JustAnotherSingh

Just wondering, what is the source of Uggardanti? Not existent in Dasam Granth from cursory googling. Not that it invalidates the tukhs you cited, but just kind of curious on a tangent

I think there are a couple aspects to look at here.

First off, without doubt, Sikhs traditionally did not consume beef. Goat and pork were the main delicacies, but beef was a no-no. Ranjit Singh banned beef slaughter throughout the empire, and many British sources noted how the Sikh Sardars detested beef as much as smoking. I also thought I read somewhere that Ratan Singh Bhangoo included an episode in Lahore where Singh's see a butcher taking a cow out to slaughter and put him to sword, although I can't find that now via control+f of my copy of the work (which is this, by the way. I hope it's accurate?-http://sikhinstitute.org/gpp_v1.pdf)

In terms of the contemporary, Nihangs specifically have an injunction against beef. I know that Namdharis, a pacifist Sikh "sect" of sorts, go crazy about cows. They broke their pacifism to kill beef butchers in Malerkotla. 

The more difficult question to ascertain is what does Sikh philosophy teach about beef. From my reading of Guru Granth Sahib and vaaran, very little to actually suggest this. Guru Nanak criticized the Brahmin practice of applying cow dung. Bhai Gurdas also wrote this: 

"

" 

corroborated by folks such as Bhangoo, which suggests the religious taboo for Sikhs equivalent to that for Hindus+beef is more like adultery/thievery than dietary restrictions.

Why were ancient Sikhs so apprehensive of cow-meat then? Very obvious reason, and that's that the cow is just a culturally respected animal. I personally eat beef (non-halal of course) but none of my family in India does-my father tells me that on his first time eating a burger, he felt very odd about it considering how he thought of cows in his childhood. And it wasn't that there was a heightened sacredness or anything of the sort for him. It was just...cows were considered man's best friend just like dogs or horses in the West, so why kill them for taste? They have a ton of value anyway outside of beef, such as milk and labor. 

I openly admit that, yes, I eat beef. Why? I think times have changed, and while I consider myself a Punjabi Sikh and align with that heritage, I don't personally care about dead cows as much as my ancestors did. I haven't found a compelling reason within Sikh philosophy or even codes of conduct to do so (although I do expect if I take Amrit I'll prob stop eating beef anyway as I'll focus on hunting for meat instead of store-bought). Finally, I think some of the stuff surrounding the sacredness of the cow just is sort of ajeeb to me (again, my personal views)-the fixation on cow urine and dung, valuing a farm animal's life more than a human's (Banda Bairagi's discussion with Guru Gobind Singh comes to mind), the fact that buffaloes aren't valued at all and are even sometimes ritually slaughtered, and so on. I do admit, it is always funny how Westerners who will sign petitions online to "STOP the EVIL practice of eating dogs in Korea," yet mock and lament contemporary Hindus+Desis for being "cow-worshippers."

Sorry if there was a lot of my personal thoughts and not enough source material for you. 

I agree a lot what's being said in this thread. 

My personal experience is that I grew up as a mona w/out any view of what Sikhi was. I did not like Gurdware at all as they appeared to just be political rallies for Khalistan and places where I was judged for cutting hair. Ironically, 3HO people as well as really spiritual Singh's (some of whom were Namdhari I think) inspired me to learn more about Sikhi and its spirituality, and as I got more into the faith, I started keeping hair years ago. In the end of the day, I came out of it disagreeing with a *lot* of what 3HO had to say, after doing my own personal reading. But I feel as if too many people isolate the Sikh identity and martial spirit, combine that with their personal Jatt-values, and say that's what Sikhi is about without recognizing the very strong inner-spiritual core. Bani defines the bana, the spiritual values are what gives power to the identity.