from cutting our hair then? (I wont even mention how many sikh Parents would be first to try to "punish" their kids for their actions (cutting hair) while acknowledging that God would not do the same. My Parents are the only thing keeping me from cutting my hair).
My sister once did her eyebrows—My dad had a hissy fit. And the whole time I was wondering, "Is God going to punish her?" If not, whats the point? You say you keep your hair out of love, love towards what? I can only assume (and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) that your one of the Sikh's who believe we keep our hair because "Our bodies are a Gift from god; therefore they are sacred and should not be abused. Cutting our hair constitutes abuse of the body." That's certainly the answer that's been given to me more often then not
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/sikh-youth/29160-keeping-my-bodily-kesh-hair-getting.htmlReference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=29160
But if thats the answer, why do we cut our fingernails? :P
(Pause! Think about that! If your one of the Sikh's who believe we shouldn't cut our hair because God gave us this hair then question that belief the next time you cut your fingernails. It's a valid philosophical point IMO).
I think the only reason why we keep our hair is because Guru Ji's said so. And beyond that, there is no good reason. Guru Ji's could have said "you must never cut your finger nails" and we would be trying to justify why it is we keep our fingernails today if that was the case. It just so happened that they chose hair, Hair was an arbitrary choice at that, their is nothing intrinsically good about keeping it.
This is similar to "Euthyphro's Dilemma" (Google it, if your unfamiliar with its significance)
EDIT
Ofcourse, as Sikhs, we want there to be something "intrinsically good" about keeping our hair. That is why we give justifications like the one I dealt with above. It would be rather unsettling to admit to ourselves that tens of thousands of fellow Sikhs over the generations have lost their lives over an "arbritary choice." Unfortunately, that's exactly what I'm saying.