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The Materialistic Culture
Of this civilizations of ungodliness beware
At war which is with men of truth;
The mischief-monger nothing but mischief breeds,
In the Harem it reinstalls the idols of Lat and Uzza.
By its sorcery the eye of the heart is sightless,
The soul thirsty with its barrenness;
The joy of eagerness it kills in the heart,
Nay the heart itself it destroys.
The depredations of the old thief are for all to see,
Even the tulip cries, "What have they done toy scar?"
The ultimate aim of Ego
Art thou in the stage of, life ", or "death", ‘death-in-life’?
Invoke the aid of three witnesses to verify thy 'Station'.
The first witness is thine own consciousness-
See thyself, then, with thine own light.
The second witness is the consciousness of another ego-
See thyself, then, with the light of an ego other than thee.
The third witness is God's consciousness-
See thyself, then, with God's light.
If thou standest unshaken in front of this light,
Consider thyself as living and eternal as He!
That man alone is real who dares-
Dares to see God face to face!
What is ‘ascension’? Only a search for a witness
Who may finally confirm thy reality-?
A witness whose confirmation alone makes thee eternal.
No one can stand unshaken in His Presence;
And he who can, verily, he is pure gold.
Art thou a mere particle of dust?
Tighten the knot of thy ego;
And hold fast to thy tiny being!
How glorious to burnish one’s ego
And to test its lustre in the presence of the Sun t
Re-chisel, then, thine ancient frame;
And build up a new being.
Such being is real being
Or else thy ego is a mere ring of smoke!
Communism and Imperialism
The soul of both of them is impatient and restless,
Both of them know not God, and deceive mankind.
One lives by production, the other by taxation,
And man is a glass caught between two stones.
The one puts to rout science, religion, art,
The other robs the body of soul, the hand of bread.
I have perceived both drowned in water and clay,
Both bodily burnished, but utterly dark of heart.
Life means a passionate burning, an urge to make,
To cast in the dead clay the seed of heart.
The World of Body vs. World of Soul
Delve deep into your buried Self, and find the clue to life,
If you cannot be mine then be not, but be your own;
World of soul- a world of fire, ecstasy and longing,
World of body- a world of gain, fraud and cunning;
The treasure of the spirit once again gained is never lost again,
The treasure of the body is a shadow- wealth comes and goes ;
In the world of soul I have found no Frankish rule,
In that world no Sheikh or Brahmin I have seen;
This saying of the Qalandar poured shame and shame on me;
When you kneel to anothers might neither body nor soul is your own.
Profit for one, but death for many-Allama Iqbal
Though Europe is radiant with the light of knowledge,
The ‘Ocean of Darkness’ is barren of the ‘Fount of Life’
In splendor, in seduction and in grace,
The buildings of banks outsoar the Houses of God.
In appearance it is trade, in reality gambling,
Profit for one, for thousands sudden death,
Science, philosophy, college, constitution,
Preach man’s equality and suck men’s blood.
Want and unemployment, lewdness and intoxication,
Are these mean triumphs of the Occident!
A nation unblessed by Divine Light,
Steam and electricity bound its works.
The solution to this conflict lies not in the endless conferences.
Nor in the endless khutba delivered from the mimbers.
The people of the land has to realize their own worth first.
Shikwa
Why must I forever suffer loss, oblivious to gain?
Why think not upon the morrow, drowned in grief for yesterday?
Why must I attentive heed the nightingale's lament of pain?
Fellow-bard! am I rose, condemned to silence all the way?
No; the burning power of song bids me be bold and not to faint;
Dust be in my mouth, but God - He is the theme of my complaint.
True, we forever, famous for our habit to submit;
Yet we tell our tale of grief, as by our grief,
We are muted lyre; yet a lament inhabits it -
If a sigh escapes our lips, no more can sorrow be contained.
God, give ear to the complaint of us, Thy servants tried and true;
Thou art used to songs of praise; now hear a note of protest too.
In Thy everlasting Essence Thou wast from eternity;
Bright the bloom bedecked the garden; undiffused the scent abode.
Lord of universal favor, let impartial justice be -
Could the rose's perfume scatter with no breeze to waft abroad?
Peace of mind and quiet spirit won we of our labors glad.
Else the folk of Thy Beloved - should they be accounted mad?
Strange indeed the spectacle Thy world supplied before our days,
Here men bowed them down to stones, there paid reverence to trees;
Only to the visual image was attuned the human gaze -
How could hearts adore a God no eye percipient may seize?
Well Thou knowest, was there any anywhere to name Thy name?
By the Muslim's strong right arm Thy purpose to fulfillment came.
