Baba Farid and the relationship between Sufi Saints and Nath Yogis

Baba Farid, full name Fariduddin Ganjashakar, is quintessentially the first South Asian Sufi Saint, stemming from Punjab region of Bharat (Pre partition or Unified Punjab). His edgy poetry and brutally honest writings have been preserved in Gurmukhi that can also be viewed as bitter and stinging as he breaks away from the pattern of ritualized religion and shares the pathway of the heart (Bhakti). His writings are raw, unadorned and cut through to the existential struggles of human life: hunger, pain, impermanence and the sufferings caused by a break of Union with the Divine.

The words of Fariduddin is grounded into the soil and land of Punjab; and is known for adding to the foundations of the many Natha, Sufi, Sikhi and Hindu-Punjabi poetry traditions on Bhakti (Divine Love) that exists there. One could argue that without Baba Farid, modern Punjabi culture on either side of the IndoPak border would be void of its incredible depth of spiritual vocabulary (not just in speech but also in action). Baba Farid, like many of the many spiritual masters whose wisdom is timeless, made spirituality accessible to farmers, artisans, villagers, and all sorts of lay-people. In other words, Baba Farid carved out a space where spirituality belonged to people, not clerics like Qazis or scholars like the Brahmins.

Through the writings of Baba Farid, you will find an influence of the Nath Yogis, as Baba Farid also emphasized austerity, body-discipline, and inner transformation like breath control (Pranayama) and becoming responsible for the raising and reducing of heat in the body (Tapas). Historically, Nath Yogis and Sufis such as Baba Farid lived in close proximity with one another, having a constant exchange of knowledge and information. For many Nath Yogis, he is a revered figure who embodied Yogic endurance in spite of wearing the cloak of a Sufi.

Sheikh Farid - a Sufi Saint seen as a Yogi by the Nathas and a Bhagat by Sikhs

Personally, I would like to visit his main Dargah in Pakpattan town of what is now Pakistan Punjab. The more I learn through the writings of Baba Farid, I find a person who transcends our concept of religion, his brutal honesty about suffering and devotion ensures that even today his knowledge and writings are relevant. His knowledge is invoked into Punjabi culture, without even knowing it, Punjabis of all faiths - Sikh, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, unaffiliated - quote him in songs, his knowledge is taught as common sense, and his wisdom domesticated directly into what we define as 'culture'. Baba Farid is a human who broke societal barriers and exposed the rawness of human existence. He is the bridge between the teachings of Islam and Indic Spirituality; between ascetic practice and devotional surrender, and the current of Bhakti breaking ritualism that was already in existence already in South Asia with the incoming Sufi teachings from West of Khurasan (Afghanistan). Baba Farid's enduring legacy is that Bangladesh has a city called Faridpur named in his honor, Pakistan and India have loads of Dargahs from his Sufi order and as far West as Jerusalem, there is a hospice in which he did his practices in his visit to the then Sultanate of Salahudin Ayubi. You can read more about that here: https://www.dawn.com/news/1385970. My next post two posts are simply translations of the writings of Baba Farid that are found in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

The room in Jerusalem where Baba Farid took residence for 40 days