Vol. VI — 3q6 Bhagats of the Granth Sahib

Even if all men desire to love God, they will not succeed by their own endeavours :

This cup of love belongeth to God ; He giveth it to whom He pleaseth.

Farid, I have seen those eyes which charmed the world —

They could not endure the streak of lampblack,1 yet in them birds have hatched their young.

Farid, men shout and shriek and ever give advice ;

But how can they whom the devil hath led astray, turn their thoughts to God ?

Farid, if thou long for the Lord of all, become the grass on the pathway for men to tread on ;

When one man breaketh thee and another trampleth on thee,

Then shalt thou enter the court of the Lord.

Farid, revile not dust, there is nothing like it ;

When we are alive it is beneath our feet, when we are dead it is above us.

Farid, where there is greed, what love can there be ? Where there is greed, the love is false.

How long canst thou pass thy time in a broken hut in the rain ?

Farid, why wanderest thou from forest to forest breaking down branches and thorns ? 2

It is in the heart God dwelleth ; why seekest thou Him in the forest ?

SLOKS OF SHAIKH FARID 397

Farid, with these spindle-shanks I have traversed plains and mountains.

But to-day for Farid to lift his jug hath become as toil some as a journey of hundreds of miles.

Farid, the nights have grown long ; my sides ache and ache.

Curse on the lives of those who have hopes other than in God.

The following was written on Farid' s missing the visit of a holy friend who had come to see him : -

Farid, had I been present when my friend came, I would have devoted myself to him.

Now my body burneth like madder on the cinders, and I cannot pay him a return visit.

Farid, the Jat1 planteth the kikar, yet he wanteth the grape-tree of Bijaur ;

He spinneth wool, yet he wanteth to wear silk.

Farid, in the streets there is mud ; the house of my dear friend whom I love is distant ;

If I go to him, I shall wet my blanket ; If I remain at home, our love shall be severed.

O God, though Thou send Thy rain, and wet, and drench my blanket ;

Yet shall I go to meet that friend so that our love may not be severed.

It is said that when Farid was one day putting on his turban, it slipped from his hand. The follow ing was composed on the occasion : —

Farid, I fear that my turban will be soiled ; My thoughtless soul knoweth not that dust will rot my head also.

Sugar unrefined and refined, loaf sugar, molasses, honey, and buffalo's milk,

Are all sweet things, but not, O God, so sweet as Thou.

Farid, my bread is made of wood,1 hunger is my con diment ;

They who eat buttered bread shall suffer great pain.

Eat hard dry bread, and drink cold water ; Farid, on seeing another's buttered bread let not thy heart long for it.

I slept not with my husband last night ; my body is pining away ;

Go ask the wife whom her husband hath put away, how she passeth the night.2

Guru Amar Das has given the following reply to this question : —

She findeth no entrance to the house of her father-in-law, and no place with her parents.

SLOKS OF SHAIKH FARID 399

Can she for whom her husband careth not, be called a happy wife ?

Woman, whether in this world or the next, belongeth to her Spouse, the inaccessible and unfathomable One ;

Nanak, she is a happy wife who is pleasing to God the Unconcerned.

They who bathe, and wash, and adorn themselves, and then heedlessly sleep regardless of their spouses,

Farid, are as it were smeared all over with asafoetida, and the perfume of their musk departeth.

I dread not the departure of youth if my Spouse's love depart not therewith ;

Farid, how often hath youth become dry and withered without love !

Farid, my bed is anxiety ; its bottom, affliction ; its mattress and coverlet, separation from God ;

Such is my life ; do Thou, 0 true God, look upon me.

Men continually speak of love ; 1 O Love, thou art a monarch ;

Farid, deem the body in which there is not love a place of cremation.

Farid, pleasures 2 are like poisonous sprouts smeared with sugar ;

Some die while planting them ; others are ruined while gathering them.

XXXVIII

Farid, men have lost the four watches of the day in wander ing and the four watches of the night in sleep ;

God will call for thine account and ask why thou earnest into the world.

Farid, when thou wentest to the gate of the court, sawest thou not the gong ?

When that sinless thing is thus beaten, what shall be the condition of us sinners ?

It is beaten every ghari and receiveth complete punish ment at the end of every watch ; 1

So the body like the gong passeth a painful night.

Shaikh Farid hath grown old, and his body hath begun to totter ;

Were he to live even for hundreds of years, his body would become dust at last.

Saith Farid, allow me not, O Lord, to sit and beg at another's gate.

If that is how Thou art about to treat me, then take the life from my body.

0 blacksmith, thou goest to the forest with thine axe on thy shoulder, and thy water-pot on thy head ;

Saith Farid, I am longing for my Lord, thou art longing for charcoal.2

SLOKS OF SHAIKH FARID 401

Farid, some have a great deal of flour, others have not even salt ;

When they have all departed, it will be known who shall suffer punishment.

They who had drums, and trumpets, and umbrellas over their heads, and bards to sound their praises,

Went to sleep in the cemetery, and were buried as if they had been poor orphans.

Farid, they who built houses, mansions, and lofty palaces also departed ;

False was their business and they dropped into their graves.

Farid, there are many tacks on the patched coat to make it last, but there are no such tacks on the soul ; l

Shaikhs and their disciples have departed, each in his turn.

Farid, while the two lamps of man's eyes are shining, the angel of Death cometh and seateth himself on his body ; -

He captureth the fortress, robbeth it of the soul, and having put out the lamp departeth.

Farid, see what happeneth to cotton, what befalleth sesame,

Sugar-cane, paper, earthen utensils, and charcoal ;

The punishment they receive await eth those who do evil.

Farid, men carry prayer-carpets on their shoulders, wear a sufi's robe? and speak sweetly, but there are knives in their hearts ;

SIKH. VI D Cl

Externally they appear bright, but in their hearts is sable night.

Farid, if any one were to cut my body, not a drop of blood would issue from it,

Since the body which is dyed with God containeth no blood.

On this couplet Guru Amar Das made the follow ing commentary : —

This body is all blood ; the body cannot exist without blood ;

But the blood of greed entereth not the body which is dyed with its Lord.

When the fear of the Lord entereth the heart, the body groweth lean and the blood of greed departeth from it.

As metals are purified by fire, so the fear of the Lord removeth the filth of evil inclinations.

Nanak, that man is handsome who is dyed with the love of God.

Farid, search the lake1 where the Real Thing2 is to be found ;

What availeth it to search in a pond ? 3 one's hand merely sinketh into the mud.

Farid, the little girl did not enjoy her Spouse ; when she grew up she died.

Lying in the grave she calleth, ' I have not met Thee, O my Lord.'

Musalman faqirs. Sufis generally supposed to come from the Greek sophia, wisdom, but in Arabic the word means wool. Sufis affected woollen garments.

. 3 In inferior company.

SLOKS OF SHAIKH FARID 403

Farid, the hair of my head is grey, my beard is grey, my moustaches also are grey ;

0 my heedless and insensate soul, why art thou devoted to sensual pleasures ?

Farid, how far canst thou run on a house-top ? banish thine indifference to the Dear One ;

The days which were counted and allotted thee have passed away in vain.

Farid, attach not thy heart to houses, mansions, and lofty palaces ;

When unweighable earth falleth on thee, thou shalt have no friend.

LVI 1 1

Farid, set not thy heart on mansions and wealth ; think upon the grave ;

Remember that place whither thou must go.

Farid, forsake those occupations from which no advantage result eth,

Lest thou be put to shame in the court of the Lord.

Farid, perform the service of the Lord, dispel the doubts of thy heart ;

Darweshes require the endurance of trees.

Farid, black are my clothes, black my vestment ;

1 wander about denied by sin, yet men call me a dar- wesh.

That which hath been rotted by water, will not bloom if it be kept immersed in it ;

Farid, the wife rejected by God ever and ever grieveth.

D d 2

When a woman is a virgin she is happy ; when she is married her troubles begin.

Farid, she hath this regret that she cannot again become a virgin.1

The swans have alighted* in a little tank of brackish water ; 2

They dip in their bills, but drink not ; they thirst to fly away.

The swans fly away and alight on a field of kodhra ; -0> people go to drive them away ; 4

Heedless people know not that swans eat not kodhra.5

The birds 6 which occupied the lake 7 have flown away ; Farid, the full lake shall also pass away, and the lotuses 8 alone remain.

Farid, bricks shall be thy pillow, thou shalt sleep beneath the earth, worms shall eat thy flesh ;

How many ages shall pass away for thee lying on one side.9

Farid, the beautiful water-pot 10 shall be broken ; the excellent rope u shall part therefrom ;

In whose house shall the angel Azrail be a guest to-day ?

The soul which has lost its opportunities of salvation regrets that it cannot again return to a human body.

SLOKS OF SHAIKH FARID 405

The beautiful water-pot shall be broken ; the excellent rope shall part therefrom ;

How shall our friends who were a burden to the earth return now ?

Saith Farid, thou dog who prayest not, this custom of thine is not good ;

Thou never goest to the mosque at the five times of prayer.

Rise in the morning, Farid, perform thine ablutions, repeat thy prayer ;

Cut off the head which boweth not to the Lord.

What is to be done to the head which boweth not to the Lord ?

Burn it instead of firewood under the earthen pot.

Farid, where are the father and mother who gave thee birth ?

They have departed from thee; art thou not yet convinced that the world is unstable ?

Farid, make thy heart a plain, level all its hollows and hills ;

And the fire of hell shall never approach thee here after.

Guru Arjan makes the following observation on this : —

O Farid, the Creator dwelleth in creation and creation in the Creator ;

Whom callest thou bad, since there is none beside Him?

Farid, if my throat had been cut on the same day as my navel string, :

I should not have fallen into such trouble, nor undergone such hardship.

My teeth, my feet, mine eyes, mine ears have ceased their functions ;

The body crieth aloud, ' Those acquaintances have gone away.'

LXXVIII

Farid, do good for evil, clothe not thy heart with anger : Thus shall thy body not suffer pain, and thou shalt obtain everything.

Farid, the birds l are guests in the beautiful garden of the world ;

The morning drum beateth ; make preparations for thy departure.

Farid, musk is distributed at night ; they who sleep obtain no share of it.

How can they whose eyes are asleep obtain it ?

Farid, I thought I alone had sorrow, but the whole world also hath sorrow ;

When I ascended an eminence and looked, I found the same anguish in every house.

Guru Arjan replies to this as follows : —

Farid, in the midst of this fair earth there is a thorny garden ;

But the man favoured by the spiritual guide feeleth not its prickles.

SLOKS OF SHAIKH FARID 407

LXXXIII

Far id, few are found who love the Dear One ; They who do, find their lives happy and their persons beautiful.

0 river,1 destroy not thy bank ; thou too must give an account ;

The river floweth whithersoever God willeth.

Farid, my days have passed in sorrow, and my nights in anguish ;

The ferryman standeth up and shout eth, ' The wind is driving the boat into the whirlpool.' 2

The long river of life floweth and wasteth away its banks ; 3

If the ferryman be on the alert, what harm can the whirlpool do the boat ?

LXXXVII

Farid, there are twenty friends in words ; but if thou search for one real friend, thou shalt not find him.

1 am suffering like smouldering fuel for my beloved friends.