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Summary of Question:	Keeping My Hair And Turban
Category:	Other
Date Posted:	Thursday, 10/26/2000 10:40 PM MDT

I am a a high school student. The thing is I am a very confident person.

I am very well respected amongst my peers and am one of the more popular ppl in my grades, and I easily win such things as student government position despite having a tiny sikh population(maybe me and another person at the most out of 1,800) in my school...
I am proud to be sikh.. I beleive in remembering gods names and try to be a good person in decisions I make.. However, I'm not sure if keeping a turban and hair really really gives an accurate depiction of who I am to other people. See, I dont see the point in keeping ones hair for distinction purposes.. doesnt it just create borders from you to many other people? Especially when most of the words conflicts are due to religion anyway...
I know I am Sikh.. isnt that good enough? Many Jewish people in the US no longer wear kepas and shave and still maintain their jewish identity...
I dont know if what I'm thinking makes any sense.. but I think I should make the decision as keeping my hair or not some time soon and stick with it.. any input?

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Reply:
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Have you heard the "Song of the Khalsa"? PLease go into the music archive on Sikhnet and listen to this. Our identity has been established over hundreds of years by the most extreme personal sacrifice of those who loved the Gurus and their teachings. You are respected for your identity and your character. Kesha and turban are a big part of that.

As Sikhs, we believe in the will of God and the supreme kindness and love of our Creator. As very different from Christianity and other majority religions, who often believe that God has made a mess when he created them, has made them wrong (born in sin), and is punishing them in a big variety of ways. That God is a mean guy who lives up in the sky and watches everybody, punishing them when they "mess up".

Guru Nanak taught us that God is everywhere, and lives within all of us. That we are God. That what we do is God's will, because He controls ALL of our actions. By reat good Fortune, we are born into the identity of the Guru's Bana. It is by our good destiny that we are given a human body, and then also by great good destiny are given the technology of the Sikh.

Guru Nanak is the most recent of the enlightened prophets of the major religions. He passed on the Guruship to a lineage of 9 other human Gurus, each who taught us more technology of the most refined and sophisticated identity which exists. The 10th Guru passed the light to the Siri Guru Granth Sahib, which we worship today.

Why do you want to merge with the identity of other people? Why not encourage them to merge in your identity? Or let God's hand play and allow that?
We feel a pressure when we are different. What is the pressure? We are asked to identify ourselves. Do we know who we are?

Listen to the words which our children sing in Gurdwara: We are the Khalsa, Mighty mighty Khalsa, everywhere we go, people want to know, who we are, so we tell them, We are the Khalsa!
Khalsa means pure one. What is Sikh? Who follows only teachings of Guru Nanak, the 1st Guru? Who follows the doubts of their mind?
You can surely choose to live as you like. Every sequence has a consequence. Every action has a reaction, equal and opposite.

I en-courage you to be courageous, fearless, and grateful for the blessing that God gave you hair and turban. That hair is precious and good for your health also, providing protein to the brain. Beard covers the only moon center which a man has, which protects him from emotionality. Beard shows that man is mature, and not a baby anymore. God placed it there in his infinite wisdom.
Check your dollar: In God We Trust. This is the Sikh concept. We trust in God, we believe in the perfection of his Creation, and we accept His will. This is why we keep our bodies in the most natural form, without alteration.

Actually, the earliest Jews wore turbans. And see how the turban 70+ square feet of cotton has been reduced over the thousands of years into a little 4" round piece of cloth. What the heck does it do on their head? Turban is a fantastic technology, which properly stimulates all brain meridians, keeps head cool in summer, warm in winter, protects inner ear from shock and loud noise, keeps hair and scalp clean, and projects radiance and majesty for the wearer.

I have a recommendation for you. For the next 40 days read the translation of Jap Ji Sahib... http://www.sikhnet.com/s/GuruGranthSahib, every day. Look under English translation. Understanding it and reading it daily will make you a master of your own destiny and give you the most deep understanding of life.