Below is an old writeupby this Daas on this topic:
ਫਰੀਦਾ ਰੋਟੀ ਮੇਰੀ ਕਾਠ ਕੀ ਲਾਵਣੁ ਮੇਰੀ ਭੁਖ ॥
ਜਿਨਾ ਖਾਧੀ ਚੋਪੜੀ ਘਣੇ ਸਹਨਿਗੇ ਦੁਖ ॥28॥ਕਾਠ means wood and ਲਾਵਣੁ means sabjee or daal that we eat with roti. Chopree roti is that roti on which ghee or butter is applied.
No one eats wooden roti. Some historians made up stories like Baba Farid jee used to hang a piece of wood around his neck and whenever he felt hungry he used to chew on that wood. This is absurd and not eating food is not acceptable in Gurmat.
Baba jee is teaching us to be satisfied in whatever kind of food we can afford by earning honestly i.e. food that is bought using honest earnings is the only food acceptable in Gurmat. One’s who eat delicious and rich food prepared through dishonest earnings will go through a lot of suffering.
In the light of above introduction, the meanings of this pankiti would be as follows:
O Farid, My roti is hard like wood (roti prepared using cheap grains like Jau or Bajra as opposed to soft wheat roti) and my hunger is so strong that it serves as daal or sabjee for me. (When one is extremely hungry, one does not care about taste. Tasteless food too tastes very tasty when one is hungry. So Baba Farid jee’s hunger serves as his daal and sabji). Ones who eat delicious soft wheat rotis applied with ghee or butter (and earned through dishonest means, or not belonging to you) will suffer immensely.
To interpret this to mean that one should avoid applying gheo on roti is not understanding this pankiti. If ghee had been bad, Guru Sahib would not have used it in langar. It is known that Guru ka Langar was very rich during the Guru period and they even used to put gheo in kheer as written in Ramkali ki Vaar –
ਲੰਗਰਿ ਦਉਲਤਿ ਵੰਡੀਐ ਰਸੁ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤੁ ਖੀਰਿ ਘਿਆਲੀ ॥ (Mata Khivi distributes wealth in Langar; she distributes sweet and delicious Kheer (rice pudding) mixed with Gheo in langar).
The issue here is to be contented in whatever Guru Sahib has blessed us with. One can do ardaas but to covet someone else's food or to resort to dishonest means to get what you want is not right.
Baani is Agam Agaadh Bodh. May Guru Sahib forgive my mistakes in interpreting the above pankiti.
Daas,
Kulbir Singh
ਸਤਿਗੁਰਬਚਨਕਮਾਵਣੇਸਚਾਏਹੁਵੀਚਾਰੁ॥