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Summary of Question:	Re: Reply To The Hair Cutting Question By Virinder Singh
Category:	Hair
Date Posted:	Thursday, 2/20/2003 2:55 PM MST

sat-sri-akaal

i was reading the response to the hair cutting question by virinder singh and just wanted to share my opinion on it and speak up for all the people who agree. (this is not directed to virinder)

no dis-respect to virinder singh-but- i am assuming that virinder has been raised in an amritdharhi household. Therefore has been raised that way by his parents and known no other way of life (i said im assuming).

A number of sikhs cut their hair when they came to England to fit in with the british society, as did my granddad and father. Therefore i was raised in a mona ("sikhs" who cut their hair) household as were/are hundreds of others.

Now the point i am trying to make is it is easy for an amritdaari to say people who call them selves sikhs and cut their hair are simply not a sikh. My hair was cut by my mother when i was a little girl and many girls/boys i know had their hair cut by parents when they were young, im not blaming my mother as she was raised the same way i was.

It is a lot harder for a mona to be a true sikh than is appreciated. When you have eaten meat and cut your hair your whole life it is very difficult to stop. It is simple just not to do it, if you never have, that is why so many amritdaari people are ignorant to the fact that it is difficult.
Not only do you have to change your whole way of life you have to do it without the total support of your family as they may never understand why you want to comitt.

Being a sikh is not just physical there are so many aspects to it, and if mona chooses to reach the spiritual part of sikhi before the physical side is that such a bad thing, and i know someone will argue that you cannot reach one without the other but unless you've tried you cannot comment.

As for the point, one of the gurus said "even if one strand of hair is cut you are no longer a sikh" well what happens if the hair is pulled out when ripping off a plaster..........?

I know im going on a bit but what i want to say is that you cannot judge because you cannot understand. If some one who cut their hair growing up chooses to stop and become a "true sikh" will he/she ever really be one because they cut their hair in the past.

I dont judge you so plz dont judge me.............

Im sorry if i have offended anyone as that was not my intention, i just wanted to voice my opion as its about time i got the chance to.
God Bless
Much LOve
WJKK WJKF

p.s. maybe i am making excuses for everyone who are not ready to cut their hair (as thats probably what you're thinking) but i can comment because i understand.

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REPLY
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Sat SIri Akaal. Thank you, I am glad to have this understanding about some in our Sikh worldwide community. I appreciate that it is indeed hard to change one's ways without familial or community support. I have 2 comments.

First, no one said it would be easy; it can be just as hard to maintain hair (that one already has) than not to, as others have indicated. The path of the Sikh is not easy, and the situation you describe means one must make a very personal decision whether or not to become Sikh in physical appearance, as you indicate. Guru tells us it is possible to attain the spiritual if one attempts to do so conciously, because the technology of spirituality is not limited to SIkhs with kesh. Guru Nanak was clear that ANYONE can practice spirituality and become spiritual regardless of their station or appearance in this life. A study of Nanak's bani will show this again and again. Being Sikh is whole package of physical (outward) and spiritual (inward) practice, and that takes a lot of discipline and the support of one's sangat, however that is defined. How many Sikhs out there know an Amritdhari Sikh or few who looks Sikh in all ways but never practices Naam Simran? Naam Simran is an inward practice, is it not?

Guru Gobind Singh WANTED Sikhs to be known by their appearance, which leads to my second point: the difference between cutting hair or having it pulled out by plaster is one of intent. All kinds of things can cause us to lose hair that don't involve intent. Cutting or asking someone to cut hair means one is intent on removing hair. Just because one is born Sikh doesn't make them Sikh. BEING Sikh is about CONSCIOUS INTENT to live as fully as possible the Guru's teachings. That part about 'as fully as possible' is where the sangat support and discipline come in. Without these things, it becomes hard to be Sikh outwardly and/or inwardly. What Guru asks is that we DO OUR BEST and make no excuses for our own intent and actions. Keep up and you'll be kept up. Guru ang sang,
-DKK