राँझा ढूंडन मैं चली मैंनू राँझा मिलेया नाही, रब मिलेया, राँझा नाही मिलेया रब, राँझे वर्गा नाही - waris shah
for ranjha i searched far and wide i couldn't find him, though i tried i found God but couldn't catch ranjha i found that God couldn't match ranjha the story of the love of heer and ranjha is legendary in Punjab, and it is also the source of much imagery and iconography in the Sufi music of the area. i can't read Punjabi or Urdu, so i have chosen to write the original in script i am conversant in, but neither the original text nor my translation should really be taken as fully authentic. (except, of course, that i am Sufi in my leanings, and i am fully authentic.) राँझा राँझा कर दी नी मैं आपे राँझा होई सद्दो नी मैनूँ धीदो राँझा हीर ना आखो कोई - bulleh shah
i went chanting ranjha's name ranjha himself, i became only ranjha exists here heer has disappeared, my dear love is, i'm afraid, transformative. go looking for it, and you will not come back the same.
and love is transcendent, too - even God cannot match it.
is this a metaphor? yes. is it literal? also yes. let no one tell you different.
