Address at the 702nd Urs Celebration of the Sufi Poet Hazrat Ameer Khusro at Urs Mahal , Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia,new Delhi,10 Nov. 2006

AMEER KHUSRO : A GREAT SUFI PHILOSOPHER

I am delighted to participate in the inauguration of 702nd Urs Celebration of the great Sufi Poet Hazrat Ameer Khusro at Urs Mahal, Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia, New Delhi. My greetings to the organizers, priests, devotees of dargah, literary personalities and distinguished guests. I have visited, Urs Mahal, Hazrat Nizamuddin, 3 years back. I am extremely happy to visit again to attend the Urs festival of Sufi Poet Hazrat Ameer Khusro, who was known to be the most ardent disciple of Hazrat Khwaja Nizamuddin Aulia. When I am in the midst of devotees of these two great souls, I am reminded of the statement of the famous teacher of Ameer Khusro, Hazrat Khwaja Nizamuddin Aulia, who said, ?If a man places thorns in your way, and you do the same, it will be thorns everywhere?. This statement captivated my mind and took me to various spiritual thoughts of our nation. Another important thought of Amir Khusro which inspired me is his concern for the poor farmers. Amir Khusro says ?Every pearl in the royal crown is a crystallized drop of blood fallen from the tearful eyes of the poor peasant?. What a great message from these two great souls (teacher and disciple) for the humanity as a whole. Amir Khusro played an important role in bringing together various communities and religions of India and also created an interest in the poetry among the masses by highlighting the plight of the needy and gave voice to those whose rights are importanat. He used to tell rulers of his time through his poetry ?if you wish that your power should be strong it must be based on good attitude towards the people. Be merciful in your action towards them. Keep your thoughts active and the swords sleeping.? Due to his sweet poetry which comprised of qawwalis, ghazals and rubaiyats, he was nicknamed as ?tooti-e-hind ? Parrot of India by famous Persian poet Sheikh Saadi. Amir Khusro did not only give us Sufiana Kalam but also developed ?Sur and Tal? by pioneering Sitar and Tabla, the two mainstream Indian musical instruments. When I read the Amir Khusro?s universal mind in every field, I would like to recall a famous episode of God?s first creation of human beings. I am reminded of the Rumy?s poem in this direction.

GOD's CREATION

Rumi says, ?Angel is free because of his knowledge, The beast because of his ignorance, Between the two remains the son of man to struggle? Good poetry and music indeed elevates human beings to a high level of life.

It is said that, Almighty the God wanted to create a best of creation. He worked for millions of years, designed and evolved the image. He went on looking at the image, improved and improved and finally decided to give life. He looked at the galaxies, the oceans and looked at his own creation ? the man. As soon as the man got life, two things happened. First, he opened his eyes and smiled. God was happy. The second, he opened his mouth and said, ?Almighty, thank you?. The God was very happy. He was so delighted to see his creation and felt that his creation did the two right things. Suddenly, he found that something is missing in the man. He then created fire in flash of a second, out of which came the Shaitan. God told the Shaitan to prostrate before his best creation ? the man and give respects. Shaitan said, ?Oh God, you took millions of years to create the man. But you created me out of fire in a flash of a second. So, I am the best.? The almighty who had created the universe with mighty orbiting galaxies with orbiting stars and planets, first time, bewildered with the response of Shaitan. He has created the best of his creation, the man on one side, and the another side, the Shaitan worst of creatures. He thought of it and looked at both with benevolence. The Almighty integrated the man and Shaitan. God said that Oh! Humanity, I am giving you a mission? and He gave the following message: ?I have created the human being with brain and thinking faculty. I command all my creations that use your faculty with reasoning to reach My image.? Great thoughts and action lead human beings in the right path. This reminds me the saying of Swami Vivekananda, ?Religion is the manifestation of the divinity already in man.? This is fully exemplified by Khusro?s love with the spiritual and cultural values of India, admiration of the ancient Indian philosophy, civilization, languages, arts, culture and ancient heritage literature of India. He admires the contribution made in our country in the field of medicine and mathematics. His love and appreciation of climate, flora and fauna, and the way of living is worthy of emulation by everyone of us.

CONCLUSION

Each one of us has a page in history. Everyone has a religion, a family, a supporting society and a dream. We do not have time to observe what is happening around us. We generally tend to revolve around ourselves. Earth revolves around itself and orbits around the sun. The choice before us is of revolving round ourselves to die, or of revolving round the sun in order to live. Hence, our thoughts, ideas and actions have to constantly change and expand. Now it is the right time for all of us to think of the nation beyond the boundaries as visualized and demonstrated by Amir Kushrau. Many called him Father of Sufiana Kalam in India, many called him Father of Urdu language, many others called him a great Sufi Saint and Poet but besides all these I would also prefer to call him a a poet of purpose. Our culture who turned the world around simply through his pen, poetry, Sufism and music. With these words, I inaugurate 702nd Urs Celebration of the great Sufi Poet Hazrat Ameer Khusro. My best wishes to all the participants for success in their mission of promoting peace and harmony in the country.

May God bless you.