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“I am devout Sikh and I do patth everyday. I believe the Guru never prohibited cutting hair.”
-Mandeep Kaur, BA-III, S.N.College Amritsar.

(English Translation of article from book “Ujaro Deepa” written by Prof. Darshan Singh jee Khalsa, from http://www.ggsacademy.com)

• How important are Kesh for a human being?

• Why should be Kesh not cut, whereas we trim our nails?

• Are Kesh living like any other part, an organ of the human body?

ਮਾਟੀ ਤੇ ਜਿਨਿ ਸਾਜਿਆ ਕਰਿ ਦੁਰਲਭ ਦੇਹ ॥ (ਪੰਨਾਂ 812)

He fashioned you from clay, and made your priceless body

ਗੁਰ ਸੇਵਾ ਤੇ ਭਗਤਿ ਕਮਾਈ ॥ ( ਪੰਨਾਂ 1159)

Serving the Guru, devotional worship is practiced

Gurmat believes that Akal Purakh (The Creator, The God ) has created this universe and the everything one is associated with the universe.

ਹਰਨ ਭਰਨ ਜਾ ਕਾ ਨੇਤ੍ਰ ਫੋਰੁ ॥ (ਪੰਨਾਂ 284)

He destroys and creates in the twinkling of an eye.

He created the universe according to his own desire. He is the wisest, so He does not require to consult anyone about the style, the model, the look of His creations. He and only He creates, decorates and drapes this universe.

ਤੂੰ ਦਾਨਾਂ ਤੂੰ ਬੀਨਾਂ ਮੈ ਬੀਚਾਰੁ ਕਿਆ ਕਰੀ ॥ (ਪੰਨਾਂ 727)

You are wise, You are the supreme seer; how could I make You an object of thought?

ਨਾਮੇ ਚੇ ਸੁਆਮੀ ਬਖਸੰਦ ਤੂੰ ਹਰੀ॥

O Lord and Master of Namdev, You are the merciful Lord of forgiveness.

He himself is extremely adorable and so are all HIS creations, the tall mountains, the clear waterfalls, the stormclouds that can cover the beauty of Sun and Moon, the dancing peacocks, the birds sitting on the lush green trees, the sweet sound of the nightingale, the herds of running deer. So beautiful is the universe that I cannot enjoy it all. O Creator, there is no end to your creation.

ਕੁਦਰਤਿ ਕਵਣ ਕਹਾ ਵੀਚਾਰੁ ॥ (ਪੰਨਾਂ 3)

How can Your creative potency be described?

ਵਾਰਿਆ ਨ ਜਾਵਾ ਏਕ ਵਾਰ ॥

I cannot even once be a sacrifice to You.

ਜੋ ਤੁਧੁ ਭਾਵੈ ਸਾਈ ਭਲੀ ਕਾਰ ॥

Whatever pleases You is the only good done,

ਤੂ ਸਦਾ ਸਲਾਮਤਿ ਨਿਰੰਕਾਰ ॥

You, Eternal and Formless One! ||

After creating the universe, In order to keep it unique and beautiful forever, He fixed the age or the time frame of each of His creation as to hong long it will stay in this universe so that when one creation dies the new one will come in to replace it and the universe keeps running anew. And this, He has done himself and has not given this authority to anyone else. In this lies the secret of the uniqueness and beauty of this universe.

ਜੰਮਣੁ ਮਰਣਾ ਹੁਕਮੁ ਹੈ ਭਾਣੈ ਆਵੈ ਜਾਇ ॥ (ਪੰਨਾਂ 472)

Birth and death are subject to the Command of the Lord`s Will; through His Will we come and go.

Then Guru says, “Human being and its body is the precious and most beautiful creation of God”.

ਕਬੀਰ ਮਾਨਸ ਜਨਮੁ ਦੁਲੰਭੁ ਹੈ ਹੋਇ ਨ ਬਾਰੈ ਬਾਰ ॥ (ਪੰਨਾਂ 1366)

Kabeer, it is so difficult to obtain this human body; it does not just come over and over again.

ਇਸ ਦੇਹੀ ਕਉ ਸਿਮਰਹਿ ਦੇਵ ॥ ( ਪੰਨਾਂ 1159)

Even the demigods long for this human body.

ਸੋ ਦੇਹੀ ਭਜੁ ਹਰਿ ਕੀ ਸੇਵ ॥1॥

So contemplate within that human body, and think of serving the Lord. ||1||

After so many efforts one obtains to be human form. He gave us this body gave human beings free will also. However, every human being should look around and note that no other creations of God change the appearance of the body given to them. They live with whatever God gave them and are maintain the integrity of God’s gift. Like these other creations is how He wanted human being to be and this complete body is HIS gift to the human being.

So when humans cut their hair and change the appearance of God’s most beautiful and precious creation, aren’t we deviating from His path and will ? Then, how will we achieve Him or be on His side? While we are not even taking care of His gift, all other of His creations faithfully are.

ਹੁਕਮਿ ਮੰਨਿਐ ਹੋਵੈ ਪਰਵਾਣੁ ਤਾ ਖਸਮੈ ਕਾ ਮਹਲੁ ਪਾਇਸੀ ॥ (ਪੰਨਾਂ 471)

Obeying the Order of His Will, he becomes acceptable, and then, he obtains the mansion of the Lord’s presence.

ਤੂੰ ਮੇਰਾ ਸਖਾ ਤੂੰਹੀ ਮੇਰਾ ਮੀਤੁ ॥ (ਪੰਨਾਂ 181)

You are my companion; You are my best friend.

ਤੂੰ ਮੇਰਾ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਮੁ ਤੁਮ ਸੰਗਿ ਹੀਤੁ ॥

You are my Beloved; I am in love with You.

ਤੂੰ ਮੇਰੀ ਪਤਿ ਤੂਹੈ ਮੇਰਾ ਗਹਣਾ ॥

You are my honor; You are my decoration.

ਤੁਝ ਬਿਨੁ ਨਿਮਖੁ ਨ ਜਾਈ ਰਹਣਾ ॥1॥

Without You, I cannot survive, even for an instant. ||1||

ਤੂੰ ਮੇਰੇ ਲਾਲਨ ਤੂੰ ਮੇਰੇ ਪ੍ਰਾਨ ॥

You are my Intimate Beloved, You are my breath of life.

ਤੂੰ ਮੇਰੇ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਤੂੰ ਮੇਰੇ ਖਾਨ ॥1॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥

You are my Lord and Master; You are my Leader. ||1||Pause||

ਜਿਉ ਤੁਮ ਰਾਖਹੁ ਤਿਵ ਹੀ ਰਹਨਾ ॥

As You keep me, so do I survive.

ਜੋ ਤੁਮ ਕਹਹੁ ਸੋਈ ਮੋਹਿ ਕਰਨਾ ॥

Whatever You say, that is what I do.

ਜਹ ਪੇਖਉ ਤਹਾ ਤੁਮ ਬਸਨਾ ॥

Wherever I look, there I see You dwelling.

ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਾਮੁ ਜਪਉ ਤੇਰਾ ਰਸਨਾ ॥2॥

O my Fearless Lord, with my tongue, I chant Your Name. ||

ਤੂੰ ਮੇਰੀ ਨਵ ਨਿਧਿ ਤੂੰ ਭੰਡਾਰੁ ॥

You are my nine treasures, You are my storehouse.

ਰੰਗ ਰਸਾ ਤੂੰ ਮਨਹਿ ਅਧਾਰੁ ॥

I am imbued with Your Love; You are the Support of my mind.

ਤੂੰ ਮੇਰੀ ਸੋਭਾ ਤੁਮ ਸੰਗਿ ਰਚੀਆ ॥

You are my glory; I am blended with You.

ਤੂੰ ਮੇਰੀ ਓਟ ਤੂੰ ਹੈ ਮੇਰਾ ਤਕੀਆ ॥3॥

You are my shelter; You are my snchoring support. ||3||

ਮਨ ਤਨ ਅੰਤਰਿ ਤੁਹੀ ਧਿਆਇਆ ॥

Deep within my mind and body, I meditate on You.

ਮਰਮੁ ਤੁਮਾਰਾ ਗੁਰ ਤੇ ਪਾਇਆ ॥

I have obtained Your secret from the Guru.

ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਤੇ ਦ੍ਰਿੜਿਆ ਇਕੁ ਏਕੈ ॥

Through the True Guru, the One and only Lord was implanted within me;

ਨਾਨਕ ਦਾਸ ਹਰਿ ਹਰਿ ਹਰਿ ਟੇਕੈ ॥

servant Nanak has taken to the support of the Lord, Har, Har, Har.

So, In order to achieve proximity to Him, we should never disobey Him. HE has not created anything without a reason. For centuries, scientists are trying to understand these reasons or causes of His creations. To date they have not been able to find or discover these.

ਅੰਤੁ ਨ ਜਾਪੈ ਕੀਤਾ ਆਕਾਰੁ ॥ ਪੰਨਾਂ 5

The limits of the created universe cannot be perceived.

ਅੰਤੁ ਨ ਜਾਪੈ ਪਾਰਾਵਾਰੁ ॥

Its limits here and beyond cannot be perceived.

ਅੰਤ ਕਾਰਣਿ ਕੇਤੇ ਬਿਲਲਾਹਿ ॥

Many struggle to know His limits,

ਤਾ ਕੇ ਅੰਤ ਨ ਪਾਏ ਜਾਹਿ ॥

but His limits cannot be found.

Due to our ignorance or inability to understand the cause of His creation, we consider it useless or not required. This is the thinking of many humans regarding the hair. First of all He has given this hair to naturally adorn the human body; we do not have to go and buy these. Moreover since He has given these to us, let us try to understand their importance to our life.

First of all let us consider it from this angle. God has given the hair on our body wherever these were needed and He also took care of the amount of hair needed on different parts of the body.

Please note that God has created a protective structure to safeguard the delicate or sensitive organs (eyes, tongue, and brain) of our body. The eyes have strong bones around these. The tongue has the jaw to protect it. The brain has the defence of skull. Now there was a need to assist in further protection from various weather impacts. Hair also acts as a buffer to save the structures beneath from bruises. These also help in weatherproofing, act as insulators and assist in cooling.

Again note that He even took care of humans living in different parts of the world by giving them hair of different colour, texture, density and length according to the weather conditions prevalent those areas. People born in a particular geographic area will have some uniqueness in their hair compared to people in other geographic areas.

For example, people from hot areas have dark black hair as black absorbs the heat and keeps the structures beneath cooler. Remember why we use black sunglasses during summer as supported by science as well. I want to add here also that though in India summers get very hot one can search the Internet and not be able to find few instances of sunstroke noted in Sikhs ( Here Sikh means the one who maintains the form of the Guru, not anyone else) as compared to other people. People from cooler areas have lighter brown, reddish or golden hair. It is interesting to note that creatures living in high winter areas and mountaintops also have lighter colored coats. Given the preceding points we can begin to appreciate that maintaining the hair intact as it was created is the will of God and that these were given to be maintained as is to us by Him.

Second Part to be continued…

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