Sikhism And Tattoos

[BhagatSingh]

i dont understand what a clean situation is because god is everywhere God is in shit and urine and and all that
do I sound disrespectful? yes to those who do not understand
but i dont agree with the whole tatoo idea its like dieing ur hair which also shud not be done

 

[Lee]

Hello Lee and hira,

Sikhi teaches Sikhs to respect human body, which contains His light (Jot Saroop). Any act of modification in form of tattoo or shaving, though not written in Guru Granth Sahib, but is a part of Sikh Rehit.

Regards, Arvind.

Arvind Ji,

I make you right, but would you then accept the same is true for nice cloths, makeup, jewrly? If your turban is bigger and brighter and more flamboyant than everybody elses then can you said to be guilty of the same egotism?

I would say yes for all of the above, and as I have said any sprucing up the apperance of your body is done for purly egotistical reasons, whatever form that takes.

 

[Dimitri]

Sikhism is beyond these little issues.

 

[Lee]

Sikhism is beyond these little issues.

Heh yeah I agree, i was thinking early on today, to what does a Sikh owe her allegence? the religion, or God?

 

[Dimitri]

A Sikh gets his/hers spiritual teachings/knowledge from Guru Granth Saheb.
From my little understanding of Guru Granth-it is so beyond this little stuff. infact it makes mockery of these petty little things and just wants us to remember and be tune with God all the time.

 

[thecoopes]

In the process of getting a tattoo, one of the first steps is for the tattoo'erto shave all of the body hair off the area that is being tattooed. Tatooing is also modifying the body, instead of keeping it intact.

Good afternoon dear Sikh’s, you say must not modify the body?

Do Sikh’s cut fingernails, toenails?

I am now old man and hair falls out of head:8- but grows in abundance from nose and ears, so if I didn’t cut it I would soon resemble wolf man:crazy: ! I am sure it is the same with old Sikh (Men).

As Anglo Saxon I am into tattoo it is in our genes.

 

[Archived_member8]

ok no disrespect to anyone here, but if you really want to get into it, where does it say in the Guru Granth Sahib that we needed khalistan, did Guru Gobind Singh say we needed khalistan?, he said Khalsa for sure, not khalistan. Khalistan is a product of modern sikhism, there is nothing in the Guru Granth Sahib saying we need a seperate state, infact the guru's teachings point more towards staying together and treating everyone equal, not dividing up. The same applies to tattoo's a product of modern sikh interpretation. Tattoos dont hurt anyone, if the tattoo of religious text is on your body, then it MAY serve as a reminder that there is someone more powerful then you and you have to abide by his rule. Tattoos arnt the same as cutting hair, im sure you can get a tattoo done by someone who will not cut your hair, and if some hair comes off by accident then I really dont belive its your fault, because scratching your beard or head can also make hair come out, will god punish you for scratching your beard? Thats a desire isnt it? Also, lets move on to surgery, removing tumors and perhaps even limbs (MAJOR BODILY ALTERATION) would god get mad?, i personally think not. Elements in Sikhism are very important and some arguably more important then others. I.E tattoo's (non hair removal by purpose) would not be as much as an influence as donating to the poor for instance.

Thats my opinions, just throwing it out there for you guys, again no disrespect.

 

[Nim_23]

Modifying is not the word, Causing pain to your body is the sentence.

On one hand: Personally, I do not think that having tattoos are wrong (though I don't have one or intend to have one. I prefer temp ones as I can change them to whatever I feel like anytime). However, in the olden day most people were uneducated and did not know much and took it as an art/perhaps it was the in thing; if you know many punjabis/muslims in India have tattooed their names or symbol on their hands/arms. However, even christians feel that our body is a gift from god and we should not cause it any pain by tattoos, piercings etc.

I have a friend who has a Khanda tattoo on his hand but regrets having put it as he feels that children/teenagers may be motivated to try tattooing when they see his hand (He works in a school after retiring from the govt sector).

He had got the tattoo when he was very young and he is close to his 60's today. He plans to remove it but many have adviced him not to as it will cause a scar on his hand and of course pain will also be caused; thus many have discouraged him from doing so.

If our religion teaches us not to put tattoos but we have made a mistake by doing it as we were young and ignorant, then repent and do not make more tattoos on yourself; removing the tattoo may seem a way out but it also causes pain so it defeats the purpose of not hurting our body which is a gift from god unless of course you purpose of removing the tattoo is to avoid influence to others and not because of religious reasons.

On the other hand: “Do not modify! BUT beautifying seems fine?” Don't men wear colored turbans, clothes etc to make themselves look good? Don't women wear accessories, henna, make-up to look good and beautify themselves? Ear piercing, belly piercing etc are nowadays common among both genders; especially ear piercing. Does ear piercing not cause pain?

Some people may take tattooing as an interest, art, body art, as a way of beautifying their selves etc.

What matters is what you think is right. We can't control another person's thinking. What may seem right to me may seem wrong to you and vice-versa. Eventually what is important is that you are a true honest being.

I am a neutral party in this area and am not hitting on anyone of you who have wrote your comments. I hope my message would not upset anyone.

I seek you understanding. Thank you for your time.

 

[Nim_23]

I seriously agree with most of you here that tattoos are not a big issue at all...Many a times tattoos have helped people recognise each other too.

I think there are more important things to discuss about in Sikhism than just "Sikhism and Tattoos".

 

[hpluthera]

Tattoing is more of a cultural thing than religious during Partition of India lot of people Tattoed their Hands with Names Symols of Religion as that would make identity easy. During wars the Tatooes helped mutilated bodies identifications easy Maori in New Zealand tatooes has meaning and history to their ancestory. Lot of people today tattoo to inflict pain on them selves. In Slavery times only Slaves bodies were used as cavases and Tattoed and pierced to identify their owners.

Now regarding Holy Unholy issue God is everywhere invasive nothing makes Him Holy or Unholy your mind can do more than just toilet washing with a Hand tatooed. These seems to be useless discussions and do not lead to real conclusions. Clean your minds SIkhi advise that "Mati Ka Kya Dhope Swami Manas Ki gat ehi"

regards
HP luthera

 

[hpluthera]

You are right and for that reason non of the religious books states that because men of God are for Humanity. Guru nanak wished all to worship the only Nirankar the ONE GOD for all.

Guru Gobind Singh Ji Wrote" Raj Bina Nahi Dharam Chalat Hai Dharam Bina Nahi Raj Chalat Hai Dharam Raj Doye Dalle Malle Hai"

"Means To spread religioun you need Kngdom and to Run Kingdom you need Religion and both are intertwined"

For religious freedom sometimes you need the ruler. French Govt. of Today has curbed the religions (partly) amongst Kids going to School.

So political freedom in a good democracy had been a good solution but minority generall will have no say in executive responsible for implementing the freedom and rights for individuals as their empathy would be missing.

So what is the best the best is "Naam Prabhu Ka Laga Mitha"

"Naam Ka Dhyan" and then see
"Khalsa ji Man Jitey Jag Jeet"

The others will be defeated by default.
For excellence and success in life it is the most important to win over mind and others will follow in line.
So do not get frustrated or fearful freedom of religion with in is more important than without.
Only confident get confidence only fearless get respect, only those in self control get control of all situations.
and for achieving all this the key is :

get connected to "Naam"

hpluthera

 

[navroopsingh]

I cant believe these people who are merely trying to convince themselves that it is okay to have a tattoo. I know a Gursikh, who does everything and much more that a Sikh is supposed to do, yet he has an ENORMOUS tattoo of a Gatka warrior on his tricep and bicep area. It may just be his love for Gatka which seems to be at no end.

If the Guru Granth Sahib does not mention tattoo's does that mean we can have them? IF it does not mention crack, marijuana, or any other drug, does it mean we can use them? We are supposed to think of what the basic underlying principles for a GURSIKH are. One such that I am focusing on is body alteration. We are not supposed to change the form in which Vyheguru sent us and tattoo'ing yourself is one such thing, whether it be a "religious" tattoo or not. There are no exceptions.

Vyheguru Ji ka Khalsa, Vyheguru Ji ki fateh

 

[simran1504]

Good reply Baljeet singhji.
I agree with your views

 

[thecoopes]

Hi everybody,

Please allow me to play the devils advocate here.

You say....“We are not supposed to change the form in which Vyheguru sent us and tattoo'ing yourself is one such thing, whether it be a "religious" tattoo or not. There are no exceptions.”...

What about cutting Toenails? Fingernails?
What about operation to remove appendix? Cataract?

 

[Lee]

I cant believe these people who are merely trying to convince themselves that it is okay to have a tattoo. I know a Gursikh, who does everything and much more that a Sikh is supposed to do, yet he has an ENORMOUS tattoo of a Gatka warrior on his tricep and bicep area. It may just be his love for Gatka which seems to be at no end.

If the Guru Granth Sahib does not mention tattoo's does that mean we can have them? IF it does not mention crack, marijuana, or any other drug, does it mean we can use them? We are supposed to think of what the basic underlying principles for a GURSIKH are. One such that I am focusing on is body alteration. We are not supposed to change the form in which Vyheguru sent us and tattoo'ing yourself is one such thing, whether it be a "religious" tattoo or not. There are no exceptions.

Vyheguru Ji ka Khalsa, Vyheguru Ji ki fateh

Navroop Singh Ji,

I am glad that you wrote that 'We are supposed to think of what the basic underlying principles for a GURSIKH are' Guru has indeed told us to think, to use our brains and not to go a long with dogma for the sake of it, but to understand why we do or don't do certian things. I guess in part to help us reconise the differance between a meaningless ritual, and showing love for Waheguru.

However you also say 'We are not supposed to change the form in which Vyheguru sent us...' This is a nonsense argument. We change our form every time we put on cloths, should we then stop this? Or trim out nails should we not do this either? Or perhaps even more telling, when we put on our best, bigest, brightest coloured turban. We do all of these things for egotistical reasons, I personaly would be more worried about what we do when immersed in ego than however we change our apperance.

 

[navroopsingh]

Lee,

My father once told me that cutting nails is much more different that cutting our hair because nails break and cut anyways while we do our work and especially for the farmers in india. Wearing a turban is a thing that was given to us by Guru Gobind Singh Ji as a means to distinguish us from others and make us recognizable in a crowd so that everyone will know that if they see a Khalsa Sikh and they are in need of help, they can go to him.

I hate ego. It is plaguing me and stopping me from getting the full potential of naam simran. Putting on certain types of clothes is not changing the form of your body but rather keeping you warm and covering your body, which only your spouse is allowed to see.

 

[Lee]

Lee,

My father once told me that cutting nails is much more different that cutting our hair because nails break and cut anyways while we do our work and especially for the farmers in india. Wearing a turban is a thing that was given to us by Guru Gobind Singh Ji as a means to distinguish us from others and make us recognizable in a crowd so that everyone will know that if they see a Khalsa Sikh and they are in need of help, they can go to him.

I hate ego. It is plaguing me and stopping me from getting the full potential of naam simran. Putting on certain types of clothes is not changing the form of your body but rather keeping you warm and covering your body, which only your spouse is allowed to see.

Navroop Singh ji,

Thank you for your reply, I am a little confused though, does not the hair on the head also break naturaly and on it's own. Then by this logic we are allowed to cut our hair?

No I think we do not need to invent reasons why we should keep the 5 K's other than Guru has told us so.

When I talk of the cloths changing your body, I mean of course I do not distinguish between the reasons wewear nice cloths, or makeup, or jewlry, or indeed tattos.

In and of themselves none of this is anti or against Sikhi, what I would instead be aware of, are the reasons we wish to change our apperance, or wear nice looking cloths, or get out hair done up nicely, or wear makeup that brings out our eyes, get tattoed. Theses reasons are all based in ego, and as long as we realise this and try to be better Sikhs, I for one cannot condeme a Sikh for having tatttos, nor do I think is expressly anti Sikh.

The bottom line is, Guru has not told us not to have them, and the tattoing of humans has a history that spreads back thousands of years.

 

[navroopsingh]

As for the history of tattooing I am truly not too knowledgable upon but I will humbly agree to your opinion because it honestly does seem to make sense. Ego is the underlying evil of all. But i must say alteration of the body in this way of tattooing seems to be antiSikh to me because it seems to be to me. I guess it is a topic not to focused upon and one that should not be discussed to great lengths because I think we have enough internal problems as it is.

 

[Lee]

As for the history of tattooing I am truly not too knowledgable upon but I will humbly agree to your opinion because it honestly does seem to make sense. Ego is the underlying evil of all. But i must say alteration of the body in this way of tattooing seems to be antiSikh to me because it seems to be to me. I guess it is a topic not to focused upon and one that should not be discussed to great lengths because I think we have enough internal problems as it is.

Navroop Singh Ji,


Heh then I guess we can agree to disagree. I think a lot on the human condition and on ego, and perhaps you are right, in the long run talking about these differances serves no purpose. Perhaps though it is imperative that we do so, perhaps just in order to understand each other. One condition of the ego I am sure on, is that we all think we are right, now surly we can't all be, so some of us must be wrong. The propblems this causes though in any sort of religious community I think are well known.

Ego is indeed the advesary.

 

[chk1]

just a quick thought, when we die it's our soul that lives on, that makes the transition from death from the afterlife....if our soul is pure and clean what does it matter whether we cut hair, have tattoos etc? After all we are not taking our body with us, it was given to us by God, and it is the house of the soul, the soul lives in the body and moves away from the body.
Shouldn't we concentrate upon our souls? Connecting mind, body and spirit? Why do we make trivial things so big, when one way or another we are all going to "die" and leave the body behind.

True, we should look after the body, not harm it, intoxicate it but as for external things like piercings and tattoos, frankly i don't think God really cares...that is if you believe in a unconditional loving God, who does not judge or condemn his children...if you believe in a angry, wrathful God then its a different matter...we wouldn't want to anger God now would we?:wink: