Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – Man Kunto Maula
10 March 2010
“Allah Hoo” from the Monsoon Wedding soundtrack (courtesy NPR)
Sufi poetry
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Allah Hoo by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
4 March 2010
Lovers have nothing to do with existence
3 March 2010
The lover’s food is the love of the bread;
no bread need be at hand:
no one who is sincere in his love is a slave to existence.
Lovers have nothing to do with existence;
lovers have the interest without the capital.
Without wings they fly around the world;
without hands they carry the polo ball from the field.
That dervish who caught the scent of Reality
used to weave baskets even though his hands had been cut off.
Lovers have pitched their tents in nonexistence;
they are of one quality and one essence, as nonexistence is.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (more…)
I become like a pen
27 February 2010
Ghazal 2530 from the Diwan-e Shams, in a version by Coleman Barks, in translation by Annemarie Schimmel, and in translation by A.J. Arberry:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I become a pen in the Friend’s hand,
tonight writing “say,” tomorrow “ray.”
He trims the pen for fine calligraphy.
The pen says, “I am here, but who am I?”
He blackens the pen’s face.
He wipes it in his hair. He holds it upside down.
Now he begins to use it.
On one sheet he cancels everything.
On another he adds a dangerous conjunction.
The writing depends entirely on the scribe,
who knows how to split the head of the pen.
Galen knows what a patient needs.
The pen cannot speak for itself, or know what
to disapprove of in its own nature.
Whether I say “pen” or “flag”, it is with this wonderful
conscious unconsciousness: the mind unable to include
its own description, composing blindly.
Held in a hand, yet free.
– Version by Coleman Barks
(Based on the translation by A.J. Arberry)
“These Branching Moments”
Copper Beech Press, 1988 (more…)
This thirst in our souls
26 February 2010
No sound of clapping comes from only one hand.
The thirsty man is moaning, “O delicious water!”
The water is calling, “Where is the one who will drink me?”
This thirst in our souls is the magnetism of the Water:
We are Its, and It is ours.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hich bâng-e kaff zadan na-âyad beh dar
az yeki dast to bi dasti degar
Teshneh mi nâlad keh “Ay âb-e govâr”
âb ham nâlad keh “Ku ân âb khvâr”
Jazb-e âbast in `atash dar jân-e mâ
mâ az ân-e U va U ham ân-e mâ
– Mathnawi III: 4397-4399
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
“Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance”
Threshold Books, 1996
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra
Sources of nourishment
21 February 2010
The heart eats a particular food from every companion;
the heart receives a particular nourishment
from every single piece of knowledge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Del ze har yâri ghezâyi mi khvord
del ze har `elmi safâyi mi khvord
– Mathnawi II: 1089
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
“Rumi: Daylight”
Threshold Books, 1994
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra
Ask us about the lion of God
20 February 2010
This caravan is not bringing our baggage — it has
none of the fire of our Friend.
Though the trees have all turned green, they
have caught no scent of our spring.
Your spirit may be a rosegarden, but its heart
has not been wounded by our thorn.
Your heart may be an ocean of realities, but its
boiling does not compare with that of our shore.
Although the mountains are very steady — by
God, they do not have our steadiness.
The spirit drunk with the morning wine has not
even caught a scent of our winesickness.
Venus herself, the minstrel of heaven, has not
the capacity for our work.
Ask us about the lion of God — every lion has
not our backbone.
Show not Shams-I Tabrizi’s coin to him who
has not our fineness!
– Ghazal (Ode) 695
Translation by William C. Chittick
“The Sufi Path of Love”
SUNY Press, Albany, 1983
I am enslaved to fate, of all else say no more – Rumi
19 February 2010
” I am enslaved to fate, of all else say no more
With a sweet tongue speak, else I plea say no more
Speak not of troubles, of treasures, tell me more
And if of this you know not, be not troubled, say no more
I have gone insane, Love found me, then whispered in my ear
‘I am here, cry not aloud, curse yourself not, say no more’
I said ‘ O Love it is other than Thee that I fear’
Said ‘ it may thus appear, yet it is not so, say no more
I speak in you ear, to you bring secrets near
Speak with your head, confirm a nod, say no more’
I asked, ‘ What do I see? Is it an angel or a man? ‘
Said ‘ no more an angel than a man, is another, say no more’
‘Tell me what it is, why withhold, why the flames of my torment fan’
Said ‘ just be tormented, confused, say no more
For leaving this colorful and false abode, you have made no plan
Rise up and just depart, leave this home, say no more’
Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi
When you dance
17 February 2010
Sunlight’s interpretation of Rumi’s Quatrain 784:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When you dance
the whole universe dances.
What a wonder,
I’ve looked
and now I cannot look away!
Take me or do not take me,
both are the same –
As long as there is life in this body,
I am your servant.
***
– Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise
Bantam Books, 1992
On the bank of the river
16 February 2010
On the bank of the river,
water is grudged by that one alone
who is blind to the flowing stream.
~~~~~~~~~~
Bar lab-e ju bokhl-e âb ân-râ bovad
ku ze ju-ye âb nâ-binâ bovad
– Mathnawi II:894
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
“Rumi: Daylight”
Threshold Books, 1994
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra
On the bank of the river,water is grudged by that one alonewho is blind to the flowing stream.
~~~~~~~~~~
Bar lab-e ju bokhl-e âb ân-râ bovadku ze ju-ye âb nâ-binâ bovad
– Mathnawi II:894Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski”Rumi: Daylight”Threshold Books, 1994Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra
Chal Way Bullehya Chal O’thay Chaliyay – Let’s go where everyone is blind
7 February 2010
Chal Way Bullehya Chal O’thay Chaliyay
Jithay Saaray Annay
Na Koi Saadee Zaat PichHanay
Tay Na Koi Saanu Mannay
***
O’ Bulleh Shah let’s go there
Where everyone is blind
Where no one recognizes our caste (or race, or family name)
And where no one believes in us
***
Ab to jaag Musaffir pyare
Raeen gayi latke taare
Kar le aj karni da weera
Mod na ho si aawen tera
***
Awake, dear traveller, you’ve got to move on.
Trailing its stars, the night is gone.
Do what you have to do, do it today.
You will never be back this way.
Your companions are calling.
Let us go.
***
Awake, dear traveller, you’ve got to move on.
Trailing its stars, the night is gone.
A pearl, a ruby, the touchstone and dice
With all that you thirst by the waterside.
Awake, dear traveller, you’ve got to move on.
Trailing its stars, the night is gone.
Below a modern rendition of these verses by the inimitable Meekal Hasan Band. They have been instrumental in reintroducing Sufi poetry among the youth of our country. (more…)
Who is looking out?
4 February 2010
Who sees inside from outside?
Who finds hundreds of mysteries
even where minds are deranged?
See through his eyes what he sees.
Who then is looking out from his eyes?
– Version by Coleman Barks
Open Secret
Threshold Books, 1984
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
who is the one
who sees the external
right from within
who is the one
who casts a hundred magic spells
when watching the insane in love
try your own eyes
see how they see
who is the one
who is looking out
through your eyes for you
–Translation by Nader Khalili
Rumi, Dancing the Flame
Cal-Earth Press, 2001
I have returned, like the new year (Rumi)
3 February 2010
I am posting Sunlight translations of Rumi’s Ghazal (Ode) 1375, from ”Diwan-e-Shamsi” (“The Collection of Shams”), rendered by Nader Khalili, and Prof. William Chittick:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
i’ve come again
like a new year
to crash the gate
of this old prison
i’ve come again
to break the teeth and claws
of this man-eating
monster we call life (more…)
Love is a mirror
28 November 2009
With love you cannot bargain
there, the choice is not yours.
Love is a mirror, it reflects
only your essence,
if you have the courage
to look in its face.
– Translation by Azima Melita Kolin
and Maryam Mafi (more…)
Reclaiming Pakistan’s soul
24 November 2009
Courtesy Bluechip magazine
In a dream Sain Zahoor saw a hand beckoning him to a shrine. He could not shake off the dream and eventually at the age of 13 left home traipsing from one Sufi shrine to the next. At Uchh he recognized the shrine of his dreams and stayed there, spending his days learning Sufi music and singing. Sain is unlettered, but has memorized hundreds of Punjabi Sufi songs by sketching images on paper. When he started singing at the age of five, his first lessons were in the Sufi kalams (verses of devotional spiritual love). Now nearly sixty, he himself looks like a Sufi saint when he comes onstage clad in long kurta and tightly bound turban with beads dangling down his neck and ghungroos – (bells) tied to his ankles. His is such a compelling presence onstage and so close to what a Sufi really looks like, that Sain Zahoor is adorned on our cover. Playing the centuries old three-string lute,he delivers kalams of Sufi poets like Baba Bullay Shah, Shah Hussain and Mian Muhammad Bakhsh with ecstatic joy and intensity which ends up in a dhamal – a frenzied dance. His first onstage performance only came in 1989 when he was invited to the All Pakistan Music Conference. In 2006 he received the award for the best singer in the Asia-Pacific category at the BBC World Music Festival.
Read the rest here
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