میرا یار ہے رب ورگا Mera Yaar Hai Rab Varga — My Beloved Is Like the Lord

My beloved is like the Lord, my darling is like the Lord. Whether I make love or make worship, it comes to the same thing. Alif Allah, alif Allah, alif Allah. Why should I go to the temple, my beloved is God himself? Why should I go to the mosque, my beloved is God himself?

The passage is the song's claim, and the claim is the oldest heresy of the region. Rab varga, like the Lord, is the comparison the whole song will test, and the question, ishq karoon ya karoon ibaadat, is answered by the refrain's own logic, ikko hi gal, the same thing. The alif of Allah, the first letter of the divine name, is the syllable the ecstatics sing between the lines, and the dismissal of the temple and the mosque, mera yaar khud hai, is the passage's boldest line, the beloved promoted to the divinity's own seat.

ورگا varga

like, resembling: Punjabi

دلدار dildaar

the one who holds your heart

عبادت ibaadat

worship

الف alif

the first letter of the Arabic alphabet

The bhangra in my feet, the hoofbeats in my breath: I sing the songs of love, everywhere, everywhere. Whether I make love or make worship, it comes to the same thing. Alif Allah, alif Allah, alif Allah.

The passage is the body's report on the ecstasy, and the report is all rhythm. Bhaangra, the dance of the fields, has entered the feet, and the taape, the hoofbeats, have entered the breath, and the singing of the love songs, chappe chappe, everywhere, is the dance's voice. The refrain follows the body's report, and the alif of Allah is the breath the dance breathes: the worship and the dance have become the same motion.

بھنگڑا bhaangda

bhangra, the Punjabi harvest dance

چپہ chappe

every hand's breadth of ground; every inch of a place

She is a spring of light, and I am the old thirst. I gulped down with my eyes the water of that beauty. Let me spend my whole life looking at her, and whatever other thought comes, throw it off at once.

The passage is the beloved's inventory, and the inventory is a draught. Noor ka jharna, the spring of light, is the beloved's divine name in this verse, and the singer is the pyaas puraani, the ancient thirst, the thirst that predates him. The drinking with the eyes, aankh gatak liya, is the love's single act, and the passing of the whole life in the looking, takte takte umr guzaaroon, is its single occupation. The passage is the ecstatic's prayer in its purest form: the looking is the worship.

نور noor

light, a radiance

حسن husn

beauty

گٹکنا gatakna

to gulp something down

I have worn love like perfume: I am fragrance, fragrance. Now the same scent blooms inside me, everywhere. The bhangra in my feet, the hoofbeats in my breath: I sing the songs of love, everywhere, everywhere.

The passage is the song's last station, and the station is the scent. Ittar, the perfume, is the beloved's oldest gift in this poetry, and the wearing of the love like perfume, ishq ittar pehna, is the passage's claim: the love has become the body's own weather. The doubled khushbu, fragrance, fragrance, is the ecstatic's doubling, and the return of the dance, the bhangra and the taape, closes the song on the body's report, the love sung chappe chappe, everywhere, which is the song's final answer to its own first question: the worship and the love were always the same.

عطر ittar

attar, a thick oil-based perfume

ہر سو har su

in every direction