By PR, *Latest issue of HU focuses on Sufis of Punjab* - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan; Monday, November 29, 2010The need for peace and tolerance in our lives has resonated for years in Sufi poetry, music and art.
Rumi Foundation spearheaded by Muzaffar Ali has tried to spread the word of Sufism through their unique and artistic publication, HU - The Sufi Way.
The latest [fourth] presentation focuses on the Sufis of the Punjab. The articles are a fusion of different faiths with similar goals aspiring peaceful coexistence, communal harmony and love for each other.
While unfolding the vibrant love story of Heer and Ranjha the Punjab issue also engages the reader in Dara Shikoh’s secular journey and his desire to understand and follow both Hinduism and Islam.
We are further enlightened with the articles on Guru Nanak and Beas. Waris Shah the famous Sufi poet, who immortalises Heer Ranjha in verse, displayed a lyrical quality that reached the masses. Desolate with the massacre of the partition, Poet Amrita Pritam’s plaint to Waris Shah is recorded. While artist Manjit Bawa’s love for Sufism is reflected in his paintings, the universal love and light of Baba Farid is beautifully portrayed in the book.
HU - The Sufi Way also features a message from Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. It reads:
“I am glad to know that the Rumi Foundation is bringing out a volume on the Sufis of Punjab. The Sufis occupy an honoured place in the cultural, religious and spiritual tradition of Punjab. They have vastly enriched our composite culture by stressing the essence of religion as a liberating, unifying and uplifting force in society. The sublime poetry of the Sufis, based on commonalities of all faiths, promotes communal harmony and peaceful coexistence. Because of their transcendental approach to life and nobility of purpose, the Sufis endure in popular imagination and command respect from all sections of society. I commend those associated with the publication of this work.”
Poetry is the essence of life and Bulleh Shah verse says:
“Yes you have read thousands of books.
But you have never tried to read yourself.
You rush, into your mandirs, into your mosques
But you have never tried to enter your own heart.
Futile are all your battles with Satan
For you have never tried to fight your own desires”.
While referring to the Sufi saints, Dr Karan Singh, President of Rumi Foundation wrote in the first issue of HU:
“The setting up of Rumi Foundation in India is an attempt to recapture the lives and teachings of these great mystics and rearticulate them in the contemporary context. Our annual publication, HU - The Sufi Way, will put together, on regular basis, a wide spectrum of articles from India and abroad in these areas. The first issue contains a number of interesting articles on the Sufi-Bhakti movement in India and focuses on the Sufi poet of this issue, Amir Khusrau, on whose birth anniversary it will be launched”.
In his editorial of the Punjab issue, executive Director and Secretary of The Rumi Foundation Muzaffar Ali wrote:
“Punjab has been a vital gateway to this enormous subcontinent. It has opened minds to create Seekers of Truth, of those who came in and those who went out”.
[Picture: HU, third issue. Photo: Rumi Foundation]
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