Ans. For those, who have taken “Khande di Pahul” (undergone the Amrit’ ceremony of the double-edged dagger), are called Khalsa, and the followers of Guru Nanak.
In order to understand the difference between a Sikh and a Singh, it will be advantageous to read the dialogue that took place between Lord Budha and his disciple, Ananda.Question (by Ananda): Who is the one that keeps walking difficult and thorny paths successfully, thus completing his journey?
Answer (by Lord Budha): That is a Sikh (a disciple).
Question: Who is a Singh?
Answer: A Singh, like a lion, coming out of his den, first stretches, then shakes his body (to cast off laziness), looks around, raising its ears to listen any sounds. It then roars (to announce itself) and at the first opportunity jumps into the arena of battle.Similarly, a Sikh covers his journey (of life), subdues lust and anger. Thus reaching the abode of truth he becomes a Singh.
A Singh ignores the love, fear and worry of his/her body (physical existence) and rises above it (to the realm of spirit). He snaps the ties of worldly achievements, heeds the call of oppressed and needy and is always ready to struggle for their uplift.
A Singh is one who has completely forsaken his ego. Such a person has no unique name any more (he has merged in truth or God). The tenth Master used to say that Singh is the name of the spiritual Divine Knowledge. To associate the name “Singh” with only physical bravery is deficient thinking.Bhai Gurdas Singh (a contemporary of Guru Gobind Singh) has beautifully said the following about “Singh”:
A Singh is one who believes in the sanctity of the hair. One who does not know the sanctity of hair is incomplete. He fights with sword and dagger and with spear he wreaks havoc among his enemies. He does not believe in differences of colour and creed and shatters the rituals and meaningless traditions into bits and pieces. He does not bow to the authority of Turks or Pathans. Such a Singh is symbolically, God’s own brilliant light.
The literal meaning of the word ‘Singh’ is lion. A lion is considered to be the king of the jungle – is fearless. Guru Gobind Singh enjoined that every Sikh should use ‘Singh’ at the end of his name. The purpose was to remove the caste prejudices and also to give a boost to the psyche of the Sikhs that now they were fearless like a lion.