President’s address at the 702nd Urs celebration of the Sufi Poet Hazrat Ameer Khusro
Following is the text of President, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul
Kalam’s address at the 702nd Urs celebration of the Sufi poet Hazrat
Ameer Khusro at Urs Mahal, Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia, New Delhi:
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.
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DS/SK
(Release ID :21986)