Below is an old writeup on a debate on who the greatest Aashiq has been:
M1 and M2 are traveling in a train with a Guru's Sikh standing beside them. They
were debating whether Ranjha was greater Aashiq of Majnoo. Find out yourself
who was greater.
M1: Friend, I recently read a book on Heer Ranjha and have come to the
conclusion that no aashiq (lover) has been greater than Dheedo Ranjha.
M2: I agree that Ranjha was a great aashiq, but he was certainly not the
greatest of all aashiqs. Have you forgotten Kaiz who is popularly known as
Majnoo. Look how famous this lover is that even today if someone gets
romantically involved with someone, he is referred to as a majnoo.
M1: I too agree that Majnoo was good but did he graze Laila's cattle (cows
and buffaloes) for 12 years like Ranjha did for his beloved - Heer?
M2: Well not that but he did many other things that Ranjha did not do. He
became crazy after Laila was married off to someone else and he perished in
the deserts of Arabia looking for Laila.
M1: Ranjha too got greatly upset after Heer got married to someone else and
he became a Jogi. He too died in the end when he could not unite with Heer
(as per Waris Shah. Damodar an earlier poet has a happy ending of this
story).
M2: You can say whatever you want to say but Majnoo was the greatest.
M1: No it was Ranjha.
M2: No it was Majnoo.
As these two persons were arguing over Majnoo and Ranjha, a Gurmukh who was
sitting across from them interrupted and said, "You both are wrong. Both
Majnoo and Ranjha were not the greatest aashiqs".
They were were startled when they heard this. They started
thinking how to respond because they were not expecting an intrusion.
Sensing this, the Gursikh put them at ease as following.
Khalsa: You two were having an interesting debate and I hope you will not
mind me interrupting you two. Could any of you let me know how you would
explain the greatest aashiq? In other words, what does one have to do to
qualify as the greatest Aashiq?
M1: Well, I favour Ranjha because he sacrificed the most for Heer. Greatest
aashiq in my opinion is that person who does the greatest sacrifice for his
lover. Ranjha worked as a servant in the house of Heer's father Choochak for
12 years. When Heer got married to someone else, he became a Jogi. In the
end he died out of separation from Heer.
M2: Greatest aashiq in my eyes too is such person who does greatest
sacrifice for his lover like Majnoo did.
Khalsa: Well if that is your definition of the greatest aashiq, then I will
have to disappoint both of you because "saaday pind da Nimma" (Nimma of my
village) has to be the greatest aashiq in this universe.
M2: What do you mean Khalsa jee. We have never heard of Nimma of your pind.
Who is this fellow?
Khalsa: Well, from early childhood he fell in love with his mashooq. He got
so engrossed in her love that he used to keep her company day and night. He
quit studies, and did not do any work other than staying with her. He spent
all his money on her. His parents got him married hoping that he will get
better but even after marriage he did not leave his love. He had many
children but even the love of his children could not stop him from staying
with his love. He was even willing to sell his wife and children to be with
his love. In the end, he died in her arms.
M1: WOW! This Nimma fellow of your pind was definitely something. Ranjha and
Majnoo were not married and we don't know how they would have acted after
marriage but this fellow really loved his mashooq (lover). What was the name
of his mashooq? She must have been someone really special. Did she get
married?
Khalsa: Well he called his mashooq Laal Pari. He did not stop being with her
even when the doctors told him to stop. He sacrificed his life in his love
for his Laal Pari.
M2: What do you mean doctors stopped him from being with her? Why would the
doctor stop him from being with her? Doctors have no business doing so.
M1: I think you are referring to something else. What do you mean by Laal
Pari. Doesn't Laal Pari mean Sharaab i.e. liquor?
Khalsa: (Laughing), yes.
M2: OH! But we were talking about different kind of love.
Khalsa: How many kinds of loves are there? There is only one kind of love.
Mashooqs or lovers can be different but love is same.
M1: You can't compare sharaab and Laila or Heer. Come on!
Khalsa: I gave you this example to question your definition of greatest
lover. As far as sacrifice is concerned, Nimma probably made bigger
sacrifice than Ranjha and Majnoo. But you both know that this does not make
him the greatest lover of all times.
M2: Okay, I see what you are saying. In that case, what do you think is the
definition of the greatest lover?
Khalsa:
I think apart from the lover, the object being loved should be great
too. Only then the bond would be great and worthy of mentioning. If a person
falls in love with dirt, that does not make him the greatest lover. Greatest
lover is one who falls in love with the greatest object worthy of love.M2: Who or what is that greatest object?
Khalsa: Who else but Vaheguru?
M1: But ones who fall in love with Vaheguru are not called aashiqs.
Khalsa: Of course they are. Siri Guru Angad Dev jee in Siri Asa kee Vaar has
called Gursikhs who fall in love with Vaheguru - Aashiqs.
M1: Oh I see.
Khalsa: The love of Ranjha, Majnoo and Nimma is only little different. All
three fell in love with an object that is an illusion. The bodies of Heer
and Laila with whom Ranjha and Majnoo fell in love are just as false as is a
bottle of sharaab. They are not here to stay. Bottle will break one day and
the liquor in it will be consumed one day. Same way the bodies of worldly
beloveds like Heer or Laila would perish one day.
M2: But Khalsa jee, you should not forget that the love of Laila Majnoo was
the love of soul and not of bodies.
Khalsa: It may be true that there was no Kaam involved in the love between
Laila Majnoo or Heer Ranjha but to call it the love of soul is stretching it
too much. First of all, in order to have love for soul, one must be able to
view and comprehend the soul one is going to fall in love with. The reality
of the aatma or soul is realised only through very hard work involving
Gurmat Naam and Gurmat Rehit (And of course immense kirpa). To realise
oneself is not an ordinary avastha or state. If Ranjha or Majnoo did not
even realise their own self, how could they have realised the Aatma of Heer or
Laila? So all this talk about their love being the love of the souls is an
exaggeration of poets like Damodar and Waris Shah who themselves were far
from the state of self-realisation, let alone realising Akal Purakh
Vaheguru.
M1: So who in your eyes were the real Aashiqs in this world? Can you give us
some examples?
Khalsa: Real Aashiqs are those Gursikhs who stop their minds from indulging
in the great tempting pleasures of this world and rather indulge their mann
or mind in the Sachee Aashiqee (True love) of Gurmat Naam. What better
object to fall in love than Vaheguru himself? Gursikhs fall in love with
their Guru Kartar and it is recorded in our history that true aashiqs have
allowed their bodies to be burned with red hot sand and they themselves have
sat on red hot pans without uttering a cry. They did this for the true love of Vaheguru.
True Aashiqs had their bodies beheaded and did not utter a sound during this
happening. True Aashiqs have given their heads to their Guru in one call
from their Guru (1699). True Aashiqs did battles without their heads. True
aashiqs let themselves get cut in small pieces but they did not give up
their love for their beloved one. They had their skulls removed but did not
let the nishaani or gift (kesh, hair) of their beloved removed from their
body.
Khalsa jee paused for a moment while the two persons listening to him were
listening attentively. Khalsa jee continued: One striking thing is that not
only did these Gursikhs pass that one test at the time of their shaheedi (martyrdom)
but before martyrdom too they also led an exemplary life by killing the temptations of their
mind, at every second. This is what real aashiqee is - to beat the
temptations that arise at every second; to live in the world full of
temptations and not letting your mind wander away from the boundary allowed
by Guru Sahib.
The only real Aashiqs are Bhagats - the sons and daughters of Siri Guru
Gobind Singh jee.
Daas,
Kulbir Singh
ਸਤਿਗੁਰਬਚਨਕਮਾਵਣੇਸਚਾਏਹੁਵੀਚਾਰੁ॥