Self-Evaluation
by Jeevanjot Kaur Khalsa

Sikh, what is the kirpan you wear,
Kangha kept in unshorn hair?
Symbols that the Guru gave
When he formed the Khalsa brave.
Did he give a kara for your mind,
Seeing which you would find
That you could no longer trade
In words for contentions made?

Are plans laid in deceit?
Do you lie, steal, and cheat?
Does the Kachera make you chaste?
Or are you aware that you waste
Time in thoughts and acts impure?
In turban and chunni,, are you sure
That you do not degrade
Fellow humans God has made?

Solemn vows made and sweet Amrit taken,
Khalsaji, might you be mistaken?
Mind mired in the past,
Do you still cling to caste
In your ways or in your name?
Tell me, are these not the same
As the Hindu's sacred thread
If worn with a soul that's dead?

Can you accept another's thinking,
Hear new ideas without shrinking
Back in contempt and shock?
Khalsaji, lets take stock.
Do we in peace and love abide,
Put our egos and greed aside?
Serve others without thought of gain;
Seek surcease for another's pain,
Make compassion our principle first?
Or are we really among the worst
Offenders of what the Guru said
Have 5 K's become our sacred thread?

Friend, wear a thread that will not fall
That imparts to you a love for all,
That in its fibers will netwine,
Thirst of the nectar Name Divine
Live only by honest toil
Wear the thread that will not soil
Of all your blessings, give a share
imbue with these the "thread" (Amrit) you wear