The
saloks of Sheikh Farid
Ji guide the seeker toward the devotion of the one absolute IkOankar (the Divine), which is the true purpose of life. In these saloks, Farid Ji shares that our time in this world is finite, and thus, one should immediately turn to the devotion of IkOankar without delay. However, due to attachment to transient things and relationships, many forget this truth and become entangled in vices, leading to a perpetually restless and uneasy life. However, the being who embraces virtues such as remembrance of IkOankar, love, humility, tolerance, patience, contentment, selfless service, and righteous living, experiences the bliss of connection with IkOankar even while leading a householder’s life. Their life becomes comfortable and peaceful.
salok sekh pharīd ke
ikoaṅkār satigur prasādi.
jitu dihāṛai dhan varī sāhe lae likhāi.
malaku ji kannī suṇīdā muhu dekhāle āi.
jindu nimāṇī kaḍhīai haḍā kū kaṛkāi.
sāhe likhe na calnī jindū kūṁ samjhāi.
jindu vahuṭī maraṇu varu lai jāsī parṇāi.
āpaṇ hathī joli kai kai gali lagai dhāi.
vālahu nikī pursalāt kannī na suṇīāi.
pharīdā kiṛī pavandīī khaṛā na āpu muhāi.1.
-Guru Granth Sahib 1377
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
In the thirty-sixth stanza, Sheikh Farid says, Separation, separation is called bad, O separation! You are the sultan. Sheikh Farid mentions birha, or separation, three times, emphasizing its power over him as the sultan, the ruler, the one in charge of him. We all know what it is to be ruled by something, to feel utterly powerless in the face of it, whether it be our entanglements in greed, lust, or anger, or our attachment to relationships or material things. What would it mean to become so aware of our separation and the pain it causes that this is what ends up ruling us? This is about that feeling of deep suffering in the experience of separation, firak in Islam. But this is not a reflection that leads to hopelessness!
Sheikh Farid continues, the body in which separation does not arise, consider that body a cremation ground. When we do not feel this feeling, it is as if we are walking around dead and unfeeling. If we feel this feeling, it means we are alive. Separation is alive or awakened where there is love! When we are so in love, so devoted, so aware of our Beloved, that we cannot bear to be apart, that is the separation Sheikh Farid is speaking about here. Without that awareness, without those pangs, so many of us come and go without a sense of how separated we truly are. This feeling is painful. It can rule us. But it is also a sign of our awareness, of our very existence. And in that way, it can be a comfort and a joy, because of the excitement of meeting, or the anticipation of it ending. In this separation, we are drenched in love. We are steeped in devotion. We are desperate for connection. Will we understand separation and its pains as a positive thing? Will we become seekers who are this in love with the beloved One?
