Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Charan dhoor tere jan ki hovaan: prayer to my beloved !!

CHARAN DHOOR AHAAR, KI MANGAAN HOR MAIN !!
Santan kahio pukaar, sunenda koi bhi naa
Har ghat riha pukaar, manenda koi bh na
Har sah par upkaar, karenda koi bhi na
Ik da he parivaar manenda koi bhi na
Peerh bina ki piar? jhalenda koi bhi na
Sach da hi aahaar, karenda koi bhi na
Koorh hai sabh sansaar, manenda koi bhi na
Ishq hi ek onkar, jap-enda koi bhi na
Ishq da mithrha vaar , jhalenda koi bhi na
Ishq assa di vaar, gavenda kopi bhi na
Hanjh motia haar, pavenda koi bhi na
Har sir maut savaar, rahenda koi bhi na
Rehmat de ambaaar, luttenda koi bhi na
Maran nu sabh tayaar, marenda koi bhi na
Soolaan da shingar, karenda koi bhi na
Yaar pattan de paar, tarenda koi bhi na
Gal gaani shingaar, sajendea koi bhi
Ishq tikhi talwaar, chalenda koi bhi na
Sir dhar tali piaar, karenda koi bhi na
Bin ishqe khushi khuaar, hasenda koi bhi na
Par ishq te aapa vaar, karenda koi bhi na
Suppne jio sansaar, jagenda koi bhi na
Santan sach adhaar, gavenda koi bhi na
Gur bin ghor andhaar, dikhenda koi bhi na

Aakhir jaana par, rahenda koi bhi na
Berhe honne paar, dubenda koi bhi na
Kudrat bakshan haar, rulenda koi bhi na
Sheetal sarab piar , jalenda koi bhi na
Jeevan amrit dhaar, marenda koi bhi na

Balihaari baaram baar, kudrat vassia
Amrit da anwaar, rassaan vich rassiaa
Anjan-Onkar tere bin kuchh nahi
Tera hai sabh mera mujh main kuchh nahi

Charan dhoorh ahaar, ki mangaan hor main?
Saach rang shingaar ki rangaan hor main?

Shiv Batalvi: Religion of Pain

Shiv: Pain as a prophet
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Shiv (Batalvi) not only celebrated pain but actually "deified" it. He was the most powerful among those who sought to explore and reveal pain as a prophet. But he was not the first though he was the brightest in a long row of shining stars who put pain on the pededstal as a cleansing and uplifiting experience. The pain of separation was a not a new theme:"Birha Tu Sultaan" cried out Farid. What high pitched plea for pain is there: "Jis tan birhaa na upje so tan jaan masaan." The Gurus spoke of pain as the ultimate relief "Dukh daaru ..." starts Rehraas. But Shiv really spun a religion out of pain, and he danced with sheer ecstasy in the realisation that he was destined to reap the richest harvests of pain. He virtually begged for pain as a source of life: " peeraan da paraaga bhunn de!". Death was a climax of that experience of pain and no one known in human history ever longed for death with as much joyous expectation as did Shiv, and his choice of words really reveals how death to him had become an eqauivalent of warmth of love, the coziness, comfort and security of a mother's lap :" Kabraan udikdiyaan mainu jion puttraan nu maavaan." Shiv declared time and again that his poetry was not an off spring of frustration in love, that he had received love like no one else before had, that he had had a most fulfilling love life. (And this despite his adolescent distinction between physical conssumation and emotional love-- mainu lakhaan da tan mil giya, par ik da mann bhi na miliya) And yet he chose pain as a vehicle to express the intensity of his love just as he chosen death to express his passion for life. Whenever I met Shiv, I never found him sad, and the more poignant his poetry became, the more at peace with himself he seemed. No one ever saw Shiv in tears, and Punjab remembers its best loved poet as a smiling romantic little child who sang his way to death. "Pain", in Shiv's poetry, becomes what Eliot calls "an objective correlative" to intensity of joy of living. And Shiv death in the prime of his youth was the most powerful vindication of his poetry. Imagine Shiv writing "assaan taan joban rutte marna" and yet suffering from gout and senility at the age of 85. Shiv's death upheld the convinction that ran through his poetry. I think under unsymathetic socialistic criticism, Shiv pretended to be trying in the later years to disown his true meaning. But no one really remembers those years of denial And Shiv himself told me once that his later turn-around was his "joke on society." He was a sweet-heart , a most irresistible darling full of child-loke contradictions, and yet overflowing with innocence and passion that is a virtue of unsullied childhood. On another level, he walks pretty close on the bounds of mysticism -- though I am aware that no one has ever even considered that aspect in him.

Let there be more light on this shining star that will continue to smile and shine on the world of art and literature throughout the world. But what a pity that no language other than Punjabi is rich enough to hold the mighty floods of Shiv's genius. Or will someone please try a translation that trascends transliteration.!! The trouble with poetry is its untranslatablity.

Hazel: Pain as a prophet

Part One: Tears are not just about pain; they speak of a profoudner truth, which is far, far beyond mere crying. I am a prophet of pain myself and cannot depercate tears. But i hate to see these pearls turned into mere symbols of self-pity. Tears take us closer to God like nothing else does -- nothing else except pure joy.

Part Two :

Tears are God's chosen language. And so is innocent laughter.
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But i am speaking of tears not as an expression of mere personal loss but as windows to a deeper reality -- "magic casements opening on floors of perilous seas", as Keats said it (almost , and never mind if he said something different. I say it here.) Mystic ecstasy and the pain of bereavement , as expressed by souls like Bulle Shah , Farid, Blake, Whitman, Nanak, Meera ) , must lead us on to the limitless firmament of starless skies that lie beyond --and within - all that we see.Tears are no laughing matter, and surely these are not kid-stuff. Never waste tears on things that don't deserve such wealth. Tears are the Gods' language, and they msut always speak of Truth in the larger context. And God is nothing except you looking at yourself in all your boundlessness and immortality.And immortality is othing except losing your identity into a reality that always lives aroudn you. You cannot carry this petty, narrow, limited identity into oceans of eternity and infinity, and expect it not to dissolve there.

What is true of tears is true equally of pure innocent delight, ecstasy.

Three:

There are billion times billion times billion times billion ways --and more -- of getting closer to "God" ( which is a realisation of Godliness within us: there is no God beyond you -- man tu jot saroop hain) Tears are one of those ways; its extreme opposite --pure ecstasy -- is another. And there a countless (asankh) doors to that goal. Nanak antt na antt! And it does not matter which way you choose. Jit duaare ubhre titte leho ubhaar....!!

Part Four:

Friday, July 2, 2010

"Meri mat thorri Ram..."

''Tu samrath wada meri mat thorri raam '' (What an almighty , limitless range of glory,competence and power is thine ! What humble and limited the ability to comprehend thee is mine" - Guru Granth Sahib

Amrit Vela Sach Nau : from Facebook

Harcharan Bains Amrit vela sach nao vadiaayee vichar critical words:amrit (a+mrityu: a+mrit-beyond death)Sach=that which always stays, hence TRUTH;Nao=Supreme Energy that moves everything through endless universes.Name does not mean nomneclature when the Gurus talk of Truth's mighty force. Vadiayee:the enoromity, limitlessness,immensi...y of that energy.Most important: Vichar= deeply contemplate on, not just ritulalisically render.See More
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Jagmel Singh, Sangeet Chopra, Pervinder Dhaliwal and 2 others like this.

Sukhpreet Giani
I am being reminded of one Mr. Gurmeet Singh -a peer when i was at Swaraj Engines Limited. He give ma the sar of "Thir kar baiso harjan pyare satguru tumare kaj sware" and brought forth a view point that achar/vayavar i.e. conduct of a true sikh is firmly mentioned in this shabad. Sir would like to get some enlightment on the same, please .
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Tarlok Singh Judge
ਮੇਰੇ ਖਿਆਲ ਵਿਚ ਗੁਰੂ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਇਥੇ ਅਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਮੌਤ ਜਾਂ ਮੌਤ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਅਦ ਦੇ ਸੰਕਲਪ ਵਜੋਂ ਨਹੀਂ ਵਰਤਿਆ ਗਿਆ ਸਗੋਂ ਅਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਵੇਲੇ (ਤੜ੍ਹਕੇ ) ਉਠ ਕੇ ਓਸ ਸਚੇ ਪ੍ਰਮਾਤਮਾ ਦਾ ਨਾਮ ਲੈਣ ਦੇ ਸੰਦੇਸ਼ ਵਜੋਂ ਵਰਤਿਆ ਗਿਆ ਹੈ
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Seemaa Grewal
Thanks for sharing such stuff sir !
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Harcharan Bains
Sardar Tarlok Singh ji: Frankly, I am not competent to comment on such matters and chances are that I am wrong. But as much Gurbani sends a spiritual current through my body, mind and soul, my feeling is that Guru Sahibaan could not have been referring to a mere time on the clock ( tarhke ye raati ya prabhaati etc) because they repeatedly sadi that... See More the music of "sache naal piyar" is running through this universe EVERY SECOND< EVERY MINUTE EVER HOUR of the day and night. To my limited intelligence, the Gurus believed in and practised "Vichar and tis sache naal piar" not just in the early hours of the day but every minute. "Saas saas simro Gobind". But of course Sardar Tarlok Singh ji, I am willing to be corrected. But I must say that where love is concerned, the Gurus spoke of practised love with each breath, and not just early hours of the morning. Please correct me and enlighten me. I will really be grateful becasue all of us are infinitely touched by the noble Gurbani as much as by love for everyone and everything in general.
2 hours ago · LikeUnlike ·

Tarlok Singh Judge
Bains Sahib-Thanks a lot. I have no intention to let you down as your words ave very very precious. What I wanted to say is only that in these particular lines- what message Gurus Conveyed... Regarding other contents you referred, I fully agree with you
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Gurbrinder Singh Anand
sir if we go verse to verse we may find many contradictions in any granth ... but we select and share the ones which suit us . your inquisitiveness reminds me of the story of 'an elephant and the four blind men'. each one had his own interpretation about an elephant cos he cud state about the part which he felt with his hands . so same elephant ... See Moreand four different interpretations . amrit vela is rightly that moment ,when the mind is not dead . and amrit also means an elixir. its just like any other word ... for example ,lets say LIGHT ... light means a form of energy that helps us to see thing on which it falls and LIGHT also means something that is not heavy.in gurbani ... just like amrit vella one may contradict on 'bhau' bhau at places means fear and bhau at times also means emotions .''its easy to read a poets words but its impossible to read his mind .'' getting up at 4 am or at 9 am hardly matters ..... when its 9 am here in india its 4 am in some other part of the world .
2 hours ago · LikeUnlike · 1 person ·

Seemaa Grewal
GSA....just wonderful explanation dear...jiyo !
about an hour ago · LikeUnlike ·

Harcharan Bains
Anand Sahib: You are very likely to be right about my blindness but I see no contradiction anywhere in Gurbani. The same soul-stirring strain of love runs throughout the divine verses of Kabir Saab, Farid Saab , Bhai Tarlochan ji, Sain ji,Nam Dev ji and other great souls including the soul supreme - Ravi Dass ji (Chaugrird hamaare ram kar ...) ... See Moreand the divine throat of God's great lovers whom we refer to as Sikh Gurus - each one their words is infused with energy , light , divine flow of love or whatever other name we wish to give to that great joy they felt in their love for cosmic divinity.That said, I am more than keen to sit at your feet and learn the message of Gurbani and enjoy the cosmic divine music that runs through it. In fact, I already am at your feet because, in addition to the enlightening brilliance of your mind, you also reflect the visual memory of my great Gurus far far better than I do. Although I do not lay any store by ritualism and outer form, yet anything and anyone who reminds me of my Gurus in anywhich way is worthy of me kissing his/her feet.
about an hour ago · LikeUnlike ·

Gurbrinder Singh Anand
if humility means going 'down deep' there can be no parallel to you sir . and this one for my akal purakh ...''tu samrath wada meri mat thorri raam '' like i already stated in my comment to your other post , i have not used ''shri guru granth sahib ji'' in my previous comment. i wrote it as 'any granth' . the message that you get from shri guru ... See Moregaranth sahib ji is the same that i get . i just have this to add ... some times we humans find it hard to digest simple explanations . sometimes we feel that what ever our gurus said could not be so simple so we look for difficult and complicated interpretations. we should not forget that guru nanak sahib preached to make things easy so how cud his bani be difficult. sehaj subhav naal vadyai veechaar keeta jaave taan oh ander tak chhaap chorrega... guru jorrda hai ... guru akaal hai ... time to parrey ...so 4 am or 9 am is out of question . 'akahr wadha ghaata bhul chuk maaf karna ji '
about an hour ago · LikeUnlike ·

Harcharan Bains
Anand Sahib: I am too much of a sinner even to attemt to see the glory of the great souls -- call them gurus, bhakats, saints , seers; they all mean the same thing and have the same stature and are infused with the same spirit of love which sings "anhad" throughout the spheres. But I am thirsty and will stop at every well in the hope that I will... See More get a few drops to at least partially wet my parched throat. I know I will not receive because my hands ar not clean enough yet. But The way you explain things ---I meant what I said about kissing your feet.
about an hour ago · LikeUnlike ·

Gurbrinder Singh Anand
sir please .... beg u ... hor bhaar na charrao ji .. i am already in tears.