Wednesday, May 28, 2008

i know not who i am

Here is an English translation of 16th century Sufi saint Bulleh Shah's poetry.
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i know not who i am

i am neither a believer
Nor given to non-believing ways

Neither clean nor unclean
i am neither Moses nor Pharaoh

i know not who i am

i am neither among sinners nor among saints
Neither happy nor unhappy

i belong neither to water nor to earth
i am neither fire nor air

i know not who i am

Neither do i know the secret of religion
nor am i born of Adam and Eve
i have given my self no name

i belong neither to those who squat and pray
Nor to those who have gone astray

i know not who i am

i was in the beginning, i'd be there in the end
i know not any one other than the ONE

Who could be wiser than Bulleh Shah

Whose Master is ever there to tend ?

i know not who i am

Bulleh Shah
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Saturday, May 24, 2008

The Exit - Death

Death knows no calendar, and no one can predict it, nor can anyone escape from it with all his cunning and wit.

Each living thing has its own allotted span of life time.

Death is real and unavoidable. It is the only real thing in the midst of the unrealities of this world.

Everyone, rich or poor, king or beggar, young or old, healthy or diseased, has to pass through the trap door of death, whether one likes to do so or not.

One may live for a long or short period, for a hundred years or just a while; but one cannot live on eternally in one and the same life form which, in course of time, is sure to decay and become wearily burdensome.

" Neither kings nor beggars remain,
All go ; each one in his own time."

" All thy life thou hast bemoaned the death of others ; Why not sit for a while and ponder over thy own fate? "

Is death a painful process ?

The scriptures tell us of the excruciating pain that a dying person suffers at the time of death.
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In the Bhagwod Purana it is said that one experiences the horrors of death - pangs of pain as if one were bitten by a million scorpions at once.
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The holy Quran likens the throes of death to the condition of a person when a thorny hedge were pulled through the alimentary canal from one end to the other.
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The Sikh scriptures also speak in much the same strain:
" The life-currents are wrenched out."

All such statements are merely illustrative of the immensity of the torture that one may experience when the demons of death appear to forcibly take the spirit out of the body.

What actually happens at that time, it is only the dying man who knows.

No one, after the actual experience of terminal death, has ever returned from across the borders of the death land to tell us of the exact nature of his final sufferings.
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Each one suffers unto himself and becomes silent forever.

To be on the death bed is a veritable nailing on the cross, and the death chamber is a charnel house.
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One can scarcely stand unmoved when some people toss restlessly for days on end with a death-rattle in their throat, writhing in extreme agony on the death bed.

Who can understand the tortures of death ?

All stand helplessly by - the best of physicians, administering drugs to the last; the attendant nurses, walking on tip-toes; the nearest of kith and kin with tearful eyes, woebegone looks and somber faces, awaiting the inevitable end.

Who hears the piteous cries of the poor victim and of his life companions, his wife and children ?

" As the wife with hairs dishevelled moans her loss, the solitary spirit wings its way alone."
- Sant Kabir
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Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Mother of all Evils

" Wine is the mother of all evils ;
all the evils appear when wine is drunk "
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Here is an interesting anecdote to illustrate this :

Once there was a King who wanted to know what was the most evil thing in the entire world - the cause of all evil acts.

He was curious and determined to know. So he set up a plan with his advisers.

Around the city boundary he built a very big wall, with four doors in it. At each door he put an object to test the people of his kingdom.

At one door he placed a cow, at another a few prostitutes, at the third door he set up a food shop selling meat, and finally at the fourth door large containers full of wine were placed.

Guards patrolled outside the doors and everybody in the city were told that if they had to leave the city then they had to go through any one of the doors and had to enjoy whatever was kept inside the door that they were going through.

There was one simple good man who wanted to leave the city.

First he went to the door where the cow was kept, and the guard told him that if he wanted to go out, he had to kick the cow.

He was a god fearing and learned man, and knew that in the Hindu scriptures it is written that it is a grave sin to kick a cow, so he thought,

"I will not go through this door - I will go through another door."

When he went to the second door, he saw there were prostitutes and thought,

"It is not good to enjoy with those woman. In the Hindu scriptures it is written that it is a very heavy sin."

He proceeded to the third door and was told by the guard to eat the meat.

He let out a cry,

"This is the worst sin in the world - to eat the meat of an animal after killing it."

Finally he decided to go through the fourth door.

When he saw the containers full of wine, he thought,

"What is wrong in drinking wine ? It is made of mead and sugar and there is nothing wrong in that."

So he drank the wine, and after drinking the wine, he became intoxicated.

In the state of intoxication one loses one's intelligence - so the simple good man lost his sense of discrimating between the good and the bad.

The intoxication of the wine brought desires into his mind to eat the meat, and when he finished eating, the desire of lust came to him and he enjoyed with the prostitutes.

After all the enjoyment at the three doors, he moved to the fourth door, and started kicking the cow many times, saying,

"Why are you standing here ? You are in my way."

In that way he committed every sin after drinking the wine.

The next morning, when he realized what he had done the night before, he repented, and thought that if he had gone through anyone of those doors except that wine door, he would have had only one sin to his account

However now since he first went through the wine door, and drank that wine, he did all the sins.

So indeed alcohol-wine is the mother of all evils.

Its use unsettles the mind, and an unsettled mind brings in its trail all the evils which one in a normal state avoids.

The soul addicted to intoxicants never crosses the ocean of life.

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Tuesday, May 20, 2008

more and More & MORE

Once upon a time in a small village there lived a proud learned man who would boast that he was very much in control of his desires.

One day a wise old man visited him and decided to test his will-power.

The wise old man gave him four candles and said,

"Burn one candle and go in one direction. When the candle goes out, dig the ground at that place. Be contented with whatever you find there: do not go in any other direction."

As he handed the man the candles, the wise old man continued,

"However if you decide to go in another direction, don't go in the third direction. Even if you have to go in the third direction, never go in the fourth direction."

So the learned man went out and burnt one candle.He walked in one direction.

When the candle went out, he dug the ground and found some silver coins.

He was not contented; even though the wise old man had told him not to go in another direction, he decided,

"If I have found silver coins in this place, let me go and see what is there in the next direction."

So he burnt another candle and went in the second direction. When the candle burnt out, he dug at that place and found some gold coins.

He became very happy and desire began growing within him for more treasure.

He thought, "That wise man told me not to come to this place because he knew that there was more valuable treasure here, and that's why he didn't want me to come and get it! Maybe he has kept even more valuable treasures in the third direction, so let me go and get that !"

The roots of desire were taking a strong hold of him.

So obeying his mind, he went in the third direction where he discovered some diamonds and gold nuggets.

He was extremely happy, and feeling prosperous, he thought,

"All right. Let me go and try in the fourth direction and I am sure there will be more valuables and great wealth over there."

By now he had collected silver and gold coins, diamonds and gold nuggets from the three directions. He was rich but not contented.

The roots of desire were getting stronger and stronger.

Desire is such a thing that if we have a hundred dollars, we want a thousand; if we have a thousand, we desire ten thousand. It goes on increasing and increasing.

Finally he decided to burn his fourth and last candle.

However he had forgotten that the wise old man had warned him that ,

"...even if you have to go in the third direction, never go in the fourth direction."

His desires drove him to the fourth direction and when the candle burnt out he dug at the ground there.

He kept digging for some time and finally he found an underground tunnel that led him to a house with only a door ; there were no windows.

When he entered the house he saw a woman standing there holding up the roof with her head. She looked very confused and tired.

The learned man walked up to her and said,

"My dear, please tell me, is there any treasure here in this house ?"

The woman replied, "Yes, there is a lot of wealth here, but i cannot tell you where it is hidden because I have this burden of the roof on my head. If you can help share this burden, that is, if you will come and take my place, then I will become free and I will be able to tell you where the treasure is hidden."

The man was more concerned in satisfying his desire for more wealth and did not realize that he was being fooled.

So he took the place of that woman, who had been standing there for ages.

When she became free, she said,

"Yes, there is a lot of wealth here in this house ; but you will get it only when somebody like you comes and takes this burden of holding the roof."

Desire is such a thing that it never comes to an end, it just goes on increasing and increasing ..... and what are the consequences ?

We end up being caught "holding the roof ".

It is the desires of man which keeps him forever a "pauper".


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