CHINAR SHADE : “LAAGA CHUNRI MEIN DAAG ..OR MY VEIL GOT STAINED " IS A PHILOSOPHICAL CONCEPT KABIR .

( Sant Kabir a painting )

"LAAGA CHUNRI MEIN DAAG ." KABIR

“Prakash Yaar , I had told Roshan Ji ( Roshan Nagrath the music composer ) that my song shall be based on Kabir’s “chunri mein parri gayo daag piya ” that shall appear in tune with the story of the movie but for a serious listener , it shall be another way of presenting Kabir’s thought ”
This is what poet Sahir Ludhianavi told his friend Prakash Pandit about the song “laaga chunri mein daag "or" My veil got stained ”.
When Sahir Ludhianavi was asked to write a classical song for “Dil hi to hai ”, he decided to take help from Kabir’s Nirguna Bhajan “meri chunri mein parri gayo daag piya ” . For Sahir Babul ( parental world ) and Sasural ( world of Inlaws ) meant respectively , the lord’s world and this world wherein we live . Isn’t this world of ours full of Maaya-Jaal or traps ?Poet Sahir wrote :-
"Laaga, chunari mein daag,
chhupaaun kaise,
Ghar jaaun kaise "

Ho gayi maili mori chunariya,
Kore badan si kori chunariya
jaake baabul se
nazarein milaaun kaise
Laaga, chunari mein daag...

Bhool gayi sab vachan bida ke
kho gayi main sasuraal mein aake
jaake baabul se, nazarein milaaun kaise,
Laaga, chunari mein daag...

Kori chunariya aatma mori mail hai maaya jaal .
Woh duniya more baabul ka ghar ye duniya sasuraal .
jaake baabul se, nazrein milaaun kaise.
Laaga, chunari mein daag... "

And Kabir’s verse with my simple English rendering goes as under :-

"Meri chunri mein parri gayo daag piyaa
*Paanch tat ki bani chunariya
*Sorah do baid laag kiya
Yeh chunri mere maike te aayee
Sasure mein nanva khoye diya
Mal mal dhoye daag na chhute
Gyaan ka sabun laaye piya
Kahat Kabir daag tab chhooti hai
Jab Sahib apnaaye liya"
( Kabir )

(My Love, stained lies my veil ,
Made from *five elements , this veil was
wrapped up in *sixteen knots of Sanaskaras .
The veil had come from my parental home
And in my Inlaw's house ,
it lost its shine .
Now I keep washing it again and again ,
yet the blemish does not go away .
Love ! Bring the soap of knowledge now .
Says Kabir ,
These blemishes shall disappear
Should the supreme master own me.)

I have always felt that most of the verses of Kabir are organically connected owing to basic Nirguna Bhakti (devotion to the formless entity ) thought . He also stresses the meditation by recitation of the name of the supreme master or what is known as Naam-Japa .His love for the supreme master is intense and somewhat romantic . And then Kabir lays stress on following a spiritual guide whom he calls as Guru. In the above composition titled “ Meri chunri mein parri gayo daag piyaa “ Love ! My veil got stained ”, Kabir again comes close to or gives another expression to his thought of “jheeni jheeni bheeni chaader (subtle and fine was the cloth of the blanket that the master put over me ) ” . Here chunri ( veil ) is the chaddar ( blanket or shawl ). Chunri again is the body or the being or this existence . This veil of existence that is made of five elements comes under the spell of three boons ; Thought ,Word and Deed' granted to us . Any misuse of these boons is bound to ensure slippage of this Chunri to Maaya-Jaal where it shall get eventually spoiled . This Chunri is a transparent object finely woven that has no dualism. No superficial covering that hides from the sight the true nature of the object. So beautiful and so pure handed over to us by the master himself .
The Chunri ( veil ) is to be returned to the master . It has to be protected from getting soiled from the Maaya-Jaal of the world . Where shall we carry it should it get spoiled ? Who shall own it ?What shall we return to the master at the end ?!

Kabir has a timeless appeal that is direct and far above any caste or creed . Some call him a Universal Guru . And While compiling ' Guru Granth Sahib' , Guru Arjun Dev Ji incorporated about 500 verses of Kabir .

( Avtar Mota )

*As per Hindu scriptures , human body is composed of Panch-Tatva or five elements . These are: Prithivi ( earth), Jal ( water), Agni ( fire), Vayu (air) and Aakaash (space). These five elements are linked to our five senses which are the senses of smell, taste, hearing, touch and sight.
* There are sixteen Sanaskaras referred to in various Hindu scriptures including Vedas which need to be undertaken to purify the body and the being . These Sanskaras also include Namakarana (naming the new born baby), Annaprashana (when the child is given solid food ) .Chudakarana ( Mundan or Zurr kaasai in Kashmiri ),Vivaah (Marriage) , Sanyas ( shedding all sense of responsibility and relationships to prepare for the journey towards the timeless truth)and Antyeshti (last or funeral rites).
I find no reason to agree with some persons who interpret “ Sorah So “as sixteen hundred. In Kabir’s verse referred to above I believe that the hindi word “ so” does not mean " Hundred " .Here "so" means “like ” and sorah so means “like sixteen ”