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.
āpu savārahi mai milahi mai miliā sukhu hoi.
pharīdā je tū merā hoi rahahi sabhu jagu terā hoi.95.
-Guru Granth Sahib 1382
Commentary
Literal Translation
Interpretive Transcreation
Poetical Dimension
Calligraphy
In the ninety-fifth stanza, Sheikh Farid continues with this reflection on what it is we ought to be ‘worried’ or concerned about, speaking from the register of the Divine addressing the seeker. He says, if you set yourself in order, you will meet me; meeting me, there will be comfort. We spend so much of our time worrying about setting our worldly affairs in order—we are mired in the unending bureaucracy of taxes, property, rent, mortgages, we are worried about paying for schooling for our children, about health care, about retirement. What if we spent some of that energy on setting ourselves in order in a way that transcends the worldly tasks and to-do lists? Let us make ourselves complete. Let us do this through devotion to IkOankar (One Creative and Pervasive Force, 1Force the One). When we beautify our lives, when we practice remembrance and praise and Identification with the One, we meet the One. We connect with the One and feel the constant Presence of the One. In this transformation of our day to day through the experience of Presence, we find comfort.
Sheikh Farid continues, O Farid! If you remain mine, then the whole world will be yours. If we pursue this connection with the One, if we become of the One in every thought, word, and action, and remain in that relationship with the One, there will be no difference between the Divine and the seeker. In this world and in the next, we will be of the Divine and like the Divine. When we pursue our worldly tasks, when we get caught up in the temporality of our day-to-day lives, we wonder about how to keep the world as ‘ours’ through the accumulation of power or authority or relationships or material wealth. Sheikh Farid is asking us to get rid of that desire. We cannot be both of the world and of the Divine. But when we become of the Divine, the world does become ours, because the world is of the Divine and we have become Divine-like. We no longer find ourselves engulfed in the constant anxiety around loss and the pursuit of more that previously consumed us. Will we make this change? Will we set ourselves in order?
