Transcendence: Achieving spirituality by letting go the past

Arieb Azhar and Shehla Effendi talk about spirituality and its value in human interaction.

KARACHI: You can only achieve spirituality when you cleanse your heart of the wounds of your past, said psychologist Shehla Effendi on Saturday.

She was talking during the interactive session, titled 'Spiritualism: The human family'. This was the second session of the first day of the Karachi Mystic Festival 2014. Folk and Sufi singer Arieb Azhar and Effendi talked about spirituality and its value in human interaction.

"It's the childhood wounds that a person should learn to let go," said Effendi. "Only then one can experience transcendence in the Baba Bulleh Shah way."

The session was a combination of Azhar performing Sufi poetry and Effendi interpreting the verses. Azhar shared a few verses from the works of Bulleh Shah on the rocky path that God makes his men follow. Effendi remarked on the beauty of the verses, stressing that it is all about keeping your heart pure.

Citing examples from the extensive work of Bulleh Shah, Azhar talked about the Sufi saint's fame that lived even after his death. He said that since the Sufi poet was not popular with the clergy of that time, they refused to bury him in Kasur. He was buried outside the city and it was only a matter of time when a whole city sprung near his grave.

Azhar also recited a few verses from Mian Muhammad Bakhsh's poem, titled Saif-ul-Malook, which Effendi interpreted for the audience. "Obsession of any kind in life kills you from the inside," she said. "Unconditional love is found by those who liberate themselves from obsession."

Reading another verse of Bakhsh, Azhar said that the poet attributes human life to a sugarcane grinding mill that crushes with all its might to produce juice. Effendi explained that it is individuality that matters the most.

"Do what you are doing and don't compare yourself to others," she said. Arieb agreed with Effendi's view and said that children should be made to read verses like these in schools just like they are made to read Shakespeare.

The session concluded on a spiritual touch with Azhar performing Husn-e-Haqiqi, that is, a poem by Khawaja Ghulam Farid.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2014.