BRAHM%20PRAKASH%20(Divine%20Illumination)

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BRAHM PRAKASH(Divine Illumination)

• By
• Pir Shams (r.a.)
• Likely date 13th century

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• A presentation by
• Kamaluddin Ali Muhammad
• Devotional Literature Educators Sessions
• Itreb auditorium
• Karachi 05-11-08

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GENERAL FEATURE

• 150 couplets (paths) with style of Kabir and
  Nanak
• Theme spirituality, meditation, bliss,
  salvation.
• Language Simple Hindi, vocabulary drawn from
  Sadhuladi Boli (language used by the saints).
  (Tazim Kassam)

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AUTHORSHIP AND AUTHENTICITY

• On the basis of language, style and content,
  scholars cast doubt on authorship and date.
• Not earlier than 16th century, time of Guru Nanak
  and Kabir.
• Or possible interpolation, like some other
  ginans.
• Or another Pir Shams of sixteenth century. (Tazim
  Kassam)
• Other ginans do not support many of the names
  used in this granth.

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CENTRAL THEME

• Attainment of bliss (sukh, anand) through sabad
  (shabd, word or name).
• Prescription for dhikr or meditation three
  months, six months, nine months.
• Spiritual experience
• Long section on losers or false path
• Equally long section on achievers
• Spectacles and miracles

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DIVISION OF THE TEXT - 1

• Couplets 1 to 5 method of attaining bliss.
• Couplets 6 to11 inner experience after verbal
  repetition for three months. Love (prem), rapture
  sukh, ecstasy (matvala).
• Couplets12 to 40 criticism of the losers, wrong
  path.
• Abrupt shift of topic, interpolation...?

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DIVISION OF THE TEXT - 2

• Couplets 40 to 60 names of Hindu figures,
  deities, mythological figures, historical people
  (like Shiva, Prahlad, Kabir, Nanak, Rohidas,
  Dadu, Gorakhnath etc) who attained bliss (sukh).

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DIVISION OF THE TEXT - 3

• Couplets 61 to 77 narrate the nature of spiritual
  state after meditation for 6 months in the heart,
  then 9 months in naval and finally ascend to
  skull where spectacles are witnessed.
• Couplets 77 to 93 explain the nature of sabad
  (shabd).

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DIVISION OF THE TEXT - 4

• Couplets 93 to 105 elaborate on mukti (salvation)
• Couplets 106 to 117 tell us that the base of
  authors knowledge is personal experience.
• Couplets 118 to 140 talk about four yugas, and
  that the Divine took the form of Nakalanki /
  nishkalanki (impeccable.)

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LIST OF LOSERS - 1

• Pothi patra va?chi sunave
• Jata juth kahave bhagvana
• Jati rakh mata khali rahiya
• Jogi hoke jugti na pai
• Jangam nishdin visvase dhyave
• Adsath tirath deh navai
• Khat karam tripan kare achara
• Dudha dhari naga muni

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LIST OF LOSERS - 2

• Pathra puje ghant bajave
• Gae vajade tode tana
• Bahuta dekhe bandhe potha
• Sab ginani mili padi padi phula
• Jadi buti kari deh jivade
• Bahuta karie okhad pani
• Bahuta natak chitak karie
• Jantra mantra ka kare pasara

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LIST OF LOSERS - 3

• Mandhli bandhi mahant kilaya
• Koti jagan asvamedh karave
• Jivat dehi kheh bich dati
• Nirsavadi hoi kandkhadi khaya
• Gupha banai rahe bho? mahi
• Udat gadat rakhe doe gota
• Kashi ma jai karvat lina
• Jai himale gale guda

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LIST OF LOSERS - 4

• Jivant deh agan ma?he jari
• Pade sur hoi khand vikhanda
• Kya savagi aru kya sansara
• No mention of Mullahs, Qazis or Mawlanas
• An miliyaki jugti batai,
• Ab miliyaki kahu? samjai

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LIST OF ACHIEVERS - 1

• Shiv, Sankadik, Sukhdev, (Vidur)vyas, Dhruv,
  Pahelaj, Das Kabira, Guru Ramananda, Nama bhagat,
  Pipa, Dhana, Rohidas, Nanakshaha, Vishan, Surjan,
  Madhavdas, Dadu, Rajab, Parsa, Giyani, Ranka,
  Vanka, Kalu, Kumbha,

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LIST OF ACHIEVERS - 2

• Kita, Ghat-te, Sajna, Sena, Agar, Kiljan, Tulsi,
  Das Morar, Maluka Jangi, Haridas, Bajind Badshah,
  Isar Tumber, tatva veta (philosophers), khoji
  (searchers), tyagi (renouncer of the world),
  Gorakh, Gopichand, Bharthari yogi and uncountable
  more
• No Muslim names

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SEQUENCE OF THOUGHT - 1

• Sat sabad (shabd)
• Pir Shaha
• Repetition with tongue
• Continuous dhikr of pir shah
• Three months with tongue
• Shifted to brahm
• Release of love
• Conviction in heart

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SEQUENCE OF THOUGHT - 2

• Essence of love, secret revealed
• Ripple of love, release of sweetness from mouth
• Engrossed in love
• Intoxicated in love
• Rapture and fearless claims
• Divine happiness inexplicable

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SEQUENCE OF THOUGHT - 3

• List of losers, sudden change in tone
• List of achievers
• Back to the topic
• Concentration in heart for six months
• Suddenly it moved to naval (achambha)
• Nine months stayed there, same bliss
• Ascend to sky (skull) from west and witness
  wonders.

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SEQUENCE OF THOUGHT - 4

• Thunder without cloud
• Place without space
• Rain without cloud
• A person without a body
• Incessant thunder
• Heart at the trikuti (meeting point of ingla,
  pingla and sukhmana)

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SEQUENCE OF THOUGHT - 5

• Rain of sukhmana, where the Unseen resides
• No instrument (tur-shehnai) but music, no sun but
  sun
• No flow but Ganges, no companion but company
• Sound of incessant dhikr is shehnai
• The light is sun

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SEQUENCE OF THOUGHT- 6

• Sukhmana is the Ganga
• Surti and sabad (concentration and word) are the
  company.
• This world cannot be described
• Quality of sabad (word)
• Akhand - cannot be broken
• Amar - immortal, does not die

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SEQUENCE OF THOUGHT- 7

• Ajar - indigestible, digested by concentration
• Akal - timeless
• Alekh - that which cannot be written
• Adol - unwavering, immovable
• Atol - unique
• Atha - unfathomable
• Akhar - indestructible
• Apar - boundless

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SEQUENCE OF THOUGHT- 8

• Relationship between surti and sabad
• Miracle of this relationship
• It goes beyond this life, beyond body
• I said what I witnessed, no hearsay
• Emphasis shifts from sabad to nam, word saheb
  introduced.
• Blessings of repeating saheb nam
• Four yugas and bhagats, nakalanki
• Mehdi Imam? Interpolation?

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SEQUENCE OF THOUGHT- 9

• Name of Pir Shams appears from path 141
• Name of the granth (brahm dhiyan parkasa) at the
  end

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SELECTED VERSION OF ITREB-PAKISTAN

• List of losers and achievers dropped
• Names of Hindu personalities and concepts dropped
• Mehdi Imam dropped
• Language modernized / refined

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