# The Transcendental Poetry Of Baba Bulleh Shah And Other Mystics . The Essence Remains The Same



## Seeker2013

Baba Bulleh Shah , contemporary of times of Guru Gobind Singh ji , 
wrote an abstruse poem which was made a pop hit by singer Rabbi Shergill in 2003 . 

Bullah ki jaana main kaun (O bulleh shah , who knows who I am ) 

In the first reading or listening (if you understand classical punjabi) , the poetry (or what shall I call a divine revelation) seems a bit abstruse , something that a drunkard might say or someone with a mental disorder.
But a drunkard or a mentally sick would never makes rhyming poetry !

But here bulleh shah does ! beautiful rhyming poetry . What is peculiar about this poetry though is , its as if god himself is speaking through bulleh shah 

The lyrics of this poem :

Bulla! ki jaana mai kaun 

Na mai momin vich maseet aan 
Na mai vich kufar diyan reet aan 
Na mai paakaan vich paleet aan 

Na mai andar ved kitaab aan, 
Na mai renda bhang sharaab aan 
Na mai renda masat kharaab aan 

Na mai shaadi na ghamnaaki 
Na mai vich paleeti paaki
Na mai aabi na mai khaki
Na mai aatish na mai paun

Bulla! ki jaana mai kaun 

Na mai arabi na lahoria
Na mai hindi shehar nagauri
Na hindu na turak peshawri

Na mai bheth mazhab da paaya
Ne mai aadam havva jaaya
Na koi apna naam dharaaya

Avval aakhir aap nu jaana
Na koi dooja hor pehchaana
Maethon hor na koi siyaana
Bulla! shah khadda hai kaun

Bulla! ki jaana mai kaun

Na mai moosa na pharaun.
Na vich jaagan na vich saun.
Na mai rehnda vich nadaun
Na vich baitthan na vich bhaun
Bulla! shah khadda hai kaun

Bulla! ki jaana mai kaun

*Not a believer inside the mosque, am I
Nor a pagan disciple of false rites
Not the pure amongst the impure
Neither Moses, nor the Pharoh

Not in the holy Vedas, am I
Nor in opium, neither in wine
Not in the drunkard`s craze
Neither awake, nor in a sleeping daze

In happiness nor in sorrow, am I
Neither clean, nor a filthy mire
Not from water, nor from earth
Neither fire, nor from air, is my birth

Neither arab, nor lahori I am 
Neither from the indian city of nagaur i am 
neither am I hindu , nor muslim or from peshawar

I didn't create difference of religion
I am not created of adam and eve
I didn't name myself

I am the first and the last
Other than me, I don't recognize any
No one is wiser than me 
Bullah does stand alone

Bulleh shah ! who knows who I am ?!
*
Statements like "I am not born of adam and eve" , " I am not born of fire or water" , "I am the first(beginning of everything) and last (end after everything) " was more than enough proof for me that Bulleh shah was quiet, Someone else was speaking through him !

who could it be ? I guess we all know 

It is said Mansoor al hallaj also used to say in his mystical trance "An-al haq" (I am the truth) 
He was executed for heresy by the then islamist government of the time

One of his quotes 

*I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart
I asked, ‘Who are You?’
He replied, ‘You’.*

which is strikingly similar to the upanishic quote 

*Born am I and again reborn,
As twelvefold year, as thirteenth beyond the moon,
From the twelvefold, from the thirteenfold father,
The this one and the other versus this to know,
Until ye, seasons, me led to death by virtue of this truth, by virtue of this Tapas,
I am the seasons, I am the child of the seasons !
Who are you? I am you.

 — Kaushitaki Upanishad, Chapter 1, Hymn 2
*


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