The
saloks of Sheikh Farid
Ji guide the seeker towards life’s true purpose, the devotion to the one absolute Divine, IkOankar. In these saloks, he reminds us that our time in this world is finite; therefore, one must turn to IkOankar without delay. Yet, attachment to transient possessions and relationships causes many to forget this truth, becoming entangled in vices that lead to restlessness and inner turmoil. In contrast, those who cultivate virtues such as love, humility, patience, contentment, selfless service, and righteousness experience the bliss of connection with IkOankar even while living a householder’s life. Their life becomes serene and suffused with inner joy.
pharīdā bhannī ghaṛī savannavī ṭuṭī nāgar laju.
ajrāīlu pharesatā kai ghari nāṭhī aju.68.
-Guru Granth Sahib 1381
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
In the sixty-eighth stanza, Sheikh Farid addresses himself and says, O Farid! Another beautiful pitcher of beautiful color has been shattered, another beautiful rope has been snapped. The body is compared to a pitcher—beautiful and breakable. The breaths we have been allotted are compared to a beautiful rope, as if together they form a chain of existence. Sheikh Farid is clear: these things—the body, the breath—are temporary. Each day, we get news that another person has died. Death is a constant. There are always people leaving this earth. And so, Sheikh Farid continues, In which house is the angel Azrael a guest today? There is no day on which death does not happen. Which house is welcoming the angel of death today? We do not know. We only know that this guest will eventually arrive for all of us.
Sheikh Farid is again urging us into preparedness. Why don’t we think more about the reality of death? Why don’t we think more of these bodies and breaths as beautiful and thus worth cherishing, worth using with intention, worth spending wisely? We tend to think about some people as being ‘ready’ to die, based on age. When someone is particularly young or beautiful or both and they die, we might say things about how we never expected them to go so soon, or for someone so beautiful and full of life to have their life ‘cut short.’ But in Sheikh Farid’s framing, the shattering and the snapping are quick motions. There is no guarantee of a slow fade-out or a long life. We do not know when death will come as a guest in our homes. Whether we do anything to prepare for that arrival, it will happen, and it takes only a moment. In this way, death does not discriminate. In this way, death ought to always be expected. Will we live with this awareness? Will we cherish these beautiful bodies and beautiful breaths through our every thought, word, and action?
