"Oh moon! you are the one that can see my love,
Convey my message that in tears I to you give,
May I be with my love, may he from me never depart!"
..........Bhitai [sur Khambat]

The meaning of Khambat is a shelter or refuge. There is a port in Gujrat, India, with a similar name. In music sense, Khambat is also a type of melody.

In Shah Jo Risalo...click, Khambat is a short sur, comprising two sections only. The theme of the first section is adolescence and praise of beauty. The second section is Bhitais guidance and advice to all humans to discipline their mind.

Beauty in nature and in human beings is the handiwork of God. We, therefore, must appreciate and adore it. Bhitai says that the beloved's beauty far surpasses that of the celestial bodies - the moon, the sun and the stars. He goes on to say that, the stars, moon and sun lower their own light in obeisance to such a wonderful sight as the beauty of the beloved.

Madam Khamisani, in her book "Risalo Of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai : Translated In Verse", suggests that some annotators of the Shah Jo Risalo consider the verses pertaining to the beauty of the beloved as reference to the excellence of the Holy Prophet Muhammad...click, which far exceeds the light of the sun, moon and the stars. These annotators believe that Shah Latif loved the Prophet so much that his desire and dream was to visit Madina - the resting place of the Prophet. Due to old age he was not able to take the hazardous journey to Madina. This inability of his, Latif laments in these poems.

The mind and soul of man is in constant and perpetual journey to seek God. But, the body fails him, because it is attracted to the desires of the flesh. Body, according to Shah Bhitai, is like a camel - you may decorate it with all sorts of expensive precious stones and ornaments of gold, you may feed it on the best of herbs, but, it will go back again and again to the salty jungle bushes of the trees, like 'Ak' and 'Lani,' unless bound with strong ropes and strictly observed. Similarly, the desires and base passions of the body and flesh keep the man away from fulfilling his spiritual needs unless he invokes Divine help, keeps vigilence and exercises strict control, so that the body become an asset to him.

Click for Bhitai's poems in sur Khambat:

Section 1:Beloved Is Wholly Good

Section 2:Eyes Are Daily Cast On Your Path

Sufism And Love : One And The Same