Sikhs and the urgent need to take Amrit and wear Kirpans.

The 5 kakkars or the 5 Ks are a fundamental tenet of the Sikhism and is a mandatory requirement after taking Amrit and initiating into the Sikhism. This Amrit is a voluntary action by Sikhs today and not all 'Sikhs' who wear a turban today or have a beard wear the 5 kakkars. This may sound strange to the other religions where baptism may be the prerequisite to call yourself belonging to a particular religion. This strangely is, but should not be, the current way Sikhism is. Somehow we see a picture being painted that people taking Amrit are ultra orthodox, super religious or even may be categorised as people who may affiliate themselves to separatists. This is something that must be denied by all Sikhs both consiously, and also unconsciously in their heads when they think about it. 

Due to the aftermath of the Sikh insurgency in Punjab and the 1984 Sikh genocide in Delhi, there were many Sikhs who even did away with their turbans and beards, let alone taking Amrit and wearing the 5 kakkars. Sikh youth may want to prove they are 'moderate' in thought by not keeping unshorn hai and not keeping 5 kakkars and taking Amrit. Even families may frown upon the decisions of young children when they would want to take Amrit and live with 5 kakkars. 

It seems on the surface that Sikhs both in rural Punjab and even up market Delhi are not getting the required support and signals from their family and surroundings when they may want to keep unshorn hair, take Amrit and keep the 5 kakkars. The time when fathers would be really angry if their young child will cut the hair seems to over. Now we seem to be observing the 'new normal' where families seem to be accepting of the 'individual choice' of the children and also the fact that this is now 'common' and prevalent in the larger social groups. There seems to be a lack of prohibition and worse even support from parents when a young child or adult would do away with turban, beard or the other outward elements of Sikhism. 

There may be certain social pressures that we may need to look into. Firstly, young people with Amrit may be under pressure of 'missing out life' if they undertake Amrit and may be subject to certain restrictions. These restrictions include:

1. Not being able to take intoxicants like alcohol which are glorified in popular folk music. Once a person from Hyderabad was amazed when an Amritdhari Sikh told him that he does not drink alcohol and eat chicken, as in some cities the only businesses that Sikhs may run are chicken restaurants. It was amazing to see that in Jodhpur, where all Non veg hotels seemed to belong to Sikhs. 

2. For women, it may mean not be able to do eyebrow hair shaping, waxing and removing hair for the reasons of vanity and blending in the fashion of the day. 

3. Being restricted to do certain amount of routines in the day like waking up early and reading scriptures. 

4. The sense that people may perceive people with Amrit as hyper orthodox, zealous, or even radical. There may also be a belief that a person taking Amrit may not be one who can meet social obligations like eating all kinds of foods maybe doing hookah and performing all activities of fun which may be not allowed of you take Amrit. 

5. The fact that one may miss out in finding a spouse as the number of Amritdhari Sikhs in family of Sikhs may be meagre and sometime may not need the social, financial and needs of one partner. The opinion may be that a person taking Amrit may be not eligible at the beginning itself to participate in the dating market. 

6. This may be relevant to some geographies, but being Amritdhari would be made to mean that a person may be having thoughts and ideals which would not be moderate but be radical. There may be a hint, or the narrative may be built that a person is affiliated to secessionist forces from among the Sikh fold. The person may also be considered as a person who is not 'in the game' 

As a person who took Amrit and change the way I dressed before and after Amrit, i felt that people may perceive people with Amrit as not the everyday Joe, but as someone different. This someone different may be a positive outlook or a negative outlook. But, it surely something that may come to mind when someone is an Amritdhari. 

As part of the current times, where some people may want to merge Sikhism with Hinduism, there may be a trend to slowly dilute the 5 kakkars of the Sikhs, with the Kirpan being the first object of attack. A recent case in the Delhi High Court pleased that the Kirpans carried by Sikhs in flights should be shortened in length. Thankfully, this was dismissed by the Honble Court as Article 25 of the constitution gives clear mandate that Sikhs are allowed to carry Kirpans. 

There is also a case pending in another Indian High Court where a pilot is barred from carying the Kirpan while flying. This is most strange as in other countries Kirpan is making its way to professions and Indian Sikhs are being stopped. 

The Kirpan, the protection to the Sikhs will become an extinct caricature of the past if all Sikhs (already a meagre minority in numbers) do not take Amrit and do not adopt the 5 kakkars and including wearing a Kirpan. This adoption by large number of youth will also normalise the process and all the above mentioned reasons of non adoption will go away. Sikhism and Amrit is a sureshot identity that young people should adopt as the Guru will be with them. This means they will have a set of well tested practices and routines which will not only enable them to lead noble lives, but also be spiritually high and get a new perspective of looking at the world.

The Sikhs in themselves should not become the biggest hurdle in proliferation of Sikhism in the form of wearing of Kakkars and taking Amrit. Children must not only be encouraged, but be incentivised if they take up Amrit and wear the 5 kakkars. Families must pledge that every family will start with one person each who takes Amrit and wears the 5 kakkars. Children taking Amrit must also be filled with the  need to excel in life and be professionaly sound and take up spirituality and profession together.

A religion without an identity will face extinction, and the slow dilution of the outward form will definately lead to an end of all the good values and inside-the-mind abstractions that a religion stands for.