I was born a Sikh, and I’ve always had the “modernized” Sikh upbringing, which means that a lot of the teachings are modernized and truly very bent so that we can always find a loophole behind breaking the Guru’s word.
I believe that I should have been very used to the idea of hair and the importance of it, but a lot of times especially by being in India I actually come across myself going “Whoa! how can you stay with such long hair or beard?”
It’s really strange, culturally we are brought up with the ideals that hair is a natural part of you and it’s a gift and then in more spiritual ways it contains lots of energy and circulation and things like that. Yet we choose to follow what appeals to people’s eyes, society has come to a point where everyone feels so insecure about their hair and feels the need to remove it because it isn’t attractive. Even in India, in these modern times it is very rare to find people who continue with the traditions of not cutting their hair or shaving their beards.
It was a regular Saturday morning for us kids at MPA, we went to the golden temple and we were just strolling down the parkarma, and we see this man with a really long beard and what really catches my eye is how serene and in peace he looks. Me and a few other girls then ask him if we can take a picture , and he doesn’t refuse and smiles kindly.
Now I come across the picture and I realize that his beard was even longer then my hair, and I get so frustrated and insecure about my hair on more then one occasion. I really admire the people who can ignore society ideals and can really find a way to connect to their inner beings. This man was today an inspiration for me and a reason for me to really love and appreciate my hair. His contentment really put me in awe and I looked at him in admiration.
-Simran Narang