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Hair Today, Hair Tomorrow
Nanak Singh
Nishter
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The theory of evolution infers that every species adapts in its
anatomy, changes advantageously to itself in its struggle for
survival against the set of challenges it has to confront. It
retains the characters which give it an edge and discards those
which are either of no use or a liability. The fact that human
hairs have been retained and evolved through the grim battle of
human survival for millions of years is a definite pointer to
they being of a genetic asset the significance of which is not
yet perceived by us. |
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 At
a time when the Sikh community is celebrating events like the Mr
Singh competition and the newspapers have carried pictures of young
Sikhs sporting dazzling turbans, it is all the more necessary that
we focus the debate on why an increasing number of Sikh children,
particularly young ones, are preferring to lose their hair. Why do
our youth cut or destroy kesh or prefer pigmentation?
Some of the less
informed Sikhs are carried away under the influence of dominant
trends in society or fashions and deprive themselves of this most
invaluable boon by God and become apostates and irreligious in the
eyes of other, religious persons irrespective of any faith.
Unmindfully they
become instrumental in degrading the sanctity of Sikhism. Surely
there must be some purpose of nature in endowing the highest
creation on earth, the man, with longest hair on the scalp coupled
with biggest brain (cerebrum). No other animal living being has such
a big cerebrum in its skull. Nor this crown of glory to adorn its
head, as well befits the King of all creation of this globe.
The man is
decidedly a hairy animal with distinctive and specific regional
distribution of his hairy coat. His whole body surface is studded
with hair excepting only palms and soles. It is the human being
alone who possesses the longest hair over his head and so on his
face, among the whole animal world. There is little hair on face to
the fair sex but she has got longer and denser hair on her scalp
than her counter-part, the man.
Baldness is the
usual of man whereas females seldom get bald.
Here, I am
discussing the essentiality. And indispensability of growing uncut
hair of whole body without doing any harm to them in any way and
without changing their natural colour by dyeing according to the
decree of “Sikh Rehat Maryada” (Sikh Code of Conduct). I will try to
focus on the importance of wearing, caring, protecting and
preserving the wholesome existence of naturally grown hair.
According to
Sikh belief and practice, it is the long hair which is essential
coupled with turban, and as you all know, the Sikh apostasy begins
with cutting, trimming or shaving hair, and then the turban on the
head disappears. The long hair and turban on head speaks volumes of
the identify of a Sikh, just on sight even from a distance.
God has been
attributed with thousands of descriptive names in Hinduism (Sanatan
Dharam) and with ninety nine descriptive names in Quran. Sikhism
believes that God is without name and has innumerable Names. Sikhism
endorses all the names and has given another name as numerical One.
That is how, Shri Guru Granth Sahib starts with the digit One for
God, but not with any particular name of God.
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The Sikhs do
not have any problem with the people of other faiths, who do not
follow the footsteps of their founders in keeping hair and
destroy the God given gift. Sikhs do not question the matters of
the faith of other religion, whatever they may be. The behavior
of the civilized society demands that they in turn should learn
basic ethics not to interfere, question or create problems for
the Sikhs, who vehemently follow their founders in keeping hair. |
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Kesh is the
Sanskrit word for hair. Keshava is also one of the names of God in
Hinduism, which means “having beautiful hair.” In Hinduism, hair has
been attributed as the most important part of the body, which could
be sacrificed instead of offering sacrifice of the self. Now a days,
hair is kept to be sacrificed at the occasion of pilgrimage of
temples.
Only in Andhra
Pradesh, there are three famous temples where men and women devotees
from all over the world come to offer their hair. 1-Shri
Vekateshwara Swamy Temple at Tirupati, in Kadapa district; 2- Shri
Narsimha Swamy Temple at Bhongir in Nalgonda district; 3- Shri Raja
Rajeshwara Swamy Temple at Vemalwada in Karimnager district. These
temples get an annual foreign exchange income of crores of rupees by
exporting the offered hair. This indicates the sanctity and worth of
keeping and sacrificing the hair in Hinduism.
Sikhism — a
new way of life
Sikhism is a new
way of life based on humanism and enhanced with spiritualism. It is
the latest religion which got recognized among world’s major
religions. Sikhism does not believe in any segmentation of human
race in the name of caste, creed, religion, country, race and
gender.
It believes that
Humanity is one religion. Shri Guru Nanak Sahib initiated this
mission about five centuries ago and it was collectively structured
by the genius and living of the Ten Gurus during a span of their
Guruship tenure of 239 years. Sikhism stood for protection of
religious freedom by sacrifices and even by using force. It believes
that all religions and scriptures are equally good and different
paths to approach to God. It does not believe in converting people
into its folds, and do not refuse to entertain if any person wants
to embrace Sikhism. Even then it has attracted more than 30 million
people as staunch followers. This is a new record that during such a
short span of time no other religion could voluntarily attract so
many followers. The reason is obvious and simple because it has the
potential to meet and overcome the challenges of human life in all
adversities. As any innovation is the result of the experiences and
shortcomings of the prevailing practices. It does not infer that all
the other religions are in any way inferior or incomplete. The basic
teaching of Sikhism is that all the religions and their Scriptures
are equally true. A person who does not reflect over it is false.
(Page No. 1350 - Shri Guru Granth Sahib)”.
At the same time
we cannot deny the thumb rule that every later innovation is
improved and advanced in concept and advantages in all respects.
That is why people always may opt for the later superior commodity.
Modernisation
For example,
take liquor and gambling. It is banned in some religions. But
Sikhism has developed the idea by prohibiting intoxication in any
form and earning without doing any earnest labors. No religion
prohibits tobacco, but Sikhism strictly banned consuming of tobacco
in any form. I need not remind that today tobacco has been proved to
be the most deadly killer of the human race through cancer,
hypertension and a number of cardio respiratory diseases requiring
most expensive treatment. No religion of the world gives equal
religious and social status to women. Whereas Sikhism, grants
complete equality at par with men. It also allows them to perform
religious rites in the Gurdwaras even during the period of
menstruation which is a natural biological process. Shri Guru Nanak
Sahib has declared her supremacy saying that how do you call her
impure, who gives birth to saints and kings and responsible for
growing the human lire. Only God exists without a woman. It has
abandoned all religious rituals and liberated the masses from the
clutches of priestly class and any need of mediators between human
being and God.
Pilgrimages and
fasts for a few days a year are prescribed in most of the religions.
But Sikhism does not endorse pilgrimages and advocates forever
remembering God, minimum eating and minimum sleep throughout the
year and all through the life. Wearing turban over the head protects
from hot and cold weather and fatal head injuries for which helmet
is invented now and made necessary for the riders of horses and two
wheelers all over the world. But the Sikhs are exempted, because
they already posses ways and methods earlier than this technology.
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The Muslim
invaders faced a problem as the conquerors and the conquered
both were keeping hair and wearing turban. To distinguish by
appearance they ordered that no Hindu should keep the hair and
wear the turban. This had made the high caste Hindus to keep a
bunch of little token hair over the head, hidden in the shaved
hair of the head as Choti. |
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Take a weapon.
Only responsible officers of the government agencies are allowed to
carry a weapon, that too on official duties. But in the aircrafts,
no body is allowed to carry any weapon, whereas the Sikhs are
allowed to carry a Kirpan of six inches blade in the domestic
flights. This keeping of Kirpan (weapon) for men and women is
another glorious tenet of Sikhism for maintaining self-respect and
self-confidence as a sovereign person of Wondrous God (Wahguru Ji Ka
Khalsa) to serve the society.
Some three years
ago, on 23-9-2006 at Madurai in Tamil Nadu State, a person met the
President of India Dr. A.P J. Abdul Kalam at Circuit House. The
women sub-inspector was suspended for allowing him to see the
President along with a plastic razor in his possession on the charge
of” dereliction of duty. In contrast, on 2-11-1996 at Rashtrapathi
Nilayam at Hyderabad this author though at that time undergoing
trial under TADA, was allowed to carry Kirpan for receiving the
State Literary Award to be given by the President of India. When the
security people objected, the Military A.D.C. to the President HE
Shankar Dayal Sharma, came to receive me at the entrance.
This is an
example of a bearded Sikh commanding the dignity and respect from
the First Citizen of the Country which no other citizen is entitled
to. My intention in quoting these examples is just to project that
Sikhism is not an orthodox or outdated religion as told by the
people who want to condemn Sikhism without giving any justified
reasons. Whereas it is established that it is the religion relevant
for all circumstances and ages and that its tenets are the most
scientific and helpful for healthy, secured and dignified life.
Founders of
other religions
We have to admit
that there are certain disparities in all religions and their
ideology. But at the same time, there is a much similarity between
founders of all religions that they kept long hair and flowing
beards. For example, take Zoroaster the founder of Zorastrianism,
Abraham founder of Judaism and Moses, Jesus Christ founder of
Christianity and Hazrat Mohammad founder of Islam and his Khalifas
were having long hair and flowing beards. The images of Gautam
Buddha founder of Buddhism and Mahavir founder of Jainism are also
seen with long hair tied as a knot over the head. All the Greek
philosophers, rishis, munis, sadhus, saints, all religious and pious
persons of every religion throughout the world including Tolstoy and
Rabindra Nath Tagore kept long hair. We can observe on television
screen everyday, female and male with long flowing hair moustache
and beard are taking part in thrilling fights of Free Style
Wrestling and other games and the hair do not cause any
inconvenience or obstruction in playing their games and making them
victorious.
Hair - not a
mere identity
The theory of
evolution infers that every species adapts in its anatomy, changes
advantageously to itself in its struggle for survival against the
set of challenges it has to confront. It retains the characters
which give it an edge and discards those which are either of no use
or a liability. The fact that human hairs have been retained and
evolved through the grim battle of human survival for millions of
years is a definite pointer to they being of a genetic asset the
significance of which is not yet perceived by us. Any artificial
interference in the scheme of nature by destroying them may prove to
be a hazardous move the consequences of which can be catastrophic.
One of the main
cause of today’s stressful life is an induvidual’s desire to
artificialy look good. And the tragedy of today’s fashion is that it
is carved by the businessmen for promoting their income. By any
means they want to make the money. They mould the men folk to look
like a woman and they also mould the women folk to look like a man
for meagre gains, destroying their separate identities blessed by
God. They are trying to become wiser than the God by interfering
with the nature.
Sikh — a role model
The Sikhs do not
have any problem with the people of other faiths, who do not follow
the footsteps of their founders in keeping hair and destroy the God
given gift. Sikhs do not question the matters of the faith of other
religion, whatever they may be. The behavior of the civilized
society demands that they in turn should learn basic ethics not to
interfere, question or create problems for the Sikhs, who vehemently
follow their founders in keeping hair and Kirpan. Actually speaking,
the Sikhs should have been taken as a role model.
If anybody asks
me, why I keep hair? I say you are asking a wrong question. We
neither keep nor
it is in anybody’s reach to keep hair. It is the law of nature, and
we
faithfully abide
by it. It is better for you to see the mirror and ask yourself, what
has made you destroy the God given gift? You will get the answer
that the Sikhs’ appearance is God Made, and not barber made.
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Now the
majority community of the slaves and sycophants of those days is
enjoying the fruits of freedom today, but for the Sikhs, only
the rulers have changed from the Mughals to the British and then
to the present indigenous ones. The difference for us is that
then we fought for the nation and others, and now we are
struggling for our right of honorable existence. The
circumstances have not changed for the Sikhs. We should
therefore be ever prepared for everlasting struggle for
self-respect and separate and independent identity. Let us
pledge, preserve and protect our dignity and individuality from
assimilation into the ocean of majority. |
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Hair are a boon
and this body coverage could not be a meaningless exercise for God.
He is our creator and caretaker. Nobody else could be more concerned
for our betterment than Him. When He has given this body, He lakes
care of it for proper maintenance and upkeep to meet the physical
requirements. This is His foolproof mechanism. He is not a
manufacturer of any commodity or car, where the responsibility of
maintenance lies with the purchaser. God takes care of each breath
and every moment of our life. He is not negligent of His creation.
Our problem is that, we do not have full faith in Him and His Will
for keeping this body healthy in every manner. This is because of
deficient knowledge that, we do not understand the importance of His
boon, nor we ever tried to know something about it. On the other
hand, we take it as a bane and curse on our body. We work on a
simple formula, “Whatever is beyond our understanding is wrong and
useless.
You might have
observed ships sailing in the water with the wind. The crew just
opens the sail and the ship sails without any effort with added
speed with the wind. Whereas, to sail against wind, the crew has to
make tireless efforts. The Sikhs happily allow the hair to remain in
the most comfortable and natural manner, which does not require any
hard effort or expenditure for living according to the will of God,
like sailing with the tail wind. To sail against head wind and live
against the law of nature one has to remove or to cut hair according
to his own wish and size for that purpose one has to spend thousands
of rupees and thousands of man hours of his life. People get tired
of this exercise, but God does not stop growing the hair, each day
and every moment He constantly grows the hair on our body according
to His Will.
Why to keep hair?
The right
question is why shall we cut our hair? There is no convincing answer
for it. But there is a logical answer for “why are the Sikhs
religiously asked not to remove the hair?” The basic tenet of
Sikhism is to abide by the Will of God. (Shri Guru Nanak Sahib Ji -
Jap — page No.3 — Shri Guru Granth Sahib). The God in his Will and
wisdom has created the complete human being. To interfere with the
God given body by circumcision, puffing a hole in the ear or nose
and cutting or dyeing the hair are prohibited and treated as
disobedience to God’s Will. A God fearing person can never prefer
his will and wish to prevail over the God’s Will and can never make
any alterations in the God gifted boon, which could attract His
displeasure.
After this
explanation, another typical question may be posed. Then why do you
cut the nails? Nobody cuts nails of the wild or stray animals.
Generally people cut nails of the pets. Nails and hair grow up to a
particular size, after that growth is stopped. The nails by constant
use, wear out which keeps them trimmed automatically by nature. If
the human being also does not cut nails, it would not grow
indefinitely as some people preserve and protect them for a show.
The nature maintains its size acceding to individuals’ requirement.
In the name of cleanliness people do not tolerate the size it grows
to. And moreover the dead part of the nail is removed as dead hair
is also atomically removed by combing. So the comparison between
cutting the hair and nails is not logically correct.
The hairs keep
us protected from the hot and cold weather and maintain the body
temperature according to the individual’s body requirement. You can
observe the people living in cold countries and hot countries, and
they keep moustaches and beards and long hair covered with some or
other headgear. Generally a Sikh does not receive any sunstroke as
he is fully protected from any fatal injuries, vicissitudes of the
climatic extremes due to these both natural hair and artificial
protection of turban.
Hair- a
symbol of sovereignty
 The Muslim
invaders faced a problem as the conquerors and the conquered both
were keeping hair and wearing turban. To distinguish by appearance
they ordered that no Hindu should keep the hair and wear the turban.
This had made the high caste Hindus to keep a bunch of little token
hair over the head, hidden in the shaved hair of the head as Choti
or Shikha, which is visible even today among the orthodox upper
caste Hindus, They cannot give any justification or reason for
keeping it. Actually, as far as the historical fact is concerned,
the position is that shaving the hair was mark of slavery for the
Indians in those days. They were also not permitted to hold any
weapon and ride on the horse.
The 10th
Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, has pulled out the Sikhs from the
concept of slavery and declared that, the Sikhs henceforth shall be
called Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa (People of the Wondrous God) and
shall not shave the hair, and will ride the horse and keep a Kirpan
(weapon). He took on the mighty Mughals and declared that the Sikhs
(disciples) are a sovereign people and can never be conquered by any
human force. The Sikhism had thereafter sowed the seeds of
independence and nurtured it with their sacrifices. Now the majority
community of the slaves and sycophants of those days is enjoying the
fruits of freedom today, but for the Sikhs, only the rulers have
changed from the Mughals to the British and then to the present
indigenous ones. The difference for us is that then we fought for
the nation and others, and now we are struggling for our right of
honorable existence. The circumstances have not changed for the
Sikhs. We should
therefore be
ever prepared for everlasting struggle for self-respect and separate
and independent identity. Let us pledge, preserve and protect our
dignity and individuality from assimilation into the ocean of
majority community through keeping Kesh (hair), Turban, Kirpan and
suffixes of Kaur and Singh with our names.
2
December 2009
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