“LAAGA CHUNRI MEIN DAAG ..OR MY VEIL GOT STAINED " IS A PHILOSOPHICAL CONCEPT KABIR .

                                                     

                                           

                                                                 

                                                     

                       ( Sant Kabir a painting )

"LAAGA  CHUNRI MEIN DAAG ." KABIR 

 

 “Prakash  Yaar  ,  I  had told Roshan Ji ( Roshan Nagrath the music composer   ) that  my  song shall be  based on Kabir’s  “chunri mein  parri gayo daag  piya ” that shall appear in tune with the story of the  movie but for a serious  listener , it shall be another way of presenting Kabir’s thought ”

This is what poet  Sahir  Ludhianavi told his friend Prakash Pandit about the song  “laaga chunri mein daag "or" My veil got stained  ”.

When Sahir Ludhianavi  was asked to write a classical song for  “Dil hi to hai ”, he decided to take help from   Kabir’s  Nirguna Bhajan “meri chunri mein parri gayo daag piya ” . For Sahir   Babul ( parental world ) and Sasural ( world of Inlaws ) meant respectively , the lord’s world and this   world  wherein we live . Isn’t this world of ours  full of Maaya-Jaal or traps  ?Poet Sahir wrote  :-

"Laaga, chunari mein daag, 

chhupaaun kaise,

Ghar jaaun kaise "

Ho gayi maili mori chunariya, 

Kore badan si kori chunariya  

 jaake baabul se

 nazarein milaaun kaise

Laaga, chunari mein daag... 

Bhool gayi sab vachan bida ke 

kho gayi main sasuraal mein aake 

jaake baabul se, nazarein milaaun kaise, 

Laaga, chunari mein daag...

Kori chunariya aatma mori mail hai maaya jaal  .

Woh duniya more baabul ka ghar ye duniya sasuraal .

jaake baabul se, nazrein milaaun kaise.

Laaga, chunari mein daag... "

And  Kabir’s  verse with my simple English rendering  goes as under :-

"Meri chunri mein parri gayo daag piyaa

*Paanch tat ki bani chunariya 

*Sorah do baid laag kiya 

Yeh chunri mere maike te aayee 

Sasure mein nanva khoye diya 

Mal mal dhoye daag na chhute 

Gyaan ka sabun laaye piya 

Kahat Kabir daag tab chhooti hai 

Jab Sahib apnaaye liya"

( Kabir )

(My Love,  stained lies my veil , 

Made from *five elements  , this veil was 

wrapped up in *sixteen   knots of Sanaskaras .

 The veil had come from my parental home 

 And in my Inlaw's house ,

 it lost  its shine .

  Now I  keep washing it again and again ,

 yet the blemish  does not go away  .

 Love !  Bring the  soap of knowledge now .

Says Kabir , 

These blemishes shall disappear 

 Should the supreme  master  own me.)

I have always felt that most of the  verses of Kabir are organically connected owing to basic Nirguna Bhakti    (devotion to the formless entity    )  thought . He also stresses the meditation by recitation of the name of the  supreme master  or what is known as Naam-Japa .His love for the supreme master is intense and somewhat romantic . And then Kabir  lays stress on following a spiritual  guide whom he  calls as Guru. In the above composition titled “ Meri chunri mein parri gayo daag piyaa “ Love !    My veil got stained  ”,  Kabir again comes close  to or gives another expression to his thought of  “jheeni jheeni bheeni  chaader  (subtle and fine was the cloth of the blanket that the master put over me )  ” .  Here chunri ( veil )  is the chaddar  ( blanket or shawl ). Chunri  again is  the  body or the being or this existence  . This  veil of existence  that is made of five elements    comes under the spell of three boons ; Thought  ,Word and Deed'    granted to us . Any misuse of these boons is bound to ensure slippage of this Chunri  to Maaya-Jaal where it shall get eventually spoiled .  This Chunri is a   transparent object  finely woven that has no dualism. No superficial covering that hides from the sight the true nature of the object. So beautiful and so pure handed over to us by the  master himself .

The Chunri  ( veil ) is to be returned to the   master . It has to be protected  from getting soiled from the Maaya-Jaal of the world .  Where shall we carry it should it get spoiled ?  Who shall own it ?What shall we return to the master at the end ?!

 Kabir has a  timeless  appeal that is direct and  far above any caste or  creed  .   Some call him a Universal Guru . And  While compiling  ' Guru Granth Sahib'  , Guru Arjun Dev Ji  incorporated about 500 verses of Kabir .

( Avtar Mota  )

*As per Hindu scriptures , human body  is composed of Panch-Tatva or five elements . These are: Prithivi ( earth), Jal ( water), Agni ( fire), Vayu (air) and Aakaash (space). These five elements are linked to our five senses which are the senses of smell, taste, hearing, touch and sight.

* There are sixteen Sanaskaras referred to  in various  Hindu scriptures  including Vedas  which need to be   undertaken   to purify the body and the being  . These Sanskaras also include  Namakarana (naming the new born baby), Annaprashana (when the child is given solid food ) .Chudakarana ( Mundan or Zurr kaasai in Kashmiri ),Vivaah (Marriage) , Sanyas (  shedding  all sense of responsibility and relationships to  prepare for the journey towards  the timeless truth)and Antyeshti (last or funeral rites). 

I find no reason to agree  with some persons who interpret  “ Sorah So  “as sixteen hundred.  In Kabir’s verse referred to above I believe that the  hindi  word “ so” does not mean  " Hundred "  .Here  "so" means  “like  ” and sorah so means  “like sixteen  ”

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