Three
Translations from the Poems of Bulleh Shah (1680–1757),
an Indian Punjabi Sufi poet, a humanist and philosopher
(1) I'm
free I'm detached
i am free i am
detached
neither a patient nor a healer i am
no idol breaker no idol worshipper
neither a Sayyad nor a Saeed i am
i am not bound by any attachment
though entire world roaming i am
no virtue i hold nor any blemish
oblivious to all things naturally i am
why ask Bulle Shah about his existence
no birth i have unborn i am
(2) I'm now
lost
i'm now lost,
lost i'm in the city of love
myself i seek but do not find
my head or hand or feet
friend, whereforth
away from home you take me?
from my bonds who's there to liberate me?
my ego is gone
now myself i'm able to see—
and with the world all's well
for Bulle Shah
there is only one Lord here and hereafter
now to him in this world
none's a stranger
(3) Struck
by His Love
he who is struck
by His love
he dances and sings out of tune
he to whom all pain is welcome
is never in his mind perturbed
the life and death's limitations
mar not his self-realization
he who is dressed in His love
has the Lord's blessings on him
he has no questions to ask
he has no answers to seek
he in his life finds fulfillment
in whose heart the Beloved dwells
for him no music nor the lyre
he is just mad with ecstasy
Bulle Shah has found the Truth
in the city of His Love
all the world's cacophony
has proved itself to be false
Translator's
Note: Bulle Shah, 1680-1757, was a Sufi saint of
Sialkot, now in Pakistan's Punjab Province, who is
well-known for his mystic love and devotion-filled songs
in Punjabi vernacular. These songs are immensely popular
among the rural folks of Punjab, both in India and
Pakistan, even to this day.
Editor's
Notes: Bulleh Shah (1680–1757) (Punjabi: بلہے شاہ,
ਬੁੱਲ੍ਹੇ ਸ਼ਾਹ, Hindi: बुल्ले शाह, full name Abdullah
Shah) was a Indian Punjabi Sufi poet, a humanist
and philosopher.
Bulleh Shah
is believed to have been born in 1680, in the small
village of Uch, Bahawalpur, Punjab, in present day
Pakistan. His father, Shah Muhammad Darwaish, was a
teacher and preacher in a village mosque. Little is
known about Bulleh Shah's ancestry except that some of
his forebears were migrants from Uzbekistan and that his
family claimed direct descent from the prophet Muhammad.
Poetry
Style
The verse
form Bulleh Shah primarily employed is called the Kafi,
a style of Punjabi, Sindhi and Siraiki poetry used not
only by the Sufis of Sindh and Punjab, but also by Sikh
gurus.
Bulleh Shah’s poetry and philosophy strongly criticizes
Islamic religious orthodoxy of his day.
A
Beacon of Peace
Bulleh
Shah's time was marked with communal strife between
Muslims and Sikhs. But in that age Baba Bulleh Shah was
a beacon of hope and peace for the citizens of Punjab.
While Bulleh Shah was in Pandoke, Muslims killed a young
Sikh man who was riding through their village in
retaliation for murder of some Muslims by Sikhs. Baba
Bulleh Shah denounced the murder of an innocent Sikh and
was censured by the mullas and muftis of Pandoke. Bulleh
Shah maintained that violence was not the answer to
violence. Bulleh Shah also hailed the ninth Sikh Guru,
Guru Tegh Bahadur as a Ghazi, or "religious warrior",
which caused controversy among Muslims of that
time.
Humanist
Bulleh
Shah’s writings represent him as a humanist, someone
providing solutions to the sociological problems of the
world around him as he lives through it, describing the
turbulence his motherland of Punjab is passing through,
while concurrently searching for God. His poetry
highlights his mystical spiritual voyage through the
four stages of Sufism: Shariat (Path), Tariqat
(Observance), Haqiqat (Truth) and Marfat (Union). The
simplicity with which Bulleh Shah has been able to
address the complex fundamental issues of life and
humanity is a large part of his appeal. Thus, many
people have put his kafis to music, from humble
street-singers to renowned Sufi singers like the Waddali
Brothers, Sain Zahoor, Abida Parveen and Pathanay Khan,
from the synthesized techno qawwali remixes of UK-based
Asian artists to the rock band Junoon.
Source:
Wikipedia
Sunil
Uniyal, IN—Lyrical
Poem: Om Shiva Om - A Prayer to Lord Shiva
