Previous

Next

Ask a Question

Summary of Question:	About Panj Piaray
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Wednesday, 1/30/2002 3:23 PM MST

i was browsing through the q&a and i cam accross a point where one of my brothers/sisters stated that panj piaray can be women and having men is just a cultural thing.

however if we look back in history we learn that on viasakhi day gurur gobind singh ji asked for a head not a mans head or a womens. the fact that the 5 piaray were men in a way reserved this honour for men.

however this does not show inequality. we kno sikhi shows men and women to be equal but we should be able to understand the fact that women can only bring life into this earth, and men (inform of the panjpiaray) give a new gursikhi life to one who takes amrit.

also this issue about women joining the panj piaray only came about in recent times. if women were able to be panj piaray why did they not in guru gobind singhs time and after him, as we know there were great women such a s mai bhago in sikh history.

great respected saints in our religion such as sant isher singh rara shahib and kaler sahib wale, bhai randhir singh, sant gurbachan singh, sant kartar singh and sant jernail singh bhinderanwale all practised and preached the fact that the right to be panj piaray belongs to men.

we must not just say and do things whioch we feel make sense to us we must take follow in the steps of these great sants and bhagats who gurbani gives such high status.

if ive said any thing to hurt anyone please forgive me
also i did not say this to confuse or start an arggument. im for the notion of sikh unity and these small differences in views should not alter our path to god

wkwf

*********
REPLY
**********
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh! There were 2 responses concerning Panj Piaray; this reply is for both.

Just because 5 men stood up when Guru Gobind Singh asked for a head does not, by extension, 'reserve that honor' for men. That is illogical. While I dearly wish a woman had indeed stood up that day, she didn't. If one woman had stood up, would that mean that every Panj should be made up of 1 woman and 4 men?

I agree with the original Youth Forum response that having only men in the Panj is a strictly cultural thing. It is a narrow HISTORICAL view that because 5 men stood up one time in the past, therefore all Panj Piarays to come should be made up of men. Many of us today take a broader view based on SPIRITUALITY: that the concept of offering one's head and serving as the Guru's 'sant-sapahee' (saint-soldier) is NOT LIMITED to men. Sikh Panth will grow not BECAUSE of what went before, but because Sikhs conciously practice the Guru's teachings daily. If Guru taught us that women are equal to men in the eyes of God and Guru, then by extension, women have the full right and DUTY to be part of a panj piaray. Guru Gobind Singh never said in 1699 that in the future, ALL PANJ PIARAYs would have to be male. He did say wherever 5 or more of us (male or female) are gathered in Guru's name, he is there also.

The idea of preaching that the right to be a panj 'belongs' to men further divides men from women WITHIN our panth. When Sikh men worldwide start acknowledging their Sikh sisters as FULL equals, then the concept of women in a Panj won't be a big deal. Imagine how it feels to be a Sikh woman and have (1) all ministers/bhai sahibs; (2) all ragi jethas, (3) all Panj Piarays and (4) all takht jethadars be male. Who said that the primary forms of leadership in Guru's presence are considered to be reserved for males? That thinking is NO DIFFERENT than the Catholic Church's absolute dictum that no women can serve as priests (or bishops, cardinals, or popes). If Guru Gobind Singh were alive in his body today, can you really imagine that he would insist that all Panj Piarays, or all bhai sahibs, or jethas, or jethadars, be male?
Guru rakha,
-DKK