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Summary of Question:	Reply To The Answer Of Why Cutting Hair Is Banned
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Saturday, 1/17/2004 10:49 PM MST

Waheguru ji ka khalsa waheguru ji ki fateh. Before i proceed to comment i would like to congratulate the moderators for doing such a great job on this website. Now my comment on the response to the question of why cutting hair is banned. THe moderator said that if one cuts his/her hair then they are not considered to be sikh. I found that weird cause i always thought that sikhism was a way of life. If a person cuts their hair and does good deeds on earth, then they should be considered good SIKHS. However if a person does not cut their hair but goes on to do terrible deeds, then why should he even be considered a sikh. I believe there is too much emphasis placed on cutting hair in our religion. I agree it has to do with identity and what not. But in our religion, we need to preach harmony and peace. It is disheartening to see our sikh leaders who have kept their hair that cause fights and play dirty politics in our gurudwaras. Why dont people make an issue out of that? Why dont people make an issue about doing the right thing? Waheguru gave us a brain and free will. We should use that to do good on earth and not debate whether or not cutting our hair is a bad sin or not. I kno people who cut their hair and are very good people, in fact i consider them as sikhs because they are truly doing what waheguru wants them to do and that is helping others and being a good person. These are just my feelings. If i have said anything incorrectly please forgive me. Waheguru ji ka khalsa waheguru ji ki fateh.

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REPLY
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Sat Sri Akal!

Thank you for you response. To be a good Sikh, one has to do a lot of things. Some of these include: one must do good deeds, help others, meditate on the one Naam, etc. In addition to these things, one must keep his or her hair. It's very simple, all of the things must be followed to be a good Sikh, otherwise one is not. If one of the things is not followed, then one is not a good Sikh.

Look at it this way, a good citizen will volunteer for civic events, pay his taxes on time and without cheating, donates to charities, etc. If someone does all these things, then he is considered a good citizen. However, if these person does all these things, yet murders just one person, is he still considered a good citizen? Of course not, to be a good citizen there is a while list of things that need to be done every day, and if at one time even just one of those things is not done, then one is not a good citizen.

This leads to the following axiom: To be good, one must be good in all things at all times. To be bad, one must be bad only once. No one is going to look at a 70 year old murderer and say that he should be given leniency since for the first 70 years of his life he didn't kill anyone.

Fortunately for us, in Sikhi, as soon as you give yourself up to the Guruji, COMPLETELY, all past mistakes will begin to be forgiven.

So, to be a Sikh, one must keep hair. That doesn't mean that keeping hair makes one automatically a Sikh. Nor does it mean that only Sikhs can merge with Waheguru.

Please think about this.

Gur Fateh,
HSD