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The message of Gharib Nawaz and the Saints of
Chishtiya denomination was echoed by the Saints
of Bhakti movement. The fact that the religious
leadership of the Bhaki movement in the 14th and
the 15th centuries came from the lower strata of
Hindu society a section which had been deeply
influenced by the Chishty Sufis and their
Khanqah life is too significant to be ignored.
Probably never before in the long history of
Hinduism, religious leaders had sprung from
those strata of society to which Chaitanya,
Kabir, Nanak, Dhanna, Dadu and others belonged.
There was hardly any Saint of the Bhakti school
who had not passed some of his time in a Khanqah
of Chishty Saint.
A mind which failed to see any wisdom or truth
in any way of life or thought except his own,
was the greatest obstacle to the growth of
syncretistic tendencies. The Chishty Saints
adopted an attitude of sympathy and
understanding towards all cults and creeds. For
example Amir Khusrau, an exponent of Chishty
ideology and a favorite and beloved disciple of
Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya exhorted his
co-religionists :
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A-e-K-e-Zebut Tana ba
Hindu Bari,
Hum Azo Amoz Parastishgari.
(O you who sneer at the
idolatry of the Hindu,
learn also from him how worship is done.)
This broad and cosmopolitan outlook helped in breaking
that spirit of mistrust and isolation which honeycombed
relations between the various culture groups of India
and paved way for rapprochement at all levels, social
and ideological. Amir Khusrau who is, by far, the most
powerful exponent of this attitude of Chishty Sufis,
refers to Hindu customs and ceremonials in a spirit
which must have been instrumental in discovering the
principles of essential unity between different
religions.
Sufi Hameeduddin Nagauri adopted the life style of
Rajasthani peasants. He became a vegetarian, mixed with
the local inhabitants and learnt their language. Baba
Farid lived upon Pelu and dela which grow in Punjab.
Eminent Sufis and Yogis used to meet at his Jamaat Khana
to discuss and practise Sufism. His Punjabi poetry which
is full of teachings and mysticism is given place in
Guru Grantha Saheb as it was very much liked by Guru
Nanak Ji. Shiekh Nizamuddin Aaulia attracted largest
crowds after Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chishti. Thousands
of people used to live upon the Langar distributed from
his langar khana. Such people included Muslims as well
as Non-Muslims. His broad-mindedness can be adjudged by
the fact that once he saw a procession of Hindu devotees
with music and chanting proceeding towards Jamuna. He
uttered
“Har quame raast rahey din-ey
wa quibla gahey”
i.e.
every people has its own path of righteousness, beliefs
and focus of adulation.
This
shows the inborn sense of toleration and appreciation of
other religious traditions by Chishty Sufis.
Chishty Sufi Hazrat Amir Khusro is the embodiment of
cultural ethos of India by being inventor of Sitar and
so many Ragas, Raginis, Pahelis, Geet and Sufi
renderings and so he is called Tuti-e-Hind (Nightingale
of India)
Music has been another field to which the Chishty saints
contributed generously. They came to realize that, like
poetry, music also stimulated emotions to the ecstatic
state, necessary for union with God. The Chishtiya
order, sanctioned Sama based on musical rhythms that
enhanced the effect of poetry. They enabled the devotee
to plunge into a state of trance called Haal. The
effectiveness of Sama can be gauged by the fact that
many Sufis embraced death while listening to certain
poetic lines which intensely affected their heart. It is
said that Khwaja Bakhtiyar Kaki spiritual successor of
Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chishty (R.A.) surrendered
his life while hearing the following lines:
Kushtagan-e-khanjar-e-taslim ra
Har zamana ghaib jane digarast.
(To those who have been killed by the dagger of
submission,
There comes new life every moment from the unseen
world.)
Chishty order of Sufis, and their spiritual mission is
to shatter the barriers which stands between man and man
for diverse reasons and knit them together in common
bond of fraternity, love, regardless of religion, caste
or creed affiliations. We also believe and practise that
God is symbolic of love and the entire humanity in its
diverse form constitute a single family. It is indeed
almost a-kin and similar to the VEDANTA
PRINCIPLE
“VASU DHEVA KUTUMBAKAM"
(THE WORLD IS ONE FAMILY)
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