Introspective: Sanson Ki Mala Pe

The following material is based on the qawalli 'Sanson Ki Mala Pe' by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The poetry written in Urdu are the words spoken by the great Khan Saheb, what follows is the interpretation, reasoning and influence entirely in terms of love.

2:17

آ پیا ان نینن میں

میں پلک ڈھامپ توہے لوں

نہ میں دکھوں گیرکو

نہ میں تو ہے دیکھان دوں

All love begins from a feeling. You know you are in love when you truly feel something for someone. You can live with that feeling. But there comes a time when a lover wants more than that. Just like a difference between a need and a want. You need your beloved, but you want love in return. Similarly, you want to see your beloved. When you see your beloved, you want to possess your beloved. Moses, is God's most mentioned Prophet in the Quran. Moses loved God so much that he couldn't live with the feeling of not seeing His beloved. Love erases all others. The qualities you see in your beloved, make no difference to you when you see others who have it. They call it blindness, I call it sincerity. Sincerity, is a huge value. Right up there with loyalty. It is highly valuable at the same time priceless. Its a give and take, if not given in return, love seizes to exist.

3:38

کاجل ڈالوں کرکرا

سرما دیا نہ جائے

جن نینن میں پیا بسے

بھلا دوجا کون سماے؟

In his book, 'The Rules of Life', Richard Templar emphasizes 'Dress like today is important. People will react differently to you if you dress as if it matters'. Although it is a lost art, personal grooming is one of the most important things in life. Ne-Yo once said, 'There was a time when people didn't leave their houses until they looked their best'. When one is love, one either appreciates this or loses it all. Loses it because the beloved has ignored the lover and appreciates it because the lover wants to become the apple of the beloved's eye. In other words, آنکھوں کی ٹھنڈک.

4:13

نیل گگن سے بھی پرے

سیان جی کا گاؤں

درشن جل کی کامنہ

پتھ رکھیو ہے رام

They say love is a feeling that knows no distance. They are damn right. Meta-physics, finally I know what you are. How can you be without someone and be with them at the same time? How can you be so distant and be so near at the same time? Love. God is up there above the seven heavens, we down here on earth. How can He be way up there and inside us at the same time? Love. How can you be in the west, and still be inside me in the east at the same time? Love.

4:55

اب قسمت کے ہاتھ ہے اس بندھن کی لاج

مہینے تو من لکھ دیا ساوریہ کے نام

جانے کون سے بھیس میں

ساوریہ مل جائے

جھک جھک کر سنسار میں

سب کو کروں سلام

Like all relationships, His Royal Highness, 'Love' is very complex and sensitive. Anyone can fall in love, and the question is, does everyone know 'How to love'? My philosophy in life has always been, 'Do your best and leave to God the rest'. The great debate between: "Our destiny has already been written" and "We write our own destiny" will never end. I believe God opens doors, its on us if we enter or not. Sometimes, under the influence of love, one raises standards so high that the lover starts to expect the same qualities of the beloved from others. The lover shall never find it, because what the lover doesn't understand is that its not the qualities, its the beloved itself.

5:46

وہ چاتر ہے کامنی وہ ہے سندر نار

جس پگلی نے کر لیا ساجن کا من رام

جب سے رادھا شام کے نین ہوے ہیں چار

شام بنے ہیں رادھیکا رادھا بن گی شام

Men and women are equal.They are both strong. Where men are, physically. Woman are emotionally. We both have our weaknesses too. A woman cannot survive without love. Even the most capitalist kind, need it. Again comes the issue of 'how to love'. Majority of women don't, even though they are in it. They spend their whole life thinking, 'why me?'. The ones that do know the 'procedure' have truly led a life worth living. Love is the process of losing oneself, emptying oneself, to achieve the beloved by filling oneself with the beloved. You cannot define this in words, it would be an insult if tried.

.....سانسوں کی ....

سانسوں کی مالا پے

سمرو میں پی کا نام

اپنے من کی میں جانوں

اور پی کے من کی رام

یہی میری بندگی ہے

یہی میری پوجا ہے

Love is worship and worship is love. Devotion is submission and submission is devotion.

اک کا ساجن مندر میں

اک کا پریتم مسجد میں

....پر میں

Those who think 'Love' is child's play have nothing more than child's mentality. Love can be extremely satisfying and it can be extremely barbaric both at the same time. Love has vastness. Love is extreme. No one worth loving is you take them for granted. The world is famous for categorizing each other. Most of the historic fictional love stories always categorized the lover and the beloved in 'rich and poor', 'hindu and muslim', 'black or white', etc etc. How beautiful God is. Adam and Eve, perfect for each other. No race, class, color, or religious difference. Separated when arrived on earth. Muhammad and Khadija, the former a trade agent and the latter an elite-class businesswoman, but had nothing but love for each other. Separated only by society's 'class difference'. What normal minds don't understand is that it's this separation that forces and beings the lover and the beloved to each other.

12:20 -14:53

Khan Saheb interprets by himself...