Skimming through my old diary entries, I read this superb Farsi (Persian) kala’am by Maulana Rumi…
Have put up a Roman transliteration and translation in Urdu and English as per my li’l knowledge of Sufism (more on translations and translatability in an upcoming post). This is by no means accurate or authentic… Just a fragrance of my feelings and experiences… The kala’am flows as:
شاد باشی عشق خوش سودای ما
ای طبیب جمله علت های ما
sha’ad bashay ishq khush sauda’aye ma,
ae tabeeb-e-joomla-illat ha’aye ma…
khush raho ae Ishq meray gham meiN kyuNki tum meri har beemaari (pareshaani) ke tabeeb (literally doctor, contextually ila’aj) ho…
Stay happy O’ Love looking at my grief, you’re the one who holds the medicine for all my pain and illnesses…
جسم خاک از عشق بر افلاک شد
کوه در رقص آمد و چالاک شد
jism kha’aq az ishq bar afla’aq shud, koh dar raqs aamad-o-chala’ak shud…
khaaq-sa insaaN ka wajood ishq ki ba-daulat falak (aasmaaN) tak jaa pahuNchta hai aur pahaD ishq ke hone se itne hoshiyaar ho ja’atey haiN ke raqs (dance) karne lagtey haiN…
Human existence, which is constituted of dirt and dust, reaches the sky owing to the power bestowed upon by the arrival of love. Mountains are able to dance with the power of love…
عقل آمد دین و دنیا شد خراب
عشق آمد در دو عالم کامیاب
aql aamad deen-o-duniya shud khara’ab, Ishq aamad dar-do-aalam kaamya’ab…
jab aql (rationality) aayi tou deen aur duniya donoN hi khara’ab hue matlabb maiN dono mein naa-kaamyaab rahaa aur ishq (faith) ke aatey hi dono jahaaN meiN ka’amyabi mil gayii…
When I was driven by rationality, I continued to fail in both worldly and spiritual pursuits; As soon as faith resided in my heart, I found myself succeeding in all walks of life…
زندگی آمد برائے بندگی
زندگی بے بندگی شرمندگی
zindagi aamad bara’aye bandagii; zindagi be-bandagii, sharmiNdagii…
zindagi bandagii (iba’adat) ke liye mili hai, bina bandagii ye sharmiNdagii ke ma’aniNd hai…
Life exists for devotion, void of which it amounts to nothing but shame…
The last two lines of this kala’am define “ecstatic bliss” for me… I take these as the motive of life…
In my interpretation, this iba’adat here does not ask us to start or continue worshiping Gods or idols… Whatever we do should be done as if we perceive it as an act of worship… Sums up success and perfection in life in a single sentence for me. In conclusion, the whisper that I hear here is that life is about a never-ending pursuit of craftsmanship, perfectionism, sincerity & love for whatever we’re doing and above all, having faith as tall as a mountain and one which is unfuckwithable…
Many such successes in small walks of life appear to me as the most probable way towards one’s maqsood-e-zindagi (aim in life)… 🙂
Allah Nigehba’an ..!
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