A Syncretic Vision to Heal Our Divided World

This week, I felt the urge to revisit a Sufi bridge-builder between Hinduism and Islam just to see if I still felt hopeful about his syncretic ideas.

- RENUKA NARAYANAN

This week, I felt the urge to revisit a Sufi bridge-builder between Hinduism and Islam just to see if I still felt hopeful about his syncretic ideas. Bulle Shah (1680-1735) was born into a noble family of Syeds at Qasur, now in Pakistan. As a child, Bulle Shah, colloquially known as 'Bulla' and 'Bulleya' in Punjabi, was reportedly lost in thought frequently, which worried his family.

In the course of his restless youth, Bulla was tormented by inchoate spiritual longings while urged by his concerned family to live his life as a nobleman with all its attendant pleasures and privileges. One day, he went on a long ride to clear his head and get away from home for a bit. He happened to notice a line of ants diligently carrying grain to their anthill. He paused, his attention caught, and wondered, "All that industry just to feed oneself?" Why was every living creature, from insects to birds, animals and human beings, relentlessly driven by the same mission—to find food, to sustain life, to perpetuate its species? The mystery of Creation beckoned strongly to him, and he set out to find a spiritual guide.