Zindagi or Jeevan Songs Series
I started this series on my Facebook group Yaad Kiya Dil Ne on 18 Oct 20. Since then, many other members have put up these songs. Here, I shall be giving you one of my own, per day.
I hope you liked my choice for Song #34 – Bus ek chup si lagi hai in Zindagi or Jeevan Songs series. Let’s start with Song #35.
Song #35
Aaj sajan mohe ang lagalo
Theme-word:: Janam safal ho jaaye
Love, Krishna and Zindagi
From the time I gained consciousness in this world, I noticed that I am a Love person. My life revolves around Love. What I think of Love is way beyond me.
Everything of mine actually reflects this. It is, therefore, not surprising that my favourite avatar of God is Krishna. He descended on earth, from heavens, as a Man, only to teach us Love; so much so that God, Krishna and Love are synonymous. Indeed, looking at His life on earth, you can easily conclude that Love is all that you need to know about God and His Creation.
Yesterday, I was overwhelmed because of Evani Leela’s choices of songs in the three series. This is what she did:
As a Raat or Din song she selected a Surdas bhajan sung by Lata Mangeshkar very very beautifully in Raag Jogkauns: Nis din barsat nain hamare (I have now lost count of the number of times I listened to it since the time she put it up).
As a Beautiful Duet, she put up Aan milo Shyam sung by Geeta Dutt on the lyrics of Sahir and composition of SD Burman in 1955 Bimal Roy movie Devdas. The song is sung by Geeta Dutt and Manna Dey for Nana Paslikar and Dulari as street singers for a young Paro (Parvati) enacted by Baby Naaz. I immediately thought of this song as entirely similar (I had planned to put it up about a month later) to Kaanha re kaanha beautifully rendered by Lata Mangeshkar for the 1970 movie Truck Driver.
Pyaasa – 1957 Movie – And This Song
This is one of the most important songs of the movie Pyaasa, a 1957 movie produced and directed by Guru Dutt. The movie is all about Love. In 2005, Time magazine rated it among the 100 Top Movies of All Times. In 2011, the same Time magazine rated it among the Top 10 Romantic Movies of all time.
This song has outstanding direction. Here is why:
All throughout the movie, Guru Dutt as Vijay is Pyaasa because of the need to be accepted and loved as a poet and as a person. In this song, Waheeda Rehman, as a prostitute Gulabo is the one who suddenly finds herself Pyaasi. It reminds you of Madhumati: मैं नदिया फिर भी मैं प्यासी!
This is what Love can do to you. In its holistic sense, there is no difference between your Love and God (Saanwariya or Krishna). To understand this better, you ought to have a look at the lyrics by Sahir:
सखी री बिरहा के दुखड़े सह सह कर जब राधे बेसुध हो ली
तो इक दिन अपने मनमोहन से जा कर यूँ बोली
आज सजन मोहे अंग लगालो
जनम सफ़ल हो जाये
हृदय की पीड़ा देह की अग्नि
सब शीतल हो जाये
करूं लाख जतन मोरे मन की तपन
मोरे तन की जलन नहीं जाये
कैसी लागी ये लगन कैसी जागी ये अगन
जिया धीर धरन नहीं पाये
प्रेम सुधा … मोरे साँवरिया
प्रेम सुधा इतनी बरसा दो जग जल थल हो जाये
आज सजन …
मोहे अपना बनालो मेरी बाँह पकड़
मैं हूँ जनम जनम की दासी
मेरी प्यास बुझा दो मनहर गिरिधर, प्यास बुझा दो
मैं हूँ अन्तर्घट तक प्यासी
प्रेम सुधा … मोरे साँवरिया
प्रेम सुधा इतनी बरसा दो जग जल थल हो जाये
आज सजन …
कई जुग से हैं जागे
मोरे नैन अभागे) \२
कहीं जिया नहीं लागे बिन तोरे
सुख देखे नहीं आगे \२
दुःख पीछे पीछे भागे
जग सूना सूना लागे बिन तोरे
प्रेम सुधा, मोरे साँवरिया, साँवरिया
प्रेम सुधा इतनी बरसा दो जग जल थल हो जाये
आज सजन …
He was a very spiritual poet and lyricist and these lyrics are regarded by me among his best. For once he wrote entirely about Love though the same movie has any number of his songs about social inequities, his favourite subject.
To add to the outstanding direction, Guru Dutt has facilitated Waheeda expressing her Love emotions through a minstrel (street singer) just as in Devdas. Of course Geeta Dutt who sang for Waheeda in many movies, sang for the street singer in this.
My Own Poetry
My behna Manik Lakhkar Chava, God bless her and her resolve, is writing about Sahir Song A Day for 365 days as countdown to his Birth Centenary on 08 Mar 2021. I wrote a poem a day (of my own). The last few poems are about Love. Here is my 364th poem:
God made with Love His creation,
And then looked at it with elation.
Let Love be everywhere,
And be the answer to a prayer,
And be, of life, the only foundation.
Hence, there is Love in water, wind, earth and sky,
Indeed, in everything in the universe you come by.
It is in all the beings everywhere,
Not meant for possessing but to share,
And we already know that it will never die.
You may love everything and everyone,
But still your job on earth isn’t done.
You need to love the Maker or God,
And His Creation you need to applaud,
That everything, through Love, can be won.
Even God is, to our Love, a slave,
This power to everyone He freely gave:
“Just try Love and get me,
I bow to every loving devotee,
He can be a king and I can be a knave.”
Shailendra, if you recall, called God as तू प्यार का सागर है
तेरी इक बूँद के प्यासे हम!
That’s what this song is all about! Yeh boond mil jaaye to Janam safal ho jaaye. Pyaasa no more!
The Song
Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy: Aaj sajan mohe ang laga lo…
I hope you enjoyed my choice for Song #35 in the series.
Please await Song #36 – Hawas naseeb nazar ko kahin.
