Greetings all
This is why a rule book without justifications does not do the trick. We can't interpret this as "don't dye the beard". We need to ask ourselves why not? If we don't know why we're doing something, it's blind ritualism.
I doubt the Guru would instruct people not to dye their beards and leave it at that. I'm sure the Divine Energy that created the Entire Universe and multitude of worlds and millions of creatures would be concerned if you dyed your beard or your collar to match the cuffs (teehee, naughty Ishna!).
I spent my highschool years with hairy legs and armpits (I was Pagan at the time). My mum was so angry with that choice. She yelled at me one day "You're a Pagan, you worship a Goddess, at least you can make yourself look feminine!" My response was something along the lines of "this is how my Goddess made me, so this is her standard of feminine, why should I question that?" with ample lashings of teenage know-it-all tone, teehee.
It wasn't until I left my boyfriend that I started shaving, to attract a partner. Now that I am married, I find myself in a predicament -- my husband prefers hairlessness. I don't care either way -- it really doesn't phase me in the foggiest whether I have hairy legs or not. But I don't want to embarris him, so I shave for his sake.
By getting hung-up on keeping my hair as bad as getting hung-up on removing it? I think Kabir ji's point (and by extension, the Guru's) is that it doesn't matter whether you have hair or not, it's your state of mind which is the overriding factor. I can't fathom why we would be told over and over and over again that the physical is an illusion, you can do all kinds of charity but if you don't vibrate Naam it is all useless, yet at the same time be told we need to keep every hair on our body.
I keep my head hair as an outward sign of my committment, which I think is what Guru Gobind Singh ji was intending. No one needs to know what is or isn't under my clothes.
I respect those who keep their hair. More power to you, Mai ji and others who have made this decision.
I fear I'm going off thread topic so I'll be quiet now.
Ishna
