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Introduction :
Sheikh Farid, the great Sufi Saint and mystic,
lives eternally in the hearts of millions of his followers. Like
Nanak, he believed in One God and propagated the message of Divine
love, dedicating his life to chanting of His Name. He lived a very
simple life devoid of luxuries and practised severe austerities.
He possessed unparalleled humility and tolerance. His detachment
from wordly objects and desires is evident in the hymns composed
by him. He was insanely in love with God and that was the only
‘object’ he cherished. It is due to the universal and eternal
appeal of his hymns that they were accorded a place in Sri Guru
Granth Sahib Ji, the holy book of the Sikhs. Unlike other austeres
he did not yearn for a long life or for occult powers. All he
yearned for, was acceptance by his Lord. He urged his disciples to
spend the maximum possible time in Divine contemplation, in prime
of their life. He advised them to remain equipoised in pleasure
and pain. He was an extremely sensitive person when it came to the
feelings of other people, and never hurt anyone. Forcing people to
follow his ideas or accept his beliefs was never on his cards. At
every moment of his life he believed that life is transistory and
uncertain, so all wordly objects, that one expends so much energy
and time in acquiring, are futile. One of his sloks (hymns) reads
:
Faridaa kothae mandap maareeaa usaaraedae bhee gaye.
Kooraa saudaa kar gaye goree aae paye.46.
The hymn says : Those who have accumulated wealth and erected huge
buildings, have only wasted their lives in a useless ordeal. The
only fruitful bargain is chanting of Lord’s Name.
A glimpse into
his life is enough to leave one in a state of heightened spiritual
awareness. Hope you will start loving God and His entire humanity
without any bias after you have finished reading this account of
the great soul’s earthly sojourn.
Sainthood : The
Key to Religion
The all powerful God has created the earth, water and the entire
cosmos with its unlimited variety of distinguished species of
life. He has created vegetation and myriad forms of animal life.
Among all of them it is only the humans that He has blessed with
the subtlest of intellect and refined senses of hearing, speech
and understanding. He seems to be the only being equipped by God
to ‘realise’ Him. Within his species have been born the men of
God, the mystics, the great reformers, the sources of Divine Light
and knowledge, the harbingers of spiritual wisdom, the ones who
have guided others successfully across this world of attachments.
All of them have remembered God and chanted His name, but in their
own language. Thus God has been given different names in different
religions. ‘Eeshwar’, ‘Allah’, ‘Rabb’, ‘Ram’, ‘Rahim’, ‘Christ’
etc. are all His names.
All of them represent the One Light which is Eternal,
Indestructible, Indescribable, Incomprehen-sible, Unfathomable,
Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Self-Effulgent, Benevolent, Formless,
Uncomparable, Attireless, Invincible, Casteless, Colourless,
Creator, Terminator, Detached, Formless, Unshakeable, Impregnable,
Birthless, Deathless, Fearless, Independent, Unrestrained,
Friendly, Transcendent, Unblemished, and Supreme. Someone who has
so many attributes is bound to be known by different names at
different times of human existence and in different territories.
Thus we have created the confusion and illusion of so many
different Gods and different religions, fighting with each other
for proving supremacy and superiority of its beliefs and ideas
over others.
It is here that
Saints like Sheikh Farid step in and preach the oneness or
non-duality of God. Saints like him awaken people to chant His
Name, and not waste this human life in seeking only material
fulfillment. Its they who teach the superiority of sublime over
momentary pleasures. The likes of Farid conquer the hearts of
innumerable through their utter humility, and detachment. They
secure their life and after life through unparallel love and
contemplation of the Divine.
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