As Sikhs, and in particular those of us who have taken up Amrit or have been baptized in the khalsa order are supposed to keep the Five Ks. These are Kesh or unshorn hair, Kanga or wooden comb, Kara or iron/steel bracelet, Kachera or boxer shorts and Kirpan or dagger. These were prescribed by Guru Gobind Singhji in the first Amrit/Khanda ki Paul ceremony. Although I have not come across any exact explanations by Guruji in his own words, there are various sources (google it) that examine, rationalize and expound on the reasons behind the 5 Ks. The thoughts being expressed may or may not be in line with others. These are just my inexperienced opinions and only ask you read with an open mind. This is going to be a long post, first a bit of background.
At around 13-14 years of age I took up Amrit together with my younger brothers. I wasn’t 100% sure and had some doubts on whether I’d be able to keep up with it, but still went ahead with some pressure from my family. As I grew up and went to the US for college, my doubts began to increase in line with the open atmosphere I suddenly found myself in. It wasn’t like wearing a turban bothered me, being one of the few amongst thousands in my college was kinda cool in its own regard. However, as is the case in early adulthood being different also severely limited my abilities of find a girlfriend
or so I thought. Over the course of time it started trimming my beard and for a brief even stopped wearing my turban. Being from a very conservative family, I could never gather enough courage to just tell my parents about all this even if they partly suspected it. One thing I realized was that hair or turban wasn’t what was the problem, it was my own self confidence and how I carried my self. Still I used to trim my beard because it just made it “easy to manage” so to speak. Also, being a rebellious in nature it gave me an excuse to not listen to my family.
Now coming to my rationalized disagreements on hair, they may seem naive but bear with me. Oh it was a social custom so long ago, it doesn’t apply anymore. It’s not even practical anymore, maybe it was at that time. What’s the point of keeping it as God sent it, don’t I have free will? So why don’t we just be good human beings in accordance with teachings of all the Gurus which in my mind is more important? Oh some people just keep the Hair and Turban and pretend they are pious outside and don’t even follow the teachings. Why do I have to be Khalsa, can’t I just be a person who follows the Sikh teachings philosophically. Blah .. Blah .. Blah…
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/sikh-sikhi-sikhism/30357-five-ks-panj-kakkaar-kesh-hair.htmlReference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=30357
My mom once told me, don’t compare yourself to any ideals that other people live up to, follow your own heart and find out for yourself. So I’m not going to attempt to answer all the questions above, but just explain how I have reconciled it as I stand today. I have stopped trimming my beard for a few months now, and it’s getting close to its original form.
First, I believe it is a question of faith and following your masters word. When one goes to a Doctor for a severe illness and he puts a in a needle, we accept it on good faith that what is prescribed must help me. So if you don’t start here it be very difficult to rationalize on top of it. I truly believe that Guru Gobind Singhji wanted his Khalsa Sikhs to look different and recognize each other distinctly. Even today in India most Hindus sport just a mustache, Muslims just beards and then the Sikhs with both. The point is not to divide us but to recognize that our paths to the divine are different and hitch rides with the fellow travelers. A very important point that some of the traditional Sikh families misinterpret is that Guruji never said everyone has to take up Amrit. He said who among you would come out of your own love for me to follow this path. There is pressure but it is not an ultimatum as it is made out to be in this day an age. Other faiths like Jains and Buddhists that also came out of a primarily Hindu framework have almost been completely reabsorbed, but with our unique identity it makes us stand out and think twice about the teachings and ideals we have to live up to.
Second, I think it is also practical in a lot of ways. I’m practically bald now but have no worries about it since there is a nice colorful Turban I wear everyday
But seriously in Minnesota, it protected me from the extreme cold and in India from the extreme sun. Sometimes I bump my head and it doesn’t hurt as much
and I can imagine the same ideas held when the Khalsa were guerilla fighting in the jungles with the Mughals. There are some theories around how a Turban tied tightly around the head can help keep the bones of the head aligned properly and such with similar theories are there around the hair. I might have felt sometimes but can’t say for sure so I won’t expound on it much.
Lastly, like a lot of other things the feeling to keep the Kesh and Pagadi should come from inside. For me it had been nagging me for a while and although in a trimmed beard lot of people said I looked good and all, inside it bothered me that I was not following my Guru because of my vanity. Also, I feel sometimes there are feelings of guilt, coercion or pride/ego are used with young people, which I think instead of helping, at times makes the situation worse. Our Gurus stood for love, devotion and fought against the exact things that we sometimes fall into. If each Sikh, young or old could focus on their own nature, understand that best, become a Gurumukh (one who has moved away from the vagaries of the mind and moved it towards the True Guru) in all sense of the word, the Guru will make it easier to gently guide others to realize their true nature themselves. Sometimes it may not be enough for people born in one faith to want to follow that path and maybe they should be given the space to find it out themselves. For people willingly take up this path and try to follow it, may also have doubts at a later stage and again I feel by going inside we will find the answers.
If my views have unintentionally hurt some feelings I would like to apologize and ask for forgiveness for this inexperienced mind.
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