Eating is an agricultural act - Wendell Berry

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

sufi-ism and religious pluralism*

the famed ajmer dargah of khwaja moinuddin chishti is recently in the news for the wrong reasons.
what is a dargah? (from wikipedia). it is the abode of the saints (usually sufi).
staying in bombay, one cannot miss the geographically outstanding haji ali dargah.

my interest in sufism arose with the album by rabbi shergill which featured the moving 'bulla ki jaana main kaun' (watch on youtube). a seering philosophical kafi - a verse form written by baba bulleh shah.
here are more examples of bulleh shah's kaafiyaan.

the feature of all of the above is the pluralism - in thought, philosophy, acceptance and practice.

and it seems like the radical muslims are not very supportive of sufi-isms and the extensive popularity of the sufi saints. praveen swami writes in the hindu on this phenomenon.

in my younger days, though living in a typical religiously insular setting, studying in a christian missionary school (i guess) gave some of us a slightly 'outsular' perspective. i recall going to the school chapel with pals before exams for prayers.
small acts but great meaning.

* - never expected to use such words

4 comments:

Abodh said...

good that you are posting a lot . how are you !

csm said...

abodh - am very well, thank you.
i should be back in 15 or so days.

where are you operating out of these days?

Preeti Aghalayam aka kbpm said...

that is a nice song, did not know anything beyond that fact...

will be good to have you back!!

csm said...

very interestingly, on my trips down in coastal TN after the tsunami, i meet this rambling group with a senior sardarji at helm.
i was trying to get him to expound on bulleh shah and sufiana.
turns out that he was leftist, but nevertheless i gave him the book i bought on bulleh shah.