• Welcome to all New Sikh Philosophy Network Forums!
    Explore Sikh Sikhi Sikhism...
    Sign up Log in

The Five K's, Why

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]These Are Not Symbols[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]by Harcharan Singh[/FONT]
rkhanda.gif


[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The following is a lettter from a father to his son in response to the son’s crisis of faith. The son wrote to his father that he did not feel that the five symbols had any significance or relavance in today’s modern society and was considering abandoning them. In response the father wrote a letter to his son about the priceless value of the 5K’s which is easily forgotten in the modern material world.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Dearest Jaskirat,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Sat Sri Akal. I must thank you for the deep confidence and the love you have for me. It has always been a joy to read through your letter as they manifest, the sensity of the seeker of truth. I am very happy that you had the courage and conviction to express so openly the things that seem to have been distressing your heart. I somehow felt all this brewing up in you, for the last two years, but had never allowed myself to face it directly, till you wrote the present letter. It is a pleasure to hear it all so plainly stated and I hope, I shall understand and clam your mental anguish.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]When you leave the university and face the world it seems to me that what is crucial in life is not to succumb, not to bow your head to various pressures, but to know and feel them as they are, in a gentle spirit, with a great inward strength, so that these pressures will not create conflict in your life. You may question what is given to you or what many of your age assert is being forced on you - but this also means that you must question yourself. You must not merely question, what you call the significance, the need, the value of your own life. It is only with such an integrated total approach that you will understand not only the Kirpan, the Kara, the Kanga, the Kesh and the Kachha, but also appreciate the agonies, the joys, the pain, the pleasure, the vanities and hope of living.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In your letter, the one word which has overpowered you , the one emotion which drives you on, is significance. Over and over again, you want to know what is the significance of the 5 K’s? The word certainly is not out of place in our materialistic and individualistic existence. In our efforts to be practical individuals, we want to imbibe only what is of utility and significance, the rest we want to discard. The search for significance in everything is a curse for the present century. It is a form of self-enclosure, self- killing and therefore it breeds the fear of living. The whole world, all your friends, your relations, everyone is struggling for significant and useful things. But what might be significant for you might not be so for your friends.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]If you go to a man who has ill-health, he will undoubtedly say, what is significant is good health. If you go to a man who has not had enough wealth in all his life, he will say what is significant in life is money. If you go to a mother she will say the significant thing is to have a son. This is the reason to find an intricate web of explanations, for the significance 5 K’s. Every one views it from his own angle of significance.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The first step in your questioning of the 5 K’s should be to be free of this yoke of significance. It is this illusionary search for significance, which has made many young ones and their seniors, discard their Kesh, because they see no value in them. It is a pity that we want to reduce Sahib Guru Gobind Singhji, to our own mundane level of thinking and view all his actions in light of practical animal utility. If he was in search of merely objects of practical utility, he could have made a truce with Aurangzeb, when the latter made the offer. Shivaji did so at one stage, because his search was different, his life was different. If the rider of the dark blue steed, wanted the 5 K’s to be reflections of practical use values, he could have very well added not only more weapons, but instead of a sword, he would have given us a gun, as guns did exist at that time. A gun would have been more efficient and better suited for self-defense and for war too. But he was not inspired out of a hunt for weapons of self-defense or practical value, as we would make it out, reflecting our own thinking backwards in history. The Guru Sahib was not a novice in the ways of arms, if he only wanted his Sikhs to be armed for war, through these 5 K’s he would have rather equipped them the way he did Banda Bahadur at Nanader, when he gave him 5 arrows and a bow. The sword, anyway, in the battlefield would have been useless without a shield. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Kanga, the Kesh, the Kara, the Kirpan and the Kachha were all delicate gifts of love and beauty to the Khalsa from his Master who desired nothing for himself, but everything for the Khalsa. These gifts were from a Guru who grabbed not the gifts of his disciples but instead totally surrendered everything for the cause and love of the Khalsa. A way of total love which was to be unique for the Khalsa; “Jau tau prem khelan ka chao sir dhar tali gali meri ao.” (Guru Nanak Dev Ji) “If thou art zealous of playing the game of love, then enter upon my path with thy head on they palm,” It was out of such love that these gifts were presented to the Khalsa and not out of any attempt to carve our soldiers. When there is total love there is action, there is sacrifice. Is it not so? The love of Guru for the Khalsa was not the result of mental vibrations, and there was in his life no gap between love and action, as there is between our thinking and action. It is only we who want to be one sided in our love and make claims of loving the Guru in our ideals, in our heart and consequently we reason out that we don’t have to express our love for Him in action, in the Desh, but can there be love without total commitment and action? No the total love of Kalgidhar Guru Gobind Singh Ji for the Khalsa becomes apparent in the book titled Surbloh, where, he becomes one with the Khalsa and portrays the Khalsa as his highest love:[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Khalsa is the breath of my body,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Khalsa is the very soul of my life,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Khalsa is my real pride and glory,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Khalsa is my own personal self,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Khalsa is my life’s sustainer,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Khalsa is my body and breath,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Khalsa is my creed and karma,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Khalsa is my conscience keeper,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Khalsa is my perfect satguru,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Khalsa is my brave friend,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Khalsa gives me intellect and wisdom,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Khalsa is my object of meditation.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The mind that loves the Sikh ways of life is a religious mind because it is the movement of living, of action, of truth, of God and it is only such a mind that can know what is the beauty of gifts that Guru gave to us. The 5 ornaments that we wear are the gifts, from a Guru, whose two younger sons, seven and nine years old faced martyrdom in Sirhind in a manner which is unequaled in the long annals of human history. These two innocent children were walled alive because they refused to bow before the sword of hatred. The Guru’s mother merged into the Supreme Being at Sirhind during persecution. The two elder sons of the Guru counted martyrdom fighting in action for us. Guru Sahib himself had been attacked with dagger by two cowardly Pathans at Nanded in Deccan, causing serious injury.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Could such a Benevolent Being whose whole family was destroyed for the total love of the Khalsa, be looking for practical utilities of an animal existence? He was not the person to endow us with gifts of mere practical value, but gifts of love, which knew no questioning, no bartering, no deals and no betraying. His was a total sacrifice and a total love in both thought and action, for the happiness of the Khalsa and these gifts had their pangs of birth in a sea of human blood. It was not out of any practical benefit that the evil genius of the Mughal government announced awards for the hair of Sikhs. It was because they knew that without these gifts, without these embodiments of the Guru’s love, the Khalsa would disintegrate.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]All the children of the Khalsa are to always wear a sword, in now way their own private possession or property. The Kirpan is a gift from Guru Gobind Singh Ji to the Khalsa. It is not to be judged and measured as a weapon of war or peace, it is a gift activated by the love of the Guru. Even a whole army of bodyguards of the best police state in the worlds cannot make it redundant. It shall always remain attached to me, the bodyguards cannot make it obsolescent. The sword is the love wherein the Guru resides. A Guru who in his love saw no difference between human beings and fused all of us in one creed of devotion, service and sacrifice, in an age when common men were hanged for even drawing water from the same well, as that of the higher castes. The lower castes were beaten to death if they as such touched the kitchen utensils of a Brahmin.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A Kalal - a wine distiller, once came for the Guru’s darshan and stood at a distance, for the caste of the Kalal was considered low in the social hierarchy. When Guru Gobind Singh Ji, saw him he said, “Come in and sit with all of us in the tent.” The man quivered, hesitated and said, “How can I, the lowest of the low, sit in the assembly of the gods? Guru Ji, I am a kalal whose mere sight pollutes.” On hearing this, Guru Sahib instructed His musicians and bards, to welcome the man with music and songs and coming down from his couch to bless him. He said, “You are not a kalal, but a ‘Guru ka-Lal’, ‘a Ruby of the Guru.’ Who has such love for us? The sword which we have, is an ornament for all of us, the rich and the poor, you , me and the whole humanity. To wear a sword which was once a privilege of the few high born, under the dictates of the Mughal aristocracy, with the Guru’s blessings became a gift which any one could carry, without fear of being prosecuted, because now it was in love from the Guru to the Khalsa “dan dio iniko bhalo avaranko dan na lagat niko.” (Guru Gobind Singh). “To bestow gifts on them alone is worthy, to make gifts to others is not kind”.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]When his hands stroked our hair, washed them, combed them, dressed, knotted them and placed in them the invaluable Kanga, how can we, his sons and daughters, bear our hair to be cut? The Guru Sahib saturated our hair with Amrita. He left the imprint of his blessings and joy in our hair. Our hair are like the untouched pearl in the deep oceans not yet disfigured by the fortune hunters. You say it is inconvenient, frustrating, impractical to grow our hair long. But more frustrating is an existence of no inspiration, no effort. Our superficial hollow life is no way less discouraging. The day to day fragmentary living, the everyday struggle for food, the daily pain, suffering, distress, torments and headaches are in no way less discomforting. But inspite of all this do we cease to exist? No, on the contrary we strive all the more and struggle for pleasure, gratification, comforts and joy. If we can reconcile ourselves to such an empty living, can we not grow our hair long which is so inspiring, creative, fulfilling and above all a gift from our Guru, a gift whose rejection would be a rejection of our existence, the negation of the very purpose of our life.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]In the West, the children love so much the gifts made to them on Christmas by the mythical Santa Claus, they hungrily search their stockings for the gifts placed in them by their parents and after receiving their gifts feel so elated and we so ungrateful, that we fight, throw away, kick at the gifts of our loving father, who kept nothing for the future of his House and gifted to us everything he possessed - physical, spiritual and material.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The elegant kachha we wear every day is the very same as the one worn by Guru Ji himself, by his disciples and by his lovers. Clad in it, we are one with him. The exotic wooden comb he tucked in our hair, also combed, danced and swung in his hair. The kanga, is the new born baby, playing in the lap of the loving mother, whom we so brutally want to strangle. It was these very same presents, for which tens and thousands of my brothers laid down their lives. Have you watched the tears in eyes of a sheep while she is being sheared? And many of us so happy without our hair. we for sure have traveled a long way from the animal.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The kara has to be received by us as a present from our Guru, which is not comparable to our wealth, our intelligence, our achievements. It comes to us as a manifestation of His love and benefaction. It is strange behavior indeed that we constantly argue about it. He put on our wrist the kara, from that day it was for ever ours, no one could separate it from a Sikh, and we still advance reasons for it. He loved me. He made me his own. He elevated me from the darkness of ignorance to light of spiritual consciousness. Can I not even make his gifts my own? We his children, have to wear these gifts, carved out of infinite love. One with these gifts, we blossom, separated from them we wither. The decay in the Khalsa is apparent.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Each one of us wears the hair and beard of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, exactly as he wore them. We are created in his majestic image. Jab lag rahe khalsa niara, tab lag tej dio mai sara, jab eh gahain bipran ki ritl, mai na karo in ki partit” (Guru Gobind Singh) “So long as the Khalsa retains identity, I will bestow to them full glory; but the moment they adopt Brahmanical ways, I will not protect them.” Our significance is in Him, and not anywhere without Him and his gifts. In these gifts we are reminded of his Omniscence, Omnipotence and Omnipresence.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Jaskirat, do not make our presents into dead symbols, they are the gorgeous ornaments of the living. We are the “Wedded Women” of the God. They are the wedding gifts from our Bridegroom. He gave all of them to use and they are God-sent - imperishable, indispensable and indestructible, superstitious and fatalistic. But the waves of pure love always have their own logic, rationality and fatalism. I love the Guru’s irrationality - if you want to call it so “sev kari inhiman bhavat, aur ki sev suhat na jiko.” (Guru Gobind Singh) “To serve them pleaseth me, service of any other is not dear to me.” I don’t have the courage to reject such devotion.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Does a would-be-wife question the intrinsic value of the engagement ring, she is gifted by her husband? No, never, even if it is made of copper or a shell. Today, you want to discard these gifts, because gold has more value. Yes, iron was poor in worldly goods. A wealthy merchant, Hargopal once grudgingly brought for Guru Gobind Singh, two gold bracelets studded with precious jewels, not because he loved the Guru, but because he felt that in doing so, he would please his own father, who was a devotee of the Guru Sahib. One of these expensive bracelets accidentally fell into the Jamna river from the hands of Guru Ji. At this, Hargopal was very displeased and when his attempt to recover the bracelet proved futile, he asked Guruji to point at the exact place where he had dropped the bracelet, so that he could take it out. To indicate the place in the river, where the bracelet had fallen, Guru Gobind Singh Ji took out the other gold bracelet from his wrist and throwing it in the river he told Hargopal, “It is there.”[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]You want to question the utility of the iron bangle of the Guru, but not of the gold bangle which is so much in vogue at Sikh engagement ceremonies today. You are ready to discard the Guru’s bangle for the yellow metal. But do not forget your first marriage, out of whose womb you stand today, aspiring for these worldly gifts. The body can be made the basis of either animal inconsistency or a divine temple. The choice is yours, the solitude of separation is yours. These gifts are not to be stored in the darkness of the cellars; think deep into them, if you want to live in spiritual grandeur.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The head of a Sikh, the kesh of a Sikh, having been once offered and accepted, become forever of the Guru. It is an unceasing trust with Him. It is therefore imperative for a Sikh to carry his head high and not to bow it before a mortal barber. It shall only bend and bow before the Guru. Once a new musket was brought as a present for Guru Gobind Singh Ji. He said, to test the love of his disciples, that he wanted to try the aim of the musket on someones forehead. He looked around and asked if any of his Singhs would offer himself for the trial. Quick come up-scores of unflinching Sikhs, each pushing the other one away, regarding it as a boon to meet death at the Guru’s hand, and we today so uninspired, sleeping beauties that except for empty words, have no deeds worthy of our name.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Everyday we recite in our prayer, “Nanak das sada Kurbani.” “Nanak thy servant is ever a sacrifice to Thee.” But what is that we sacrifice everyday? Guru Gobind Singh was the purest sacrifice. We may never reach his height, but some sacrifice we can do. But instead we sacrifice our 5 K’s. Shocking is our spirit of sacrifice. If the Khalsa today is hollow, it is because we forget our tradition of sacrifices, it is because we forget the love of a sacrificer, it is because we regard his gifts as mere symbols. “Balhari gur apne diohadi sadvar.” (Guru Nanak) “I am a sacrifice to my Guru Hundred times a day.” Are we the worthy inheritors of this heritage? After drawing on his blood, now we want to stab him in the back![/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Jaskirat, one kilometer, from the Lahore railway station stands a gurdwara, sacred to the Sikhs in the loving memory of Bhai Taru Singh Ji. It bears the name of Shahid Ganj, the Abode of Martyrs. Bhai Sahib was resident of village Poola where he had a small piece of land. The wheat and the maize that he produced and the humble mud hut he had, he happily shared with all the weary travelers who passed through the village and needed a shelter to sleep for the night. He belonged wholly to the Guru’s hymns and early in the morning under the stars, while on the plough, with a white turban and a blue chola, a poor toiler of the earth, he recited the Japji. The Japji which has in it the inimitable cosmicness of life in nature. The villagers loved Taru Singh for his fellow feeling harmlessness and spiritual purity.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]But being a Sikh, Taru Singh was not destined to live any longer, his life of love, free from the hatred of caste colour and religion. The authoritarian Mughal government of medieval India was not willing to appreciate the way of life of the Sikhs, which drew no dividing line between man and man, between Hindus and Muslims, between Brahims and Sardars “manas ki jat sab ik hi pahchanho”. (Guru Gobind Singh) “All men are the same”, it was a creed which cut at the very rood of Mughal establishment based on human distinctions. To extinguish this smithy of love, the government offered to its subjects numerous monetary awards for the heads of the Sikhs and they were declared outlaws. The greed for gold tempted Bhagat Nirangi to lodge a complaint against Bhai Taru Singh, with the Subedar (governor) of Lahore, stating that he gave shelter, to dacoits, the Sikhs, and the property of Muslim and Hindu subjects of His Gracious Majority, was unsafe. Such a complaint was unnecessary for the very living of a Sikh was a reason enough for the state armed forces, to go and imprison Bhai Taru Singh, who was bound in ropes and brought before the Subedar.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]When the Subedar, saw this young man of 23, he was overwhelmed and shaken by his presence. He felt himself transposed to another world. There was a radiance around him which made the Nawab exclaim: “Khaunda! What a divine Noor (glory) on his face. I pray that he should be a Musalman!” Addressing Taru Singh, the Nawab said, “O, graceful Sikh, I feel sorry for you and I wish to give you a new lease of life." Taru Singh with tears in his eyes, responded: “Reward me with a new lease of life? Why stain me with such dishonour while my brothers and sisters are being martyred here before me, every day, every hour? The Subedar said, you presence is resplended with a heavenly light. Somehow my heart does not permit me to have you killed, but you must cut and present me your tress-knot.”[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Taru Singh replied, “The Sikh and his hair are one. I will be pleased to give you more than you ask me, my head with my tress-knot”. These hair are the eternal gift of love, of immeasurable beauty to the Khalsa by our Guru, they cannot be separated from a Singh’s head, without separating his head. The one who just looks at them can never understand them. It is like looking into a mirror, but you are not one with the mirror. The observer is only capable of experiencing, he is never mirror, the experience, the state itself. These hair are the fountain of joy, the spring of life for us.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Subedar still confident of bribing him then said: “Taru Singh, you are too young. You have not yet experienced the beauty and joy of life. I will make arrangements for your marriage with a woman of your choice. You will be awarded with high mansob (office) in the Mughal army. You will be endowed with a hereditary jagir, I promise you all sorts of luxuries but you must part with your way of life and accept the Muslim religion.”[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A Guru ka Sikh can never be tamed and now his tears mingling with a smile of joy, Taru Singh replied, “Having been sent by Him they come (into the world) and recalled by Him they go back”, said Guru Nanak. “It is the right and privilege of the brave to die”, says He, “For a Sikh, life has beginning and no end - it is both death and life. Neither my life nor my hair are for bargaining in your court which views beauty, life and religion in weights of gold. The value and beauty of our hair cannot be measured in terms of luxuries and jagirs. Your thinking is materialistic and is therefore negligible, but an integrated living is always spiritual”.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Subedar could no longer bear this song of truth as he cried out, “Stop him, for he disturbs the law and order of our province. Kill him, for he disturbs the law and order of our province. Kill him at once, but cut his hair before.” The Mughal soldiers caught hold of Bhai Sahib’s head and chin, but the barber found it impossible to bring his hand near his head. With a stroke of his head he would push back his captors and make them whirl on the ground. A cobbler was then sent for, to try his skill with his tools and scrape off Taru Singh’s hair, but his attempt too proved abortive. At last the help of a carpenter was asked for the foul deed with a stroke of his age, he cut off Bhai Taru Singh’s head (1743 A.D.) but failed to cut his tress-knot.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Thakur Rabindranath Tagore, a great mystic poet of Bengal has beautifully sung of this episode:[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Parathona Atit Dan - “More than asked For”[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]For a Sikh to cut his tress-knots[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Amounts to discarding his dharma[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Pathans brought, bound hand and foot, the Sikh prisoners,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Shahid Ganj earth turned red with their blood The Nawab addressing Taru Singh,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]said unto him:[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]‘I wish to spare thy life’.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Taru Singh retorted: Spare my life![/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Why thou dishonors me?[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Said the Nawab: Thou art bravest of the brave?[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]‘I don’t wish to wreak my anger on thee,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Taru Singh replied: ‘O Nawab they request with my heart I comply and liberally grant thee more than what thou begest of me:[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]‘My head with my tress-knot’,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Jaskirat, if Bhai Taru Singh had looked for practical utility, significance and relevance wouldn’t he have exchanged his hair for a Jagir, for beautiful women and the power he was offered? But all these he regarded as worthless when he weighted them with his way of life. If the hair were mere symbols for him, would he have staked his life for them. The term symbols can never express the depth of these gifts. You will never find even a most dutiful policeman leaping to death, to uphold a short circuited burning traffic light signal, because it is a sheer symbol for the cars and lorries on the road, it is an external factor to his life. But our 5K’s are much deeper and profound than symbols and this is the reason we find not only Bhai Taru Singh, but a whole galaxy of martyrs in our History - Bhai Mati Das, Dyal Chand, Bhai Mani Singh and Subeg Singh - all playing with their lives, which appears to us so irrational and fatalistic.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Son, you merely read about the 5 symbols in isolation, meditate on them as links with lives of your ancestors, it is only then that their meaning will be apparent to you. In themselves the 5K’s might appear to be mere symbols, show windows but it is only when they are knit with our lives, woven in our existence, painted with our daily sorrow and joys that their value, justification and significance emerges. They are inseparable from our life and if you perceive of them as separate, it is not surprising that they appear to be frivolous, justified and a burden of the past. If you are wounded and in agony it is because you want to separate, from yourself, what is vital for existence.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Unfortunately, you visualized only a part in segregation from the whole. You are looking out of a small window set in the wall, from which the outside may appear to be attractive and convincing for sometimes, but it does not allow you to view the beauty of life. Without linking these ornaments of love, with your daily existence, you can never have perception of the whole, therefore you will always be sad and when the end comes, you will still be grouping in the darkness of your cell; you will have had nothing but hallucinations and a lot of empty words. But if you fall in love, now with these unique gifts, if you love your Kesh not, the Kirpan you wear, then son as you grow up, you will not remain in your dungeon with its dark windows, but will leave it and love the whole way of life. If you don’t constantly have a passionate love for those presents of the Guru, then you are like a flower without fragrance, withered and lying in the dust, being crushed and kicked by every pedestrian. Only he can have love for God, who abandons his ego, forgets himself completely and thereby brings the state of creative consciousness. The “me” and “I” from its very birth is constantly building a barrier of knowledge around itself, around its actions and ultimately leads to isolation and despair. A life of the dead.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Knowledge is only a minor part of life, not the totality and when it thus assumes all consuming significance, as it is now then your life becomes artificial, an empty cut, from which man tries to escape, through superficial escapes with disastrous results. Knowledge is like a kerosene lame on a dark night, but it can illuminate only so long as it has fuel. Life is much vaster and deeper, it cannot be lived with the aid of an extinguishable lamp. Knowledge is essential to everyday existence, as money is to but your food, but it cannon grasp the reality of love, of God, of living. Love is not to be hooky in the net of intelligence; if you use knowledge to grasp love, it will die as one fish dies out of water. Knowledge must be left behind for love to be. Burdened with mechanical learning you will never understand what is beauty, what is measurable. The light of knowledge is a covering under which lies a realm of truth, which knowledge cannot penetrate. The worship of knowledge is a ritualistic pilgrimage, which can never dissolve the contradictions and miseries of life. Mere knowledge, however earnestly learnt and cleverly assembled, will never resolve the meaning of the 5 K’s to assume that it will, is to invite frustration and misery. You may know all about the working of the earth and the functioning of the skies and still not be free from sorrow, envy and pain.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]To know these gifts, to value truth, to be one with God, you must have claims, to beliefs, no speculations “Sochia soch na hovai je sochai lakhvar” (Guru Nanak) “Mortal cannot comprehend Him by thought.” If you have gathered the knowledge of living, the knowledge itself becomes more important, not your living. If you want to understand these gifts, everything will come right. Live in them and there is understanding, “hukmai andarsabh ko bahr hnkam na koe. Nanak hukmi je bujhai ta haumai kahe na koe.” (Guru Nanak) “Nothing at all outside His will, abiding O Nanak, he who is aware of the supermen will never in his selfhood utterest the boast: It is I”. The Supreme Will was to live in the glory of these embellishments of our land so shall it be.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]These gifts of ours are not symbols of a religion, or compulsory rites of a religion. The Sikh way of life is not to live on any set of rituals, formalism, talismans, penances, austerities, pilgrimages or symbols. The Sikhs were rebels against all this and more. The gurbani abounds, in hymns against ritualism and symbols. Guru Nanak Dev Ji said in on of his compositions “Yoga lies not in wearing patched garments, nor in carrying a staff, nor in smearing one’s body with ashes, nor does it lie in wearing earrings, not in cutting one’s hear, not in playing on a singi.” (Suhi I). Could anyone have said something more against the irrelevance of symbols. How strongly he felt against empty symbols may be gauged from these lines, “With tikka (the sacred mark) on their foreheads and dhoti wrapped around their loins and legs, they look pious, but in fact they are the world’s butchers carrying daggers in their hands.” (Asa-da-var) The shallowness of ritualism and symbols was exposed thoroughly by Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the Akal Ustati:[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Some worship but stocks and stones, while others suspend the lingum from their necks.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Some look for the God in the East, other in the West,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Some worship but idols, some are unwise enough to worship the dead;[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]All these are involved in a false show, and they find the Mystery, that is God.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]After the victory of the battle of Bhangani, Guru Gobind Singh Ji blessed Pir Budhu Shah, with no treasures and no elephants, for his service, as was the custom of that time, but a Kirpan and comb with some broken hair of his. These gifts are still preserved as sacred relics in the former princely state of Nabha. This very jewelry, he presented to all of us, inspite of the fact that our lives were not wrought in the furnace of sacrifice - a jeweler which no craftsman, no intellectual, no jeweler is capable of imitating. These gifts of ours are the constellation of superconsiousness, the very essence of breath of God in us, of which our tress-knots are the spiritual crown of humanity.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Jaskirat, ask not from me the significance, the value, the power of our tress-knots, for I am incapable of describing it. In the meadows, dales and mountains of our tress-knots, the bliss of perennial joy flows, in the beautitude of our tress-knots, the flowers are fired. In our mystical tress-knots, the insipid mankind is inspired in the holiness of our pristine pure tress-knots, the sun chariot rides high in eternity; in the infinity of our tress-knots; the melting snow caps of the mountain peaks, wash away all sorrows; in our august tress-knots, the frenzied rain torrents pour; in the creativity of our transcendental tress-knots, his nakedness is robed anew in the effulgence of these gifts.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Live in the eternal joy of your tress-knots and you will know what it is, to be. Men collect the ashes of the departed soul and pray for him in the church and the temples and you want to discard, this living soul, this living temple! People build monuments for the dead, you want to uproot the living monument the Guru gave to you. If you want it to disintegrate you may, but you shall forever be buried under it.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The love shall still come your way because you are one of the descendants of the ancient lore, you will still flex your muscles when the song is of your forefathers, but you would have converted the garden of the living into the weeds of the dead. The gardener will shed his tears but no more will you grow. Soon, even his tears will dry as he tends new gardens. A time comes when no one knows, of the long ruined monument. It passes back into the womb of agony and is possessed by the serpents, jackals and chameleons.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Jaskirat our 5 K’s are beyond the realm of rituals and symbols, they are the timeless ones. Can you and me enclose with our intellects what is not measurable? Can you and me enclose with out intellects what is not time? Can our constant hatred, anger, ugliness, lead us to the unknown? Do we have an instrument to gauge what has not beginning and no end? Can the truth of these gifts be trapped in the cage of logic? What we may capture by our mechanical knowledge and logic, is superficial, never the cosmicness of these presents. Many of us spiritedly respond to tranquilizers but living in love, needs no tranquilizers.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The beautiful, the loved can never be dissected and summed up. For these gifts, we can reach no conclusions, no morals and no judgments because they are not symbols, but pieces of art. What would the cuckoo’s song mean to you, if you want to take down its notation and analyze them? What would your mother be for you if you want to know her by analysis? Only a biological skeleton for procreation. You have so much trapped yourself in a net of words, of speculations that the feeling itself, which is the only thing that is deep and vital in us in lost. The significance or the insignificance of these gifts is not important. The highest art in life is to be beautiful. And these gifts are the force that creates the beautiful, the artistic in us. It is one in a million, who has the beauty of these ornaments.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The kesh, the kachha, the kara, the kanga and the kirpan are the gifts, chiseled out for the Khalsa, by the divine artist. These are gifts, endowed to us forever by the Divine Bridegroom, on the day of our marriage to him, on Baisakhi, in 1699 at Anandpur Sahib (The City of Bliss). They are true embodiments of art and anyone looking at them, can have his bosom full of meanings, ecstasy, inspiration, love, joy and what more can we wish? In them we have the treasure, mines, in them is the beauty and we are so ignorant of it. We the cosmic brides will carry his gifts of love, in honour, purity and splendour glory and our love will blossom in all climates, in all times and in all continents.[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]May the blessing of Waheguru Ji be with you forever.[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Your loving father[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Harchand Singh.[/FONT]

The Sikhism Home Page
 

Gyani Jarnail Singh

Sawa lakh se EK larraoan
Mentor
Writer
SPNer
Jul 4, 2004
7,706
14,381
75
KUALA LUMPUR MALAYSIA
Gyani ji,

Guru Fateh.

Let me offer my 2 cent worth. The facts of our Gurus lives stand on their own. Turbans were only used by the nobles and our Gurus defied that. Long hair was mainly linked with the sages and wise men. Our Gurus defied that too and ofcourse the followers must have followed the same to emulate our Gurus.

Now, regarding Kabir ji's salok and other tuks in Gurbani about Ik Ong Kaar having long hair is part of the poetic imagery and allegory by the writers in their beautiful poetry. The reason they used this imagery in their beautiful poetry was because all the Hindu Gods had long hair and so did Jesus and Moses if one comes to think of it. Nothing more.

The Moolmanter describes Ik Ong Kaar as formless, gendelress, timeless Creative Energy. Nothing hairy about that.

No offense intended.

Tejwant Singh

Tejwant Ji,
Gurfateh.

No offence taken Ji..surely you know me well enough by now.

1. YES I agree thta EK Oangkaar is Formless, and all the other Lesses combined...
BUT you must be aware of what Guru nanak ji in Sohila... says about Him having NO EYES..yet billions of eys...etc etc...No feet and yet billions of feet etc He is IN HIS CREATION.
And The Sikh Gurus, the Bhagats, who loved LONG HAIR are also in His Creation. The Sikh Guurs,a nd the Bhagats..every SINGLE one of them LOVES the Creator..in His Long beautiful flowing Hair IMAGERY...so do we ( who keep kesh sacred ). It doesnt mean that we "think" that He has long flowing Hair...although even the Bible and related scriptures do declare that MAN is created in the IMAGE of the Creator....and the "IMAGE" of the Creator that Kabir Ji is so ecstatic about in the above quote is the IMAGE that the KHALSA love to keep. We all can choose " what IMage" we want..its as simple as that..the Gurus in GURBANI chose the Long flowing Kesh type..and we as Sikhs..follow suit...anyone who doesnt want to follow is also welcome to do so...its his/her choice.

And YES it IS definitley NOTHING MORE than just the URGE to FOLLOW the GURU/look like the Guru/ Emulate the Guru..Honour the Guru...etc etc. Thats the EASY PART..the difficult part comes AFTER Pahul....when we try and MOULD our daily LIFE according to His TEACHINGS.

Chardeekalla Ji
 

Gyani Jarnail Singh

Sawa lakh se EK larraoan
Mentor
Writer
SPNer
Jul 4, 2004
7,706
14,381
75
KUALA LUMPUR MALAYSIA
Here si something related that I came across in a Malaysian Islamic Forum...written by a Muslim Girl on her experiences wearing Hijaab..

[FONT=verdana,Arial]I was not able to see that I was oppressed until I stepped out of the darkness of this oppressive society into the light of Islam ..[/FONT] By: Sharrifa Carlo
IslamiCity* -


661eb3f8caa6b190ac5df8ba058011b8.gif
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica][FONT=Verdana,arial]As a non-Muslim living in Western society, the idea of modesty was not exactly foremost in my mind. Like all other women of my generation and mind-set, I thought such ideas were antiquated and excessive. I felt pity for the poor Muslim woman who had to “wear all that junk,” or “walk around in bed - sheets” as I used to call it [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica][FONT=Verdana,arial]I was a modern woman, educated and liberated. Little did I know the awful truth. I was more oppressed than any Muslim woman in the most culturally oppressive village in the Muslim world. I was oppressed not by an inability to choose my clothing or to choose my life-style, I was oppressed by an inability to see my society for what it really was. I was oppressed by the idea that a woman’s beauty was public, and that lustful admiration was equal to respect. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica][FONT=Verdana,arial]It was when Allah guided me to Islam, and I put on the hijab, that I was finally able to step out of the society in which I lived and see it for what it really is. I could see how the highest paid women were those who exposed themselves to public display, like actresses, models and even strip-tease dancers. I was able to see that the relationship between men and women was unfairly stacked in the man’s direction. I knew I used o dress to attract men. I tried to fool myself by saying I did it to please myself, but the painful reality was that what pleased me was when I was admired by a man I considered attractive. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica][FONT=Verdana,arial]I was not able to see that I was oppressed until I stepped out of the darkness of this oppressive society into the light of Islam. With the light shinning on the truth, I was finally able to see the shadows that had been so obscured by my Western outlook. It is not oppression to protect yourself and society; it is oppression to voluntarily throw yourself into an unclean social quagmire while thinking that it is the best way of life. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica][FONT=Verdana,arial]I am grateful to Allah that He allowed me to recognize that when I covered my head, I was taking away from people any means for judging me other than my mind, my soul and my heart. When I covered my head, I took away the incentive for exploitation based on beauty. When I covered my head, I made people respect me because they saw that I respected myself, and when I covered my head, I finally opened my mind to the truth. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica][FONT=Verdana,arial]One of the factors which attracted me to this great deen of ours was the fact that so much of it can be understood based on logic and reason. Islam is a great religion that satisfies all of our basic intellectual and emotional needs; it does this simply because it is the truth, and the truth is always easy to understand and defend.
[/FONT]
[/FONT]
 

Gyani Jarnail Singh

Sawa lakh se EK larraoan
Mentor
Writer
SPNer
Jul 4, 2004
7,706
14,381
75
KUALA LUMPUR MALAYSIA
Tejwant Ji,
Gurfateh.

Continuing the idea of Kabir Jis "Imagery..poetic beauty language etc.." in the Tuk Keso Keso kookeah..na soveh asaar !!

Historical Accounts tell us that the Pir of Sadahura..Pir Budhu Shah was a great admirer of Guru Gobind Singh Ji. and he was MUSLIM PIR with thousands of followers in his own right.

1.The Muslim PIR together with his 700 or so murids fought agaisnt the MUGHAL MUSLIM armies, on the side of Guru Gobind Singh Ji and His Sikhs.

2. The Pir lost his FOUR SONS in the Battle of Bhnagganni. He also lost more than few hundred of his murids. As far as the Sikhs are concerned these too are all SHAHEEDS on par with all the others and the SIKHS who died fighting for Guru Gobind Singh Ji.

3. Now is the interesting part...Guru Ji informs the Pir that He is Greatly pleased and thankful for his help and he can ask anything hsi heart desires. Now the PIR can ask for WEALTH...GOLD..Horses..weapons...BUT WHAT DOES HE ASK of the GURU in utter HUMILITY ??
The PIR humbly requests the GURU GIFT him the KANGHA and also the Few strands of His KESH that are stuck in the Kangha.

4. Now the 2 cent question here is...the Pir who just martyred four flesh and blood SONS...and several hundred followers... would want with a "wooden kangha and a few broken hairs" ?? He is a MUSLIM...a PIR of high standing...and NOT in any way "attached to KESH/KANGHA" in any way whatsoever !! He could ahve had virtually "ANYTHING"....BUT all he wants is the KANGHA/KESH as a NISHANEE/GIFT form his BELOVED !!

5. What Beautiful IMAGERY....the Guru combing his long flowing beautiful HAIRS....taking the Kangha through and through....and the Muslim Pir standing before the GURU with folded hands BEGGING...for the KANGHA/KESH....What wouldnt MILLIONS of His KHALSA do TODAY iF faced with the SAME ?? The EXACT same thing they always did....NO WAY are we Doing away with KESH. Was this the Gurus way of leaving behind his KANGHA/KESH..for POSTERITY....otherwise we wouldnt have His nishanee and its IMPORTANCE...in the world of Imagination..imagery..flowery language..etc etc.

Some ideas herein contributed by my brilliant co-researcher: Jasbir Kaur Thind. Acknowledged gratefully.

Cordially and Respectfully

Jarnail Singh
 

BhagatSingh

SPNer
Apr 24, 2006
2,921
1,655
Jarnail Singh ji
Kabir is talking about Ram in that shabad. This is clear when you read how he starts it off.
Ram has always been shown to have long hair so its sort of obvious why Kabir would mention such a thing.
 

Gyani Jarnail Singh

Sawa lakh se EK larraoan
Mentor
Writer
SPNer
Jul 4, 2004
7,706
14,381
75
KUALA LUMPUR MALAYSIA
Jarnail Singh ji
Kabir is talking about Ram in that shabad. This is clear when you read how he starts it off.
Ram has always been shown to have long hair so its sort of obvious why Kabir would mention such a thing.

Bhagat Singh Ji,

Yes he is talking about Ram...BUT we all know that the RAAM he actually want us to follow is the CREATOR and NOT the Son of Dasarth. The Son of dasrath is the Raam that cried when he was separated from Sita...as Guru teg bahadur Ji states in his sloks..while the KESO RAAM the Creator si beyond such...
 

japjisahib04

Mentor
SPNer
Jan 22, 2005
822
1,294
kuwait
Mohinder Sahni ji,

Guru Fateh.

Please do not distort what I said. I did not say nor implied anything what you are talking about. I have no idea where you got the above from except from your own fertile mind. Please read my post again.I did not mention any Shabad in my post but talked about the poetic imagery and allegory of this beautiful Gurbani. Nothing more.

Please let me know if you disagree with the description mentioned in Mool manter of Ik Ong Kaar. Tejwant Singh
Tejwant Ji, Since you were referring to Kabir Ji salok wherein kabir ji is depicting the beauty and or one of the virtue of God. My take is that peotic imagery is not related with Hindu god’s but His liking and our effort to please Him accordingly in that form. As Gurbani tells us, ‘ey mn jYsw syvih qYsw hovih qyhy krm kmwie ]Prof. Sahib interpretes this pankti like this ,’ hy (myry) mn! qUM ijho ijhy dI syvw-BgqI kryNgw, auho ijhy krm kmw ky auho bx jwieˆgw [ (pRBU dI rzw ivc ieh inXm hY ik jIv ny ies krm-BUmI srIr ivc) Awp bIj ky Awp hI (aus dw) Pl Kwxw huMdw hY [ ies dI aulMGxw nhIN kIqI jw skdI

Rest of part Giani Ji has elborated.
Best regards
Sahni Mohinder
 

BhagatSingh

SPNer
Apr 24, 2006
2,921
1,655
Bhagat Singh Ji,

Yes he is talking about Ram...BUT we all know that the RAAM he actually want us to follow is the CREATOR and NOT the Son of Dasarth. The Son of dasrath is the Raam that cried when he was separated from Sita...as Guru teg bahadur Ji states in his sloks..while the KESO RAAM the Creator si beyond such...
OK
Ram, the son of dashrath is percieved to be the embodiment of God by Hindus.
Ram, the son of dasrath is shown with long hair.
Kabir is talking to Hindus i.e. he is addressing a certain issue or whatever... to Hindus.
Kabir is essentially refferring to the embodiment of God whom is percieved with long hair.

Now Kabir's shabad with this perpestive has been taken out of that social context and has been placed in SGGS.
In SGGS, we say that God is essentially, abstract, without form.
So when Kabir's words are placed in this context; the description of this embodiment of God, loses its meaning. The phrase "long-haired Lord" is meaningless in the context of SGGS.

Another scenario.
Suppose Kabir imagines this God with long hair. And he simply states that to a general audience.
But SGGS teaches us that God has all attributes and no attributes. So God could have long hair and could also have no hair.
That implies that Kabir has his own perspective of God. God is how Kabir describes him and he isn't how kabir describes him. Whatever Kabir says is what he thinks of God.
The phrase long-haired is ambiguous because it begs the question: How long?
If I had a shaved head, a hair that is one centimeter in length is long to me.
But if I have a head full of hair that are more than a meter long. A head full of one centimeter long hair is next to a shaved head.
So now must we look at how long Kabirs hair were to try to understand what he means by long hair.
Also, he says LONG hair not uncut hair, which are completely different things. Uncut hair could possible be long but long hair don't have to be uncut.

You see this type of discussion is not going to lead to answering the unknown (the question about hairs) because it simply replaces one thing that is not known by something else that is equally not known.
You've said that we should see the importance of such a descriptions when you state:
why the need to describe his LORD as the one with long flowing beautiful hair..and why the need to use the word KOOK (Shout) about it...
Why should we look at one description when there are countless other "descriptions" saying you cannot describe him. Is this a contradiction? If not then it clearly shows that the way God is described with a form DOES NOT matter! Sikh Gurus did not give a hoot about how Kabir described God, what they did give a hoot about is what he taught and what values he brought into society!
What matter are the improvements in society and self, that is what SGGS teaches and focuses on.

So now lets get back to the issue of hair without making references to descriptions of God.


Tony Ji to you I must apologise. In trying to answer what Jarnail Singh ji keeps bringing up, I went back to his and my posts and realized that you were questioning what you think are my set of beliefs without realizing that I don't hold those beliefs.
Dear Bhagat Singh ji
How can one describe God with long flowing hair when God is beyond description. Has the Hukam ever been verified and who by, If I dont ask questions how can I find answers. And I do try to follow the Gurus teachings as per Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji ji. Btw you seem to have all the answers a little bit of I know may be. and I thought it was supposed to be Gods servant not the Gurus slave. you have made your choice please allow me to make mine based on the truth. An identity creates ego, leave it with you to think about
Source:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=24540
Tony
I believe I have both answered your question and clarified my beliefs.
But please reconsider those posts as I have not changed my argument. I believe you HAVE missed vital details in my post. I believe my post with the passages is bit confusing as my views are sort of jumbled in with the passages. That is, they don't stand out and one's eye may skip right through them. I cannot edit my post now but try to read this thoroughly http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/sikh-sikhi-sikhism/24540-the-five-ks-why-2.html#post98163.
Then report back immediately with any concerns you may have. :)


Again, I state that let's continue with the discussion and Q&A, without bringing in different descriptions of God.
 

tony

SPNer
Feb 20, 2006
150
84
nottingham england
Dear Singh ji
I have read the above essay and thank you so much. I believe it has answered all of my questions.
It has told why we where given them, it has also told how we should think of them, and also the importance of them in today's modern society. You see Singh ji when some one informs with answers the questions stop, when some one just says because I said the answer why will keep coming. So i have learnt a lot from the essay, may be you have learnt how to answer the question without being to authoritative, Any way I now have all the answers i need, Thank you so kindly Singh ji
Thank you to all who have tried to help me. All have help in some way
Respect to all
Tony
 

Gyani Jarnail Singh

Sawa lakh se EK larraoan
Mentor
Writer
SPNer
Jul 4, 2004
7,706
14,381
75
KUALA LUMPUR MALAYSIA
GOOD..NOW WE FINALLY REACH THE END OF THE ROAD ?? QUESTIONS ANSWERED.
NOW TO FOLLOW AND STOP CUTTING HAIR....OR ?? A ROAD WELL TRAVELLED...LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL....WE CAN MOVE ON.....SPN COMMUNITY HAS TRIUMPHED !! CONGRATS TO ALL.

BHAGAT SINGH JI..YOU ARE WELCOME TO YOUR CONVULSIONS.:confused::confused::confused:.I SURRENDER. SO PLEASE FORGIVE ME IF I DONT REPLY AS I SEE NO SENSE IN DIVERETING MY ENERGIES IN THAT DIRECTION. TO ME CREATOR IS BOTH BALD AND WITH LONG FLOWING HAIR..I WANT HIM WITH LONG FLOWING HAIR NEATLY TIED IN A DASTAAR.:D:D:D:D:D:welcome:HAVE A NICE DAY.
 

Tejwant Singh

Mentor
Writer
SPNer
Jun 30, 2004
5,028
7,188
Henderson, NV.
Tejwant Ji,
Gurfateh.

Continuing the idea of Kabir Jis "Imagery..poetic beauty language etc.." in the Tuk Keso Keso kookeah..na soveh asaar !!

Historical Accounts tell us that the Pir of Sadahura..Pir Budhu Shah was a great admirer of Guru Gobind Singh Ji. and he was MUSLIM PIR with thousands of followers in his own right.

1.The Muslim PIR together with his 700 or so murids fought agaisnt the MUGHAL MUSLIM armies, on the side of Guru Gobind Singh Ji and His Sikhs.

2. The Pir lost his FOUR SONS in the Battle of Bhnagganni. He also lost more than few hundred of his murids. As far as the Sikhs are concerned these too are all SHAHEEDS on par with all the others and the SIKHS who died fighting for Guru Gobind Singh Ji.

3. Now is the interesting part...Guru Ji informs the Pir that He is Greatly pleased and thankful for his help and he can ask anything hsi heart desires. Now the PIR can ask for WEALTH...GOLD..Horses..weapons...BUT WHAT DOES HE ASK of the GURU in utter HUMILITY ??
The PIR humbly requests the GURU GIFT him the KANGHA and also the Few strands of His KESH that are stuck in the Kangha.

4. Now the 2 cent question here is...the Pir who just martyred four flesh and blood SONS...and several hundred followers... would want with a "wooden kangha and a few broken hairs" ?? He is a MUSLIM...a PIR of high standing...and NOT in any way "attached to KESH/KANGHA" in any way whatsoever !! He could ahve had virtually "ANYTHING"....BUT all he wants is the KANGHA/KESH as a NISHANEE/GIFT form his BELOVED !!

5. What Beautiful IMAGERY....the Guru combing his long flowing beautiful HAIRS....taking the Kangha through and through....and the Muslim Pir standing before the GURU with folded hands BEGGING...for the KANGHA/KESH....What wouldnt MILLIONS of His KHALSA do TODAY iF faced with the SAME ?? The EXACT same thing they always did....NO WAY are we Doing away with KESH. Was this the Gurus way of leaving behind his KANGHA/KESH..for POSTERITY....otherwise we wouldnt have His nishanee and its IMPORTANCE...in the world of Imagination..imagery..flowery language..etc etc.

Some ideas herein contributed by my brilliant co-researcher: Jasbir Kaur Thind. Acknowledged gratefully.

Cordially and Respectfully

Jarnail Singh

Gyani ji,

Guru Fateh.

I am sorry if I was not able to express myself better in my post. I did not talk about not keeping hair in the post. I just talked about how Kabir ji imagines God with long hair and the fact is that imagery comes from Hindu Gods who all had long hair.

And also the fact is that Ik Ong Kaar is described as formless,genderless, timeless Creative Energy as described by Guru Nanak in Mool Manter.

I also said that our Gurus kept long hair and wore turbans in many of my posts and the followers must have emulated them to do the same.

Thanks for the beautiful Sakhi. People showed their love towards our Gurus in all different kinds of ways because our Gurus practiced what they preached i.e. as the Gurbani says, " I see no stranger, I feel no enmity". I hope we, as Sikhs can cultivate the same trait in us. It is our duty to do so. Gurbani demands that from us.

Regards

Tejwant Singh
 
Dear Singh ji
I have read the above essay and thank you so much. I believe it has answered all of my questions.
It has told why we where given them, it has also told how we should think of them, and also the importance of them in today's modern society. You see Singh ji when some one informs with answers the questions stop, when some one just says because I said the answer why will keep coming. So i have learnt a lot from the essay, may be you have learnt how to answer the question without being to authoritative, Any way I now have all the answers i need, Thank you so kindly Singh ji
Thank you to all who have tried to help me. All have help in some way
Respect to all
Tony

Take care Tony, there is no point on beating the dead horse. The word of Guru Sahib is enough for me.:D
 

tony

SPNer
Feb 20, 2006
150
84
nottingham england
Dear Gyani ji
You speak of triump, But to triump has a need to fight in the first place, I wasnt fighting just asking, My need to know was to stop me from just wearing something that I knew nothing about, there are many who do wear the Five K's and have absolutely no knowledge of why or what theyre for, is that what you would prefer me to do. There are also many who wear these just as a fashion statement. many who think they are the be all and end all of Sikhism. I have no wish to be one of these Sikhs. My intial question when I started the thread was what they were for, why did Guru ji give us them and how where they used in every day life. the answers given where along the linesof Guru ji gave us them. some explain what they where for, but many tried to use the SGGS to justify them, many tried to describe God as having long hair, not of these sort of answers meant anything, So I expanded to how do individual members use them, only a very few answered with there own personal reasons, No one can dispute a personal reason and the essay that Singh ji finally posted gave all the answers, What they are for, why they where given and how they should be thought of today, No foolish notion that God had long hair, No just saying that Guru ji gave us them, no quoting Gurbani and no just saying to aid spirituality. So if you wish to talk of triump who did triump, SPN community, Or the seeker of the truth. I claim no victory just that I have found out the answer to my questions and hopefully help others by asking the question. The stumbling block that many have said I have is gone, The one I thought least likely to remove it, Did it. I have no wish to be rude but no one can learn from misquoted/ Twisted use of Gurbani, False descriptions of God. only the truth will answer questions if you dont want the same question to keep coming back. Had Id just accepted these sort of answers I would not know the truth when my children ask why, and what sort of fool would I look when they discovered why. I have much respect for you Gyani ji knowing your knowledge of Gurbani is a thousand times mine, I ask that you use it wisely and remember to quote it in the context it is meant. Remember if a student finds the truth elsewhere his respect for you falls.
 
Dear Gyani ji
You speak of triump, But to triump has a need to fight in the first place, I wasnt fighting just asking, My need to know was to stop me from just wearing something that I knew nothing about, there are many who do wear the Five K's and have absolutely no knowledge of why or what theyre for, is that what you would prefer me to do. There are also many who wear these just as a fashion statement. many who think they are the be all and end all of Sikhism. I have no wish to be one of these Sikhs. My intial question when I started the thread was what they were for, why did Guru ji give us them and how where they used in every day life. the answers given where along the linesof Guru ji gave us them. some explain what they where for, but many tried to use the SGGS to justify them, many tried to describe God as having long hair, not of these sort of answers meant anything, So I expanded to how do individual members use them, only a very few answered with there own personal reasons, No one can dispute a personal reason and the essay that Singh ji finally posted gave all the answers, What they are for, why they where given and how they should be thought of today, No foolish notion that God had long hair, No just saying that Guru ji gave us them, no quoting Gurbani and no just saying to aid spirituality. So if you wish to talk of triump who did triump, SPN community, Or the seeker of the truth. I claim no victory just that I have found out the answer to my questions and hopefully help others by asking the question. The stumbling block that many have said I have is gone, The one I thought least likely to remove it, Did it. I have no wish to be rude but no one can learn from misquoted/ Twisted use of Gurbani, False descriptions of God. only the truth will answer questions if you dont want the same question to keep coming back. Had Id just accepted these sort of answers I would not know the truth when my children ask why, and what sort of fool would I look when they discovered why. I have much respect for you Gyani ji knowing your knowledge of Gurbani is a thousand times mine, I ask that you use it wisely and remember to quote it in the context it is meant. Remember if a student finds the truth elsewhere his respect for you falls.

All these hidden messages and on top of it disrespecting a respected member shows that you learned nothing from this discussion. This foolish post by you is a new low. Your on the outside trying to look in. This is no way to learn Sikhi.

The reasons that were given were valid for Gursikhs that were martyred in 84 and in the 17 and 18 century. They understood it was Guru Sahib Hukam and PERIOD!
 

tony

SPNer
Feb 20, 2006
150
84
nottingham england
Singh ji
No where have I insulted Gyani ji, I have asked that he along with others dont mislead with the use of gurbani. The SGGS has nothing in it to support nor disprove the use of Five K's nor does it describe God it the context it has been used in this thread. You are as always out to insult, you call me an outsider because I express an opinion yet you are allowed to express yours. all you ever wish to do is argue and insult. Grow up and if Gyani thinks what i have said insults him, let him speak for him self. Hidden messages = twisted Gurbani PERIOD
TONY
Ps just seen your message Antonia ji what was the important message, it relates to no more than an insult. it ok on this forum for amritdharis to insult. its the only message I get. Image me telling my children that I keep kesh cause God had it, at the age of nine my son would laugh at me. Nine yrs old and even he born of an outsider knows God has no form, whos insulting who. BIG FAT PERIOD END OF.
 

spnadmin

1947-2014 (Archived)
SPNer
Jun 17, 2004
14,500
19,219
tony ji

The thinking behind my remark. Were you insulting Singh ji? At times your sarcasm is barely disguised. Who exactly has answered your questions to your satisfaction? Why should an explanation for the 5 K's be correct only if it suits you? Members of a faith do not have to satisfy in this regard. Why do orthodox Jews wear head-coverings? Why do Roman Catholics wear ashes on their foreheads on Ash Wednesday? They have answers. But their answers do not have to meet with the approval of another party in order to be deemed acceptable by that person. Think it through.:welcome:
 

Admin

SPNer
Jun 1, 2004
6,689
5,244
SPN
Singh Ji, please learn to speak up for your own self. Gyaniji will judge for himself whether he was insulted or not. and he can deal with this aptly. Thank you.

Tony Ji, i thought you were grown up. Stop ranting that this forum is not fair. Hardly anything has been edited/deleted of what you have said so far. If this isn't fair then i am sorry, this is all SPN can offer to you. Its not a matter of somebody being a Amritdhari or not? If your conscience allows you to insult others then you can do it as well. Start insulting others to press upon your point. :) We can not spoofed everybody to behave in matured manner... can we? Everytime a member insults fellow member, he is undermining his own credibility and not the other way around.

A simple analogy:

Do we consider Adi Granth Sahib ji as the eternal Guru of Sikhs? if yes, then we follow what Guru Gobind Singh Ji asked us do.

Do we consider Guru Gobind Singh ji as Sikh Guru? if yes, then we follow Him/His Orders/His commandment or we not?

Do we consider 5Ks as the Order of Guru Gobind Singh ji? if not, then we do not consider Guru Gobind Singh Ji as own Guru/Master.

If we do not consider Guru Gobind Singh ji as our Guru? if yes, then we do not consider Guru Granth Sahib ji as our Guru.

Can we be pick and choosy? :)
 
Last edited:

G. SINGH

SPNer
Apr 16, 2009
1
3
there is definatly a purpose behind keeping your hair, it first of all helps with your spirtuality meditation and thats why its has been widely recognised even by great bhagats like raam ji, even pictures of jesus show him with long hair.. i suppose there are many arguments against and for keeping your hair, Guru nanak dev ji maharaj said to bhai mardana that there were 3 conditions he would have to keep if he wanted to acompany him with his travels, 1. was to keep his hair 2. was to tie a paag and not a hat 3. was to wake up at amrit vela and do naam simran...but ulitimatly it comes down to pure faith. our gurus did all the hard work for us unlike many other religions, all we have to do is follow them and we will see and feel the benefits. you can try and read bani do naam simran and everything else with your hair cut and it will not have the same effect as if you keep your hair...the only real way you will know is if you try it.. i hope i havent offended any one i have limited knowledge as i havent been a singh for long.
 
Singh Ji, please learn to speak up for your own self. Gyaniji will judge for himself whether he was insulted or not. and he can deal with this aptly. Thank you.

Tony Ji, i thought you were grown up. Stop ranting that this forum is not fair. Hardly anything has been edited/deleted of what you have said so far. If this isn't fair then i am sorry, this is all SPN can offer to you. Its not a matter of somebody being a Amritdhari or not? If your conscience allows you to insult others then you can do it as well. Start insulting others to press upon your point. :) We can not spoofed everybody to behave in matured manner... can we? Everytime a member insults fellow member, he is undermining his own credibility and not the other way around.

A simple analogy:

Do we consider Adi Granth Sahib ji as the eternal Guru of Sikhs? if yes, then we follow what Guru Gobind Singh Ji asked us do.

Do we consider Guru Gobind Singh ji as Sikh Guru? if yes, then we follow Him/His Orders/His commandment or we not?

Do we consider 5Ks as the Order of Guru Gobind Singh ji? if not, then we do not consider Guru Gobind Singh Ji as own Guru/Master.

If we do not consider Guru Gobind Singh ji as our Guru? if yes, then we do not consider Guru Granth Sahib ji as our Guru.

Can we be pick and choosy? :)

Okay Aman Singh ji, I'll learn how to stand up for myself. ;):D
 

❤️ CLICK HERE TO JOIN SPN MOBILE PLATFORM

Top