Bulleh Shah’s original thought and courage has always inspired me. A few days ago, I was struck by these verses of Bulleh Shah. I have attempted a translation but then its not a good one…
Bulleh-a aashiq hoyiyon Rabb da, Hoai Malamat Lakh
Tenon Kafir Kafir aakhdey, toon aaho aaho aakh
O Bulleh, just love your God and ignore the chidings
When they say you are an infidel, say “yes I am one”
And, then I visited Manzoor’s blog and found these translations. Manzoor writes “….Belief in humanity and love for fellow human beings is the sign of enlightenment and rationality, quoting again Bulleh Shah:
I am free, my mind is free,
I am neither a sick person nor a physician
Neither a believer nor an infidel
Nor a mullah or syed
In the fourteen spheres I walk in freedom
I can be imprisoned nowhere.
(translated by MA Akhyar?)
He complains, “in this country moral and intellectual dwarfs can be hailed as the saviors” and quotes from Shah again…
Crows swoop on hawks,
Sparrows do eagles stalk,
Strange are the times!
(translated by C Duggal)
Find more on Bulleh Shah on Jahan-e-Rumi here and here.
While concluding this post, I cannot help re-produce the following lines :
I know not who I am
I am neither a believer going to the mosque
Nor given to non-believing ways
Neither clean, nor unclean
Neither Moses not Pharaoh
I know not who I am
I am neither among sinners nor among saints
Neither happy, nor unhappy
I belong neither to water not to earth
I am neither fire, not air
I know not who I am
(From All Things Pakistan’s post on rediscovering Bulleh Shah)
