keski the kakkar

the following article was written by a great friend of mine :-)

"Keski

Why are people constantly arguing over this little issue? Whether you believe in keski or kesh as a kakar has no relevance. Either way, every gursikh should have a dastar (keski) on their head. It’s not the hardest thing in the world. Everyone knows that whilst sleeping, if your wearing a small keski then it will inevitably prevent your hair from knotting.

Our kakkars are given to us when we take amrit from the Panj Piyare, let’s look at each kakar in more depth.

• Kanga – A wooden comb, handmade by man. The kanga takes the knots out of the kesh.

• Kara – An Iron Bracelet made of pure Iron, handmade by man and is normally worn on both arms.

• Kashera - A white, knee length and sewn in a special way, underwear is handmade by man. It protects the amritthari from having sexual relationship with anyone, expect the partner.

• Kirpan – A Iron sword, handmade by man to protect the innocent

All kakars mentioned above must be worn at all times, even if the Sikh does not have an arm for example, the karra should always be connected to the body, spiritually by the soul.

Kesh or keski

Kesh is a beautiful gift which is given to us by God. It begins growing whilst the unborn baby is still in its mother’s womb. Proving that hair (kesh) isn’t man made, it is god made. We have no control over kesh, it is naturally there, it is not in our hukam (will).

Keski on the other hand is a small turban which is normally worn under the large Dastar (turban); it is manmade and protects the kesh at all times. How can Guru Gobind Singh ji introduce to us the kesh when it was already there, it was already given to every Human being by god- the gift of god, and would it not make more sense if the Guru had offered us the keksi, like he already has. It kinda makes sense doesn’t it?

Kesh

If an amritthari sikh who loses all his hair because of a disease such as typhoid, then will that person be classed as a sikh with only 4 k’s, if kesh is considered one of the 5ks?

One could say that if one losses there kesh then will that mean that they lose their keski and kanga, meaning they only need to have the kashera and the kara to be a sikh, NO! Let’s take an amritthari gurikh who loses both his arms, will this mean they don’t need to wear a kara.

Let’s look at the logic of this, is karra the kakkar of the Sikhs arm, or the Sikh himself? The karra is the kakar of the Sikh remaining alive after the loss of his arms. So arm or no arm, the kakkar must still be carried, no less by the armless sikh, because after all, karra is a kakkar, and at that, of a sikh not of his arms. So the keski and kanga should always stay connected to the body, if for some unfortunate reason the kesh is not blessed then does that mean that the sikh is of only 4 kakars.

Even after death, the sikh soul is still alive. The dead Sikh’s living soul must still be accompanied by kakkars, at least during his journey through death, and also during cremation, at which points, alas, the material kakars, perforce, will part company with the spiritual soul.

Let’s say kesh is the kakkar, then why is it that removal from the body of the kesh is considered an bujjar krehit (unexcusable), which is not forgiven till, after re- growing kesh, and can only be pardoned by the panj piyare. So why is it that when we take off the kirpan, when going abroad is not a Bujjar krehit, as a little ardaas can be done by the person by himself for forgiveness, Why is there this tremendous distinction between kesh on the one hand and the remaining four Ks on the other?

No body can take Amrit without Kirpan, Kashera, Kanga or Kara. This would be unthinkable. Then why is it that if a Sikh was to lose their hair due to a disease that they would still be allowed to take Amrit. Why the sudden difference?

Lets say for example say that Kummar (waist) is classed as a kakkar, what lesson will this give us. Or even a kuni (elbow), what teachings will this give us, not to elbow someone perhaps? It does not make sense does it, so when did it make sence to make kesh the kakkar. Anything natural cannot be a kakkar, anything not in mans control, not manmade, not taken on from outside, cannot be a kakkar, nor can kesh be one.

Bhai Taru ji, Importance of KESH!

Some peoples responses are that kakar by force, accident, disease or authority is not the Sikh’s fault and is therefore pardoned easily and immediately. For example taking off one’s kirpan when flying abroad is ok, and can be easily forgiven, all kakkars are equal never forget.

So, Bhai Taru Singh wouldn’t have needed to get his skull removed, because the removal by force of any kakkar (including his kesh kakkar) wouldn’t be his fault, and the pardon for such removal would be easy, by offering an ardaas.

Surely Bhai Taru Singh must have sometimes had his kanga fall off whilst asleep and he mush have sought and asked forgivness for the lapse. Likewise if kesh were a kakkar, wouldn’t he have similarly requested and received forgiveness for forcible removal of his kesh, rather than having his skull removed for refusing to have his hair removed?

Ask yourself why did bhai sahib resist the removal of his kesh, only to dare to have his skull removed?

Because the status of Kesh in sikhism is not that of a kakkar, it is way higher.

Kesh has a much higher role in sikhism

In short:

• Kesh is the distinguishing mark of sikhism

• Kesh are god’s abode on the human person

• Kesh are so many tongues on the Sikh’s body with which to utter Gods name

• And kesh are as important for the Sikhs to adhere to as is the breath for the continuance of life in his or her body.

All these comments are backed up by gurbani, such as ‘rom rom har oochreh’, meaning a Sikh utters Gods Name using every hair on his or her body.

Kesh is the correct, the exact and the complete, one word description of sikhism.

Bibia

This is more of a benti to bibia (women), as the maryada of keski for bibia are fading at some places but not all. Bibia have gone from keksi, patka and now choonia in the future it will come to fasion with the hair and then finally cutting of kesh. This to some extent is already happening. There is no such thing as the bibi with no keski does more sukmani sahibs then a keski bibi, it is not about the keski being more spiritual it is more of sikh rehit, and principles which need to be followed.

Ask yourself, why aren’t you wearing a keski, is it because of beauty, fashion or is it because your elders tell you it does not need to be included in the kakkars, well ask yourself again, do you want the roop of a Khalsa or do you want to walk around as just another member of the panjabi community?

Without the keski, especially the bibia, forego two kakkars, including kanga, because the right place for keeping kanga is the topknot, which is impossible without the keski.

It is unthinkable that conditions of Amrit for singhs are different from those of singhnis. For taking proper care of the kesh, if the Guru gave Kangha and keski to singhs, then the same kanga and keski cannot be allowed to remain missing from the heads of singhnis.

If a singh cannot go bare headed to the market or to his office, then who gave permission to the singhnis to roam around bareheaded? This needs to be looked in to, think about it yourself!

In Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s fort in lahore and in Victoria Museum in Calcutta, the old pictures depicting sacrifices of brave singhnis and singhs show them ALL wearing keski.

Very important point, Guru Gobind Singh says, “the khalsa is in my own image and I reside in the khalsa”. But how can those Singhnia even get close to looking anything like Guru Gobind Singh Ji when they reject the truth of keski. Braids, straight or tangled hair-knots and the kesh made into curled hairdos were NEVER and will NEVER be the features of the Gurus very own appearance.

If a woman puts on the keski, she has to forsake all the hair-fasions, which is why sikh women want to be excused from the keski, but which is eactly why they shouldn’t be so excused.

So it is a benti to bibia to please look into this and realise the mistakes that our elders have made. If the youth don’t do anything about it then future will not be good for the khalsa raj.

One last point

KESH HAS A HIGHER VALUE AND IT IS BLESSED ONLY BY WAHEGUROO, THE GURUS HAVE GIVEN US THESE KAKARS FOR A REASON. IF WE BEGI TO GO OUR OWN WAYS THEN THIS WILL NOT LEAD TO THE GURUS HAPPINESS.

Benti

Personally I think other singhs don’t want to admit that their wrong because of hankar and pride, they are not sikh enough to say they are in the wrong and will not change there ways. If so let it be, but this is more of a benti to the younger generation. I have seen in other jathe bibia wearing keskia, which really brings happiness to one’s heart, the guru will do his kirpa and the rehit of keski will again be in every sikh wanting to be amritthari.

Please do not challenge this article, it’s own choice, to follow gurus mat or your own. Make your own decisions by reading the book in full, as it is goes into more depth.

Keski, Not Kesh, The Kakkar by Professor Uday Singh."

sikhsangat leh

The admin of the site "sikhsangat" have most definitely treated me in a biased and prejudiced manner. Firstly i received a warning for suggesting that there be a smagam arranged for gurpurab/s by the same singhs who arranged the smagam for baba thakur singhs barsi. other members had suggested the same thing, yet nothing at all was said to them. Apparently become some members had complained that i was trying to cause friction (just by asking for more smagams to be arraanged?) and therefore the admin had to take "necessary" action.
I had also been put under moderation previously for posting a picture of a gursikh in a thread where many pictures of many gursikhs had been posted, however because the gursikh i posted belonged to the wrong jatha, i was deemed to be trouble making and put under moderation.
My pm function was also banned. This is because i pm'd a member (LOTLS) asking in a polite manner to do veechar on some differences we had in gurmat belief. The member rather rudely told me not to pm them, via the forum. I then sent another pm explaining my stance and the member replied to this pm making some comments about me that could be deemed as offensive, (if the member did not want me to reply then surely the member should not have bothered pm'ing me back at all.) The member then decided to complain to admin that i was pm'ing them after they had asked me not to (rather like a 5 year old would run and tell the teacher off a fellow pupil for any stupid reason). Just because of this my pm feature was deleted. All of my pm's were deleted. So basically if anyone has ever pm's someone without the other person's permission, their pm function should be banned. Now this member, who enjoys complaining about petty issues, has been made a mod! Wow, what a great way to make this forum even MORE biased.
I then opened a ticket to ask about this strangely biased behaviour by the mods and admin, my questions were not answered, the mods decided that they knew my intentions better than i knew my own intentions and the ticket was closed. I then posted something in reply to a thread and asked the mods that if were not going to let my posts through then they may as well suspend it. However it was too much too hope for that the mods would realize that they had been prejudiced and take me off moderation, instead they deleted my account.
I think the admin of this site should be replaced, by fairer people and perhaps more mature people. Its got to the point where they are so bothered about who comes and visits their site that they have banned people advertising other sites more than once a month. Why would they do that? if the other sites contain gurmat, they should be bumped as often as there is an update, how is that going to effect the forum?
I think that if you ask anything that others may not like the answer to (whether it is a good question or not) the admin do not like it, and take action (in most cases, exaggerated action).
I think the admin should calm down a bit, and let people post what they want. Moderate the language and thats it.
Another example of biased admin, http://www.sikhsangat.com/index.php?showtopic=33922
the only pro keski post was removed, whilst all of the pro kes posts remained.
ak-47 chatting nonsense about people trying to push their views, the person who posted in favour of keski was doing exactly the same as you did (posting their opinions) so you are trying to push your views too. Where did he say anything about making people take amrit again? So why dont admin delete ak-47's posts? ak-47 and others like to make up a LOT of fairy tales.
admin should moderate their posts.
wow, what a surprise, admin have now closed the topic on their forum, after issuing a load of lies, about me sending abusive pm's, about me trying to start jatha wars and deabtes.
It has become a common tactic of admin to say a load of rubbish, then lock the topic and threaten members with moderation if they reopen it, just so that no one can argue against their faulty points, and against their biased posting.
i asked to be remove from sikhsangat as it was a biased forum, hardly any of my posts could go through, so i was as good as deleted anyway.
please everyone go to tapoban.org, a much fairer forum, ALL VIEWS, and nearly all posts are allowed, without admin going around thinking theyre god, and deleting, banning, putting members under moderation.
i think admin of tapoban are more grown up.
members may be immature but admin have responsibilities to act mature.
in conclusion, sikh sangat is actually not sikh sangat, its bias admin sangat.