سرائیکی ڈیجیٹل لائبریری

پیت پراݨی مَن نوں بھاݨی

لذت بہت ݙکھالی

مثل سمندر آتش اندر

سو سو عیش لَدھیوسے

(خواجہ فرید)

In these two couplets, Khawaja Farid presents a striking and paradoxical vision of love. He begins with a simple yet intimate statement: “پیت پراݨی مَن نوں بھاݨی” — an old, deeply rooted love has become dear to the heart. The emphasis here is not on sudden passion but on a long-standing attachment, something that has quietly taken residence within the inner self. Love is not external; it is inward, settled, and enduring. It belongs to the heart in the same way that breath belongs to life.

The second line deepens this experience: “لذت بہت ݙکھالی” — this love has shown immense pleasure. Farid is careful to describe love first through the language of delight. Love is not introduced as suffering; it first appears as sweetness, attraction, and fulfilment. However, this pleasure is not simple or superficial. It prepares the reader for a deeper, more complex insight.

The third line introduces the central metaphor: “مثل سمندر آتش اندر” — like a samandar, a mythical creature that lives inside fire. This image is crucial to understanding the couplet. The samandar does not merely survive the fire; it dwells within it and draws its life from it. Fire here symbolizes the hardships, intensity, and consuming nature of love. Love burns, unsettles, and demands surrender. Yet the creature living within the flame does not perish. Instead, it finds its natural habitat there.

The final line resolves the paradox: “سو سو عیش لدھیوسے” — from this state, countless delights were obtained. Farid’s insight is profound: the very hardships of love become the source of joy. Love does not simply transform suffering into pleasure after the fact; rather, suffering itself becomes inseparable from delight. The burning of love is not opposed to happiness — it is its very condition.

In this way, Farid articulates a central mystical truth found across Sufi thought: true love dissolves the boundary between pain and pleasure. The lover willingly embraces the fire because it deepens intimacy with the beloved. What appears outwardly as hardship becomes inwardly a form of nourishment. The samandar thus represents the ideal lover — one who does not escape the fire of love but lives fully within it, discovering there an inexhaustible source of joy.