Why Milk?

[fauji07]

hey i was just woundering why do they wash the golden temple with milk? whats the reason behind it?

[S1ngh]

Its the puratan darbar saheb maryada.. its not written in laws/code/books etc.. The way i see it is that its our fore-fathers (17th century etc..) who continue to pass the torch and today we are carrying the same way/tradition..To some it may sounds like weird but to some it make sense/gives idea only if they are more knowledgeable about culturally respect thingy..

[JarnailS]

wjkk wjkj

donno any scientific reason behind this, it is puratan mariyaada.

by the way i think its not pure milk... its kachi lassi (milk mixed with water)

bhul chuk maaf....

wjkk wjkf

hey i was just woundering why do they wash the golden temple with milk? whats the reason behind it?

[ISDhillon]

Reminds me of preparing body for cremation.

[Jagmeet]

the reason i think why milk is used is because it more pure and fresh form of substance, where as water, back in those days couldn't be guaranteed that it was clean.

this is just based on little knowledge myself, it could be true or false.

[sitargirl]

I believe its kachi lasi like Jarnail singh said......its cos its a good NATURAL cleaning substance. What I mean by this is that water alone is not very good at cleaning..it needs to be combined with something like soap, lasi etc.....

Some people wash their hair with lasi too! I think nishaan sahib at all gurdwara's is washed with milk too....

HOWEVER in this day and age it does raise the ethical question of how we contribute to the milk and veal industry etc.

[V]

Why not use organic soap?

As far as I'm concerned, I feel the cultural aspect is from the belief that the milk is pure....which can probably related to the fact that the animal that milk is derived from is considered holy in India.

I'm in no way Hindu-phobic, but there is absolutely no sense in washing in milk. If it was because water is polluted; is that the case with the sarovar in Darbar Sahib as well? They wash the parkarma with water.. don't they?

There is absolutely no sense in washing it in milk, and there is nothing to substantiate that this is the way things were, just like people refuse allowing bibis to do kirtan in Darbar Sahib because "that's the way they used to do it." Not realising that a lot of these traditions came under the masands.

Again, if purity is the issue - why not use non-chemical based (or chemical based for that matter!) soap - it will clean it a lot better than milk - if that's the issue. That's not the issue.

I know people will get upset at me for saying this... if purity is the reason - why can we not use soap?

There is no reason to use milk - and no proof that that's the way they did in the "Puratan times." You may quote any baba jees you want, but as far as I'm aware, no rehitnama nor any other ithasic literature mentions milk being required to wash marble or anything else.

If anything the rehit maryada condemns the belief I kuchi lassi being significance in the chapter on anand karaj, where they reject the use of kuchi lassi in old traditions (like dipping feet in it as it was done.)

I ONLY respresent my own opinion on this issue, and don't represent any organisation, but my support is simply "akli sahib seviye..." to use our common sense, and the Akal Thakhat Maryada.

Sikhi is about common sense.

[ghorandhar]

I totally agree with Veer V jee. The milk can come to better use, like people drinking it. Common sense should prevail, but just like bibia not being allowed to do kirtan at darbar sahib, we dont want to use common sense.

[Matheen]

Why NOT use kacchi lassi?

The marble is in excellent condition considering how old it is and how often it gets scrubbed. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I know that kacchi lassi works great on hair and doesn't leave any residue while at the same time washes off the oil. Bear in mind that soap and chemicals finding their way into the Sarovar wouldn't do any good either.

Can't get more natural /organic/environmentally friendly that the current system.

Looking for problems where there aren't any IMHO.

[V]

Milk isn't used when washing the parikarma.

Why not use it - apart from the common sense that milk can be used to feed those who cannot afford it?

Milk in India is not cheap. A lot of people cannot afford it. I believe it's exceded 20rs the liter. To the extent that while we talk about injecting hormones in the cows, in the west, in India its gone overboard. This is nothing I can prove using internet sources (or I'm sure I can find something about it, if I search enough...); but have witness myself.

A lot of the architecture is unfortunately not even very old considering the numerous attacks on Darbar Sahib, such as the ones by Abdali, the reconstructions by Ranjit Singh, the reconstruction of 1986.

Most of the historic bungas have been lost, and a lot of the old architecture has been lost. Very sad indeed, but this is a totally different issue.

Though I must say that this argument of "Why NOT" is flawed, since that can be implied on many things. This train-of-thought will only lead to blind faith.

Again I'm not one of those Hinduphobic people, I just see it as an issue that has nothing to do with Sikhism. Kind of reminds me of the Singh Sabha movement. If they used the “why not policy” most of the gurdwaras would still be following the old ways of the mahants.

Apart from the fact that it is a WASTE of resources, you don't need any other reason why NOT to do it.

Although you may argue that it's not in huge amounts - it IS an amount that could be used for doing something good.

Again question: WHY should milk be used when water can do the job fine? Isn't it water they used to wash the parikarma every morning?