Sadhu Vaswani on Sachal Sarmast

[Gul Agha <agha@CS.UIUC.EDU>]

    Almost 175 solar years ago, Sachal Sarmast passed away in Darazan,
    Sindh.  Today, on the night of the full moon, was his anniversary
    celebrated by hundreds of thousands of Sindhi pilgrims in Darazan,
    as it has been every lunar year since his death.

    Below are some excerpts from an essay about Sachal by Sadhu
    T. L. Vaswani, entitled: "Sachal Sarmast: Behold within Thyself
    the Wonder."  The essay is as timely as the message of Saaiin
    Sachal.  The Sadhu writes:

Sachal was a true fakir of God.  Who is a fakir?  The word in Arabic
means "poor".  "Blessed are the poor in spirit," said Jesus.  Was
Jesus not a fakir, too?   Did he not say to his disciples, "Call me,
'O poor one!'  "I have nothing by day and nothing by night.  Yet I am
the richest among the sons of men!"

So, Sachal, having no worldly possessions, loved to think of himself
as a "king among men.".. Sachal was at once a poet and a saint.
Entire self-surrender to God is the secret of a true saint.
Therefore, is he, a man of purity, humility, and meekness.  Sachal was
a true saint, a true fakir...

Sachal sang many of his poems in the name of "Khudai."  The meaning of
the word is "Divine Life."  The center of this life -- the Life Divine
-- is the Heart.  The Holy Spirit dwells in the Heart of man.  The
word used by Sachal and other Sufi singers and thinkers is 'qalb'...

Sachal was a love-intoxicated seer and singer of God.  Every inch of
this man was charged with love... So great was Sachal's love for all
and so deep his humility that he never called anyone his disciple.  He
felt happy to find that Hindus and Muslims came and sat together in
the "Fellowship Meetings."  "Blessed," he would say, "blessed is he
who listens to the Bani--the Word of Inspiration."...

Simple was Sachal--in dress, in diet, in daily life.  He wore in
winter and summer, coarse khadi (hand loomed cotton) cloth and said,
"I am happy, very happy!".. His one intoxication was the Name of the
Eternal--Allah. In one of his poems, Sachal sings:

    The Murshid (Teacher) spake
    To me, one day, thus,
    "Renounce thy friendships with the world,
    Remember the One Only Name,
    And forget everything else!"

In the desert, he spend much time in silence.  In the desert, he
listened to the still, small voice within... A few came, sometimes, to
sit with him in meditation.  "Where two or more are gathered in My
Name, there am I, in the midst of them." (Bible)...

He was the lover of the Beautiful.  Beauty was, to him, a theophany--a
manifestation, an "emanation" of the Eternal Face. "In every form," he
said, "behold the One Face of Beauty.  To see aught else is a sin!"
... Sachal worshipped God as Truth and Beauty.  "Follow the Truth,"
Sachal said.  He did not follow opinion, custom or creed.

Sachal's ecstacy was the ascent of his heart to the Unseen.  Music
helped him to ascend and move in a new atmosphere of the Spirit.  One
day, he fell ill.  No medicine cured him.  But his heart aspired to
the Spirit.  All of a sudden some ladies arrived at Darazan... they
were reputed to be good singers.. they came for Sachal's *darshanu*
(sight of a holy person or vision).  He looked at them and said.. "My
physicians have arrived..."  The ladies started singing.. Sachal
listened to the songs, then got up and was cured!  "Music," Sachal
said, "is the healer of illness!"...

Sachal said, "Creeds I cannot accept.  My place is not among the
orthodox nor the heretics."  Sachal saw the unity of the Hindu and the
Muslim.  He says in a poem:

    Hindus and Muslims
    Are all emanations
    Of the One Name--Aliph!

All peoples and races have issued out of the One.  In this faith of
his Heart was the secret of Sachal's life... Sachal saw the unity of
races and religions in the One Eternal...

The mullahs (priests) of Islam rose as one man against Sschal.  To
them, this great Teacher of Truth boldly said:

  Burn the books to ashes and dust,
  Thus has the Murshid (spiritual teacher) taught me!
  He, too, hath taught me
  To know the Eternal!
  To everyone of you, I say,
  "Thou must first know Thyself,
  Then walk the Way of Love!"...

... Sachal says in one of his poems, "Not until these temples and
mosques (which are haunts of sectarianism), are renounced, may one
hope that man will walk the Way of Truth."  In another poem, Sachal
sings:

  Behold the justice of love.
  It granteth freedom from all creeds!

As a true Sufi, Sachal had a heart which embraced all men and all
religions as manifestations of the One Eternal God.  Sachal sings in
his poems, of the Devi [embodiment of strength, consort of Shiv] and
the Guru Granth Sahib [Sikh scripture].   Rich, indeed, was Sachal's
reverence for Guru Nanak...

Sachal says, "Learn to love him who says he is your foe!"  Does he
bring you strife and hate?  Give him in return, the love of your
heart.  Look at yon tree!  Stone after stone is flung at it.  What
does it give in return?  Fruits or flowers!  Does a man hurt you?
Give him the healing of your love!

The essence of Religion, Sachal said, is love, not sectarian strife.
He asked his disciples not to quarrel about creeds.  He said he
offered his loving salutations to all, that in all he beheld the One
Beloved.  In Rama and in Rahim [Hindu and Muslims names of God], he
saw One.  Sachal added, "I see the One in Ravana, too!  In Krishna and
in Kansa, I see Eternal Love!"..

In Sachal's teaching, the salik -- the pilgrim on the Path, regards
the service of the poor and needy as a mark of true spiritual life.
He serves by his money, his tongue and his pen, his teaching, his
prayers, his worship, his silent blessings.  Sachal repeatedly urged
that a true Sufi made others happy.  "Give succour to the needy," he
taught, not merely by words of the mouth, but by the noble example of
his life...

Over and over again, Sachal says, "Be not imprisoned in the jail of
'I' and 'me'.  He who hath transcended self -- he verily hath attained
the Highest.  He hath become Perfect!"  Such a one, Sachal says,
"knows no difference between the Hindu and the Muslim.  For Allah is
the Lord of all and in all shines the One Picture Divine!..

The central thought in the message of Sachal to the modern man, I
interpret in a few words thus:

  Awake!  Awake!
  Awake in the very hour today!
  Awaken to the City of Light!
  Be not in love with sin.
  Think no evil of any man.
  Be strong.
  Strive not for greatness, wealth, applause.
  Strive for truth, purity, courage.
  And as a brother among thy brothers be.
  Listen to the lonely song
  Of the poor and the forlorn,
  And learn to share with them what you possess,
  And bear witness to the One -- the Shining One!

---end of excerpts from Saaiin Sadhu T. L. Vaswani essay on Sachal.

Saaiin Dada J.P. Vaswani writes:

    The faith of the Sufi rises above all creeds and all
    denominations and religions.  It is a way of life--the life of
    faith and freedom and love.  It seeks to set men free from the
    bondage of creeds and dogmas, of rites and ceremonies, call them
    away from all things extern to the interior life of the Spirit...

    Sadhu Vaswani was always at home when he spoke or wrote
    concerning the great Sufi mystics.  It was as though he was one of
    them...

    "Who are you?" Sadhu Vaswani as asked, one day.  And he
    answered, "I am a Sufi!  I worship Beauty, and Love is the
    sacrament of life...".
                    -- end quote--

You can listen to some songs of Sachal sung at his shrine on
at http://sachalsarmast.com/Home/kalam.html

As the followers of Sachal say on this day:
Ishka iida Mubaraka (greetings on the festival of love),

----
haku mojuudu [the truth abides],

Gul Agha