La libertad de la naturaleza

Chaman mein chhedti hai kis mazey se ghuncha e gul ko

Magar mauj e saba ki paak da nahin jaati

- Hazrat Shah Niyaz

(The morning breeze playfully teases the flowers in the garden

Yet itself remains pristine, it's intentions never questioned )

Of poetry, love and keeping the fantasy alive

There are two songs with some similar lines. Both songs are beautiful and can be easily related to by anyone who has loved or lost, or both.

The songs I speak of are Mujhse Pehli Si Mohabbat Mere Mehboob Na Maang by Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Kabhi Kabhi Mere Dil Mein Khayal Aata Hai by Sahir Ludhianvi.

The first song has the line

“Tu jo mil jaaye toh taqdeer nigun ho jaaye
Yun na tha maine faqat chaha tha yun ho jaaye”

(Were I to have you, my destiny would not matter.
This was not the way it was, but only how I desired it to be)

The second, by Sahir Ludhianvi, ends with

Kabhi kabhi mere dil mein khayal aata hai
Ki jaise tu mujhe chahegi umr bhar yun hi
Uthegi meri taraf pyaar ki nazar yun hi
Main jaanta hoon ki tu ghair hai magar yun hi

(Once in a while, a fleeting thought settles upon my mind
That you will want me forever
And your eyes will always find me through the lenses of love
I know you are not mine, but nonetheless
Once in a while…)

I think both songs are brilliant and I am a fan both of both the poets, and relate to both songs equally. But as far as these two parts of these songs are concerned, I favour the second more than the first.

Let me tell you why.

One starts with a fantasy and then crashes it against the wall of reality. The other recognizes the constraints of reality but is belligerent enough to reiterate the fantasy that exists nonetheless, and almost enjoys it.

Playing, in children and in adults through imagination and fantasy, is an integral part of the experience of an unburdened sense of existing. A child who cannot play, adults who cannot dream or be spontaneous have lost parts of themselves that allow them to be free without being afraid.

The capacity to be surprised also shuts down when one has had to abandon fantasy and playing too soon to the demands of harsh reality. Being surprised means not knowing and not being in control, which creates a vulnerability that causes anxiety. The titles of both songs are significant if one thinks of them in light of the above. One says it can no longer be the way it used to once in a while, while the other wonders and allows itself to be carried with that wonder.

Sahir’s lyrics have two qualities of good psychotherapy (I refer to the psychoanalytic or depth psychological approaches). It has the capacity to surprise, for when I heard the song for the first time I was caught by surprise both at the point where he dips into the level of reality after giving a glimpse of what the mind has fantasized, as well as when he rises again from reality back to fantasy with the very last ‘I know…. But..”. A second quality it has is of giving something to keep the listener going, by not putting an end to his fantasy-ing and imagination. To go on being. What philosophers and others have called Eros.

Keeping the fantasy alive is important for one to feel “alive” in the true sense of being. Life is not about going towards something. It is about the here and now. The chase is more important than the capture. The capture brings about an end to the game. What do you do then?

The entire meaning of a wide range of emotions and their whole worth comes from your experience of them. Love, for instance. The maximum you can derive out of that emotion is to be in love, to feel it from the depths of your being. Not to feel it towards a certain object alone but rather to experience it within yourself. Being with the one you love is an advantage, but doesn’t, or shouldn’t change your experience of it in any way, because it became a complete emotion the moment you began to feel it.

It need not “have” the other in order to attain a greater or more evolved state.

Love is an experience inside your own being that leads you to find things outside of you to give it an outlet or an organized form. You may like someone or admire them because of their qualities, but you love them only if you have opened yourself up to feeling love in general in the first place.

But the beautiful thing is, the moment you are able to do this you feel like you have reached the pinnacle of what is pleasurable and makes life worth living.

Poets in their wonderful double entendres and their prose have captured the essence of life and love like no one else has.

Ghalib, (insert “Sigh” here) once wrote

“Tere vaade par jiye hum
to yeh jaan jhoot jaana
ki khushi se mar na jaate
agar aitbaar hota ? "

(To say that I live because of your promise to me

Would make this life of mine a lie.

For would I not have died of sheer joy

Had I trusted it to be sincere?)

Apart from the surface level meaning of the inability to trust the love of a beloved, I think what he is also trying to get at is the essence – the juissance- of life which is in the journey between wanting and having. We live in a valley of desire and longing, and to attain all that we want would be equivalent to ceasing to live.

Like delaying an orgasm indefinitely

So that the heightened arousal, which in itself is pleasing, doesn’t come to an immediate end.

There is a reason why I labelled this "Psychoanalysis" as well

Tune deewana banaaya toh main deewana bana

Ab mujhe hosh ki duniya mein tamaasha na bana*

-

You drove me to insanity and I became insane

Now don't make me a poor joke in the world of the sane

* Hazrat Shah Niyaz

(Translation by Muzaffar Ali)

The lovers behold your limitless beauty, where a thousand idols fade away

Guftam elaaj e zindagi
Gufta ki deedar e manast*

"And what cures life of all it's ills?"
"To behold my beauty," He said**

* Hazrat Amir Khausrau

**(Translation by Muzaffar Ali)

Tootey hue dilwalon ki aan, aur hi kuchh hai

Ya khuda talib-e-akseer ko akseer mile
Hum ko khak- e -dar- e- jaanaana mubarak bashad
Mataa-e- be baha hai dard -o -soz- e- arzoomandi
Maqaam- e- bandagi de kar na loon shaan- e- khudawandi**

(A translation)
May those who seek cures be granted cures
For me the dust at the beloved's doorstep is blessing enough
For me, the passion and anguish of longing is an unlimited treasure
I shall not trade my place of humble submission
for the glory of Godliness.

** Hazrat Shah Niyaz...

...A man who, among others, has definitely shaped my being in the loveliest of ways.

Mafhoom adaaon ka teri kya koi samjhe?

Baat inme hai kuchh aur, bayaan aur hi kuchh hai

-

Uff tak na kare mooh ko, hazaar aaye kaleja,

Tootey hue dil walon ki aan, aur hi kuchh hai

John Lennon forgot one thing...

"Imagine no relationships"

Imagine if every person was actually an island.



One evening, walking along the ordinary roads of a typical colony in New Delhi, regressed enough to be craving chocolate and chips, TQ said to me, "You know that feeling? Of 'aloneness' even while in an experience of love?



Half way through this sentence, I smiled and looked at her with a glance that made her realise she needn't have asked me that question.



So throwing her arm around me with a little laugh, she said, "I knew you would understand exactly what I mean"


Ultimately, everyone is alone. You can love and you can give and you should have a bloody fantastic time doing that, but you shouldn't expect anything in return. Nada.

Is it pessimistic?



:-) Not at all ! Its liberating to arrive at this realisation. Because it does away with expectations. Expectations ruin you. They come with relationships, and relationships tend to be a bit screwed up anyway. Why? Because they give an illusion of non-aloneness.



You might say that it's all great talk, but that's not how relationships work.



Of course. Why do you think I lament over relationships? (Insert dramatic 1950's anguished Hindi film heroine pose here)



But it's the truth. All you can really derive joy out of is the way you feel. It's the only reliable thing.



Seekh Zaheen ke dil se jalna, kahe ko har shamma pe jalna?

Apni aag mein khud jal jaaye, tu aisa parwana ban ja



Yeah, its very Advaita Vedantic. Those guys definitely knew what they were talking about.


The 'truth' segment in the sidebar of this blog sings a song.



The lines that are absent are



Humsafar koi gar mile bhi kahin

Dono chalte rahe tanha tanha


Cheers to that comrades!

Sharing the wine of wisdom

TQ: Jab tak bike nahin the koi poochta nahin thaAapne kharid kar humein anmol kar diya..
I cant quite grasp the density of the sentiment behind this.. pl shed some light if u can..


Holy Cow: wah wah
actually the lines are...
jab tak bika na tha
koi poochta na tha
tune mujhe khareed ke anmol kar diya


TQ: :) beautiful
who would say this.. and when?
am feeling quite blank..

Holy Cow: its a sufi state of being

that only when I sell myself to you, do I really become priceless.
and my worth and value is only that you bought me
and I, was bought willingly by you


TQ: hmmm.. it is the monetary transaction aspect which I cant grasp.. but I guess buying and selling doesn't necessarily involve money



Holy Cow: To state it differently- all the material things of worth, against which I was thus far being valued, are nothing compared to what I become when I become yours

The irony of life and love

Main ho gaya ghubar-e-rahe dost aye zaheen
Phir bhi kisi ke khatir nazuk pe bhaar tha

- Hazrat Zaheen Shah Taaji

Translation *

I became the dust in the path that leads to my friend O Zaheen
Yet I remain a burden on someone's delicate being


* By Muzaffar Ali