Cutting Hair - Dilemma

[HarmandeepSingh]

Vaheguru,

I have been faced with a dilemma for the past two weeks that I simply cannot get my head around, literally!

I was trimming the overgrown hedge in my front garden and cutting the grass when it hit me. The fact that I am trying to be a true Gursikh and have stopped trimming my beard or cutting my hair. So much so that I feel to conquer the five vices, I have to go as far as not tying/styling my beard and avoid using a mirror/pins etc... to style my turban, which are all forms of showing off my appearance to others.

If I feel so strongly about not cutting my hair then why is it ok to trim the garden hedge and cut the grass? Should we not just let it grow wild and live life in a jungle?

I understand the concept of cutting fruit/vegetables when they have reached a ripened state and will fall off the tree/plant and die anyway.

But my garden hedge is evergreen and will carry on growing no matter what, just like my hair!

Thinking about this is doing my head in now and I can't find a good explanation.

A big thank you, in advance, to anyone who can solve this dilemma for me.

Rabb Raakha

Harman Singh

[Mehtab Singh]

Singh means lion. The lion of the jungle doesn't wear any of the 5 kakaars, so why don't we go and dress them up like us?

I hope you get my point

[HarmandeepSingh]

Singh means lion. The lion of the jungle doesn't wear any of the 5 kakaars, so why don't we go and dress them up like us?

I hope you get my point

Vaheguru,

Sorry, I do not get your point at all. I did not become a Singh by choice, I was born into a Sikh family as one. My birth certificate has Singh written on it before I had a choice in the matter.

However; I choose to not cut my hair but I choose to cut my garden hedge and the grass. Why do these two choices contradict one another?

Keeping my hair but cutting the hedge/grass are 'actions' that I carry out, so they must have a reason behind them.

My body was born of the five elements and the grass/hedge grow from this earth made of five elements - what is the difference for me being allowed to cut one and not the other?

Rabb Raakha

Harman Singh

[Mehtab Singh]

We are to live in our natural form. Cutting grass and cutting hair are 2 totally different things. Cutting grass is not killing grass, but cutting hair is called "kesh katal karne" as per Sikhi. You may as well argue that why not leave grass naturally and not cut it, but there could be several other scenarios to it then. You could have poisonous snakes in that grass, or God knows what other creatures. You can't maintain grass on a constant basis as you can maintain your kesh. Now let me ask you, how will you do a jooRa on the grass and then tie a turban on it? Do you now see how stupid that sounds? My example of Singh meaning lion was to indicate not to take everything in Sikhi literally. Singh means lion, but the lion doesn't wear any of the 5 kakaars. It doesn't wear anything at all! You said its ok to cut fruits and vegetables, why? Why can't you just take a bite while they are still growing, whether on the earth or on a tree/plant? Why cut them? Again, do you now see how stupid that sounds?

Kesh is Gurujee's mohar, His stamp. Grass is just grass. Honestly its not even appropriate to compare the two. Tomorrow you might ask "Why do I need to shower? I'll stay the way my body is all the time". "Why should I wear clothes when God didn't put any clothes on me before I was born?". Once again, do you now see how stupid that sounds? Cutting hair on a regular basis is something people started only some centuries ago. Cutting grass is what farmers have been doing for thousands of years.

You are blessed to be born in a Sikh family unlike many others. You said you want to be a GurSikh but now it seems like you are trying to find an excuse to cut your hair by using grass-cutting as an analogy. If that is the case, I am sorry to say, firstly the comparison is totally inconsistent, and secondly you are on the wrong forum.

[HarmandeepSingh]

We are to live in our natural form. Cutting grass and cutting hair are 2 totally different things. Cutting grass is not killing grass, but cutting hair is called "kesh katal karne" as per Sikhi. You may as well argue that why not leave grass naturally and not cut it, but there could be several other scenarios to it then. You could have poisonous snakes in that grass, or God knows what other creatures. You can't maintain grass on a constant basis as you can maintain your kesh. Now let me ask you, how will you do a jooRa on the grass and then tie a turban on it? Do you now see how stupid that sounds? My example of Singh meaning lion was to indicate not to take everything in Sikhi literally. Singh means lion, but the lion doesn't wear any of the 5 kakaars. It doesn't wear anything at all! You said its ok to cut fruits and vegetables, why? Why can't you just take a bite while they are still growing, whether on the earth or on a tree/plant? Why cut them? Again, do you now see how stupid that sounds?

Kesh is Gurujee's mohar, His stamp. Grass is just grass. Honestly its not even appropriate to compare the two. Tomorrow you might ask "Why do I need to shower? I'll stay the way my body is all the time". "Why should I wear clothes when God didn't put any clothes on me before I was born?". Once again, do you now see how stupid that sounds? Cutting hair on a regular basis is something people started only some centuries ago. Cutting grass is what farmers have been doing for thousands of years.

You are blessed to be born in a Sikh family unlike many others. You said you want to be a GurSikh but now it seems like you are trying to find an excuse to cut your hair by using grass-cutting as an analogy. If that is the case, I am sorry to say, firstly the comparison is totally inconsistent, and secondly you are on the wrong forum.

Vaheguru,

Veerji, it is our Kam, Krodh, Lobh, Moh & Hankar that causes us to wear clothes.

If we were completely pure, we wouldn't need to wear clothes because we would never look at another without any ill desires.

Story of Adam and Eve illustrates this point clearly.

Natural rain washed the grass.

Poisonous snakes have an equal right to live somewhere, just as we do.

I am not looking for an excuse to cut my hair but a good explanation of why I cut the grass. If that was the case, I wouldn't be posting on this forum but heading down to the barbers.

Stone age man would literally eat the fruit/vegatables off the trees and in a way I feel I need to go back to that level to conquer the five vices. I believe a lot of what we do has become nothing more than a ritual/culture.

Again, what right has man got to cut the grass?

Equally, what right has man got to cut his hair?

Still not had a valid explanation.

Rabb Raakha

Harman

[alias]

ima try n take a stab at this dilemma!! J soz in advance for anything that don’t get through to you.

when we comb our hair, and cut our nails, we get rid of the parts of our body that are dead. shedding dead skin, cutting the dead part of the nail, and combing out the dying/dead hair.

when hair is growing from being cut, it seems that it will not stop growing. just as when we grow older, and age, when we are little, it seems that we wont stop growing. but we all know that we get

to a certain height, then stop growing (perhaps due to the trend of normal distributions). it is the same with hair (and nails which I think, eventually become too brittle to sustain themselves).

hair grows to a length, and then stops (because the net growth is zero – my other favourite number). hair grows from within ourbody and doesn’t need a direct outside stimulant (primary stimulant). plants always need more lite to survive. it is a life form in and of itself. we humans are a life form in and of itself, and need sustenance just as the plant does. in the same way that plant life is to human life, plant hairs is to human hairs – because plants have hairs too, to trap moisture n so on... so we cant reely compare plant life, to human hair, though I do see why you have made the obvious connection.

next. when we get ready in the morning, we wear clothes. god didn’t make us born with clothes, so the question, why should we wear these too, also comes into play if you ask the question, Should we not just let it grow wild. so, we wear clothes. we also wear a dastaar and kachera and (some of us) a bana. y? we shouldn’t cus its not natural!.. I hope u see that this is silly. so just like this, if we were to tie our dari up, then it will come under the same umbrella. I don’t use no gel or anything, all you need water and a hairdryer reely. but, to dress ourselves in the image of the khalsa, is to ‘caress’ the escence of what Sikhi means to us..

some singhs spend so long tying dastaar, combing dari, and washing kesh, with conditioner n the works! it is because they love their Sikhi and they don’t see themselves in the mirror as the end product, they see the khalsa of guru gobind singh ji. guru gobind singh ji sed that if u wana do ma darshan, look at guru granth sahib ji. if u cant, then see where there is 5 singhs, if u still cant, do ishnaan, do simran n nitnem, sajaa your dastaar, and look in the mirror. so the whole idea of getting ready in the morning is to nurture the respect you have for the khalsa, for your Sikhi.

and if you feel that your evergreen is not disturbing you, then u don’t cut the evergreen. u should notice, that if you restrict the growth of an evergreen, e.g. a glass box with holes, then it will stop growing! so even evergreens don’t grow forever!!

n there is another thing behind cutting the fruit n veg and the plants n potatoes other than they fall of. its to do with what we need to survive. and how we pay back what we use.

at first, don’t try to style your dari, jus comb it.. no freshi fixo or old spice products! and if u let it, guru ji will style your dari for u.

hope ur dilemma is less of one at the least!

p.s. I don’t understand anything bout the pins... and avoid using a mirror... if u need a mirror, u need a mirror! but u can jus tie it with the feel... its poss! its good to not use any knots or pins or paper/cardboard n other stuffs in your dastaar.. but its up to you! however you see gurmat, is how u should see yourself!!! true gursikh is embodiment of gurmat n stuff... am sure u no this... neway...

lions live in the jungle! :D :D singhs are the glistening gems of god in the darkness of the jungle of all that takes us away from god! i.e. the world. the world is the darkness, we are akaal purakh ki fauj.

gurfateh

[alias]

Vaheguru,

Sorry, I do not get your point at all. I did not become a Singh by choice, I was born into a Sikh family as one. My birth certificate has Singh written on it before I had a choice in the matter.

However; I choose to not cut my hair but I choose to cut my garden hedge and the grass. Why do these two choices contradict one another?

Keeping my hair but cutting the hedge/grass are 'actions' that I carry out, so they must have a reason behind them.

My body was born of the five elements and the grass/hedge grow from this earth made of five elements - what is the difference for me being allowed to cut one and not the other?

Rabb Raakha

Harman Singh

we dont choose our parents n that, they are given to us as our duty to >nibaa< on this earth.

guru ji and god knows best, they mean for us to live in the way of guruji because we are born in a sikh family.

the grass is only of the 3 elements. it only has 3 elements... animals 4 elements, and humans, 5. the rocks and soil 2, and air/fire etc, is 1 element...

we need air to breath, so we use this element. we gta pay for it.

we need to walk on the earth, so we needto use this level too. , we gta pay for it...

we cant survive by eating n licking rocks n soil, so we need to use the next element up, plants.. and yes, u guessed it, we gta pay for this too...

we can survive perpectly well and prosper just by using these three elements! we need not eat animals and humans.. - paying bak for this, will be like having to do naam jup 26 hours a day.. not poss! (but it kinda is...but lets not go there, off topic..)

so this is y its ok to cut the plants and not humans... iv already sed y u cant compare plants to hair in ma prev post....

we pay back for all the organisms we kill with our breath, inside our body, and for the food that we eat, by doing our nitnem. this is y guru ji gave us the rehet they gave us (including not to eat meat), as well as the nitnem and naam. for everything we do and use, we gota pay for it...

if the grass cutting is getting to you so much, think of it like you do your nitnem and naam so you have paid bak for using the 'matter' that contains 3 elements...

and another thing, yes, if we stopp eating plants n that, our kamaaee will increase..

another thing, when we do nitnem, we dont 'collect'. if we do extra paat, we collect.

our nitnem is what we owe god - including all those days we may not have done our nitnem!

up till like ~13, it is our parents duty to stop us doing bad things... --> WHEN WE CAN THINK FOR OURSELVES, THEN we are held accountable for our own actions..n this is when we gota start thinkin to keep above the 'zero line'! (its k if u dont get the zero line thing.. but yea...)

fateh dude!

[alias]

Vaheguru,

Veerji, it is our Kam, Krodh, Lobh, Moh & Hankar that causes us to wear clothes.

laughable!!!

so its not somones dignity or shame??

sorry.. i truely truely do not mean to come accross like a silly person...

hope i havnt..

and you are totally correct, IF we were totally pure, we wouldnt have ill thoughts.. tell this to all those pakhandi babe in india that do ling pooja!!! (i duno wos wrong with me, iv sed ling twice in 4 days!!!... neway..)

but! guru ji tells us that we have been given this body, which god himself, has put the 5 demons into us.. maya is the toy that god has included in this world, the 5 evils, edge us to play with what we shouldnt play with. this is our test. these 5 have been also called by gurmukhs, punj khassan which is like the 5 khajane. when we get asked for the lekha, these 5 evils will just go to dharaj raj, and dharan raj wil read these like a book. n we wont be able to do anything bout it(this is in sggs).. we thought that these were our friends wen we were indulging in these, but then when these turn against us, we will be as if we have blak faces!!

demons have just an equal place to live somwhere as even theyareunder the hukam of god.. but when the demons tried to take over heaven, a war broke out! through the hukam of god!! so everyone has their place.. we as humans have been given this precious life where we can through naam, climb this spiritual scale. and is also y the devi devte yearn for human life...

and alot of what we do, has become ritualistic, but this is because these people have lost the meaning behind the reason... if you understand y we do the chaur sahib, and aarti, and all this stuf, then you will undertand how things have become ritualistic.. it is more fun for you if u find out yourself, rather than looking at adam n eve n perhaps, trying to prove y it is silly to wear clothes n cut the grass... ask the questions that will give you gurmat rather than trivial qz... this is jus my advice to you... its up to you if u like it n lisen... hope u do tho!!!

please, bhul chul maaf dude... i dont mean bad! :D

fateh

[manmukhboy]

Vaheguru,

Sorry, I do not get your point at all. I did not become a Singh by choice, I was born into a Sikh family as one. My birth certificate has Singh written on it before I had a choice in the matter.

However; I choose to not cut my hair but I choose to cut my garden hedge and the grass. Why do these two choices contradict one another?

Keeping my hair but cutting the hedge/grass are 'actions' that I carry out, so they must have a reason behind them.

My body was born of the five elements and the grass/hedge grow from this earth made of five elements - what is the difference for me being allowed to cut one and not the other?

Rabb Raakha

Harman Singh

maybe you could look at it from a experience dilema...if you was to cut your hair...is it one or more of the 5theives controling u(very likely talking from my experience)..(ie lust- cuting your hair to impress girls, attachment - cuting your hair to fit in with your goreh friends, or wot ever else)...sooo if you are cutting grass becoz of your 5 theives, STOP! if not cut with simran and love

[buddasingh]

Your answer lies in what the DIFFERENCE between your hair and your hedge.

Because hair shares some characteristics with grass does not mean that hair shares every characteristic with grass.

Here is an example of an argument analogous to the one you’re making.

An apple is tasty and has an appealing texture, therefore I eat it. Some glues are tasty and have an appealing texture, why shouldn’t I eat them?

Because both share characteristics does not mean they share every characteristic.

You haven’t felt like putting a dastar on your hedge have you?...so you do recognize some difference.