By Bindu Chawla - Times of India - New Delhi, India
Thursday, March 8, 2007
It is when the spiritual traditions of the world have celebrated the cosmic yin and yang that they have truly represented God as human, and the human as God as well.
When traditional Sufism celebrates this dialectic of the separation of the human spirit/female from its source/male, and then tells the story of its journey of return, it speaks of
'Allah mujh mein hai, aur main hee Allah mein samaa jaata hoon':
that Allah is in me (the cosmic as micro) and it is me who returns to merge back into Allah (the cosmic as macro) .
With the ballads of Heer-Ranjha, Shirin-Farhad and Sohni-Mahiwal Sufism wears its most endearing face, personalising both the micro and macro manifestations of the cosmos, humanising it.
The same progression can be noticed in the poetry of khayal in Hindustani classical music, since its origins in the form of qawwali. The recurring motif remains the same — the story of separation and union — and of separation and union repeatedly, though material references do see a series of mutations.
A refreshing chapter is opened in the Sufi thought process of the subcontinent, in the form of khayal lyrics penned by Pandit Amarnath, lyrics which improvise in a riot of colours and hues the inner theme or motif of the Mitwa or Soulmate — in the framework of another riot of ragas and raginis.
The coming of the Mitwa is symbolic of the end of existentialism, of existential angst.
The cosmic has stirred. As a release after lifetimes spent in the dark karmic cycles of attachment and confinement.
In Pandit Amarnath's khayal bandishes [compositions] the Mitwa is the Cosmic Itself, an active proof of Its infinite kindness and interest in you.
In the raga Kaunsi Kanhada, Pandit says:
"You took on a form/ You took on a name/ the Mitwa took on an avatar/ to make the temple of my heart His home".
In the raga Saraswati the Mitwa speaks to you as your own reflection. The nayika ["female" or human spirit] says:
"O Mitwa, listen to my heart/ You and i, without speaking, know the speakings of the heart./ From when i became yours —/ since then i became my own as well".
As the beloved, she has found her real or spiritual identity.
In the raga Shree the poet says: "One form pervades my Cosmic heart/ endless and of the beyond./ As the form it is the Paramatma,/ and the Mitwa it is the form".
The Mitwa will never fail you.
In the raga Janasammohini Panditji says:
"Remember Him/ whose remembrance gives you the ultimate joy./ For He, whose feelings i bear in my heart/ will come of his own to enquire of me".
In two bandishes or lyrics for the raga Gauri the poet mulls over the strangeness of fate and 'pre-destined' human pain.
In one: "Evening, and no branch stands alone/ and no nest carries a pain./ I wonder about this again and again".
In the other: "Fly away O bird,/ so little of the day is left./ All the birds have nests and homes,/ in my destiny alone lie pangs of separation".
The chirping birds only echo the dark dungeons of separation, in which the poet lives out his destiny in the Cosmic Weave. But to solve the anguish, the poet knows the way:
"When i meditate,/ appears the Mitwa in darshan (or vision)".
In Marwah, the beloved raga of his Indore gharana, Panditji consoles himself:
"All four directions/ the dusk descends,/ I stand at the door of meditation/ carrying the raga of my heart".
Today is Pandit Amarnath's 11th Barsi.
Friday, March 09, 2007
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Friday, March 09, 2007
Mitwa, the Soulmate, will never fail you
By Bindu Chawla - Times of India - New Delhi, India
Thursday, March 8, 2007
It is when the spiritual traditions of the world have celebrated the cosmic yin and yang that they have truly represented God as human, and the human as God as well.
When traditional Sufism celebrates this dialectic of the separation of the human spirit/female from its source/male, and then tells the story of its journey of return, it speaks of
'Allah mujh mein hai, aur main hee Allah mein samaa jaata hoon':
that Allah is in me (the cosmic as micro) and it is me who returns to merge back into Allah (the cosmic as macro) .
With the ballads of Heer-Ranjha, Shirin-Farhad and Sohni-Mahiwal Sufism wears its most endearing face, personalising both the micro and macro manifestations of the cosmos, humanising it.
The same progression can be noticed in the poetry of khayal in Hindustani classical music, since its origins in the form of qawwali. The recurring motif remains the same — the story of separation and union — and of separation and union repeatedly, though material references do see a series of mutations.
A refreshing chapter is opened in the Sufi thought process of the subcontinent, in the form of khayal lyrics penned by Pandit Amarnath, lyrics which improvise in a riot of colours and hues the inner theme or motif of the Mitwa or Soulmate — in the framework of another riot of ragas and raginis.
The coming of the Mitwa is symbolic of the end of existentialism, of existential angst.
The cosmic has stirred. As a release after lifetimes spent in the dark karmic cycles of attachment and confinement.
In Pandit Amarnath's khayal bandishes [compositions] the Mitwa is the Cosmic Itself, an active proof of Its infinite kindness and interest in you.
In the raga Kaunsi Kanhada, Pandit says:
"You took on a form/ You took on a name/ the Mitwa took on an avatar/ to make the temple of my heart His home".
In the raga Saraswati the Mitwa speaks to you as your own reflection. The nayika ["female" or human spirit] says:
"O Mitwa, listen to my heart/ You and i, without speaking, know the speakings of the heart./ From when i became yours —/ since then i became my own as well".
As the beloved, she has found her real or spiritual identity.
In the raga Shree the poet says: "One form pervades my Cosmic heart/ endless and of the beyond./ As the form it is the Paramatma,/ and the Mitwa it is the form".
The Mitwa will never fail you.
In the raga Janasammohini Panditji says:
"Remember Him/ whose remembrance gives you the ultimate joy./ For He, whose feelings i bear in my heart/ will come of his own to enquire of me".
In two bandishes or lyrics for the raga Gauri the poet mulls over the strangeness of fate and 'pre-destined' human pain.
In one: "Evening, and no branch stands alone/ and no nest carries a pain./ I wonder about this again and again".
In the other: "Fly away O bird,/ so little of the day is left./ All the birds have nests and homes,/ in my destiny alone lie pangs of separation".
The chirping birds only echo the dark dungeons of separation, in which the poet lives out his destiny in the Cosmic Weave. But to solve the anguish, the poet knows the way:
"When i meditate,/ appears the Mitwa in darshan (or vision)".
In Marwah, the beloved raga of his Indore gharana, Panditji consoles himself:
"All four directions/ the dusk descends,/ I stand at the door of meditation/ carrying the raga of my heart".
Today is Pandit Amarnath's 11th Barsi.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
It is when the spiritual traditions of the world have celebrated the cosmic yin and yang that they have truly represented God as human, and the human as God as well.
When traditional Sufism celebrates this dialectic of the separation of the human spirit/female from its source/male, and then tells the story of its journey of return, it speaks of
'Allah mujh mein hai, aur main hee Allah mein samaa jaata hoon':
that Allah is in me (the cosmic as micro) and it is me who returns to merge back into Allah (the cosmic as macro) .
With the ballads of Heer-Ranjha, Shirin-Farhad and Sohni-Mahiwal Sufism wears its most endearing face, personalising both the micro and macro manifestations of the cosmos, humanising it.
The same progression can be noticed in the poetry of khayal in Hindustani classical music, since its origins in the form of qawwali. The recurring motif remains the same — the story of separation and union — and of separation and union repeatedly, though material references do see a series of mutations.
A refreshing chapter is opened in the Sufi thought process of the subcontinent, in the form of khayal lyrics penned by Pandit Amarnath, lyrics which improvise in a riot of colours and hues the inner theme or motif of the Mitwa or Soulmate — in the framework of another riot of ragas and raginis.
The coming of the Mitwa is symbolic of the end of existentialism, of existential angst.
The cosmic has stirred. As a release after lifetimes spent in the dark karmic cycles of attachment and confinement.
In Pandit Amarnath's khayal bandishes [compositions] the Mitwa is the Cosmic Itself, an active proof of Its infinite kindness and interest in you.
In the raga Kaunsi Kanhada, Pandit says:
"You took on a form/ You took on a name/ the Mitwa took on an avatar/ to make the temple of my heart His home".
In the raga Saraswati the Mitwa speaks to you as your own reflection. The nayika ["female" or human spirit] says:
"O Mitwa, listen to my heart/ You and i, without speaking, know the speakings of the heart./ From when i became yours —/ since then i became my own as well".
As the beloved, she has found her real or spiritual identity.
In the raga Shree the poet says: "One form pervades my Cosmic heart/ endless and of the beyond./ As the form it is the Paramatma,/ and the Mitwa it is the form".
The Mitwa will never fail you.
In the raga Janasammohini Panditji says:
"Remember Him/ whose remembrance gives you the ultimate joy./ For He, whose feelings i bear in my heart/ will come of his own to enquire of me".
In two bandishes or lyrics for the raga Gauri the poet mulls over the strangeness of fate and 'pre-destined' human pain.
In one: "Evening, and no branch stands alone/ and no nest carries a pain./ I wonder about this again and again".
In the other: "Fly away O bird,/ so little of the day is left./ All the birds have nests and homes,/ in my destiny alone lie pangs of separation".
The chirping birds only echo the dark dungeons of separation, in which the poet lives out his destiny in the Cosmic Weave. But to solve the anguish, the poet knows the way:
"When i meditate,/ appears the Mitwa in darshan (or vision)".
In Marwah, the beloved raga of his Indore gharana, Panditji consoles himself:
"All four directions/ the dusk descends,/ I stand at the door of meditation/ carrying the raga of my heart".
Today is Pandit Amarnath's 11th Barsi.
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