A newborn life, long, beautiful and divine
The soul shines through the eyes
Living while seeing only the white light
A vision, respectful and bright

Young and restless
Happy and fun
Feeling like a conqueror
Decadent and dominant

Old and grey
tolls on each street to pay
Sometimes i got away, and didn’t pay a dime
But the demons came from behind

Vicious cycle of life
No faith in fate, no fear of demise
Man is in loss, by time
Valley of the shadow of death, the white light

Am i really dead or alive?

The Son of Man (French: Le fils de l’homme) is a 1964 painting by the Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte.
Here is my tribute to a fabulous piece of art.
Recipe: love for the painting + narcissism+boredom!

The Son of Man- Hussain

Tao Te Ching is a book full of mysteries yet its content is only natural. Sufism and Taoism have striking similarities that only confirm the belief that no matter which culture or religion you come from, the study of whats natural or eternal cannot be too different.

I was reading a passage in Tao Te Ching, which struck to me as similar to a poem by Bulleh Shah, a Sufi poet.

Give up learning, and put an end to your troubles.

Is there a difference between yes and no?
Is there a difference between good and evil?
Must I fear what others fear? What nonsense!
Other people are contented, enjoying the sacrificial feast of the ox.
In spring some go to the park, and climb the terrace,
But I alone am drifting not knowing where I am.
Like a new-born babe before it learns to smile,
I am alone, without a place to go.

Other have more than they need, but I alone have nothing.
I am a fool. Oh, yes! I am confused.
Other men are clear and bright,
But I alone am dim and weak.
Other men are sharp and clever,
But I alone am dull and stupid.
Oh, I drift like the waves of the sea.
Without direction, like the restless wind.

Everyone else is busy,
But I alone am aimless and depressed.
I am different.
I am nourished by the great mother.

Bulleh Shah writes:

Punjabi Version:

Ilmon bass karin ohh yaar
Ikko “ALF tere darkaar
Ilm na aavay vich shmaar
Chaandi umr naieen aitbaar
Ilmon bass karin oh yaar

Parh parh likh likh laaviin dhaer
Dhaer kitabaan chaar chophair
Kar de chaanan vich anhaer
Pichho rah? Tey khabar na saar ilmon ilmon bass karin ohh yaar

Parh parh shaikh mshaaikh kahaavin
Ultey maslay gharon bataavin
Be ilmaan nu lut lut khaavin
Jhuthe sache karin iqraar
Ilmon bas karin ohh yaar

Parh parh nafl namazaan guzaarin
Uuschiyaan bangaan chhangaan maarin
Minbar te chard wa’az pukaarin
Keeta tainun ilm khwaar
Ilmon bas karin ohh yaar

Jad main sabq ishq da parhiya
Dariya daikh wahdat da vardiya
Ghuman ghairdhan de vich ardhiya
Shah Anayat layaa paar
Ilmon bas karin ohh yaar

English Translation:

Enough of learning my friend!
To it there is never an end
An alphabet shoul do for youit’s enough to help you frnd..

You’ve amassed much learning around
The Quran and it’s commentaries profound
Without the guide you remain unsound

Learning makes you a Shaikh or his minion
And thus you create problem trillion
You exploit others who know not what
Misleading them with wild opinion

You meditate and say your prayers
You go and shout at the top of the stairs
Your cry reaching the high skies
It’s your avarice which ever belies

The day I learned love’s lesson
I plunged in to the river of divine passion
An overwhelming gale, I was confounded and lost
When Shah Inayat cruised me across

This ignites my interest in this book which compares the two powerful schools of thoughts in eastern philosophy called
“Sufism and Taoism: A Comparative Study of Key Philosophical Concepts” by Toshihiko Izutsu.

Sitting at the vantage point
In hindsight, every mistake grows and becomes a giant
Confused myself in the magnitude of my connivance
Lied to others, but made myself believe in the defiance
O Lord! what happened to the time which was mine
Point of no return? transgressed every boundary, every line

This is point of no return
Load of sins, a ton
Stark naked, no value in redemption
Stuck in the vicious cycle, no motivation for graduation

This is point of no return
Life in motion, hoping for the turntables to turn
No sound, no joy, no feeling, the evil got shunned
The soul departs, life is done

Could i ever feel? again?

Inspired by the song,” The Good, The Bad, The Ugly”, by Kanye West

I dispel your gospel, the magic spell you muster
I propel through darkness, tell a tale of a monster
The rhyme of life, i master, and use it to prosper
My life in limelight, the truth still lingers
The edge of the knife, the fear intermingles

Showed you a saint, the man of the hour
The underdog who was on a mission
The pathological undecidedness, the liar and the chameleon
Starting up for a long life, blessed by the god forsaken
You wonder which one will win, the answer appears when the life is taken

Showed you a junky, the man so courageous
The face behind facade, the inability to decipher
In a rat race, the kids trying to grow up
You tell me i was wrong, when all i did was the imperative
The monster, who shed tears and did the right thing in good will

Showed you a rebel, the man who would slaughter
Its not pretty, in the middle of multiway brawl and the pastor
Not a tug of war, but the victory cant be for the righteous
The men of honor, guilty by profession
This is when i come and invent the evil notion

We are slaves of the same past, which i cant erase
The lesson  is to be right and wrong with the same ease
The manipulation of crowd, the people who i haze
The independence, i boast in the season of craze
The moment of sanity, i got out of the maze

I showed you the good, the bad, the ugly
You owe me all  the lessons of blasphemy
All i did was to protect you from me
The life of a saint, a rebel and a junky
I earned the merit, now you got to love me!

-Hussain

The hope shows up again
With reinstatement of justice that shall prevail
The reign of chaos, the law that trailed
This is when the nation rises and can’t fail

Cry of our children
Dear Lord, Someone prevent this nation from corruption
They rise from the dead, just like magicians
Pulling  hope out of empty baskets
A message to the leaders of the coercion
The people eager to lay down in their caskets

Jinnah had a vision
respectful and pure
They confused land with religion
Thought that would be the only cure

Corruption of the feudal
Reflects unto the individuals
This time is so shameful
That we have to be faithful

The men in arms, couldn’t get rid of the curse
Clash of interests, care for their purse
Who would legislate the terse?
My nation ran out of tears to burst

People to go on with the search
Of a man who could lead us through the darkness
Our Zulifkar, who could see from the perch
The Imran of today, against the malicious

The hope shows up again
With reinstatement of justice that shall prevail
This is when the nation rises and cant fail
The reign of chaos, the law that trailed

–Hussain

I walked out of it as a man, wiser albeit weaker
I get caught up with a routine, so trivial but cerebral
I live a life with intentions, suicidal yet exuberant
Challenged my own fate, i carve contradictions out of coherence
The man, i once was, got lost in phrases so innocuous yet coerce
Built my own regime to find solitude in the middle of this hoax

Not so hard to be alone, when you are surrounded by people so hollow
When no one likes to face the truth, listen and swallow
Blessed with volition, you are alone to face the gallows

-Hussain

i know islam teaches you to be social and forbid trouble
there is reason on eid to hug another brother
but what happens when your brother stabs you in the back
it hurts like a mother
but what happens when your brother stabs you in the back
you confuse social with islam,its the wisdom i lack
rejoice on drug therapy and blasphemy, the disease of crack
same old western tools, to keep you sane, in the bag

Follow islam or its followers, you lose the sight
disheartened by your brothers, you indulge into the pleasures of limelight
rebel against your beliefs, subliminal disobedience
Cant muster the courage to seek Allah’s Forgiveness
The devil arguing that you have come too far
how would you just go to the mosque and face God

In search of new friend to remove the spite
but you turned away from the light
the truth which beholds in islam and you never fight
with your own psychological urges and you never tried
the methods of the rusool the one and only
but its not too late to go in sajood and heal your folly

Lonely People by Talib Kweli