6. ਸ਼ਹੁ ਖਿੱਚਾਂ ਵਾਲੇ
'ਅਸੀਂ ਸਿਕਦੇ, ਤੁਸੀਂ ਸਿਕਦੇ ਨਾਂਹੀ
ਅਸਾਂ ਇਹ ਗਲ ਸੀ ਸਹੀ ਕੀਤੀ
-ਇਕ ਦਿਨ ਸ਼ਿਕਦਿਆਂ ਲੜ ਤੇਰੇ ਦੀ
ਅਸਾਂ ਛੁਹ ਜੋ ਪ੍ਰਾਪਤ ਕੀਤੀ :
'ਸਿੱਕਣ ਸਾਡਾ ਸੀ ਖਿੱਚ ਤੁਸਾਡੀ'
ਸਾਨੂੰ ਇਹ ਗਲ ਨਜ਼ਰੀਂ ਆਈ,-
ਤੁਸੀਂ ਚੁੰਬਕ ਸ਼ਹੁ ਖਿੱਚਾਂ ਵਾਲੇ
ਤੁਸਾਂ ਸਿੱਕ ਅਸਾਂ ਦਿਲ ਸੀਤੀ।
Transliteration
"Asī̃ sikde, tusī̃ sikde nāhī̃
Asā̃ ih gal sī sahī kītī
—ik din shikdiyā̃ laṛ tere dī
asā̃ chuh jo prāpat kītī:
'Sikkaṇ sāḍā sī khich tusāḍī'
sānū̃ ih gal nazrī̃ āī,—
tusī̃ chumbak shahu khichā̃ vāle
tusā̃ sik asā̃ dil sītī."
Translation
We were the ones who burned in longing, whereas you remained untouched by such ardor.
Yet, we came to recognize the truth of this matter:
that one day, in the very act of yearning—through the subtle thread of your being—
we attained that ineffable touch.
It became evident to us that
our longing was, in essence, a response to your own magnetic pull.
You, indeed, are the sovereign center of attraction—
a magnet endowed with the power of irresistible allure—
while we, through that very pull,
stitched devotion into the fabric of our hearts.
Brief Critical Commentary
This poem articulates a deeply mystical experience of longing (sikkaṇ) and divine attraction, resonating strongly with both Sufi and Bhakti poetic traditions. The speaker initially assumes an active role in yearning, but gradually realizes that this longing is not self-generated; rather, it is a response to a higher, unseen force.
The central metaphor of the “magnet” (ਚੁੰਬਕ) is particularly significant. It suggests that the Divine (or the Beloved) is not passive but possesses an inherent attractive pulling power that draws the seeker inward. This reverses the conventional notion of devotion: instead of the devotee seeking God, it is God who initiates the movement of the heart.
The phrase “ਸਿੱਕਣ ਸਾਡਾ ਸੀ ਖਿੱਚ ਤੁਸਾਡੀ” encapsulates this paradox—human longing is, in essence, a manifestation of divine grace. The act of “stitching the heart” (ਦਿਲ ਸੀਤੀ) further symbolizes an inner transformation, where the self is reshaped through this invisible attraction.
Overall, the poem reflects a refined spiritual psychology in which desire, attraction, and union are not merely emotional states but stages of metaphysical realization—highlighting the interdependence of seeker and the Sought.
7.ਪ੍ਰੇਮ ਤਰੰਗੀ
ਪੁੰਨਿਆ ਨੂੰ ਸ਼ਹੁ ਸਾਗਰ ਉਛਲੇ
ਤਾਂਘ ਅਰਸ਼ ਦੀ ਕਰਦਾ,
ਦੂਰ ਵਸੇਂਦੇ ਸੁਹਣੇ ਵੱਲੇ
ਉਮਲ ਉਮਲ ਜੀ ਭਰਦਾ,
ਜਿਉਂ ਜਿਉਂ ਪਰ ਉਸ ਲਗੇ ਚਾਂਦਨੀ
ਤਿਉਂ ਤਿਉਂ ਕੀ ਉਹ ਦੇਖੇ ?
ਪ੍ਰੀਤਮ ਦਾ ਦਿਲ ਪ੍ਰੇਮ ਤਰੰਗੀ
ਦਾਨ ਉਛਾਲੇ ਕਰਦਾ ।
Transliteration
Prem tarangī
Punniā̃ nū̃ shahu sāgar uchhale
tā̃gh arsh dī karda,
dūr vasende suhṇe valle
umal umal jī bharda,
jiũ jiũ par us lage chā̃danī
tiũ tiũ kī uh dekhe?
Prītam dā dil prem tarangī
dān uchhāle karda.
Translation
Love-Wave
At the full moon, the sovereign ocean surges forth,
yearning for the heavens above;
toward the distant beloved who dwells afar,
the heart swells over and over in longing.
As the moonlight increasingly falls upon it,
what more can it behold?
The lover’s heart, wave-like with प्रेम (love),
keeps casting forth its offerings in ceaseless surge.
Brief Critical Commentary
This poem is structured around the extended metaphor of the ocean as the lover’s heart, a classical image enriched here with cosmological and emotional depth. The phrase “ਸ਼ਹੁ ਸਾਗਰ” (sovereign ocean) elevates the sea into a regal and sentient entity, whose tidal surges mirror the intensification of longing. The reference to punniā̃ (the full-moon phase) is significant, as it invokes the natural phenomenon of heightened tides, thereby grounding emotional excess in cosmic rhythm and natural law.
The beloved, situated at a distance, becomes analogous to the moon, whose gravitational and luminous influence governs the ocean’s movement. This establishes a subtle interplay between distance and attraction, where separation does not diminish love but rather amplifies it into rhythmic recurrence—captured in the phrase “ਉਮਲ ਉਮਲ ਜੀ ਭਰਦਾ,” suggesting repeated emotional upwellings.
The rhetorical question—“ਤਿਉਂ ਤਿਉਂ ਕੀ ਉਹ ਦੇਖੇ?”—introduces a moment of introspective pause. It implies that beyond a certain intensity of illumination (both literal and metaphorical), perception itself becomes overwhelmed. The lover, flooded with feeling, reaches a state where experience surpasses articulation.
The concluding line encapsulates the poem’s central idea: the heart as “ਪ੍ਰੇਮ ਤਰੰਗੀ” (wave-like in love), continually offering itself in acts of emotional and almost devotional giving (“ਦਾਨ ਉਛਾਲੇ”). This gesture resonates with Sufi-inflected notions of ਪ੍ਰੇਮ as self-surrender, where love is not possession but an ongoing act of giving and dissolution.
Overall, the poem harmonizes natural imagery, emotional intensity, and metaphysical suggestion, presenting love as a dynamic, wave-like force that binds the human heart to the larger rhythms of the cosmos.
8. ਵੱਧ ਪਯਾਰ ਵਿੱਚ-ਪ੍ਰੀਤਮ
ਸਿਕਦਾ ਸਿਕਦਾ ਵੱਛਾ ਛੁਟਿਆ,
ਦਾ ਅੰਮੀ ਵਲ ਆਇਆ
ਅੰਮੀ ਉਸ ਤੋਂ ਉਸਤੋਂ ਵੱਧ ਪਿਆਰੇ
ਤੁੱਠ ਤੁੱਠ ਲਾਡ ਲਡਾਇਆ।
ਸਿੱਕਦੀ ਨਦੀ ਜਾਲ ਜੱਫਰਾਂ
ਜਦ ਸ਼ਹੁ ਸਾਗਰ ਪਹੁੰਚੀ,
ਉਸ ਤੋਂ ਵੱਧ ਪ੍ਯਾਰ ਵਿਚ ਸਾਗਰ
ਮਿਲਨ ਅਗਾਂਹ ਧਾਇਆ।
Transliteration
Vaddh Pyār Vich – Prītam
Sikdā sikdā vachhā chhuṭiā,
dā ammī val āiā
Ammī us ton ustōṁ vaddh piyāre
tuṭh tuṭh lāḍ laḍāiā.
Sikkdī nadī jāl jaffarāṁ
jad shahū sāgar pahuṅchī,
us ton vaddh pyār vich sāgar
milan agāṁh dhāiā.
Translation
In Greater Love – The Beloved
Struggling and yearning, the calf breaks free,
and runs toward its mother;
yet the mother, loving even more deeply,
rushes forward, showering tender affection.
The river, entangled in its own currents,
when at last reaches the vast ocean—
the ocean, in an even greater love,
surges ahead to embrace the union.
Brief Critical Commentary
This poem beautifully articulates the reciprocity and asymmetry of love, where the beloved’s love exceeds even the seeker’s longing. The imagery of the calf and mother evokes instinctive, primal affection, suggesting a natural, unmediated bond. However, the second metaphor—the river and the ocean—elevates this emotional register into a more mystical and metaphysical dimension.
The river’s journey symbolizes the soul’s restless striving, entangled in worldly currents, while the ocean represents the Divine Beloved, vast and all-encompassing. Crucially, the poem subverts the conventional trope of the seeker striving toward the Divine by emphasizing that the Divine itself “runs forward” to meet the seeker. This inversion aligns with bhakti and Sufi traditions, where divine grace precedes and surpasses human effort.
Stylistically, the repetition (“ਸਿਕਦਾ ਸਿਕਦਾ”, “ਤੁੱਠ ਤੁੱਠ”) reinforces emotional intensity, while the parallel structure of the two stanzas creates a movement from earthly affection to spiritual union. The poem ultimately suggests that true love is not equal exchange but overwhelming generosity, where the beloved’s response transcends expectation.
9. ਮਹਿੰਦੀ
– ਸੱਜਣ ਦੇ ਹੱਥ ਲੱਗੀ ਹੋਈ
ਆਪੇ ਨੀ ਅਜ ਰਾਤ ਸਜਨ ਨੇ
ਸਾਨੂੰ ਫੜ ਘੁਟ ਰਖਿਆ,
'ਵਸਲ ਮਾਹੀ, ਦਾ ਮਿਹਰ ਮਾਹੀ ਦੀ'
ਅੱਜ ਅਸਾਂ ਨੇ ਲਖਿਆ,
ਜਿੰਦੜੀ ਸਾਡੀ ਅੰਗ ਸਮਾ ਲਈ
ਵੇਖ ਵੇਖ ਖੁਸ਼ ਹੋਵੇ :
ਕਿਉਂ ਸਹੀਓ ! ਕੁਈ ਸ੍ਵਾਦ ਸਜਨ ਨੇ
ਛੁਹ ਸਾਡੀ ਦਾ ਭਿ ਚਖਿਆ ?
Transliteration
Mahindī – Sajjan de hath laggī hoī
Āpe nī aj rāt sajjan ne
sānū phaṛ ghuṭ rakhiyā,
“vasal māhī, dā mihr māhī dī”
ajj asā̃ ne lakhiyā,
jindṛī sāḍī ang samā laī
vekh vekh khuś hove:
kiũ sahīo! kuī savād sajjan ne
chhuḥ sāḍī dā bhī chakhiyā?
Translation
Henna – Adorning the Beloved’s Hands
Tonight, the beloved himself
has clasped and held me close;
the grace of union with the beloved—
this truth I have realized today.
My very life has merged into his being,
and he delights in beholding it again and again.
Tell me, O friend—has the beloved too
tasted the sweetness of my touch?
Brief Critical Commentary
This lyrical fragment exemplifies the rich symbolic and emotive texture characteristic of Punjabi mystical-poetic tradition, particularly reminiscent of the sensibility found in the works of Bhai Vir Singh. The central metaphor of mehndi (henna) operates as a profound emblem of प्रेम (love), union (vasal), and self-effacement.
The poetic voice appears to be that of the henna itself, personified and absorbed into the beloved’s body. This inversion of subjectivity—where the self dissolves into the other—echoes a deeply spiritualized conception of love, akin to the bhakti and Sufi traditions, where union with the beloved signifies transcendence of ego.
The phrase “ਵਸਲ ਮਾਹੀ ਦਾ ਮਿਹਰ ਮਾਹੀ ਦੀ” encapsulates the grace of divine or romantic union as both a gift and a realization. The merging of “ਜਿੰਦੜੀ” (life-force) into the beloved’s being suggests annihilation of separateness, a theme central to mystical poetics.
The closing interrogative subtly introduces reciprocity: while the speaker is wholly absorbed, it questions whether the beloved has equally experienced the sweetness of this contact. This lends the poem a delicate tension between surrender and mutuality, making it not only devotional but also psychologically nuanced.
Overall, the poem transforms a cultural ornament (mehndi) into a metaphysical symbol, articulating an intimate interplay between physical adornment and spiritual union.
10.ਉਡਾਰ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਮ ਨੂੰ ਅੱਥਰੂ ?
ਨੈਣਾਂ ਦੇ ਵਿਚ ਰੂੰ ਨ ਸੁਖਾਵੇ,
ਅਸੀਂ ਨੈਣਾਂ ਵਾਸ ਵਸਾਏ,
ਤੁਸੀਂ ਸੁਖਾਏ ਸਾਥੋਂ ਬਹੁਤੇ—
'ਅੱਖ-ਪੁਤਲੀ ਨੇ ਅੰਕ ਸਮਾਏ ?
ਤੁਸੀਂ ਉਡਾਰ ਟਿਕ ਬਹੋ ਨ ਪੁਤਲੀ,
ਜਿਉਂ ਪੰਛੀ ਆਲ੍ਹਣਯੋਂ ਉੱਡੇ :-
ਨੈਣਾਂ ਨੇ ਅਸੀਂ ਮਗਰ ਤੁਸਾਡੇ
ਹੁਣ ਢੂੰਡਣ ਬਾਹਰ ਘਲਾਏ ।
Transliteration
Uḍār Prītam nū̃ Athrū?
Naiṇā̃ de vich rū̃ na sukhāve,
asī̃ naiṇā̃ vās vasāe,
tusī̃ sukhāe sāthõ bahute—
“akh-putlī ne aṅk samāe?
Tusī̃ uḍār ṭik baho na putlī,
jiũ pañchhī ālhanyō̃ uḍḍe:
naiṇā̃ ne asī̃ magar tusāḍe
huṇ ḍhūṇḍaṇ bāhar ghalāe.”
Translation
Tears for the Departing Beloved?
Within the eyes, no moisture finds rest;
I had made my dwelling in those very eyes.
You have dried me away far too much—
Has the pupil itself absorbed me within?
You did not remain, even for a moment, O pupil—
like a bird that flies away from its nest;
these eyes, following in your trail,
are now sent outward in search of you.
Brief Critical Commentary
This poem unfolds through an intricate interplay of inner vision and emotional desolation, drawing upon the delicate imagery of the eye (ਨੈਣ) and the pupil (ਅੱਖ-ਪੁਤਲੀ) as metaphors for intimacy and presence. The poetic voice appears to inhabit the tears themselves—suggesting both a physical and emotional dissolution—thus continuing the tradition of object-personification found in the works of Bhai Vir Singh.
The opening lines evoke a paradox: tears, which naturally moisten the eyes, are here unable to “settle,” indicating a deeper spiritual dryness caused by separation. The idea that the self once “dwelt” in the beloved’s eyes suggests a state of profound union, now disrupted.
The central metaphor of the pupil departing “like a bird from its nest” is particularly striking. It conveys sudden absence, fragility, and the loss of a focal center—both literally (vision) and metaphorically (love or divine presence). This aligns with mystical poetics where the beloved’s absence renders the world disoriented and incomplete.
The final lines extend this imagery into a restless quest: the eyes themselves are dispatched outward in search of the lost beloved. This inversion—where organs of perception become agents of longing—deepens the emotional resonance and underscores the theme of ਬਿਰਹਾ (separation).
Overall, the poem delicately captures the transition from union to loss, using sensory imagery to articulate an inward spiritual crisis, where vision, identity, and longing become inseparably entwined.
