Bulleh Shah Quotes

“In shrines dwell robbers,
in idol-houses, thugs.
In mosques live vagabonds,
the lovers of God remaind aloof.”

Bulleh Shah

Bulleh Shah, The Love-Intoxicated Iconoclast, p. 136
Couplets

“Accursed be prayers, to hell with fasts,
and let confession of faith be damned.
O Bullah, I have found the Lord within,
and the world wanders in delusion!”

Bulleh Shah

Bulleh Shah, The Love-Intoxicated Iconoclast, p. 130
Stanzas

“If I tell a lie, something is left out;
If I speak out the truth, there is a blaze.
My mind fears both the alternatives,
But haltingly my tongue speaks out.
Words that come to my tongue cannot be held back.
If I were to unravel the mysteries,
All would forget to discuss and debate.
They would then kill our friend Bullah,
For only the hidden truth befits here.”

Bulleh Shah

Bulleh Shah, The Love-Intoxicated Iconoclast, p. 130
Poetry

“True love has be-guided me, O friend!
Reveal to me the land of my Beloved.
At my parents' I was an innocent maid.
With love to me He has robbed me of my heart.
Logic, semantics and a store of knowledge—
Such pedantry has left me devoid of Him.
Of what use are fasts and prayers to them,
Who have drunk deep from the front of love?
Sitting in the company of the Spouse,
Bullah is free from all rituals, O friend!”

Bulleh Shah

Bulleh Shah, The Love-Intoxicated Iconoclast, p. 129
Poetry