Description
The Pain of Separation
The Shlokas of Sheik Farid From the Guru Granth Sahib
by Sant Ajaib Singh Ji
Sheik Farid was a well-known Sufi Saint who lived in Northern India in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. One hundred and thirty-four hymns, or shlokas, of his were included in the Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib. The Pain of Separation contains English translations of these verses as well as extensive commentary by Sant Ajaib Singh. The verses convey powerful images of the human condition and of spiritual yearning, and the accompanying discourses movingly bring out their relevance to those seeking God even today.
As Sant Ajaib writes in the book, “Farid Sahib was a Sufi Saint, born in the Muslim religion, and his bani is included in the Guru Granth Sahib. Guru Arjan Dev Ji Maharaj has included [in the Guru Granth Sahib] the banis of only those Masters who had attained the highest position, had reached the eternal home and whose path was that of the Five Shabds. Farid had so much yearning in his within since his childhood. When he did so many rites and rituals and still did not get to meet the Lord, he had the pain of separation. One can understand the pain of separation only if one experiences it. He who does not know what the pain of separation is, how can he understand it? Just imagine if we all had the same thoughts as Farid Sahib: how would we still be sitting here? We would have met God Almighty right away.”