Respected Sir,

I am grateful to you for such a nice article and definition of a sikh. I was searching thru. this as the material can be of immense use in case one has to differentiate between the philosphy of of sikhism and other contemporary religions.

One point that attracted me is the definition Of Sikh as per 'Rehat Maryada' .The definition is unambiguously clear.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/essays-on-sikhism/573-sikhism.html

However, I would like to be enlightened as to the sikhs who are not 'puran' [in Bana] , especially do not keep the hair as prescribed in the definition above, would not be included under the deinition Of a sikh. It is of interest to me as I belong to the category and may be someone else is also. Is there any relaxation in the conditions if one cannot keep hair for reasons.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=573

[I do not have the statistics but as per rough estimates there would be around 30-40% of sikhs that fall under this category.]