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 ji dihi nālā kapiā je galu kapahi cukh.
pavani na itī māmale sahāṁ na itī dukh.76.
-Guru Granth Sahib 1381
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
In the seventy-sixth stanza, Sheikh Farid says, The day the umbilical cord was cut, O nurse! If you had cut a little bit of throat that day, then so many entanglements would not have fallen on me, I would not have endured so many sufferings. Sheikh Farid is speaking from the register of a Muslim Sufi Sheikh who believes in the Day of Judgment. In Islam, the punishment doled out to those on the Day of Judgment is immensely harsh and painful, and the framing is one that understands the Divine as both wrathful and merciful. In this light, we can understand this as a reflection on what he has spent his life doing, and in turn, an invitation to all of us to reflect on the same thing. Sheikh Farid is saying, if I knew earlier that I was going to get this kind of punishment and this kind of suffering, why did I come into this world at all? The regret is tangible here, as Sheikh Farid thinks it might have been better if he had never come to this world full of entanglements at all, framing the cutting of the throat as a kind of ‘mercy.’
As seekers and human beings on earth, we often get caught up in numerous things. We often become entangled in relationships and with material things. We sometimes feel as if it is impossible to extricate ourselves from any of it. We can become so full of regret at the end, nervous and fearful of what consequences might lie ahead, that we may wish we had died before having to be in the world at all. Sheikh Farid is implicitly referencing one of the four stages of the Sufi path, which teaches the Sufi how to be in the world and deal with its various entanglements through discipline, effort, remembrance, devotion, and the guidance of a Sheikh. If we can see the creation and the Creator as one, we will not see anyone as bad. We will spend this life engaged in connection. Sheikh Farid, through voicing his own regrets, urges us to connect with IkOankar (One Creative and Pervasive Force, 1Force, the One) now, so that we do not feel deep regret and desperation. Will we live this kind of life? Will we live in unity rather than duality?
