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Friday, 3 October 2008

Ishq da charkha

I am putting down verses by two great Sufi saints. I picked up these verses from song ‘Mera Yeh Charkha' by Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Ustad Nusrat has used these verses in two different renditions of same qawwali. In one of these he starts the qawwali by reciting Baba Farid and in another by Baba Bulle Shah. The poesy of Baba Farid is given below:

Gaflat na kar yaar Farid tu,
Chadd jangli rain basera,
Pancchi mud gharra nu aa gaye,
Kyun chit nahin karda tera.

Wal wal ishq mareda halle,
aate main teri tu mera,
yaar Farid karan jind Qurbaani,
je yaar paave ik phera

(
O Farid, Dont be insensitive,
Jettison this life of forest dweller.
The birds have come back to their abode,
Why don’t you feel the same?

Love is slowly killing me,
as I am for you and you for me,
Farid is willing to forgo his life
For the one sight of beloved

)
Here I would like to make a point that in most of the Sufi Kalams the nature of beloved is not clear. It can be human, saint or god. The kalam by Baba Bulle Shah goes as:

Makke gayan gal mukde nahi,
pawein so so jume parh aaye,
Ganga gayain gal mukde nahi,
pawein so so gaute khaye,
Gaya gayain gal mukde nahi,
pawein so so panh paraye,
bulle shah, gal tan yo mukde
jadoon mein nu diloon gavaye.

(
Going to Makka will do no good
Even if you recite Koran hundreds of time,
Going to Ganges will do no good
Even if you take hundreds of dip,
Going to Gaya will do no good,
Even if you read hundreds of scared texts.
O Bulle Shah, good will be when
you give your heart)

ishq da charkha, dukhaan diyaan puniyaan,
joon joon kate javaan hoon payaan duriyan.

(In the Charkha of Love where suffering is wool
it keeps increasing as you spool)

4 comments:

Pilot-Pooja said...

Nice & intelligent post again!

Ustan Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is one of my favorites too!

Prashant said...

Thanks Pooja...Nice to know that you too like Ustad NFAK.. You must listen to other sufi singers such as Saabri Bro, Aziz mian and Abida...They are also very good..each one having his own style of rendition

Chetan.786 said...

Awesome work done........waiting for lyrics of more qawallis.......thanks a lot in advance.......:).

Anonymous said...

Hi, thank you for posting this as I love this poetry. But NFAK reads" Ghaflatb na kar yaar pareeton" not farid tu.

And the meaning of "Bhulleh Shah gal tayion mukdi, Jadon MAIN nu dilon gawaiye"
As in when we forget or forsake "ME, Myself and I"
Love your blog . Thank you