Theme: One who knows himself, and also knows that he is a wonderful thing created by the creator, cannot have a view of any thing else except God Almighty. He starts loving Him, Who blesses him with great love. In such state of affairs every other thing becomes useless to him, and like Mansur, he feels pleased and is willing to be hanged on the gallows to get his head cut off only for the love of his Beloved, God.
The poet thinks that a person’s stay in this world is temporary. It is better for a man to have been loved. The union of one soul with another soul through the alchemy of love is the highest mystic truth.
He came to know Himself
Naught else had He in view
To be able to realize this
He got enmeshed in love
He alighted from high heaven
To pour a cascade of love
Became Mansur to mount the gallows
Just to have his head cut off.
He treaded the bazaars of Egypt
Just to be sold for a slave
Sachu speaks the bare Truth
To speak of His sojourn on earth.
(Sachal Sarmast)
Glossary
| Naught | Nothing |
| Enmeshed | Entangled |
| Cascade | Waterfall |
| Mansur | A saint |
| Gallows | Wooden framework on which criminals are put to death by hanging |
| Sold for a slave | Reference to Hazrat Yousaf (A.S.) who was sold as a slave in the bazaars of Egypt |
| Sojourn | Temporary stay (in a place) |
Answer the following question.
- Why does the poet put emphasis on how to know himself?
- What makes one entangled in love?
- Why did Mansur mount the gallows?
- What is the bare truth?
- Explain these lines:
He alighted from high heaven
To pour a cascade of love
- What does the poet say about “His sojourn on earth” in the last line?
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