Bhitai's Quest For The Truth

Mystery Of Man's Existence

Madam Amena Khamisani...click, in her English translation of Shah Jo Risalo, "Risalo Of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai : Translated In Verse" (1994), maintains that, there is an inborn tendency in certain human beings "to probe deeper into the mystery of m,an's existence and his relationship with his Creator." This kind of inner urge often dies out in them, as they get involved in the mundane affairs that life in its wake forces upon them. For such persons certain pertinent and forceful questions remain unanswered; questions such as these"
What are we?
From whence have we come?
Whither we are bound?
What relationship do we bear to our Creator?
What is the nature of our Creator?

There are other types of human beings who live a strict religious life and sincerely take and perform their worldly tasks. They then arrive at a stage when they are perturbed and haunted by these questions and try their best to find some answers, since formal religion has no satisfactory answer for them. They are also seized by an intense longing for a direct approach to their Creator rather than through intermediaries. There is a hunger in their soul for the Divine and thirst for the things that are Divine.This leads them to the path traversed by the mystics, the sufis.

There are yet third type of human beings, who from their very birth, are observant as well as contemplative. Their very nature pushes them and guides them to solve the mysteries of our existence. They vehemently long for the Supernal order of things and for a direct approach to God. These longing for the Divine supersedes everything else in their life. The quest for eternal truths which never die, become their primary concern. Such persons are born mystics.

Through a momentary passive experience of intense awareness which comes and goes, the solution of these pertinent questions, is revealed to them. Wordsworth refers to this creative insight resulting from direct experience, enabling man to grasp the Divine essence, in the following lines:

That blessed mood
In which the burden of the mystery
In which the heavy and weary weight
Of all this unintelligible world,
Is lightened that serene and blessed mood,
In which the affections gently lead us on,
Until, the breath of this corporal frame
And even the motion of our human flood
Almost suspended, we are laid asleep
In body, and become a living soul:
While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things."

Who is man? What is his origin? Where did he come from? Where is he bound? Who has Created him? What is the relationship between the Creator and the created? These are some of the burning questions that perpetually, systemetically and methodically troubled, haunted and fascinated Bhitai. He wanted answers to these questions. The more he probed the more he unravelled the mysteries of man's existence and his relationship with his Creator. In the relentless search of truth, Bhitai was seized by an intense longing for a direct approach to his Creator. His soul was constantly thirsting for the Divine and all things Divine. This lead him to the path traversed by mystics. His quest for eternal truth became his primary concern. He found God in everything - believing that "All that is, is God," rest is all illusion and deception. Bhitai was a saint and a mystic - a sufi. Guided by deep feeling and contemplation, through a process which has been termed as the "flight of the alone to the Alone", sufis have been able to arrive at certain truths of the spiritual life. We shall make an attempt to discuss the vary nature of that creative insight of sufism within Bhitai, which resulted in intense feelings and deep contemplation that provided him with momentary glimpses to fathom the Divine essence and the reality of things.

Shariat is a stage in which the seeker has to live according to laws of religion as strictly laid down, observing all the rituals. Tariqat is the stage of renunciation which soon leads to the next stage of Haqiqat, the truth, that stage in which the seeker is granted revelation of the true nature of the Godhead and which is retained. Maarifat is the stage of the spiritual journey where the evolved soul of the seeker finds itself in Divine approximity." Concerning the origin of mysticism, Bhitai quotes the words of the Holy Qur'an:

In the above stanzas taken from Sur Sasui Abri, Shah Bhitai uses verses from Holy Qur'an. Many other verses from the Qur'an of this nature has been used throughout the Risalo. This lead us to the belief in the Islamic mysticism of Shah Bhitai. Since Bhitai contemplates chiefly on the Divine attribute of love, his mysticism has also been called love mysticism, as most of his surs reveal. He contemplates too on the Divine attributes of beauty, compassion and munificence, signifying them by symbols which are taken from our own mundane world, familiar to the masses.

There exists a close connection between his physical and an unseen, invisible world which we may call supernal, and which can only be comprehended by the enlightened ones. Man does not live only this physical, outer life but he lives an inner life simultaneously. Our inner life is directly influenced by the way we live our physical outer life like "The Picture of Dorian Gray." The consciousness of evolving one's innerlife dawns upon us when we have lived an active, untarnished earthly life, having performed with sincerity and devotion our worldly responsibilities. Bhitai propagates this idea as:

"Let us go the land of Kak
Where love flows in abundance,
There are no entrances, no exits,
Every one can see the Lord!"

"There is no light nor day
Every one can see the Lord!
Those who love the Lord
The world cannot hold them.
Palaces do not attract them,
Nor women nor servants
Nothing binds them:
The renouncers leave everything behind."

"A message came from the Lord:
A full moon shone
Darkness disappeared
A new message came from the Lord:
It does not matter what caste you are
Whoever come, are accepted."

"Where shall I take my camel,
All is Light...
Inside there is Kak, mountain and valley,
The Lord and the Lord: there is nothing but the Lord."

`Am I not your Lord?', Allah asked
In the beginning of the creation.
Then I swore by the Truth:
There was no consciousness
Of virtue or vice
Only universal consciousness."

`My body is here, but my heart
Is with you, my Allah...'
Say, no calamity will reach us, except that,
Which Allah wills..
`Allah is not born
Nor does he give birth...'

You are still in shallow water
The ocean lies ahead!
`Man is my mystery
And I am man's mystery.'
....Bhitai (1690-1751 AD), translated by Prof. D. H. Butani (1913-1989) in "The Melody and Philosophy of Shah Latif", Promilla and Co., New Delhi 1991 (ISBN 81-85002-14-2)

Sufism in Sindh : A Way of Life