I still felt out of place. I went on with my life, probably visiting the hair salon for a cut at least fifty times in the last eleven years. I go to the Sikh temple for special occasions and religious events. I moved to New York City two and a half years ago. I remember the Sikh community got slaughtered in the aftermath of the attack because our men wear turbans. Sikh taxi drivers were killed, Sikh men were held up disrespectfully in airport security lines and Sikh temples were threatened.
I started to socialize with a lot of Sikhs my own age when I moved here. Some have cut hair like me, but the majority has kept their hair. All of my friends with turbans and long hair are working professionals or students in highly ranked graduate programs. Sikhism preaches many underlying values. Do bi-monthly visits to the salon make me less passionate about my faith? Does choosing practicality over passion make me an unfit human? Religion is a sensitive subject in this now unsafe world — which makes me have all the more respect for my peers who have chosen to keep their hair.
But at the end of the day, especially in this day and age, God is God and people will always have different opinions as to what defines a fit religious follower. Seerat Bhatia was born and raised in southern California, and she now lives and works in New York City. She writes about South Asian culture in the West. Follow her at seeratbhatia Tags: Hair Sikhism.
Hi Seerat, I appreciate your article and i want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to clarify on this subject as it is often misunderstood by majority of people born into Punjabi culture. Often we are given impression that because we are born in Punjabi family and visit Sikh Temple that someone we are Sikhs. I myself was confused about difference in being a punjabi and being a Sikh at one point in my life and did not really understand it myself as i used to cut my hair.
Actually Sikh is some one who follows the teachings of Gurbani. In order to understand Gurbani you must be able to read Gurbani or at least read different transactions of Gurbani. Besides that you must make honest effort to live the teachings of Gurbani, only then one can truly call themself a Sikh. In Japji Sahib in the very being you can learn the importance of Hukam. Hukam is one of.. Guru tells us that everything in this universe it in created by Hukam another words by the will of God, including our Body and its features.
Now your hair are one of the most important features of the body your can learn more about it from scientific community they are given to you by the will of God. When you or someone cuts your hair it is in direct violation of teachings of Gurbani. Guru teaches us to let go of our own ideas and thoughts by following the teachings of Guru only then one can realize the chance of Salvation in this lifetime.
May Guru Nanak bless you with vision to be Sikh. These days everyone has become experts on Sikhism. Just tagging yourself as a Sikh without adhering to Sikh ethos does not make you a Sikh. If you are a Sikh then you must believe in the union with EkOnakaar and through Sikh way of life you. So, big fella enjoy your life as per your own fake Sikh standards.
Our Gurus Must had a reason to set a code of ethics and construct a Sikh way of life for nothing. Unprooofed passage. Being a Sikh is no better or worse than belonging to any other faith, or no faith at all. Your actions are what make you a good person or a bad person.
That being said, if you cut your hair, you are not a Sikh. They are pledging their commitment to the Sikh faith and agreeing to live their life as a Sikh. This means that they must wear the five articles of faith and use Singh or Kaur as their last name. There is no prescribed age at which a Sikh should be initiated; they can choose to do so whenever they are ready.
According to the Rehat Maryada, only those who understand the significance of the ceremony and carry its discipline with sincerity should be initiated.
It is important to note that once a Sikh is initiated, they are committed to this lifestyle and as outlined in Rehat Maryada. The founders of the Sikh faith started the practice of maintaining hair unshorn. Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, gave the Sikhs 5 articles of faith including unshorn hair and the dastaar turban , which, as a whole, comprise the daily uniform of a Sikh. In other words, keeping hair kesh and wearing a dastaar turban form an external identity for a Sikh.
But, as in every religion, there are people at different levels of observance and commitment to their faith. Everyone is on their own personal journey. Some Sikhs may cut their hair, but that does not exclude them from the Sikh community.
Initiated Sikhs are not supposed to cut hair from any part of their body. All Sikhs, men and women are thus supposed to have unshorn hair and remain unshaved. Sikhs can wear any color or style of turban, and there are no significant colors. Some Sikhs wear very few colors and others have a broad color palette. If you see someone wearing a turban and you are not sure if they are Sikh or not, ask them! The Sikh turban is a mandatory article of faith. People of many other cultures and religions wear turbans, but none are required to do so by their religion.
Sikhs tie their turbans anew each day. Just like observant Sikh men, observant Sikh women are not supposed to cut their hair. In the Rehat Maryada, it is explicitly written that Sikh men wear a turban. There is nothing explicitly written about women, except that the turban is optional. There are many reasons for this change: globalization, cultural trends, and a lack of clarity in the Rehat Maryada.
For Sikh women who choose to tie a turban, the turban is just as much a part of their body and identity as it is for Sikh men! A kirpan does not have a prescribed length. In most cases it is about inches long. The kirpan serves as a reminder to fight against injustice and oppression. A Sikh understands that carrying a kirpan is a great responsibility. It is only intended to protect themselves or others. Some school aged children have made the commitment to become an initiated Sikh, and as such do wear a kirpan.
Generally, school personnel are aware that the Sikh student wears a kirpan, and both parties have come to an understanding about the religious significance and purpose of the kirpan. At the present time, Sikhs put their kirpans into checked-in luggage and do not carry it with them on an airplane.
Everyone is welcome at a Gurdwara regardless of their race, religion, color, or class. If you are interested in visiting a Gurdwara, feel free to reach out to Sikhs you know or contact community sikhcoalition.
The Sikh Gurus were very clear about each Sikh making their own spiritual journey directly and not depending on an intermediary or clergy. These are people who have studied the Sikh scriptures extensively, and are available in the Gurdwaras as teachers. They often lead a congregation, but any members from the congregation — regardless of gender — can also perform the same ceremonies. A woman can lead or take part in any service or ceremony just as a man would.
Interesting article Jasveen! I for one was surprised at how you have chosen to keep your hair as a push back to Hindu Nationalism, but once I digested it, it made sense to me. I feel blessed to be one of the few who challenged what I was taught, and went against the norm as a teenager and decided to throw off the shackles people had placed on me as a young child — and it has made all the difference to me as an adult. I sometimes feel sad being unable to follow the wonderful religion I was born into, but to do so inevitably has me being exposed to, lectured and policed by other hype religious Sikhs whose narrow mindedness and mysoginy is far too much for my progrrssive soul.
So I have chosen the non-kes way of being myself, while keeping close to me the values that I learnt from Sikhism — I have defiantly cut my hair most of my life and will continue to grow it as long and short as I please. No one tells me what to do with my hair, or how good a Sikh that makes me! Even to those who claim to be guardians of the faith you were born into.
While I am sure you will not agree with everything I have said, I wanted to let you know — I respect your right to intepret the Sikh faith in your own way, as much as I respect mine to do the same.
And ginormous respect to the young lady you mention in your article who chose to grow her facial hair after being baptised!!! I am immensely grateful to have been born Sikh, and even though I have largely left my birth religion behind and chosen to be non-religious, having studied the Sikh religion and history as a child helped me become an impassioned humanist as an adult. How awesome to have served Langar as a child and learnt how to respect every single human there — irrespective of gender, age, religion or caste!
Recognize when you are unfairly placing a standard on your […]. This is a great article. I always had questions about Sikh women growing or cutting their hair and never got clear answers from sikh friends. I never probed too much because I was afraid of being rude. This article provides all the answers.
I agree with you. Then I asked him why men are allowed to wear t-shirts and jeans. He had no answer. Which means by decent clothing as we our going to our guru there is no point of show off which most people are doing while going to gurdwara secondly, decent clothing meaning so that any person is not distracted that may b due to clothing , or when mostly people do while bowing putting there hand at the back , covering the body To avoid all this..
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