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If You Wish to Go to Heaven

Posted on Jan 27th, 2007 by Tom Yeshe : Love Tom Yeshe
Love releases fear! A wonderful song about the grace of Sufism, from the film The Clay Bird
Matir Moyna Music Video

JODI BHESTE JAITE CHAO
If You Wish to Go to Heaven


SHISHWA (Disciple)
If you wish to go to heaven
Keep fear of Allah in your heart

GURU (Teacher)
If you want to be close to Allah
Keep love within your heart

SHISHWA (Disciple)
I'm just your daughter's age
I'll assume the side of shariah
And take an anti-Sufi stance
Don't take what I say to heart

You ignore the Holy Scriptures -
What kind of Muslims are you?

Why are the mullahs
always angry with you?
Keep fear of Allah in your heart

GURU (Teacher)
You need a measure of wisdom
to grasp the Koran and Hadith
How can half-read mullahs
interpret the intricate Scriptures?

They preach to others
without knowing the texts
The dogmatic mullahs
make their living from deception
Well fed and fattened, they use
their strength to abuse us
Keep love within your heart

SHISHWA (Disciple)
You Sufis chant Allah's name
Ignoring creed and prayer

You smoke pot during Ramadan
With the excuse of meditation
What kind of Islamic creed
Sanctions this immorality?
Keep fear of Allah in your heart

GURU (Teacher)
Just showing off your rituals
Is that true namaz?
Namaz is meditation,
To attain tranquility

Fasting is self control
How many really follow that?
They skip their meals by day
And eat double by night

We don't lust for heaven
And have no fear of hell
Keep love within your heart

SHISHWA (Disciple)
You don't go on pilgrimage
You don't give charity
What do you have against
Ritual sacrifice?
Why should Muslims
Quaver at the sight of blood?

GURU (Teacher)
You're asked to sacrifice
Your dearest ones
Are these cows and goats
Your most beloved?

Nothing is dearer than yourself
The supreme sacrifice is self sacrifice
If you can, restrain your senses
Control your passions
Keep love within your heart

SHISHWA (Disciple)
You roam around with women
Without wedding them
You sing and dance together
Without shame

The outside world is for men
The woman's place is at home
Keep fear of Allah in your heart

GURU (Teacher)
Woman is the seed of life
The source of creation
Those who believe in inequality
Lock women into marriage

Woman is the vessel of love
Woman is the Mother
Without Woman we would not
Come into being

(Together)
You need both man and woman
For procreation and creation
Keep love inside your heart

If you want to be close to Allah
Keep love inside your heart


Access_public Access: Public 2 Comments Print views (363)  
Tagged with: Sufi, Sufism, Clay Bird, love, heart, Allah, Bangladesh, Heaven, If You Wish to Go to Heaven, Baul
Portico : Yoga
2 days later
Portico said
Tom Yeshe : Love
over 2 years later
Tom Yeshe said

From an interview:

Tareque Masud is a filmmaker based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. With Catherine Masud, he has produced numerous documentaries and shorts through their production company, Audiovision. “Matir Moina” (or The Clay Bird).

Excerpt:

Music is very important to the film. Could you say a little bit about the songs and the music, what tradition they come from, what their relevance is to the themes you discuss?


First of all the songs are about a living culture, not just the culture of the 1960s. This is a great tradition that took its inspiration from a combination of different influences including the Islamic Sufi traditions of literature (specifically Sufi poetry), Vaishnava mysticism and Buddhist mysticism. Before the Buddhists were driven out of South Asia by the Brahmins, East Bengal was their last refuge and since a lot of Buddhist culture remains, there is a lot of Buddhist music. It is called 'Baul' in Bangladesh, which is rapidly gaining in popularity now. Most striking is the fact that there are a lot of women singers. The women who appear in the film as singers are not actresses but actually real singers. They are called 'Boyati' singers and are very popular. Unlike in the film where you see only three or four minutes of them singing, many of them sing for several hours at a stretch: frequently from 10:00pm to 6:00am, and much of the song is frequently improvised.

Baul culture is becoming more popular and having a big influence on young urban bands. These bands are finding great inspiration in Baul culture, and are remixing a lot of Baul Sufi songs. You see this in other South Asian countries as well, but Bangladesh has a very distinct Baul culture, which is being revived by this young generation's work. It is striking that the egalitarian philosophy of Baul music is not only having influence in rural areas but also among the urban, educated middle class, which I think is wonderful. It is the best thing that could happen with this great tradition.

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