Poetry by Baba Bulle Shah

I have taken a liking to Sufi music. It is just beautiful. The lyrics are so meaningful and the tunes so catchy. This music is a result of pure love for god. And anything that is result of pure love is beautiful. The Sufi music I listened to was by Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Begum Abida Parveen and a few songs composed by India's superstar A R Rehman. Kailash Kher and Rabbi Shergill also sing Sufi songs and are pretty good at it. I found that a lot of these songs were written by Baba Bulle Shah. He was probably the most prolific Sufi poet of the Indian subcontinent. I wish I knew Punjabi and Urdu better so that I could fully understand what he said. There are some websites that contain translations of his works. But they are by no means exhaustive. My favorite song is Tere Ishq Nachaya as sung by Begum Abida Parveen, thankfully this is available on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcj8Zq2etlY.

Two of my favorite couplets from this song are these.

This is the first one.

ishq te aatish nu hi barabar
o vat ishq da tavut khera
aatish saare takht kanera
ate ishq saare dil jera
aatish nu paani bujhave
te dasso ishq da daru kehda
aakhe ghulam farida, aakhe peer farida
othe kuchh nahin bachda
ne jithhe ishq ne la leya dera

I could not find a translation online so I just posted a comment on youtube under my username there, which is retardedgenius. Fortunately, I recieved a reply from user Darvaish47. And this is the accurate translation. Poetry at it's best.

Love and fire are both similar
but love is more hurtful
Fire burns wood and grass
but Love burns Heart and Liver
Water douses fire but
whats the remedy of love
Peer Ghulam Fareed Says
There remains nothing else,
where love decides to stay.


Here is another couplet from this song.

padh path ilm hazaar kitabaan, kade apne aap nu padhiya naieen
ja ja vardi mandar maseeti, kadi man apne vich fadiya naieen
aivain ladada shaitan nal bandeya, kadi nafs apne naal ladeya naieen
aakhen peer bulle shah aasman fadeya, jo man vich basda onhu phadeya nahin

I was able to translate this one pretty accurately myself. But I still got it proof read from Darvaish47. Here is the translation.

Reading of books thousands book, never read your own self.
Always running to mosques and temples, but never ventured in your own heart.
You fight always with the Devil O Man, but never fought with your own self.
Bulleh Shah says, man catches what goes in the sky, but never catches the ONE who is in the heart.