[salok] Bhagat Fareed Jeo Kae

[lowest of the low singhni]

vaheguru ji ka khalsa vaheguru ji ki fateh

ਹੰਸਾ ਦੇਖਿ ਤਰੰਦਿਆ ਬਗਾ ਆਇਆ ਚਾਉ ॥

hansaa daykh tarandi-aa bagaa aa-i-aa chaa-o

Seeing the swans swimming, the cranes became excited.

ਡੁਬਿ ਮੁਏ ਬਗ ਬਪੁੜੇ ਸਿਰੁ ਤਲਿ ਉਪਰਿ ਪਾਉ ॥੧੨੨॥

dub mu-ay bag bapurhay sir tal upar paa-o

The poor cranes were drowned to death, with their heads below the water and their feet sticking out above.

ਮੈ ਜਾਣਿਆ ਵਡ ਹੰਸੁ ਹੈ ਤਾਂ ਮੈ ਕੀਤਾ ਸੰਗੁ ॥

mai jaani-aa vad hans hai taaN mai keetaa sang

I knew him as a great swan, so I associated with him.

ਜੇ ਜਾਣਾ ਬਗੁ ਬਪੁੜਾ ਜਨਮਿ ਨ ਭੇੜੀ ਅੰਗੁ ॥੧੨੩॥

jay jaanaa bag bapurhaa janam na bhayrhee ang

If I had known that he was a only wretched crane, I would never in my life have crossed paths with him.

ਕਿਆ ਹੰਸੁ ਕਿਆ ਬਗੁਲਾ ਜਾ ਕਉ ਨਦਰਿ ਧਰੇ ॥

ki-aa hans ki-aa bagulaa jaa ka-o nadar Dharay

Who is a swan, and who is a crane, if God blesses him with His Glance of Grace?

ਜੇ ਤਿਸੁ ਭਾਵੈ ਨਾਨਕਾ ਕਾਗਹੁ ਹੰਸੁ ਕਰੇ ॥੧੨੪॥

jay tis bhaavai naankaa kaagahu hans karay

If it pleases Him, O Nanak, He changes a crow into a swan.

i don't completely understand what this means, especially the first part. are the swans the goodies and the cranes the baddies? if so, why would they become excited by seeing the goodies swimming? or do they want to hurt the swans?

i think the second part is about our expectations of others, which often lead to disappointment. no-one can ever truly know the thoughts or mind of another person (unless Maharaj has blessed them with that power). as humans we're continually making judgements about people we see. small example - if we see an old 'baba' with a soti dressed in white followed by a group of people, we either think that he must be great, or we think he's fobbing people off. these prejudices in our heads are so hard to control, but we have to stop and think about *why* we have them.

i'm not 100% sure about the third part either. at the end of the day Maharaj made us all and in the bigger picture he is controlling everything. there's no need for us to pass judgements on people as soon as we see them. Maharaj has the power to change people by just one line of Gurbani in a millisecond. yet we have so much hatred in our hearts for so many people whom look down upon.

could someone please elaborate on the swans-cranes situation? and possibly on the shabad as a whole because i have no idea what i'm talking about. thank you.

~l~

vaheguru ji ka khalsa vaheguru ji ki fateh

[Guest Papi]

i think you have a pretty good idea about the last 2 saloks there.

dont take the first one as literal, swan is beautiful and it is said they eat jewels (again, figure of speech). in gurbani, swans are equated to gurmukhs and cranes to manmukh. so i think what bhagat kabir ji is saying is that when people like me see gurmukhs enjoying and getting laha from waheguru, i also wish i could do that. i try to mimic their behaviour but as i can't see beyond the physical being i only try to mimic their outer appereance. i have no clue what is happening inside their mind, with guru kirpa. so in the end by mimicing i only hurt myself because i have no faith in guruji. when i try to mimic them, it in turns ups my ego which end up hurting my spiritual side a lot.

rIsw kirh iqnwVIAw jo syvih dru KVIAwh ]

reesaa karih thinaarreeaa jo saevehi dhar kharreeaah ||

We imitate those who stand and serve at the Lord's Door.

http://sikhitothemax.com/page.asp?ShabadID=220

hope that helped :cool:

[Akaali]

Vaheguru ji ka khalsa, Vaheguru ji ki fateh!

That slok is soo thoughtful bhainjee.

ਹੰਸਾ ਦੇਖਿ ਤਰੰਦਿਆ ਬਗਾ ਆਇਆ ਚਾਉ ॥

Seening the swans swimming (hansaa daykh tarandi-aa), the cranes became excited (bagaa aa-i-aa chaa-o)

ਡੁਬਿ ਮੁਏ ਬਗ ਬਪੁੜੇ ਸਿਰੁ ਤਲਿ ਉਪਰਿ ਪਾਉ ॥੧੨੨॥

The poor cranes were drowned to death (dub mu-ay bag bapurhay), with their heads below the water and their feet sticking out above (sir tal upar paa-o).

ਮੈ ਜਾਣਿਆ ਵਡ ਹੰਸੁ ਹੈ ਤਾਂ ਮੈ ਕੀਤਾ ਸੰਗੁ ॥

I knew him as a great swan (mai jaani-aa vad hans hai), so I associated with him (taaN mai keetaa sang).

ਜੇ ਜਾਣਾ ਬਗੁ ਬਪੁੜਾ ਜਨਮਿ ਨ ਭੇੜੀ ਅੰਗੁ ॥੧੨੩॥

If I had known that he was a only wretched crane (jay jaanaa bag bapurhaa), I would never in my life have crossed paths with him (janam na bhayrhee ang).

Gurbani is so universal it can be applied in so many ways, dhan guru sahib, just how everything relates back to the mool mantar.

In the above panktee Bhagatjee is saying that the swans swim across with such ease in sehaj, they have got the ABILITY (kamaee) to swim to their destinations, they were taught by their parents (satguru), they had faith in their parents when they first started to swim, they followed in the way of their parents and their instructions to (took amrit) swim and as they grew and learnt how to tackle the rough waters (maya), they stood afloat because of their training and ability, when the crane saw them he thought wow that looks easy maybe I can do that as well so he tried to act like a swan, but he was not taught how to, he never did seek the sanctuary of gurujee, or take the sweet khande batte ka amrit, he did not have any kamaaee, or knew how to deal with rough waters (maya) and he drowned.

Seeing his long legs and thin body I was intrigued. I saw his pehrava (bana/chola) and thought he must be up there, so I started to do his sangat and associate with him, but little that I knew under that garb was a crane, bhagat jee is not putting down the crane, but his intentions are to his karm, that the crane is so unfortunate, only if he had the understanding/traninig/grace he could've been saved, as he goes onto say.

ਕਿਆ ਹੰਸੁ ਕਿਆ ਬਗੁਲਾ ਜਾ ਕਉ ਨਦਰਿ ਧਰੇ ॥

Who is a swan, and who is a crane (ki-aa hans ki-aa bagulaa), if God blesses him with His Glance of Grace? (jaa ka-o nadar Dharay)

ਜੇ ਤਿਸੁ ਭਾਵੈ ਨਾਨਕਾ ਕਾਗਹੁ ਹੰਸੁ ਕਰੇ ॥੧੨੪॥

If it pleases Him, O Nanak (jay tis bhaavai naankaa), He changes a crow into a swan (kaagahu hans karay).

Whether he is a swan or a crane, IF the Lord bestows his grace upon him, he makes him his own, they why hate on anyone? O' Nanak, whats a crane, EVEN IF its a crow, he can transform him into a swan and the lord makes his life fruitful, brings him to the true guru (the swan's parents), dhan dhan Guru Gobind Singh Sahib, Dhan Dhan Mataa Saahib Kaur Jee. He gets blessed with the sangat of swans (gurmukh pyaare), and stays afloat of maya being with the company of swans, and crosses over the world ocean.

O' Father Vaheguru, save this wretched crane! Bhul chuk muaf.

Vaheguru ji ka khalsa, Vaheguru ji ki fateh!

Vaheguru, Vaheguru, Vaheguru, Vaheguru, Vaheguru, Vaheguru, Vaheguru, Vaheguru