The very center of your heart is where life begins - the most beautiful place on earth.
~Rumi~
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Bhavana recently emailed us a beautiful personal reflection around "Aaqa", an evocative Sufi song and this week's Maitri Tunes which we are delighted to share.
I have listened to the qawwali several times in the last few days. And each time I have done so, I have felt a stirring within. The heart feels like it is melting and will flow out through the eyes. I do not know if it is from a perception of pain or joy… perhaps both, or neither. But a flock of words flies in the mind:
Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
I was in school then. And I remember my fondness for the morning assembly – and reciting my prayer right out aloud in all earnestness not suspecting in the least I was getting some of the words wrong! The prayer was a daily affair. I did not understand the meaning then. I don’t understand it even now - not fully. But the prayer whirling like a dervish, resounds in the portals of memory. The head bows down on its own and the two hands of reason and intuition come together at the centre of the heart – the seat of the antaryami, the In-dweller, I have heard since I was a baby, where everything unites, the ‘revered centre of people’s heart, its light’.
Wird tere naamon ka ho raha hai ku-ba-ku
(Everywhere, your beautiful names are constantly on people’s lips…)
And on the lips of Mirabai, is the all-attracting name Krishna. She dances in ecstasy and sings Chunari ke kiye took, odh lini loi; Moti-moonge utar, banmala poi… It’s not her feet that dance – it’s her entire being. The body moving, swaying and swirling is only a manifestation of her heart in movement – from this sphere to the other – to join her Giridhara Gopala. Her silken stole has fallen away and she dons a shawl, a suf, made of coarse wool and her pearls and corals have given way to a flower-garland that Krishna wears too.
As I continue to listen to the qawwali, thoughts drift in lovingly – sometimes gushing, sometimes in trickles. Apart from Mira, some other names come too… Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who danced in streets in abandon, songs of praise for the Divine on his lips and his love overflowing. And Ramakrishna Paramhamsa, brimming with ecstasy for the Divine Mother, Kali, dancing and singing like one mad.
So many other names, perhaps, not yet available to the heart as I write.
Have I not heard of the Sufi who dances likewise, so completely absorbed in the love of God, so taken by His call that he swirls and sways as though on a swing which takes him higher and higher where he will behold the resplendent face of the Divine Beloved? Isn’t Mira’s loi the same thing as the Sufi’s woollen cloak? Pure, that’s one meaning of suf; the other being wool. Wool that insulates the Purity that wears it – and won’t allow the currents of the world to flow through. Isn’t his Sama and Ramakrishna’s Samadhi the same trance-like state which, the wise say, is the step-ladder to one indivisible unity?
Lyrics and translation:
طرز٠ثنائی من نمی دانم
(طرز٠ثنائی میں Ù†Ûیں جانتا)
tarz-i sanaayi man nami-daanam
I am unacquainted with the manner of offering praise
تمÛیں سے مانگیں Ú¯Û’ تمÛیں دو Ú¯Û’
tumheen se maangen ge tumheen do ge
You are the one we will turn to, and You are the one who will help us
تمÛارے در سے ÛÛŒ لو Ù„Ú¯ÛŒ ÛÛ’
tumhaare dar se hi lau lagi hai
Yours is the threshold we are devoted to
تمÛیں سے مانگیں Ú¯Û’ تمÛیں دو Ú¯Û’
tumheen se maangen ge tumheen do ge
You are the one we will turn to, and You are the one who will help us
تمÛارے در سے ÛÛŒ لو Ù„Ú¯ÛŒ ÛÛ’
tumhaare dar se hi lau lagi hai
Yours is the threshold we are devoted to
تو ÛÛŒ اوّل تو ÛÛŒ آخر
tu hi awwal tu hi aakhir
You are the First – who pre-existed before all of creation;
and You are the Last – who remains after all of creation has passed away
تو اØد واØد بھی تو
tu ahad waahid bhi tu
You are One – indivisible in Your unity and without parallel;
and You are also the Unique Source from which all of creation emanates
تو ÛÛŒ اوّل تو ÛÛŒ آخر
tu hi awwal tu hi aakhir
You are the First – who pre-existed before all of creation;
and You are the Last – who remains after all of creation has passed away
تو اØد واØد بھی تو
tu ahad waahid bhi tu
You are One – indivisible in Your unity and without parallel;
and You are also the Unique Source from which all of creation emanates
تو ÛÛŒ اوّل تو ÛÛŒ آخر
tu hi awwal tu hi aakhir
You are the First – who pre-existed before all of creation;
and You are the Last – who remains after all of creation has passed away
تو اØد واØد بھی تو
tu ahad waahid bhi tu
You are One – indivisible in Your unity and without parallel;
and You are also the Unique Source from which all of creation emanates
تو ÛÛŒ اوّل تو ÛÛŒ آخر
tu hi awwal tu hi aakhir
You are the First – who pre-existed before all of creation;
and You are the Last – who remains after all of creation has passed away
تو اØد واØد بھی تو
tu ahad waahid bhi tu
You are One – indivisible in Your unity and without parallel;
and You are also the Unique Source from which all of creation emanates