Aakhe Peer Bulleh Shah
Je rabb milda nhaateyan thoteyaan, Te rabb milda dadduaan machhiyan nu...
Je rabb milda jangal phireyaan, Te rabb milda gaaiyaan vachhiyaan nu...
Ve miyaan Bulleya rabb ohna nu milda, atte dilliyaan sachiyaan achhiyaan nu...
Padh padh ilam hazaar kitaaban, Kadi apne aap nu padheya nai..
Ja ja vadna e mandar maseeti, Kadi mann apne vich vadeya nai...
Awein ladna e shaitan de naal bandeya, Kadi nafz apne naal ladeya nai...
Aakhe peer Bulleh Shah, aasmani phadna e, Eh jehra ghar baitha ohnu phadeya hi nai...
Jangal dhoondim, bela dhoondim... Dhoondim sara jahaan...
Awein na sataaya kar... Saade vehre aaya kar yaar suboh shaam...
Masjid dha de, mandar dha de... Dha de jo kuj dehenda...
Par kise da dil na dhaanvi... Rabb dilaan vich rehenda...
Ohda rabb vi nai rusda, rabb di saun... Jihnu yaar manaun da chajj hove...
Ohnu makke jaan di lod nai... Jihnu yaar de vekheyaan hajj hove...
If God was realized by bathing and washing, It would be first realised by fish and frogs..
If God was realized by wandering the forest, It would be first realized by cows and beasts...
Says Bulleh Shah, God is realised by those, Whose heart is honest and pure...
You have read a thousand books and gained vast knowledge, But you never read your own self...
You earnestly enter Mosques and Temples, But you never enetered your own soul...
You fight with the Satan in the world everyday, But you never fought with the evil that resides within your own mind
Says Peer Bulleh Shah you want to catch the one in the sky, But you never caught the one that is sitting in your own home
He does not need to go to Mecca, Whose Hajj (pilgrimage) is achieved with the sight of his beloved
In the past few 'waking' thinking years of my life, I have always been in a tussle within myself. I was torn between two very convincing stories. The first of them being that we should visit our place of worship frequently to pay our respect to our God. Since I was born into this story, and it was embedded into my thought process, there was no getting used to this. It came naturally. Going to the gurudwara is something that I was always expected to do, and because I had seen it since I was born I really did not have a problem with it. It is sort of like the Innate immunity that we have in our bodies. It is already present.
The second story however, is like the acquired immunity. I stopped believing that going to the gurudwara was helping anything. I realised with time, that I wanted an explanation of why we had to go to the temple every week. Although I have never been regular with going to the gurudwara, there was always a guilt inflicted upon me by other people in the family. That I never go to the gurudwara and that I really ought to go. But I wanted to know why? Why I ought to go? What is in the gurudwara that makes God go there and not everywhere else. This was because I had heard the quintessential 'God lives everywhere, in every heart' statement. I was not quite sure what it meant, still am not sure in fact. But it had a strange mystic quality to it that made me think about the reason behind going to the gurudwara.
With time, I had started to believe that to pay respect to God, we do not need to go to the gurudwara. But, I did not get rid of the guilt. There was a constant shift of opinions. When I did not go to the gurudwara, I felt guilty of not going. When I went, I failed to see the point. People were texting when the kirtan was going on. Some ladies were discussing what another lady was wearing. I realised that perhaps, those people came to get rid of their guilt as well. They were told from the time they were born that one must obey God and a good person visits the temple frequently. Just like me, if they did not come they would feel they were bad human beings. And because they did not have a better answer to it, they just continued coming to the gurudwara. To prove to themselves and the world that they are 'good' human beings. And that the other non ethical stuff they did in their lives would be compensated by the fact that they go to the gurudwara very frequently and that they are very religious.
Although I had settled with the fact that going to the gurudwara and pretending that you respect the God is not my cup of tea. I still had guilt pangs when someone said to me that you should go to the gurudwara. Then I came accross Mr. UG Krishnamurti. He demolished my belief system and it created an even bigger mess in my mind. 23 years of belief, when goes down in a relatively short period of time, its very difficult to digest. He destroyed my very belief that something like God exists. Before this, I believed that God existed but was confused about the whole concept of pretending to be nice by going to the gurudwara. But, reading about him, added another complication to all of it. Now, I was even unsure if God actually existed. and it was tormenting my mind. I was conditioned for almost a quarter century that God does exist, so one side of me still totally believed in my pre-UG theories. But another side, totally agreed with UG because he made complete sense. So, along with the shift in opinion about going to the gurudwara, I also had shift in opinions about the very existence of God. There are days when I completely reject the existence of God and any higher happiness. And there are days I find myself in prayer with great conviction.
Then, I came across Baba Bulleh Shah's poetry. This very kalaam above has had the most profound effect on me. The message is so powerful and the words so simple. It completely dispelled doubts about going to the temple for me. In the eastern part of the world, religious visits often include bathing oneself in the holy pool of water at the shrine. Also, a famous way of seeking God is renouncing the world and wandering the forest. Bulleh Shah makes a very compelling statement when he says that if God was realized by washing bathing or wandering in the forest, then he would be first realised by fish, frogs and beasts of the forest. All the statements made in the poem absolutely made me sure that I do not need to go the gurudwara to show other people that I am a morally immaculate person. At least one of the tussles in me got solved. I do not feel guilty when I tell someone that I do not want to go to the gurudwara.
Along with that, the poem also proved to me that Baba Bulleh Shah was in fact a great great man who was way ahead of his times. What amazes me the most is the way he was able to think to radically differently in times when there were Mughals ruling over India and religious enmity was at its helm. Although there other sufis present, I believe it took a lot of courage and pure genius for Bulleh Shah to express himself so artfully and actually setting an example by living like he explained in the poems. Though I do not like UG Krishnamurti, I have to admit that he was pure genius. In todays world, we do not have any sufis or anyone who would say out loud what they believe. And UG's words are not like anything I have heard in my 24 years of life. I cannot imagine how his mind created those ideas since he grew up in a very religious family.
Essentially, both of them said the same thing but Bulleh Shah is not as stern and taxing as the UG phenomena is. Bulleh Shahs opinions are easy on the ears and the brain. They seem to have a soothing effect on you. Whereas UG's theory makes one doubt every action in their day to day life and creates a feeling of disbelief in everything. However, I am thankful to both, because they gave me answers for my questions. I am just having a hard time believing some of them (like the existence of God)!
Je rabb milda jangal phireyaan, Te rabb milda gaaiyaan vachhiyaan nu...
Ve miyaan Bulleya rabb ohna nu milda, atte dilliyaan sachiyaan achhiyaan nu...
Padh padh ilam hazaar kitaaban, Kadi apne aap nu padheya nai..
Ja ja vadna e mandar maseeti, Kadi mann apne vich vadeya nai...
Awein ladna e shaitan de naal bandeya, Kadi nafz apne naal ladeya nai...
Aakhe peer Bulleh Shah, aasmani phadna e, Eh jehra ghar baitha ohnu phadeya hi nai...
Jangal dhoondim, bela dhoondim... Dhoondim sara jahaan...
Awein na sataaya kar... Saade vehre aaya kar yaar suboh shaam...
Masjid dha de, mandar dha de... Dha de jo kuj dehenda...
Par kise da dil na dhaanvi... Rabb dilaan vich rehenda...
Ohda rabb vi nai rusda, rabb di saun... Jihnu yaar manaun da chajj hove...
Ohnu makke jaan di lod nai... Jihnu yaar de vekheyaan hajj hove...
If God was realized by bathing and washing, It would be first realised by fish and frogs..
If God was realized by wandering the forest, It would be first realized by cows and beasts...
Says Bulleh Shah, God is realised by those, Whose heart is honest and pure...
You have read a thousand books and gained vast knowledge, But you never read your own self...
You earnestly enter Mosques and Temples, But you never enetered your own soul...
You fight with the Satan in the world everyday, But you never fought with the evil that resides within your own mind
Says Peer Bulleh Shah you want to catch the one in the sky, But you never caught the one that is sitting in your own home
I sought you in the forest, I sought you in the wilderness... I sought you in the entire world...
Do not torment me thus... Come to my abode my love... Every dusk and every dawn
Demolish the Mosque, demolish the Temple... Demolish whatever could be demolished
But do not demolish someones heart... For God dwells in hearts
Even his God is not dissapointed with him,
Who realises the secret to his beloveds happiness.He does not need to go to Mecca, Whose Hajj (pilgrimage) is achieved with the sight of his beloved
Excuse my weak translation skills. I just had to do it. This is one of the most powerful things I have heard in my life. And considering it is in Punjabi/Urdu, I thought anyone who ever reads my blog is able to understand what it means.
In the past few 'waking' thinking years of my life, I have always been in a tussle within myself. I was torn between two very convincing stories. The first of them being that we should visit our place of worship frequently to pay our respect to our God. Since I was born into this story, and it was embedded into my thought process, there was no getting used to this. It came naturally. Going to the gurudwara is something that I was always expected to do, and because I had seen it since I was born I really did not have a problem with it. It is sort of like the Innate immunity that we have in our bodies. It is already present.
The second story however, is like the acquired immunity. I stopped believing that going to the gurudwara was helping anything. I realised with time, that I wanted an explanation of why we had to go to the temple every week. Although I have never been regular with going to the gurudwara, there was always a guilt inflicted upon me by other people in the family. That I never go to the gurudwara and that I really ought to go. But I wanted to know why? Why I ought to go? What is in the gurudwara that makes God go there and not everywhere else. This was because I had heard the quintessential 'God lives everywhere, in every heart' statement. I was not quite sure what it meant, still am not sure in fact. But it had a strange mystic quality to it that made me think about the reason behind going to the gurudwara.
With time, I had started to believe that to pay respect to God, we do not need to go to the gurudwara. But, I did not get rid of the guilt. There was a constant shift of opinions. When I did not go to the gurudwara, I felt guilty of not going. When I went, I failed to see the point. People were texting when the kirtan was going on. Some ladies were discussing what another lady was wearing. I realised that perhaps, those people came to get rid of their guilt as well. They were told from the time they were born that one must obey God and a good person visits the temple frequently. Just like me, if they did not come they would feel they were bad human beings. And because they did not have a better answer to it, they just continued coming to the gurudwara. To prove to themselves and the world that they are 'good' human beings. And that the other non ethical stuff they did in their lives would be compensated by the fact that they go to the gurudwara very frequently and that they are very religious.
Although I had settled with the fact that going to the gurudwara and pretending that you respect the God is not my cup of tea. I still had guilt pangs when someone said to me that you should go to the gurudwara. Then I came accross Mr. UG Krishnamurti. He demolished my belief system and it created an even bigger mess in my mind. 23 years of belief, when goes down in a relatively short period of time, its very difficult to digest. He destroyed my very belief that something like God exists. Before this, I believed that God existed but was confused about the whole concept of pretending to be nice by going to the gurudwara. But, reading about him, added another complication to all of it. Now, I was even unsure if God actually existed. and it was tormenting my mind. I was conditioned for almost a quarter century that God does exist, so one side of me still totally believed in my pre-UG theories. But another side, totally agreed with UG because he made complete sense. So, along with the shift in opinion about going to the gurudwara, I also had shift in opinions about the very existence of God. There are days when I completely reject the existence of God and any higher happiness. And there are days I find myself in prayer with great conviction.
Then, I came across Baba Bulleh Shah's poetry. This very kalaam above has had the most profound effect on me. The message is so powerful and the words so simple. It completely dispelled doubts about going to the temple for me. In the eastern part of the world, religious visits often include bathing oneself in the holy pool of water at the shrine. Also, a famous way of seeking God is renouncing the world and wandering the forest. Bulleh Shah makes a very compelling statement when he says that if God was realized by washing bathing or wandering in the forest, then he would be first realised by fish, frogs and beasts of the forest. All the statements made in the poem absolutely made me sure that I do not need to go the gurudwara to show other people that I am a morally immaculate person. At least one of the tussles in me got solved. I do not feel guilty when I tell someone that I do not want to go to the gurudwara.
Along with that, the poem also proved to me that Baba Bulleh Shah was in fact a great great man who was way ahead of his times. What amazes me the most is the way he was able to think to radically differently in times when there were Mughals ruling over India and religious enmity was at its helm. Although there other sufis present, I believe it took a lot of courage and pure genius for Bulleh Shah to express himself so artfully and actually setting an example by living like he explained in the poems. Though I do not like UG Krishnamurti, I have to admit that he was pure genius. In todays world, we do not have any sufis or anyone who would say out loud what they believe. And UG's words are not like anything I have heard in my 24 years of life. I cannot imagine how his mind created those ideas since he grew up in a very religious family.
Essentially, both of them said the same thing but Bulleh Shah is not as stern and taxing as the UG phenomena is. Bulleh Shahs opinions are easy on the ears and the brain. They seem to have a soothing effect on you. Whereas UG's theory makes one doubt every action in their day to day life and creates a feeling of disbelief in everything. However, I am thankful to both, because they gave me answers for my questions. I am just having a hard time believing some of them (like the existence of God)!
Comments
MAnoj
And my frnd Mr manoj ji,there r thousands of sufis living around us evn today, 'seek & u.ll find, ask & u'll get'
Regards
Sanjay Dansalia
:)
Made me realize why the ancient world gave so much importance of knowing thy self and meditation. And VIPASSANA thought me the importance of it while beliveing there is no God need or required for spirituality or exploring own self (unlike what I was though and had belived in for 20 years of my life). Now being 27, Meditation and knowning one self, soul and mind is the best thing that has ever happen to me. So any one who is a seeker, explore meditation to get rid of the action-reaction chain.
Even his God is not dissapointed with him,
Who realises the secret to his beloveds happiness.
He does not need to go to Mecca, Whose Hajj (pilgrimage) is achieved with the sight of his beloved
What is beloved? Whats the secret of its happiness?
The second line says that a sight of the beloved is as if the person performed Hajj.
Secret to happiness is worshipping the created :)