Why search for God?
Bulleh Shah – the master Sufi poet from medieval Punjab – identified where to find Love and the Divine presence. Nowhere, but within one’s self. And do check out a great rendition by Abida Parveen here.
The following lines and their translation are from here
Je rab milda nahateya dhoteya, te rab milda dadduan machiyan noo,
Je rab milda jangal phireyan te rab milda gaiyaan bachiyan noon
Je rab milda mandir – masiti te milda cham chidikhiyan noon
Ve miyan Bulleya rab onhan noon milda
Ati dil-eya achiyyan sachhiya noon
–
If God was to be found by bathing and cleaning, then frogs and fishes would have found him long back
If God was to be found by roaming in jungles, then cows and other animals would have found him long back
If God was to be found in Temples and Mosques then the birds and the bats would have found him long back
Bulle, God will be found only by those who are true and good at heart….
Bulleh Shah’s poetry’s fans of the world unite!
interesting post, the more i read sufi poets on blogs like yours the more im impressed – dont quite understand how it related to the topic though
Shehzad:
Thanks for the response here
The idea in broad terms is that there is no need to look elsewhere but within one’self to seek the Truth and Divine knowledge. Those who use empty rituals ONLY cannot find the true face of God. So there is emphasis on self-knowledge and the ability to correct and cleanse one’s soul and take away the trappings – greed, lust, power urges, violence and ego- that distract us from realising our innate humanity and prevent us from the ability to Love our fellow humans and our Creator without conditions and expectations
– this is my humble interpretation..
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other”
doesn’t make any sense.
Please do check this Kafi, sang by M Juman.
jey rab milda natyan dhotyan te rad milda daduan machian noh
jey rab milda japiyaan sattee aan noo atte rad milda ghagray khashean noh
jey rab labda jangle peeraan ta labhda gauwan wachian noh
way bhulian rab una noo milda …
dilyaan achaiyaan sachian noh
No wonders Bulleh Shah peotry has been favourite choice of singers however the variation in the text and authentic have often been perplexing. Minor variation leads to vasly different interpretation.
“Corrected Text”
Please do listen this Kafi sang by M Juman.
jey rab milda natyan dhotyan te rab milda daduan machian noh
jey rab milda japiyaan satteeaan noh atte rab milda ghagray khashean noh
jey rab labda jangle peeraan ta labhda gauwan wachian noh
way bhulian rab una noo milda …
dilyaan achaiyaan sachian noh
No wonders Bulleh Shah peotry has been favourite choice of singers however the variation in the text and authentic text have often been perplexing. Minor variation leads to vasly different interpretation.
Hi Raza!
I translated this poem to Spanish at my blog on http://ambrosiainnovata.net/?p=43
It seems me funny and insightfull at the same time.
Now I’m planning to post some poems from Saharaui people (from not recogniced Occidental Sahara people) and from Yemen authors, but I want to ask permission first to the Spanish publishers of them.
All my best
Ignacio
RR, Abida opened up the world of Shah Latif for me, there is a kafi collection she has to her credit that has the most amazing rendition of Shah’s Risalo. Thanks for linking the Youtube clip. I am speechless listening to it
Naveed Bhai
Thanks for the comment. Yes Abida P casts a spell – especially when she sings Sufi poetry. Please do share the videos if you have the links..
cheers, Raza
Raza Bhai, I have an audio link that is http://yangtze.cs.uiuc.edu/~jamali/sindh/res/new-ram-music.html
You will find “Abida Sings Shah Latif Bhitai” however you would perhaps enjoy a very young Abida Parveen singing Bulleh Shah in the very first track on “Abida Parveen Siraiki Kalam”
But could I trouble you with a request to undertake a audio journey that will take 7 minutes & 23 seconds
Refer to the link titled Ustad Manzoor & 2nd track titled “Khuta Kinjhar kin” (The King puts up camp at Keenjhar)
This is Shah Latif’s Sur Nooree-Jam-Tamachee & it is simply describing the scene of the King Jam Tamachee falling for the simply fisherwoman Nooree.
So it starts with Shah giving voice to Nooree who cries out to the Samoo King “You are the supreme lord, I, a lowly fisherwoman, full of blemishes, pray do not foresake me & turn your back on me in view of our abject poverty
At the banks of Lake Keenjhar, the King has put up his camp
Ladies of the harem by His side, by the Keenjhar, by the campside of Jam Tamachee
All these ladies, decked up in gold, laid down their tresses for the king to win his heart, by the Keenjhar, by the campside of Jam Tamachee
the hoarde of people, who sole possession is, Fish nets & stench of baskets of stinking fish, these relative of nooree, have now got this link to the royal household on account of the king’s marriage for Nooree, so enamored is he of her simplicity & grace
by the Keenjhar, by the campside of Jam Tamachee”
Now, what is about this fisherwoman’s humble existance & her demeanor her self-negation on account of her poverty & the king falling for her despite all this…is it the way Ustad Manzoor sings this that i am usually beyond that brink of tears
symbolically the king represents a religious figure (Allah in most cases & perhaps the Holy Prophet) & noorie & the likes of her, the mohanas whose core values of humility & simplicity are rewarded. the sufi interpretations are indeed layers of the onion & it would take a lifetime to fully capture all the nuances of the sufi poetry of the Shah
PS – Sorry for rambling on
All mystical poets, whether Kabir, Rumi, Bulle Shah and many more, echo the same message that God resides within the goodness your heart. Wipe the soiled mirror with your tears of love and you shall see your own image in it – tumhare aks main hee tumhara khuda chhupa hai…
All mystical poets, whether Kabir, Rumi, Bulle Shah and many more, echo the same message that God resides within the goodness of your heart. Wipe the soiled mirror with your tears of love and you shall see your own image in it – tumhare aks main hee tumhara khuda chhupa hai…
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after read his poetry
i m speechless……… i can’t explain
how i feel after reading his poetry
For me sufi people inhale and exhale just one thing and that is ‘LOVE’
a kalaam i heard ‘je tu rab nu manaana paleh yaar nu manaa rab man janda yar nu manaana oukha hai’ when first time i listen i was confused about its meaning( may be now also),but here yaar can be your murshid (guru),a lover like as LAILA was for MAJNU SAHAb depends upon u…………….but u should have the eye to watch the almighty ‘s noor……..
when some one write this type of poetry HE must have seen GOD in him ……………because one can only write this if GOD resides in him………
bahut achha hai , je rb milda nahtyan dhotyan milda daduan machhian nu, je rb mlda bhasam ramaya milda kumhaar diyan gadhiyan nu.