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  1. How Can I Take Off My Eyes From Your Luminous Face? Part 2

    April 18, 2016 by hjz5060

    I’ve cried so much that no tears are left
    Even the count of the stars has exhausted
    Let someone go and ask him why he has stopped visiting me?

    The poet expresses his grief here. He says that I have waited for you for so long and you have not yet arrived. My eyes have dried up by the amount of tears that have flowed out of them in your remembrance. I am still waiting for you to come back my love. In the waiting process, I have been counting the stars and now even the stars have been completely counted by me, I do not have anything else to do now. Please someone go and ask why she is not coming to meet me.

    O Graceful, come to me, I feel like exchanging glances with you
    Come with your dazzling beauty I like to prostrate before you
    I feel like dying today

    The poet now says that enough is enough, I have the reached the limit of my patience today. Please come to me and exchange glances with me. I will admire your beauty and I know that it is indeed deadly. Even though I know it is deadly, I still want to witness your beauty. My time has come, I feel like dying today because of that. There is no better way of dying than that.

    Come and undo your serpentine locks of hair
    Inflict more wounds on those who are already wounded in love
    Cut the distances, come close to me
    Let’s reveal each other’s woes, as I desire

    The poet is basically reiterating what he has said before, but this time in an immature way. Let’s cut the distances, let’s be one.

    Rafique’s eternal prayer is to die at the
    feet of the beloved
    and when I open my eyes in the grave I want the beloved before me
    To sit with you are my worship and never to leave your company because I see God in you
    You are mine and I want to be yours eternally and if need be I’ll snatch you from the
    Rest of the world

    Rafique, the poet says that his ultimate goal is to die in the feet of his beloved. In Islam it is considered that when you die, you open your eyes for questioning and answering about the deeds you did in your life. That being said, he wants to open his eyes to his beloved because he only wants to answer questions asked by the beloved. I want to sit with you and I would consider it as an act of worship. You are mine and I am yours. We are meant for each other. Enough is enough return to me or else I will snatch you from the rest of the world and forever make you mine.

    Now you have understood the profoundness in Sufi poetry. Now you know the pain and agony these people had whilst they wrote these pieces which even rhyme in Urdu. I leave you today with a  very special gift, the gift of Qawwali; the music of the Sufis.

     

     


  2. This Mere Drunkenness…

    April 8, 2016 by hjz5060

    In awe of every glance of the cup-bearer, I drank
    I drank playing with the waves of joy.

    O all-merciful! Please forgive all my wrongs
    I drank confounded by the extreme desire.

    I do not dare to drink without permission
    but the patronage of veiled eyes of my beloved beckoned.

    O abstinent! Look at the mischievousness of my drinking
    I drank by befriending the forgiveness [of God].

    Purple clouds are over-cast
    and the sound of music is all around.

    Whose tresses are open in the rains?
    The winds are perfumed.

    Let us dance in the garden courtyard
    the clouds brought music [with them].

    After seeing her eyes O Adam!
    I can feel the ambience of tavern.

    Near and far, somebody lives
    somebody do lives in my heart.

    From the time I have seen her eyes
    I remain mildly intoxicated.

    My beloved lives in my heart, like
    light lives in darkness.

    This mild intoxication
    is because of your eyes,
    that taught me drinking.

    Your love and your longing,
    your intoxicating glances
    made me a drunkard.

    What wine, what intoxication
    all this is [due to] your kindness.
    You served me [wine] with your eyes such
    that I have forgotten myself.

    The whole world is ecstatic, the order of the world is ecstatic.
    The day is ecstatic, so is dawn and so is evening.
    The glass, cup and wine are all ecstatic.
    Because of your intoxicating eyes, everyone and everything is ecstatic.

    This poem is basically telling how the lover is expressing himself. How he is blaming the person he loves for making him an alcoholic. But there is one twist in the tale.

    Of all the wines you have in your tavern
    serve me a little from your eyes

    He is not mentioning the alcohol we are thinking about.  He is actually saying that when someone looks into your eyes, it is as if a magical spell is cast on them. This is the alcohol he wishes, this is the drunkenness he desires.

    I am a follower of love since the beginning of life
    [and] I do not care for piousness or irreligiousness.
    My head has found your house,
    now I do not search for the mosque.

    The lover now proclaims that you love is important than any other thing in the world. Your love is my religion and you are my god.

    A little information on why I am interested in this sort of poetry. Since my grandfather was a Sufi( follower of the Islamic mystical school of thought) he was interested into this type of poetry and music. It is because of him that my entire family is interested in the sufi way- true love. I too listened to this type of music with and that is why I am an admirer of this genre.

     


  3. The Mysticism of Bulleh Shah !

    March 24, 2016 by hjz5060

    Bulleh Shah was a Punjabi Sufi poet who lived through the 17th century. He was a  humanist and a philosopher.  His first spiritual teacher was Hazrat Shah Inayat Qadri, a sufi spiritual leader of Lahore(city in modern day Pakistan). Bulleh Shah gathered spiritual treasures under the guidance of his spiritual leader and was known for the miraculous powers he had when it came to poetry. Today I want to shed light upon the profound poetry of a man whose sole purpose of life was to educate a person to dwell inside himself and discover the treasure that is hidden therein.

    You read several books of knowledge,
    But failed to read your own self.

    Bulleh Shah is implying here that to have gathered so much knowledge, went so many places in the thrust for knowledge that you forgot who you really were. You did understand what the books or their knowledge is, but failed to understand your own self, so what good has all this knowledge done to you? You should know yourself first and then you should know what or who others are because that is the essence of your existence.

    Off you run to enter temples and mosques,
    But failed to enter your own heart.

    Bulleh Shah is now addressing all the priests and Rabbis that you people have a thirst to enter places of worship, but you never cared to enter your heart. I would like to relate a famous quote here, “If being religious has made you more judgmental, rude and harsh, a backbiter, you need to check if you are worshipping God or your ego.” A person should love everyone else and not try to enforce religious on them. If someone is kindhearted and a nice human being, then you don’t need to enforce religion on them because being a humble person is a basic tenant of every religion. You shouldn’t necessarily go to places of worship to find God but should go inside your heart to find Him.

    You wage wars against Satan,
    But failed to fight your own ego.

    Satan is like a scape goat for everything bad that is going around in the world but that is not the case. In reality, it is your ego that is troubling you. If you want to get rid of the evils in the society, you should get rid of the evils present in your own ego first. You should try to be a humble human being and that is the solution for eternal happiness.

    Proclaims Bulleh Shah, you try to fetch floating objects,
    But failed to fetch what was at your home.

    Ever wonder why a man is so depressed? Psychiatrist would say that this is because a person is not getting his desire fulfilled. Why is this so? It is because we have high hopes. When you get a B on your exam while you were expecting an A is something that you would be upset about. But if you aimed for a C and then got a B, you would be over the moon. That is what Bulleh Shah is saying that you should be happy with what you have and always keep your hopes aligned with modesty.

     


  4. Forget Infatuation, Follow the path of Love !

    February 9, 2016 by hjz5060

    You will have to forget all about infatuation
    Try embarking upon on the journey of love!

    This is the title of one of the most renowned Sufi poetry ever, which was presented as a Qawwali by the legend Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Since Urdu is one of the most poetic languages of the world, the deep lyrics of this Qawwali amaze audiences all around the world. The Qawwali begins with a few Raags. A Raag is a type of vocal exercise the performers do usually at the beginning and in the middle of the Qawwali. They have no meaning if you listen to them at a glance , but if you delve deep in its core, you will be amazed by the might of profoundness the meaning possesses.

    dillagi

    After the melodious Raags, Nusrat starts by saying the first verse. The first verse as well as the entire Qawwali is actually differentiating between real love and infatuation. How difficult real love is and how easy infatuation is.

    You will not mock my suffering then…
    When you have tried giving your heart to someone

    The next verse is basically a reply to the people who scoff at a lover’s pain. Only a true lover understands the pain of another true lover, hence to understand my pain, you have to experience it yourself as well.

    Wound upon wound… inflicted
    Sip after sip… of your own blood
    Let out not a sigh, seal you lips
    This is love, not infatuation!

    This is an extension of the last verse and thus epitomizes the pain of the lover. The poet is implying that you have been wounded by your lover but still your suffering is not over until you sip the blood that is drawing out of these wounds and consequently let not a sigh out, this is love not mere lust.

    Love is no child’s play
    Think of it not as water, this is fire!

    The poet now uses a metaphor ( which he has used multiple times during the poem ). He describes the difficulty of fulfilling a relationship like fire, not water.

    This love is not easy
    Think of it this way…
    It is a river of fire…
    And you must drown to cross!

    This is my favorite verse out of all. This doesn’t make much sense when translated into English but in Urdu, this verse is a marvel. Another metaphor used by the poet to exemplify the difficulty of true love. Love is like fire, as he exclaimed in the previous verse, but this time it is like a river of fire. Just imagine a river of fire, and now think of going into its depth, so as if you are drowning. Did you imagine the pain? The anguish of the excruciating heat amalgamated with zero breath. Accompanying that pain, you have to get to the other side. The difficulty of this task is the same as the difficulty of fulfilling a relationship. Yes now you have understood love. Now you have forgotten infatuation.

    Translation from:

    Tumhein dillagi bhool jani pare gi (English Translation)

    Enjoy the Qawwali in good sound quality (English subtitles available)

     

     


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