Sufi mysticism and love in music

Today morning I had an ear-worm, there is a popular number (Lamberghini) which I had listened to and it just would not exit my brain! To root it out I had to resort to my one of my favorite genres of music – Sufi in Bollywood! Listening to this genre led me to think of the deeper meaning of these songs and how these masquerade as innocent love songs, when they are actually a sonorous obeisance to God.

One of my favorite songs is Bulleya from the movie Sultan, the opening lines of this song are:

 “Kuchh rishton ka namak hi duri hota hai Na milna bhi bahut zaruri hota hai”

So also another song from the movie, Secret Superstar gets every silly ear-worm out! This song is Nachdi Phira, which goes:

“Teri hi boli boloongi main, Teri hi baani gaaungi main ”

Both these songs to the uninitiated would seem like the expressions of a lover, and they are! Just not of the kind we see on screen. They are actually a prayer to the almighty, a commitment, a promise and a re-affirmation of love for God.

Consider the first song, Kuchh rishton ka namak hi duri hota hai – the beauty of some relationships is distance, not meeting is the crux of some relationships. And then further:

“Tujhse mera deen dharam hai,
Mujhse teri khudayi.”

You are a God, only because I worship you and I have faith and religion because of you.

And this is true for a lover and for God as well.

On dissection, the second song too reveals it’s split personality, it goes:          

   

“Teri hi boli boloongi main
Teri hi baani gaaungi main

Tere ishq da chola pehan ke
Main tujhme hi rang jaungi
Tere ishq da chooda pehan ke
Main tujhme hi saj jaungi”

These lines speak of complete surrender to the superior being, the lines speak of shedding clothes and wearing the same as those of the lover and also of giving up one’s own speech and thoughts and taking up those of the Supreme master. This is the essence of true worship and true love, complete surrender and the loss of one’s own personality.

This makes so much sense to me, for if there is ego and a sense of self; you can’t really submerge yourself in God or in someone else. It is only when each action and thought is dictated by and is for your beloved, can you reach a higher plane. Both these songs are from the school of thought of Rumi.

Rumi is a name which couldn’t possibly have escaped your notice if “Sufi’ is a word you know. The 2 are inextricably linked and the poetry of Rumi is vastly abused in endless facebook posts. To know the story of Rumi, you would have to go through a simple book called the “40 Rules of Love” by Elif Shafak. It is a detailed account of the relationship between Rumi and his muse/teacher – Shams. Suffice to know that Rumi was an enlightened soul and a ruler and Shams was a wanderer who gave the works of Rumi new meaning and depth. The poetry which Rumi wrote upon Sham’s murder is heart wrenching in its cries for reunion; though gradually these were overlaid by the need/desire to be absorbed into the universe.

Rumi and Shams used to get submerged in their shared love of God and a common expression of this was for them to get up and start whirling. This was further set to rhythm by Rumi’s son, who also allegedly was responsible for the death of Shams. This was the beginning of the Whirling Dervishes. And it also forms the basis of the ultimate physical supplication, hence there are so many references to dancing with abandon in Sufi songs.

Also unique to the poetry of Rumi- Shams, was the referring of one’s self in the female pronoun, hence “nachdi phira”, in fact the languages then did not really cater much to gender, but the poetry in Sufism uses the female pronoun to denote a supplicant.

There were several other poets who contributed to Sufi poetry, and the other one whose poetry has me hooked is “Bulleshah”. He came on to the scene nearly 400 years after Rumi, but he is the unifier of local dialect and most of Rumi’s poetry as we know it is actually via this master who wrote the “Kafi” verse. This was Sufi verse but in the Punjabi and Sindhi dialects and it is really the basis of all Punjabi and Bollywood music. Ghazals too find their origin in this Kafi verse.

The influence of this poetry has also percolated in to hindi lyrics, for example the song –

 “Laaga chunari mai daag, chhupaun kaise,

Laaga chunari mai daag, ghar jaun kaise?”

It is a verse that laments the fact that the soul has been besmirched and is no longer pure. So it will be difficult to face God now, as accounting of the sins will be asked for. So the soul is wary of going home, of meeting The Maker.

The concept of this transcendental love makes its way into other traditional music forms too, like the Ghazals and even thumris. Consider this song from Swami by Yesudas:

“Ka karoon sajni aaye na balam
Ka karoon sajni aaye na balam
Khoj rahi hain piya pardesi ankhiyan
Khoj rahi hain piya pardesi ankhiyan
Aaye na balam
Ka karoon sajni aaye na balam”

So on and so forth, there are plenty of such examples to be found in Hindi Film Music but I end my ramblings here.

Credits:

1-     Song Title: Laga Chunari Mein Daag
Movie: Dil Hi To Hai (1963)
Singer: Manna Dey
Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi
Music: Roshan

2-     Song Title: Ka Karoon Sajni aaye na baalam
Movie: Swami (1977)
Singer: Yesudas
Lyrics: Amit Khanna
Music: Rajesh Roshan

3-     Song Title: Nachdi Phira

Movie: Secret Superstar (2017)
Singer: Meghna Mishra
Lyrics: Kausar Munir
Music: Amit Trivedi

4-     Song Title: Bulleya

Movie: Sultan (2016)
Music: Vishal-Shekhar
Lyrics: Irshad Kamil
Singer: Papon