A Tribute to Sadhu Vaswani

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

One week ago, coincident this year with Thanksgiving in the US, was
the birthday of Sadhu T. L. Vaswani (b. Nov. 25, 1879 in Hyderabad)
[pron. Saadhuu Vaasvaarnii].  I present a short perspective on the
great Sindhi saint's life and philosophy, with quotes from his poetry
(the collection is called Nuri Granth), as translated by Saaiin
H. T. Sadhwani.

The Sadhu was born in a Hindu family who were Shivite devotees of
Kali.  They attended puja at a small Kali temple in Hyderabad.  But
the Sadhu, destined to be a great reformer, renounced the rituals of
the sect as a child.  On Shiva raati, when the family attended ritual
prayers at the temple, the young boy refused the 'prasaadu'
(communion) from the Mahantu (priest) when he realized that it
contained the sacrificial meat of goats and sheep.  The devoted son
even refused his father's order to take the prasaadu, who then became
angry at the sacrilege, slapped him and dragged him out of the worship
hall.  But the the boy stuck to his principles.

In the sufi joggii tradition of Sindh, the Sadhu would renounce
traditional religious practice:

   Those who abide in the land of spiritual knowledge
   Have no need for pilgrimages to Mathura and Kashi!
                 (Nuri Granth)

Having renounced the trappings of religions, the Sadhu turned inwards
and spent his time in meditation:

  Go and sit in the temple within you,
  Open the window and seek within!
                 (Nuri Granth)

The Sadhu's father passed away when he was still a child.  Though he
grew up as a poor orphan, he was hard-working and topped his
matriculation exams in the Sindh Board, earning him the prestigious
Macleod scholarship to D. J. Sindh College in Karachi.  He did his
Master of Arts from the College and received a professorship in
Calcutta.  At 30, he spoke to the World Congress of Religions, held in
Germany.  At age 33, he was appointed Principal of Diyal Singh College
in Lahore and then served as Principal of colleges in Behar and
Patiala.

But the Sadhu returned to Sindh and in 1933 founded the Mira Movement
in Education.  He also started a charitable dispensary.  He thus
dedicated his life to the service of the poor, opening educational
institutions and hospitals, and taught compassion to all:

   Through service of others, serene and pure becomes the mind,
   And nothing is difficult, for the devotee, who served others!
   Through service of others, is born humility,
   And washed away are the blemishes of the mind!

The young man would grow to be an ascetic and to overcome desire. He
observed:

   Currents of greed are flowing within us,
   And they have flooded the temples of the mind!

The Sadhu was moved by compassion for humans as well as animals:

   Starving with hunger are millions,
   But who is there to listen to their laments?
   Full of evil and sin are the towns and the cities,
   And we the people are only full with vanity and arrogance!
   Come! O Love Incarnate, come!

   Distressed in her heart by the sufferings, is Nuri Nimani
   And full of tears are her eyes,
   Come! O Love Incarnate, come!

Nuri Nimani [pron. Nuurii Nimaarnii] was the poetic name the Sadhu
used in his poetry.  Nuri is the famous heroine in Sindhi folklore who
is immortalized in Shah Latif's poetry.  She was a simple fisherman
who the King fell in love with.  The love transformed her so that she
lost interested in fishing and hurt no one.  Nuri is an allegorical
tale of redemption through humility and the discovery of love through
the awakening of consciousness.

Fakir Abdul Ghafoor Alasti in notes to his English translation of
selections from Shah jo Risalo, observes that through Nuri, Shah Latif
teaches how compassion for all sentient beings is attained by the
awakening of consciousness.  See--
http://yangtze.cs.uiuc.edu/~jamali/sindh/sindh-l/archive/her2/msg00953.html

The Sadhu was a universalist.  Once someone asked his religion, the
Sadhu simply replied he was a sufi.  The Sadhu said:

   In all nations,
   And in all countries dost Thou pervade,
   And in all religions, is thy teaching Divine!
   In every place,
   In every direction,
   Only Thou art, Only Thou art!
   Only Thou art, Only Thou art!

Like all sufis, the Sadhu found salvation in love, not learning or
scriptures:

  Learning and intellect are but precursors of destruction
        and downfall
  Without love, all are ignorant and unaware!

  Abandon all these books and writings
  Commune with the One Word within you!

  Within you is the Bible, and within you is the Quran
  Within you are all the scriptures,
          and the teachings of the Gita!

  Unfold your inner self, says Nuri Nimani,
  Unfold it, and then repeat the sacred sayings of the saints!

And in the way of the sufis of Sindh, the Sadhu rejected false
distinctions that divide humanity:

  Some call themselves "Muslims!"
  And others call themselves "Hindus!"
  But the One God abides in one and all,
  And the enlightened one, perceives the One God,
     in all religions.
              (Nuri Granth)

Though a universalist, the Sadhu was a great lover of Sindh.  To a
Sindhi, the two go together: following Shah Latif, a Sindhi never says
"God bless Sindh" without adding, "God bless the whole world".  When
partition came and millions fled, the Sadhu refused to leave his
native land.  But the bigoted refugees who took reigns of Pakistan
could not abide the noble soul and plotted to kill him.  The Sadhu was
undeterred by the news.  With him stayed dozens of his followers.  He
counseled them to remain engaged in the service of the poor.  A year
or so after partition, they killed one of his followers, a physician
who served the poor without charge.  The Sadhu permitted his followers
to leave Pakistan as many wished to do, but they would not go without
him.  Finally, with a heavy heart, the Sadhu relented and left Sindh.
But he would not do so until he paid a pilgrimage to Bhit Shah (the
shrine of Shah Latif where thousands of Sindhis gather every Thursday
night to Friday morning).  I have translated the story of that
pilgrimage from the Sadhu's own words--

http://yangtze.cs.uiuc.edu/~jamali/sindh/sindh-l/archive/her/msg00424.html

Sindh never forgot the Sadhu.  He was called one of the "Ten Sindhis
of the Century, the saint on the list, by the largest Sindhi daily
published from his hometown Hyderabad in 2000.  And the Sadhu never
forgot Sindh.  He worked hard to promote the Sindhi language in
schools in Pune where he was in exile.  He wrote on the lives and
philosphy of Sindhi saints.  He longed to return to the poor Sindhis
he left behind:

I look towards
        my land of birth
I feel miserable
        while I am away from it.
I remember the trees
        the dark blue clouds,
        the waves of Sindhu.
How can I forget the bylanes
        of the villages of my native land?
Oh, how I long to meet
        the people of my land
The people who were so poor
        and yet so innocent.
The beloved people of my land.
                    -- Sadhu Vaswani
                       translated by Saairni Popati Hiranandani

As with all things in this world, all things must pass.  The seer can
see that he approaches the end of his mortal life.  The Sadhu
observed:

   Engulfed in a sea of miseries is the world,
   But what is the way of saving the world?

   My alloted span of life, is nearing its end,
   Pray see that my life does not go to waste!

The Sadhu left his physical body on January 16, 1966.  In 1969, on the
Sadhu's 90th birthday, the Indian Post office issued a commemorative
stamp in his honor.  His Sindhi poems, called Nuri Granth, were
published in 1970 in a volume that runs 1660 page.

After the Sadhu passed from this mortal world, his nephew Dada
J. P. Vaswani carried the flame and now in his 80s, continues the
mission.  Earlier this Autumn, my wife and I travelled to New Jersey
for Dada's darshan.  In New Jersey, Sindhi-American followers of the
Sadhu have built a large Center which attracts the Sindhi community
and nurses to their spiritual needs.  The center was very hospitable
and made us special guests of honor at his lecture and the bhajan
(music) program.  Dada gave his blessings for our efforts to promote
Sindhi language and Sindhiyat in the West.  Dada recognized us by
presenting shawls, a Sindhi tradition not only of welome (aajiian),
but a gesture of his blessings.  Dada is himself well-recognized in
Sindh. You can listen to the famous Sindhi singer Abida Parveen sing
an ode to Dada ("Jjoggii jaaduugaru Dadaa Vasvaarnii"]:

http://yangtze.cs.uiuc.edu/~jamali/sindh/res/audio/links/abida-5.ram

May the saintly blessings of the Sadhu be with us as we continue to
face the challenge of keeping Sindhiyat alive in these difficult
times.

   Come!  O pilgrim come, and let us go,
   Singing of the Beloved, let us go,
   Unto the land of my kinsfolk!

   Here, there be only misery and sorrow,
   But there, every day pours His mercy,
   So proceed unto the land of my kinsfolk!
                 -- Nuri Granth

---
haku mojuudu (the truth abides),

Gul Agha