I, too was interested & inspired by this song, so I got this meaning from someone. This was not interpreted by me, so I don’t want to take the credit for someone elses work, you can read it and decide for yourself how much you agree with this verson. Hope you enjoy it so much like I did.
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Bulleya… The original
This is one of the most famous of Bulleh Shah’s kafis. In his quest for the nature of his self, it has a special place. Our philosophers and poets have often asked, “As a man, where have I come from, and where am I going?” But, it has rarely been asked, “Who is this ‘I’ who comes and goes?”
In answer to the question “Who am I?” Bulleh Shah says that he does not belong to any particular group or class. He is neither a pious worshipper and a believer, nor is he a member of the group of profligates. He is not committed to the ‘Vedas’ nor to any other holy book. He is neither fully awake, nor fully asleep. He is neither affected by joy, nor by sorrow. He is neither among the wicked, nor among the virtuous. All these are contingent facts, dependent on something; but his essence is necessary, independent of everything.
He goes on to say that he is neither made of water nor of earth, neither of fire nor of air. He belongs neither to one country nor to another, neither to this religion nor to that. In fact, in regard to religion, he does not believe in its institutional and organized form. All the material elements of which man is made are perishable, but his essence is everlasting.
It is only in the last stanza that we get a clue as to what he really is, and from what source he comes. His reality is neither his body nor his mind, but his soul. The individual, shorn of all coverings, is left with only the soul as its essence. The soul is immortal, and is not subject to the laws of time and space. It is free from the constraints of birth and death, of growth and decay. It is a spark of the Absolute, and will ultimately merge back into Him. It is in this sense that Bulleh Shah claims that he is the beginning as well as the end, and that he recognizes none except the One Lord.
I am typing out the original poem by Baba Bulleh Shah and will show it to you as soon as I am finished as some of the words I have not heard before… but here is what it literally says…
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0 Bulleya, what do I know who I am?
I am not among believers seen in mosques;
Nor am I versed in the traditions of unbelief.
I am not among the pious, nor among the sinful;
I am neither Moses, nor am I a Pharaoh.
0 Bulleya, what do I know who I am?
I am not in the Vedas, nor in the holy books;’
I am not among hemp-eaters or wine-drinkers;
I am not among profligates, nor among libertines.
I am neither among the awake, nor among the sleeping.
0 Bulleya, what do I know who I am?
I am impervious to joy as well as sorrow;
I am not among the virtuous, nor among the wicked;
I am neither of water, nor of earth;
I am neither of fire, nor of air.
0 Bulleya, what do I know who I am?
I am not from Arabia, nor from Lahore;
I am not from India, nor from Nagore.
I am not a Hindu, nor a Muslim from Peshawar.
Nor do I reside in the city of Nadaun.
0 Bulleya, what do I know who I am?
I have not solved the mystery of religion;
Nor am I a progeny of Adam and Eve;
Nor have I a specific name of my own;
I am neither among the settled, nor among the roaming.
0 Bulleya, what do I know who I am?
I take myself to be the beginning and the end;
I do not recognize any one else.
There is no one who is wiser than I.
0 Bulleya, who is the Lord standing there?
0 Bulleya, what do I know who I am?
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