The Khalsa or the Elect (Why we must keep the Keshas — our choicest and holiest possession.)

4.   Why must we keep the Keshas our choicest possession.

Brethren! I have already drawn your attention to our choicest possession. I mean Nam without which we will be as much starved as fish without water or fire without air. But who you know what is the custodian or conservator of Nam? Some of you, not having tried long enough, not having thought deep enough, are like motes in the air swept this way or that way by currents of air. They see the Curson fashion much in the air, even some ladies are drawn towards bobbed air for in so doing they take to themselves the airs which the plumed jackdaw took when mixing with the peacocks. But misguided as much men are, you do not realise the harm that they do to themselves by cutting with their own hands the roots of their higher-self : they are verily committing suicide! But you will ask me the how and why of keeping the Keshas. Brethren! of all the men who are assembled here, I am the one who is the most qualified to answer this query, for I am a Forester who lives in the hills and who revels in the dark shades of deodars. But you will ask me what is the connection between woods on hills and Keshas on our heads. And I hasten to reply that there is every conceivable connection they are one and the same, fundamentally and essentially, if only we had eyes to see. Those dark woods on the sunny slopes of the Himalayas invite and usher in the monsoons from far-off Indian Ocean. Were it not for those wooded slopes, the hills would soon be turned into ravines and the ravines leveled into the desolate Sahara which is the curse of Africa. It is those woods which first draw the moisture laden clouds even as the magnet attracts the needle, then precipitate them for they are like rose fans through which water filters down, and they help to conserve the water to keep the soil green, to fertilise the valleys and enrich the country with flower, fruit and grain. India without the monsoons would be another African Sahara, but the monsoons would not settle without the hospitable woods, so also the monsoons shower of Nam would not settle until these holy Keshas are there to act as sponges for that honeyed-dew which is the secret of eternal youth! Believe me, youngmen, what I tell you is true, only too true. But I can see a few among you who are obsessed by the West asking me, if not openly yet in their hearts, how is that Europeans flourish all the same, even though they do not keep the long hair? The objection is good enough but you have only to go deep down to its bottom, to scrap it out-right. If only you will listen, I will explain to you how England has climbed down, I mean spiritually not materially since the days of Shakespeare. I will not refer you to the world war for that is now regarded as a symbol of efficiency. But there is much deeper test of progress or deterioration than the world war and I will use Shakespeare himself as a meter, as a measure of the greatness of England. I believe all of you must have read Shakespeare, but while most of you understand and admire his dramas, yet there is one thing in him which you do not understand. And this is one thing which I will soon mention to you is not only a sealed book to you and to your professors but to all ( I speak subject to correction) the University Professors of England! I will not set your curiosity further on edge, so I will mention to you at once as to what I mean : the Shakespearean Sonnets. University Professors will tell you that these sonnets are love-songs which Shakespeare composed for his lady-love when he was young, but those who hold this view are wrong, one and all. I have read these sonnets with the key which I will soon mention to you and I have no doubt whatsoever that they are no ideal effusions on an idle earthly lover, they are chaste-hymns which Shakespeare the bride, composed and outpoured when the bride was deeply in love with the Universal-Bridegroom : Akalpurakh. But what is the proof, you will say? The proof is in the pudding itself, but if you want an additional one it is there written with Shakespeare’s own hands, for in the dedication Shakespeare writes that he is dedicating these sonnets to one of his friends with the view to initiate him into the “Art of Eternity.” Mark the word ‘Eternity’ and all the rest will follow, albeit in a dim manner. But if you want to unravel this mystery to its minutest detail, you must have the golden key of the Japji for that is the Master-key which will unlock to you this and that riddle, and also the kingdom of Heaven. I know Shakespeare not because I have been taught in schools and colleges, because Guru Nanak too me up one-day, ah! the day! from the lust and dirt of earth into that closet where the Khalsa or the elect sit, and going in I found that Shakespeare was but one of the many Khalsas who are there! Consider brethren! the depth to which England has climbed down. Ponder over it : England cannot understand its own Shakespeare, I mean the best of him which are his sonnets and which were written in the prime of his life, near the grave; the dramas and plays of Shakespeare are but the husk while the sonnets are his kernel! Tennyson understood Shakespeare and when he did so he became ‘the Ancient Sage’ and his poem bearing that name is really a leaf from the unwritten-Bible. The whole of Europe looks aghast at Shakespeare who is head and shoulders above all, and cannot understand him why? Because they have lost the choicest of all possessions, the keshas which made Shakespeare the dramatist, Tennyson the poet, and Jesus the Christ. Brethren! all of these leading lights of the West are truly Sikhs, nay they were khalsa,  for were they not bearded like you? In those flowing locks lies the secret of greatness of the great and when the Tenth Guru made it compulsory on you to keep the holy keshas, he did so because he loved you, because he wanted you to have what is verily best, what is purest and choicest possession. In keeping the long hair, you may not be in majority, but remember you are in select society, in excellent company, members of the Lodge Universal which comprises all the rishis of the East, prophets and seers of the West including Rama, Krishna, Mohammad, Christ above all the Gurus whose replica, the soul-architecture is the Khalsa. In other words, you may not be one the teeming sheep, but certainly you are one among the shepherds. The keshas, therefore, are our holiest possession and we can no more part with them that we can remain without light or air : they who part with them in ignorance are like brutes caught up in a tunnel or thrown down a ditch. They must climb back and recover the heritage they have lost or else they are doomed. 

Previous                HOME                Next

Related Documents On Importance Of Keeping Hair:-

http://sikhdigitallibrary.blogspot.in/search/label/hair