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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Fida-E-Naqsh-E-Nalainat Kunam Ja. Ya Rasul Allah!



Tanam Farsooda jaa para
Ze Hijra Ya Rasul Allah صلي الله عليه و سلم
Dillam Paz Murda Aawara
Ze Isyaa. Ya Rasul Allah صلي الله عليه و سلم!


My body is dissolving in your separation
And my soul is breaking into pieces. Ya Rasul Allah!صلي الله عليه و سلم
Due to my sins, My heart is weak and becoming enticed. Ya Rasul Allah!
صلي الله عليه و سلم


Choon Soo’e Mun Guzar Aari
Manne Miskeen Zanaa Daari
Fida-E-Naqsh-E-Nalainat
Kunam Ja. Ya Rasul Allah!صلي الله عليه و سلم


When you pass by me
Then even in my immense poverty, ecstatically,
I must sacrifice my soul on your blessed sandal. Ya Rasul Allah!صلي الله عليه و سلم


Ze Jaame Hubb Tu Mustam
Ba Zanjeere Tu Dil Bustam
Nu’mi Goyam Ke Mun Bustum
Sukun Daa. Ya Rasul Allah صلي الله عليه و سلم!


I am drowned in the taste of your love
And the chain of your love binds my heart.
Yet I don’t say that I know this language (of love). Ya Rasul Allah
صلي الله عليه و سلم!


Ze Kharda Khaish Hairaanam
Siyaa Shud Roze Isyaanam
Pashemaanam, Pashemaanam, Pashemaanam. Ya Rasul Allah صلي الله عليه و سلم!


I am worried due to my misdeeds;
And I feel that my sins have blackened my heart. Ya Rasul Allah!
صلي الله عليه و سلم
I am in distress! I am in distress! I am in distress! Ya Rasul Allah!
صلي الله عليه و سلم


Choon Baazoo’e Shafaa’at Raa
Khushaa’I Bar Gunaagara
Makun Mahruume Jaami Raa
Daraa Aan. Ya Rasul Allah صلي الله عليه و سلم!


Ya Rasul Allah صلي الله عليه و سلم! When you spread your hands to intercede for the sinners,
Then do not deprive Jaami of your exalted intercession.






Tanam Farsooda Jaan Para - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan from Tasawwuf on Vimeo.






Post Courtesy:  Lyrics And Translation of kalam by Maulana Jami.


Note to Readers: Sufi Music is an ABSOLUTE gem of a blog. 



Monday, August 30, 2010

The Sham Seeking


With the two third of Ramadan almost over already, there are so many things that threaten to be a spoiler as concerns seeking 'maghfirrat'.

How can one seek Forgiveness, when one can not forgive?

How can one want Mercy when all that one keeps storing is vitriol?

How can one aspire to soak in the torrents of unleashed Grace when one holds back each time one gets a chance to grant a pardon?

How can one be genuine in one's pleadings at the Court, when one does not understand the power of granting?

How can one expect the Answer to an anguished heart, when one hasn't ever surrendered one's own self?

How can one!!!

Not that having done so one could have ensured the Desired.
Its not a deal. Its not a pact.
Its part of understanding the process of prayer. The sacredness of it. The loftiness of it. 
Its submitting to its grandeur. 


Its the criterion to be genuine to one's own self.




Image Courtesy: Michael Angelo's God and Adam

Sunday, August 29, 2010

If I Adore You


If I adore You out of fear of Hell,
Burn me in Hell!
If I adore You out of desire for Paradise,
Lock me out of Paradise.
But if I adore You for Yourself alone
Do not deny to me Your eternal Beauty

Rabia Al-Basri


Of Virtue of Hope And Vice of Despair







The dream had the back ground orchestra of generous rain showers bating at the windows. As she woke up she could still feel the anxiety knotted at the pit of her stomach like she experienced in her dream while explaining the need to deviate from the path of Logic to that of Love. She didnt remember whom she was talking to, she didnt really remember what she was talking either. The only thing she remembered of the dream was the gushing sound of the rain and an overflowing fountain in her heart.

She woke up with a taste of fear in her mouth. Could she be wrong? Could it all be futile? I mean, all over again! Her fingers trembled as she beat her coffee while her eyes looked around as if in an attempt to grope something physical to hang on to, to feel secure. Assured.


And suddenly the assurance hit, like an answered prayer! 'What is it that you seek assurance for?' Her heart asked her doubtful mind. 'Are you not content with the Love alone that asks you to be firm?', it whispered. Her hand ceased its brisk movement and she chewed on it for a while. Setting the mug aside, she moved to the stove, fiddled with its knobs, all the while replaying the question in her head, trying to be sure of her answer when she comes up with one. After all, for many questions its not the promptness of the answer but the understanding of the question itself and the conviction with which the reply comes, that makes it reliable. 
And she so gravely needed her reply to be reliable, for her own sake if not for anyone else's. She needed her mind to be sure when it picks up the line of her heart. Why wouldn't she? For, synchrony, she thought, is Freedom. 

It didn't take eons. The reason returned. With a reply that made her heart smile. 
It was no theory of self annihilation that a heart could pride in; neither was it the idea of a premise that didn't permit the interference of the mind. It was a kind a vision, a vision that seemed to last only a few moments but profound like an experience of life. A short clip of a movie that she watched through her mental eye as she stood there in her kitchen in those early morning hours with a half made mug of coffee on the counter, and a stove turned on.

It was the hall of a beautifully architectured masjid. The plain white ceiling was high, with a golden chandelier hanging through the single doom in its middle. Red Persian carpets spread across the hall to the other end where the yellow stream of light seemed to penetrate into its calming shade through the series of arched windows in the wall. The ambiance spoke of tranquil and silence. A brightly sunny courtyard offered the entrance into the hall, which at the moment was empty. A man appeared at the main entrance and put off his shoes, as is the custom while entering for prayers in a mosque. Leaving his shoes there, he moved in and a little short of the center of the hall, he stopped and bent down to prostrate in prayer. There were two clothed bundles with him that he placed in front of him. The bundles were tied with big crude knots, and their greyish white cloth seemed rough in texture.
Suddenly a sentinel came. A guard, whose baton seemed to provide the only view of him. With one strong move of the baton, the sentinel hurled both the bundles out of the mosque and they dropped exactly where the man had put off his shoes at the entrance. 
"When you come in here to SEEK", the sentinel admonished, "leave your vice and virtue out. Its not a worship of your goodness and sins!" 






The coffee turned out to be gratifyingly delicious.





Perfect Strangers





Comparing the aspired "would be's" with the actual "is's" often generates a strain we term as emotional baggage. Our ideas and notions with which we had visualized certain sets of life, become the weighing down burden for quite an extent of our existence. Its more like becoming a hostage to one's perception rather than using it to soar higher, break free.


How about if today one sets one's life free from its 'supposed  to be' cell? Come to think of it...
Say talking about person to person interaction, a certain person A is disappointed in another person B. B hasn't turned out to be what A had thought B was, and each moment of their togetherness A drags along the emotional baggage of being with the wrong person. The same goes for the torment B bears had B's ideas also been betrayed. 

Now, wouldn't it be great if A and B both could perceive another notion, albeit different altogether! Of being absolute strangers to each other... without any back log of disappointments, without any charter of expectations. It would become like an experience of discovering "HOW" to deal with the person who is just there the way it is. Isn't it far better than going through a minute to minute divulging into finding out "HOW" different that person is from the perceived ideal? 

The same goes for each moment of the day punctuated with/without a non-personal interaction.


For whats its worth, it could be far more liberating, far more fulfilling!


Saturday, August 28, 2010

The Pre-Reqs Of Seeking Forgiveness

How can one ask from the Divine for what one's own self can not dispense!
How can one seek Forgiveness, when one can not forgive!
How can one want Mercy when all that one keeps storing is vitriol!
How can one be genuine in one's pleadings at the Court, when one does not understand the power of granting!
How can one expect the Answer to an anguished heart, when one hasn't ever surrendered one's own self!

How can one?

Its not a deal. Its not a pact.
Its part of understanding the process of prayer. The sacredness of it. The loftiness of it.

Its the criterion to be genuine to one's one self.



Friday, August 27, 2010

Potential Barrier



Have you studied Physics? Could you bear it with me for a while? For the idea couldn't be explained better than an example from its chapters.


Potential Barrier is a spatially bounded region of high potential energy of a particle in a field of force on both sides of which the potential energy decreases quite abruptly. The potential barrier corresponds to the repulsive force.


A potential barrier of simple form is illustrated in Figure 1 for the case of linear motion of a particle. At x = x0, the potential energy assumes a maximum value V0, which is called the height of the potential barrier. A potential barrier divides space into two regions (I and II), in which the potential energy of the particle is less than that in the region (III) within the potential barrier.
Figure 1






In classical mechanics, the passage of a particle through a potential barrier is possible only when the particle’s total energy (K or) ℰ—kinetic energy plus potential energy—exceeds the height of the barrier, that is, when ℰ≥ V0











If, however, the energy of the particle is insufficient to surmount the barrier, ℰ < V0, then the particle, moving from left to right, stops upon reaching the barrier at xi and bounces back. 









The potential barrier is a sort of opaque wall or barrier, hence its name, for particles with energy less than its height.







.................. LIKE WISE ......................







Ego is a spatially bound region of exaggeratedly high self opinion of a person in a field of pretentiousness on both sides of which the self-opinion decreases quite abruptly. The ego barrier corresponds to the repulsive force. 

In the quest of love, the passage of a person to the Beloved is possible across the barrier of ego only when the person's total devotion plus commitment- exceeds the height of barrier. If, however, the devotion of the person is insufficient to surmount the barrier, then the person, moving from self to Love, stops upon reaching the interface of pretentiousness, at the barrier of ego and bounces back. 




And bounces back.


Az Jamiah Bey Chara Rasa Need Salameh




گل از رخت آموختہ نازک بدنی را
بلبل زتو آموختہ شیریں سخنی را


Gul Az Rokhat Aa Mookhta
Nazuk Badaneera, Badaneera, Badaneera
BulBul ze tu Aa Mookhta
Shireen Sokhaneera, Sokhaneera, Sokhaneera

It is from Thy face!
that petal takes its tenderness
From Thee learns the nightingale
the sweetness of its tongue!

ہر کس کہ لب لعل ترا دیدہ بہ دل گفت
حقا کہ چہ خوش کندہ عقیق یمنی را

Har Kas ke Lab-e-Laal Turra Deeda be Dil Guft
Haqaq-e-Che Khushkandeh Aqeeq-e-Yemeneera, Yemeneera, Yemeneera

All who see Thy garnet lip, 
whisper in their hearts!
No doubt so lovely are these
Carnelians of Yemen!


خیاط ازل دوختہ بر قامت زیبا
در قد توایں جا مئہ سرو چمنی را


Khiyaat-e-Azal dokhta Bar Qaamat-e-Zeiba
Dar Qad tu ee Jama-e-Sarv e Chamaneera, Chamaneera, Chamaneera

Oh how the Eternal Sticher
beautifully tailored Thy frame!
For Thy pattern has become
the fabric of garden Yews! 


در عشق تو دندان شکست است بہ الفت
تو جامہ رسا نید اویس قرنی را


Dar Ishq Tu Dandaan shikast Ast Be Ulfat
Tu jama Rasa Need Awais Qarni Ra, Qarni Ra, Qarni Ra

In my love for Thee
I broke all my teeth
O send over Thy Shirt..
to this Owais of Qarn!

ازجامی بے چارا رسانید سلامے
بر در گہہ دربار رسول مدنی را

Az Jamiah Bey Chara Rasa Need Salameh
Bar Dargah-e-Darbareh Rasool-e-Madaneerah, Madaneerah, Madaneerah

Jami the poor soul!
sends his humble Salam!
In the blessed Court
of the Prophet of Madina!

[صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم]
----












Kalam by Maulana Jami
Translation by Usman M.


Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Antidote

The inability to open up to hope is what blocks trust, and blocked trust is the reason for blighted dreams. - Elizabeth Gilbert

Hard To Part


Have you ever as a kid put those funky colored sun-glasses on, that served hardly any other purpose than to make things look..... well, different! The glasses came in all colors, red, pink, blue, green, yellow, and one could see the entire world exactly in the same color that one liked.

When we mature we realize the fact that when we get into 'live' life, life needs to be seen exactly the way it exists, to be dealt with and lived in, accordingly. 'Make believes' become a part of the realm of the fantasy that lies yonder.  

However, when one gets too fond of a particular shade, growing up might become a tad too demanding; for it could be really hard to leave behind a world of perceptions that only some tainted view could provide.


It is He from on high has bestowed inner peace on the hearts of the believers, so that - seeing that God's are all the forces of the heavens and the earth, and that God is all-knowing, truly wise they might grow yet more firm in their faith.

Al Quran 48:4



Whereas they who are bent on denying the truth harbored a stubborn disdain in their hearts - the stubborn disdain [born] of ignorance. God bestowed from on high His [gift of] inner peace from on His Apostle and he believers and bound them on to the spirit of God- consciousness: for they were most worthy of this [divine gift], and deserved it well. And God has full knowledge of all things. 


Al Quran 48:26



Ps: The translations of the Quran, used through out this blog are by Muhammad Asad.