Bulleh Shah – a few poems

Bulleh Shah ‘s poetry addresses most maladies that we face in this day and age.

Recently, I was asked to help a friend with the original text of Bulleh Shah ‘s Hindu na Na heen Musalmaan. I found the original Punjabi and also found two other pieces that I am posting here.

HiNdu na naheeN musalmaan,
Baheeye tiranjan taj abhimaan.
Sunni na naheeN ham sheeya
Sulha kuhl ka maarag leeya.
Bhookhe na naheeN ham rahje,
NaNge na naheeN ham kahje.
RoNde na naheeN ham hasde
UjaRe na naheeN ham vasde.
Paapi na sudharmi na,
Paap pun ki raah na jaanaaN.
Bulhe Shah jo hari chit laage,
Hindu turak doojan tiyaage

Neither Hindu nor Muslim,
Sacrificing pride, let us sit together.
Neither Sunni nor Shia,
Let us walk the road of peace.
We are neither hungry nor replete,
Neither naked nor covered up.
Neither weeping nor laughing,
Neither ruined nor settled,
We are not sinners or pure and virtuous,
What is sin and what is virtue, this I do not know.
Says Bulhe Shah, one who attaches his self with the lord.
Gives up both hindu and muslim.

Partisans live in Dharamsalas, cheats in temples,
butchers reside in mosques;
while lovers (of the Lord) live apart.

He further says :

Bullah is neither Rafzi nor Sunni, nor learned
nor an intellectual nor a Jaini.
I have learnt the lesson of love of God alone.
People say : Bulleh is an Infidel (Kafar)
and an idol-worshipper.
But in the Lord’s court, both the Momin and Kafar
(Believer and un-believer) are treated alike.

Kithe Ramdas kithe Fateh Muhammad

Eh do qadimi shor

Mit gia duha da jhagra

Nikal pia kuch hor

(Here was Ramdas [a Hindu] and there Fateh Muhammad [a Muslim]

What an ancient noise between them

But now their quarrel has vanished

And something new has emerged !)