Salok Sheikh Farid, Salok 68 — the broken pot and the snapped rope
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
Farid says: the beautiful pot of the body will break, and the thin rope of the breath will snap.
In whose house will Azrael, the angel of death, be a guest today?
The body is as fragile as a clay pot on a thin rope, and its end can come any day.
Bhannee gharhee savannvee: the lovely pot breaks. The body is that pot, and the breath is the rope that lowers it into the well. Then Farid names ajraa-eel, Azrael, who in Muslim teaching is the angel who comes when a life ends. He asks whose house the angel will visit today.
Azrael is not a monster here. He is a messenger doing his work. The question is a quiet reminder that every day is precious.
How might remembering how fragile people are change the way you treat them?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI