Transcript BRAHM PRAKASH (Divine illumination)

BRAHM PRAKĀSH
(Divine Illumination)
By
Pir Shams (r.a.)
Likely date 13th century
A presentation by
Kamaluddin Ali Muhammad
Devotional Literature Educators’ Sessions
Itreb auditorium
Karachi 05-11-08
GENERAL FEATURE
• 150 couplets (pāths) with style of Kabir
and Nānak
• Theme: spirituality, meditation, bliss,
salvation.
• Language: Simple Hindi, vocabulary
drawn from Sādhuladi Boli (language used
by the saints). (Tāzim Kassam)
AUTHORSHIP AND AUTHENTICITY
• On the basis of language, style and content,
scholars cast doubt on authorship and date.
• Not earlier than 16th century, time of Guru Nānak
and Kabir.
• Or possible interpolation, like some other
ginans.
• Or another Pir Shams of sixteenth century.
(Tāzim Kassam)
• Other ginans do not support many of the names
used in this granth.
CENTRAL THEME
• Attainment of bliss (sukh, ānand) through
sabad (shabd, word or name).
• Prescription for dhikr or meditation; three
months, six months, nine months.
• Spiritual experience
• Long section on losers or false path
• Equally long section on achievers
• Spectacles and miracles
DIVISION OF THE TEXT - 1
• Couplets 1 to 5 method of attaining bliss.
• Couplets 6 to11 inner experience after
verbal repetition for three months. Love
(prem), rapture sukh, ecstasy (matvālā).
• Couplets12 to 40 criticism of the losers,
wrong path.
• Abrupt shift of topic, interpolation...?
DIVISION OF THE TEXT - 2
• Couplets 40 to 60 names of Hindu figures,
deities, mythological figures, historical
people (like Shivā, Prahlād, Kabir, Nānak,
Rohidās, Dādu, Gorakhnāth etc) who
attained bliss (sukh).
DIVISION OF THE TEXT - 3
• Couplets 61 to 77 narrate the nature of
spiritual state after meditation for 6 months
in the heart, then 9 months in naval and
finally ascend to skull where spectacles
are witnessed.
• Couplets 77 to 93 explain the nature of
sabad (shabd).
DIVISION OF THE TEXT - 4
• Couplets 93 to 105 elaborate on mukti
(salvation)
• Couplets 106 to 117 tell us that the base of
author’s knowledge is personal
experience.
• Couplets 118 to 140 talk about four yugas,
and that the Divine took the form of
Nakalanki / nishkalanki (impeccable.)
LIST OF LOSERS - 1
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Pothi patrā vāṅchi sunāve
Jatā juth kahāve bhagvāna
Jati rākh matā khāli rahiyā
Jogi hoke jugti na pāi
Jangam nishdin visvāse dhyāve
Adsath tirath deh navāi
Khat karam tripan kare āchārā
Dudhā dhāri nāgā muni
LIST OF LOSERS - 2
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Pathrā puje ghant bajāve
Gāe vajāde tode tānā
Bahutā dekhe bāndhe pothā
Sab gināni mili padi padi phulā
Jadi buti kari deh jivāde
Bahutā karie okhad pāni
Bahutā nātak chitak karie
Jantra mantra kā kare pasārā
LIST OF LOSERS - 3
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Mandhli bāndhi mahant kilāyā
Koti jagan asvamedh karāve
Jivat dehi kheh bich dāti
Nirsavādi hoi kandkhadi khāyā
Guphā banāi rahe bhoṅ māhi
Udat gadat rākhe doe gotā
Kāshi ma jai karvat linā
Jai himāle gāle gudā
LIST OF LOSERS - 4
• Jivant deh agan māṅhe jāri
• Pade sur hoi khand vikhandā
• Kyā savāgi aru kyā sansārā
• No mention of Mullahs, Qazis or
Mawlanas
• An miliyāki jugti batāi,
Ab miliyāki kahuṅ samjāi
LIST OF ACHIEVERS - 1
Shiv, Sankādik, Sukhdev, (Vidur)vyās,
Dhruv, Pahelāj, Dās Kabirā, Guru
Rāmānandā, Nāmā bhagat, Pipā,
Dhanā, Rohidās, Nānakshāha,
Vishan, Surjan, Mādhavdās, Dādu,
Rajab, Parsā, Giyāni, Rankā, Vankā,
Kālu, Kumbhā,
LIST OF ACHIEVERS - 2
Kitā, Ghat-te, Sajnā, Senā, Agar,
Kiljan, Tulsi, Dās Morār, Malukā
Jangi, Haridās, Bājind Bādshah, Isar
Tumber, tatva vetā (philosophers),
khoji (searchers), tyāgi (renouncer of
the world), Gorakh, Gopichand,
Bharthari yogi and uncountable
more…
• No Muslim names
SEQUENCE OF THOUGHT - 1
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Sat sabad (shabd)
Pir Shaha
Repetition with tongue
Continuous dhikr of pir shah
Three months with tongue
Shifted to brahm
Release of love
Conviction in heart
SEQUENCE OF THOUGHT - 2
• Essence of love, secret revealed
• Ripple of love, release of sweetness from
mouth
• Engrossed in love
• Intoxicated in love
• Rapture and fearless claims
• Divine happiness inexplicable
SEQUENCE OF THOUGHT - 3
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List of losers, sudden change in tone
List of achievers
Back to the topic
Concentration in heart for six months
Suddenly it moved to naval (achambhā)
Nine months stayed there, same bliss
Ascend to sky (skull) from west and
witness wonders.
SEQUENCE OF THOUGHT - 4
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Thunder without cloud
Place without space
Rain without cloud
A person without a body
Incessant thunder
Heart at the trikuti (meeting point of inglā,
pinglā and sukhmanā)
SEQUENCE OF THOUGHT - 5
• Rain of sukhmanā, where the Unseen
resides
• No instrument (tur-shehnāi) but music, no
sun but sun
• No flow but Ganges, no companion but
company
• Sound of incessant dhikr is shehnāi
• The light is sun
SEQUENCE OF THOUGHT- 6
• Sukhmanā is the Gangā
• Surti and sabad (concentration and word)
are the company.
• This world cannot be described
• Quality of sabad (word)
• Akhand - cannot be broken
• Amar - immortal, does not die
SEQUENCE OF THOUGHT- 7
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Ajar - indigestible, digested by concentration
Akāl - timeless
Alekh - that which cannot be written
Adol - unwavering, immovable
Atol - unique
Athā - unfathomable
Akhar - indestructible
Apār - boundless
SEQUENCE OF THOUGHT- 8
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Relationship between surti and sabad
Miracle of this relationship
It goes beyond this life, beyond body
I said what I witnessed, no hearsay
Emphasis shifts from sabad to nām, word sāheb
introduced.
• Blessings of repeating sāheb nām
• Four yugas and bhagats, nakalanki
• Mehdi Imam…? Interpolation…?
SEQUENCE OF THOUGHT- 9
• Name of Pir Shams appears from pāth
141
• Name of the granth (brahm dhiyān
parkasa) at the end
SELECTED VERSION OF
ITREB-PAKISTAN
• List of losers and achievers dropped
• Names of Hindu personalities and
concepts dropped
• Mehdi Imam dropped
• Language modernized / refined
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