Punjabi Wisdom 12: Being Greedy

Choee Kakh Dee, Choree Lakh Dee, Ik Braber
If someone can be corrupt for a few rupees , he will also be greedy for millions

This wisdom also shows how important it is to make sure our kids are learning to be honest when young. If they don't practice honesty when they are young (even when playing simple sports games), they may find honesty hard to practice later in life as well.

Punjabi Wise Sayings 11: Two

Taree ik hath naal nai wajdee

It takes two to clap

It takes two to quarrel. If one person is calm and collective, it is likely that that the quarrel will not happen.

Also, this speaks to the fact that there are usually two sides to every story. If you just hear the story from one hand, then it will likely be biased.

Punjabi Wise Sayings 10: Never Returns

Gae gal zaban thee teer chuta

Gae roh qalboot na anday ne

Once a word escapes the tongue or an arrow is released from the bow

Or the soul comes out of the body(cage), they never come back

-Waris Shah

Punjabi Wise Sayings 9: The Gardener

Mali da kam pani dena bhar bhar mashkan paway
Malik da kam phal phul laona laway ya na laway

Translation

The gardener's job is to water ( the garden)

Working hard day after day

It is God's job to make the fruit grow ( in the garden)

And it's up to God to decide to make the fruit grow or not

Commentary:

The Gardner's job is to water the garden and work hard day after day. Hence the gardener is only responsible for taking the means and working hard. The results ( fruits) of this hard work are in God's hand and hence it is God's decision if he makes the fruit grow or not i.e. it is not for the Gardener's job to worry about the results of his hard work.

Punjabi Wise Says 8: Teeth and Grain

Jeney Dand ditey neyn
oh chaban laee danay vee deysi

He who has given us teeth
will also give us grain to eat

This saying tells us about the unmeasurable power of our Creator and our need of reliance on Him. Our job is to try (i.e. take the means) and have hope up in him ( not have hope in ourself). We should not think that He has lack of anything that we need. He knows our needs and knows how/when/where to fulfill them.

"..Hasbi Allaah wa ni 'am al-wakeel"
"For us Allah sufficeth, and He is the best disposer of affairs." (Quran 3:173)

Punjabi Wise Sayings 7: one plus one is....

Bhukhey noon aakhyaaa ik te ik
os aakhyaa do Rotayaan

A hungry man was asked " What is one plus one"
He replied "two rotees"

The above is a simple saying with a lot of depth. When one is in need of something that is what all one thinks about. Actually it is interesting that one of the intentions that scholars say one can have in feeding oneself ( or working so one can feed oneself) is that one does it so that one can focus on Allah and not think of the need one has for food.

Another way to look at this is how things vary from different people's perspectives. So that means even a simple question like "one plus one" can have multiple answers depending on who you ask . So when one seeks an answer to a question, one should take the means to ask the right person. Also one lays down the question so that the person asked can move away form his/her box and think of it in the "terms" you are thinking about it.

May Allah grant us tawfiq in our communciations!

Punjabi Wise Saying 6

Ik dar band tey sau dar khuley
If one door closes, dont be desperate, a hundred doors are open for you

So if there is something you seek then dont worry if it doesnt happen the way you want it to happen ( or when you want it to happen or it seems as if you are failing). Because the closure of one door means that there are other may have opened now.

In the end, if we have patiently preservered in a matter by taking effective means ( in an effective way), then we should know that the result is the the hands of Allah. The hopes we have should not be in the means but should be in Allah and know that the best of means is dua. The following ayah is quite fitting here:

"So with distress there is relief, Indeed , relief comes with distress. So when you are done still be prepared and direct your request to your Lord" (94:5-8 Trans: Cleary)

Punjabi Wise Saying 5

dud rakhee te billey noon nu biaaana
To ask the cat to look after the milk

You can never trust a cat to look after the milk. You need to watch who you trust and what the item, is that you trust them with.

I guess this can also be applied to having good company. You cannot have good people around but not benefit from their company and vice versa.

Punjabi Wise Saying 4

aag nal ag naheen bujdhee
Fire is not put out by fire
(Anger is not put out by anger).

Recently, there was a fire down the street from me. Passing by the house while the firefighters were hard at work, , I wondered hat would have happened if the fire fighters had lit another fire to try to put out the original fire. Of course that would have been silly!

Similarly, in our daily lives we encounter many situations, where we might anger someone. It is easy to get angry in response but the better or the more sunnah way (i.e. "tmsw") is to remain calm and deal with the issue at hand (i.e. burn the fire out with proper chemicals).

Also having done a safety course where they asked us to put out simulated fires, I learnt that the proper ay to put out a fire is to aim the "fire extinguisher: at the root of the fire. So in real life you would aim your response to the root of the issue and if you cant do that at that point, then it is better to remain silent till you have the composure to analyze the issue at hand.

To get a better handle on the issue of anger, you can read my previous post on anger.

Punjabe wise saying 3

Annha anhee noon raah peyaa dassey
Dovyen toey wich ja phassey

A blind man lead a blind man, both end up in a ditch

Explanation: The blind man didnt know where he was going so how would he be able to guide another blind man. Hence with both people being blind, they came across a ditch and not seeing it they fell into it.

This saying emphasizes the importance of knowing whom we follow in our daily lives. If the person or trends we follow is/are not grounded in solidness then we might sink when they sink...
For example...This can be true for our teachers whom we gain our knowledge from.

Punjabe Wise Saying 2: Water, sticks and unions

Punjabee: "Panee wich sotaa maryaan panee do totey naheen hunda"

Translation: Water does not break into 2 pieces when you hit with a stick

Explanation: Strong unions don't break that easily. If you hit water with a stick, it doesn't break--- instead the energy from the stick is dissipated as ripples and eventually whithers away. The water returns to the same state as it was before and if you hadn't seen the stick striking the water, you wont even notice that an attempt had been made to break it. Thats how our bonds of kinship and friendships should be i.e. calm and unperturbed like water.

Punjabi Wisdom 1: Dog and tiger

I have a book from which I will be quoting famous punjabi quotes from time to time. There are thousnads of such sayings whch have been orally transmitted to our elders over the centuries. They are very wity, speacially if you are familiar with punjabi:

Apni galee which kuta wee shair hounda hay

Even a dog is a tiger in his own street

The above quote implies that even a dog can act like a tiger when it is in its own backyard. So even a week person can be brave when he is in his own backyard. This is obvious in sports where even week sports teams can be hard to beat at home. It may be the psycological advantage that you given that you are familiar with all the conditions which may arise.

Or it could also mean at the dog may have lots more friends in it's own backyard which may make itas effective as a tiger.