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Summary of Question:	Hypocritical Sikhs
Category:	Sikh Practices
Date Posted:	Friday, 9/12/2003 7:02 PM MDT

i've read some of the responses on the site and i would like to respond to a few of the responses given. in regards to girls being able to remove facial hair, i would like to note that if most guys i know saw a girl walking down the street with excess facial hair, he would make some comment or laugh. this is including sikh guys of course. so then why should guys be complaining about how girls are allowed to get rid of their facial hair when they would be making fun of the same girls who did not do this. in a sense, then this "equality between the sexes" can never be achieved. in addition to this, guys often trim their beards so through their outward appearance, they "appear" to be "true sikhs", when in actuality they are being incredibly hypocritical. i believe that if a guy is going to make the effort to trim his beard, he might as well just cut his hair and shave his beard because he is fooling everyone except God. with all this talk about cutting hair, i think it is fair to mention that a good number of sikhs who have not cut their hair also do not know very much about their own religion. i have cut my hair and yet i know a good deal about my religion (ardaas, anand sahib, japji sahib, history of the relgion, etc. and more importantly i know what they mean.) than many of my counterparts who have not cut their hair. why then am i frowned upon when i go to Gurudwara? i don't think that people should be judging the breadth of a person's knowledge about their religion or their spirituality based solely on their appearance, especially at Gurudwara, where people have come to pray not to criticize others, talk about daily affairs, socialize, compare jewelry, or the latest fashion trends. WaheguruJi Ka Khalsa WaheguruJi Ki Fateh.

thanks,
suneet
(REPLY) Sat Nam. The teachings of our Gurus, our Sikh rehit is the highest ideal. Unfortunately, people often do not or cannot live up to the ideals of their religion. We strive to do so. That is why we do Path, chant God's Name, do seva and try to be kind to everyone, as best we can. It is no doubt true that in every religion there are hypocrites. The beauty of the a True Sikh is that he or she has a direct relationship with God and Guru. The relationship with people is where we can run into judgemental , less than "ideal" attitudes. Your cutting your hair is between you and the Guru. I can offer an opinion (as we have certainly done frequently on this site!) but I can't condemn you, or even judge you, because that is not up to me.Until human nature is thoroughly transformed, and jealousy, gossip, rumors, resentment and anger are changed to kindness and compassion and acceptance of all, things will go along the same. Meanwhile, can YOU forgive those who are unwise enough to be judgmental? Can you be kind and compassionate to those whom you JUDGE to be hypocrites? Think about it. The best any of us can do is set the best example of which we are capable. Blessings