This is from a summary of Guru Gobind Singh Ji's life, from the section about amrit. It also has some stuff about the bajjar kurehitaan (which includes the consumption of meat). I can post some of it if you want.
That's cool, but I'm not super interested in a vague summary. I'm interested in looking at actual historical facts. There is no doubt that Guru Saab asked his Khalsa to keep hair and why they all did themselves. I don't know why people keep thinking that I'm contesting that.
Sikhs honor the intention of the creator by keeping their hair unaltered in its natural state
Every single old (called Puratan) Rehit does not mention this, nor do any Sikh sources like the Panth Prakash by Bhangoo or even the Suraj Prakash (other than Desa Singh, but then again that's a bit of an oddity in terms of Puratan Rehits and says only men should keep beard). Here's Bhangoo's account: "So Satguru Sri Guru Gobind Singh arrived at a firm resolution, And made efforts to implement it after deep contemplation. They must adopt the dress code of a martial warrior race, And grow hair and wear turbans on their heads." There is nothing about "maintaining God's form." In fact, this is why in pretty much all Sikh literature prior to Guru Gobind Singh, the Gurus themselves are depicted with uncut hair and beards, but many of their followers are not. Even Bhai Gurdas's vaaran make no mention of uncut hair. If it was really such a core spiritual concept, it would have been listed before. Guru Gobind Singh Ji of COURSE mandated long hair; which is why some of his Brahmin and Khatri followers who traditionally shaved their heads were even upset at this injunction. Please stop putting words in my mouth in that regard.
Regarding the citation to gurbani, here's the entire shabad: http://www.sikhitothemax.com/page.asp?ShabadID=1650. You'll see that the entire context of the shabad is Guru Ram Das Ji speaking about his devotion for God, and how his entire essence is one with God. As such, it's a saying; just like the English saying "each hair on my body stood on end." If you want to get technical with that line saying it definitively supports the practice of kesh, I hope you realize that those with cut hair also have hair; it's just short.
We can play this game of citing one line out of context every day. "He alone is a Brahmin, who knows the Lord Brahma, and is attuned to the Love of the Lord." Oh look, Guru Sahib is promoting casteism and praising Brahmins! But wait, here's the entire context of the shabad showing its use as a metaphor..
What is true is that Guru Saab critiqued those who used empty rituals, those that thought that their ritual shaving of their head or their janeu or their fasting would guarantee them bhakti. Thinking that hair does something for you spiritually is the exact same thing.
I have a lot of complaints about how you post on this subreddit too, but I'll leave those aside for now and focus on something more important
No, really, go for it. I have absolutely nothing wrong with other users disagreeing with me; in fact, thank god for that, since it allows a diversity of viewpoints and for me to be examined when I'm wrong. But don't go on giving me half-baked sources and saying "errr you're a problem child, you are." Just say it bluntly, I really won't mind.
People that want to become more spiritual and less physical WILL keep their hair. It's a simple part of the path. There's no reason to keep cutting it to please the minds of people that deter you from the path if you're trying to get out of the physical in the first place. The exception I see to this is Buddhists, who shave their head to get out of physical pleasures as well. Hair is an important thing when it comes to style, and there's no point of trying to make your outside look appealing, especially if your inside is full of dirt. Decorate your body as much as you want after you merge with Him. You might want to do it, to celebrate. But until then one should keep everything simple to help get out of the physical.
Yeah, now that's a good point that I can agree on. But you yourself have already contradicted it by giving the example of the Buddhists, who denounce worldliness even more. Not to mention that in Sikhi, there's a balance; if we wanted to go completely in natural will and stop pleasing anyone, we may as well go the Naga Sadhu route, not maintain or cover the hair, or our God-given bodies as well. I think you'll also find that a lot of sardars, myself included, feel as if hair and the Sikh identity didn't make them disconnected from the world; for me personally, it makes me think more about what type of image I want to emulate for the Guru's Khalsa, and made me more confident about who I am and my Sikhi.
Guru Gobind Singh Ji made amrit for a reason, and keeping your Kes is part of it. If someone who knows this willingly gets their hair cut anyways, it's evident that they believe their own opinions are more important than His. That's 100% ego right there. I was into Sikhi before I took amrit and I felt like absolute shit when I would get haircuts. It made me feel like a little kid that doesn't listen to his parents. When I thought about how much pain I must be giving Him by ignoring His orders, I took action and took amrit 2 days later.
Are you mixing Guru Gobind Singh Ji and God? Kinda confused by the capitalized "His". Anyway, I want to point out that NOT all Sikhs take Amrit. It's definitely a goal for most of us, but please remember that the overwhelming majority of Sikhs should start by learning Sikhi first and taking Amrit when you're ready. If I'm a Khalsa, I definitely won't cut my hair. If I'm a Sikh on the learning path, I'm not going to get everything right away, I'm not initiated, it wasn't even mandated by the Guru themselves for non-Khalsa: so I don't feel "guilty" that I'm not listening to God. Guru Gobind Singh isn't your biological parent, he becomes your father when you learn his teachings of Sikhi. I never saw it as disobeying my father, because Guru Gobind Singh wasn't originally my father, just like he wasn't the Panj Pyare's original father; when they kept their hair and took Amrit, he became their father.
Cutting it or keeping it is not a small thing that we should disregard. He told us to keep it
He told Khalsa to keep it, and it's something a lot of Sikhs would benefit from. I'm not advocating people cut their hair willy-nilly. But I'm not a fan of this pseudo-history people make up. Also, he asked people to keep it for IDENTITY, not for any of this "it's God's natural form."
We're lucky enough to have the sakhis of the Guru Sahibs as "proof" of God's existence and power, but if we want to experience Him ourselves, we need to blindly do what He wants us to do. We know He is perfect, so we should be able to fearlessly do whatever he says without question. I've personally been thinking lately that looking for reasoning behind His utterances is a form of ego as well. It's important to look for understandable reasons to build trust, but I feel like it's necessary to become a blind follower to become egoless.
I'm kind of lost in what you're saying. No, I don't follow the Guru Sahibs for the janamsakhis. Of course not. There are janamsakhis of Guru Gobind Singh doing Pooja to the goddess Durga in Hindu circles; is that something you believe? I believe in the Gurus because I believe the philosophy of GGS is powerful, and I believe the social institution of Khalsa along with the identity is powerful in maintaining that. Looking for reasons is a form of ego? Tell me, if you were born into a Muslim family then, would you have also advocated becoming a blind follower? Some devout Muslims, like you, give their personal subjective experiences and justify themselves similarly. "Oh I know that trimming my mustache+shaving my pubes is right, when I didn't do them I felt so guilty for violating God's command, etc, etc.." Gurbani speaks about how not to be a blind follower, to think about what you're doing and to do it deliberately. I keep my hair because I know there's a strong reasoning behind it. When I take Amrit, I give my head to the Guru because I know there's a strong reason behind it. If you're asking me to follow blindly, I may as well visit the Pandit or Mullah because they can entice me with watever as well.
If I stated something here without proof, I'm sorry I can't provide it. It's mostly stuff I've learned from katha or santhiya
I enjoyed reading some of your own thoughts, very interesting. But generally, if you're going to make a claim and say I'm wrong, I would like historical evidence to back it up. Otherwise it becomes a he-said she-said game, which I'm not interested in playing.
Regarding Bhai Bela Ji: I do not consider my own intelligence to be above teh Guru's. Which is why I am using the reasoning that the Gurus gave themselves instead of giving some irrelevant belief that "it's God's form."
