{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_6519/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_6519","id":"gutenberg_6519","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6519","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Poetry","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Hindi poetry -- Translations into English","Indic poetry -- Translations into English","Nobel Prizes in Literature"],"text":"Produced by Chetan K. Jain and John B. Hare\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSONGS OF KAB\u00ceR\n\n\nTranslated by Rabindranath Tagore\n\nIntroduction by Evelyn Underhill\n\nNew York, The Macmillan Company\n\n1915\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nThe poet Kab\u00eer, a selection from whose songs is here for the\nfirst time offered to English readers, is one of the most\ninteresting personalities in the history of Indian mysticism.\nBorn in or near Benares, of Mohammedan parents, and probably\nabout the year 1440, he became in early life a disciple of the\ncelebrated Hindu ascetic R\u00e2m\u00e2nanda.  R\u00e2m\u00e2nanda had brought to\nNorthern India the religious revival which R\u00e2m\u00e2nuja, the great\ntwelfth-century reformer of Br\u00e2hmanism, had initiated in the\nSouth.  This revival was in part a reaction against the\nincreasing formalism of the orthodox cult, in part an assertion\nof the demands of the heart as against the intense\nintellectualism of the Ved\u00e2nta philosophy, the exaggerated monism\nwhich that philosophy proclaimed.  It took in R\u00e2m\u00e2nuja's\npreaching the form of an ardent personal devotion to the God\nVishnu, as representing the personal aspect of the Divine Nature:\nthat mystical \"religion of love\" which everywhere makes its\nappearance at a certain level of spiritual culture, and which\ncreeds and philosophies are powerless to kill.\n\nThough such a devotion is indigenous in Hinduism, and finds\nexpression in many passages of the Bhagavad G\u00eet\u00e2, there was in\nits medi\u00e6val revival a large element of syncretism.  R\u00e2m\u00e2nanda,\nthrough whom its spirit is said to have reached Kab\u00eer, appears to\nhave been a man of wide religious culture, and full of missionary\nenthusiasm.  Living at the moment in which the impassioned poetry\nand deep philosophy of the great Persian mystics, Att\u00e2r, S\u00e2d\u00ee,\nJal\u00e2lu'dd\u00een R\u00fbm\u00ee, and H\u00e2fiz, were exercising a powerful influence\non the religious thought of India, he dreamed of reconciling this\nintense and personal Mohammedan mysticism with the traditional\ntheology of Br\u00e2hmanism.  Some have regarded both these great\nreligious leaders as influenced also by Christian thought and\nlife: but as this is a point upon which competent authorities\nhold widely divergent views, its discussion is not attempted here.\nWe may safely assert, however, that in their teachings, two--perhaps\nthree--apparently antagonistic streams of intense\nspiritual culture met, as Jewish and Hellenistic thought met in\nthe early Christian Church: and it is one of the outstanding\ncharacteristics of Kab\u00eer's genius that he was able in his poems\nto fuse them into one.\n\nA great religious reformer, the founder of a sect to which nearly\na million northern Hindus still belong, it is yet supremely as a\nmystical poet that Kab\u00eer lives for us.  His fate has been that of\nmany revealers of Reality.  A hater of religious exclusivism, and\nseeking above all things to initiate men into the liberty of the\nchildren of God, his followers have honoured his memory by\nre-erecting in a new place the barriers which he laboured to cast\ndown.  But his wonderful songs survive, the spontaneous\nexpressions of his vision and his love; and it is by these, not\nby the didactic teachings associated with his name, that he makes\nhis immortal appeal to the heart.  In these poems a wide range of\nmystical emotion is brought into play: from the loftiest\nabstractions, the most otherworldly passion for the Infinite, to\nthe most intimate and personal realization of God, expressed in\nhomely metaphors and religious symbols drawn indifferently from\nHindu and Mohammedan belief.  It is impossible to say of their\nauthor that he was Br\u00e2hman or S\u00fbf\u00ee, Ved\u00e2ntist or Vaishnavite.\nHe is, as he says himself, \"at once the child of Allah and of R\u00e2m.\"\nThat Supreme Spirit Whom he knew and adored, and to Whose joyous\nfriendship he sought to induct the souls of other men, transcended\nwhilst He included all metaphysical categories, all credal\ndefinitions; yet each contributed something to the description of\nthat Infinite and Simple Totality Who revealed Himself, according\nto their measure, to the faithful lovers of all creeds.\n\nKab\u00eer's story is surrounded by contradictory legends, on none of\nwhich reliance can be placed.  Some of these emanate from a Hindu,\nsome from a Mohammedan source, and claim him by turns as a S\u00fbf\u00ee\nand a Br\u00e2hman saint.  His name, however, is practically a\nconclusive proof of Moslem ancestry: and the most probable tale is\nthat which represents him as the actual or adopted child of a\nMohammedan weaver of Benares, the city in which the chief events\nof his life took place.\n\nIn fifteenth-century Benares the syncretistic tendencies of\nBhakti religion had reached full development.  S\u00fbf\u00ees and Br\u00e2hmans\nappear to have met in disputation: the most spiritual members of\nboth creeds frequenting the teachings of R\u00e2m\u00e2nanda, whose\nreputation was then at its height.  The boy Kab\u00eer, in whom the\nreligious passion was innate, saw in R\u00e2m\u00e2nanda his destined\nteacher; but knew how slight were the chances that a Hindu guru\nwould accept a Mohammedan as disciple.  He therefore hid upon the\nsteps of the river Ganges, where R\u00e2m\u00e2nanda was accustomed to\nbathe; with the result that the master, coming down to the water,\ntrod upon his body unexpectedly, and exclaimed in his\nastonishment, \"Ram!  Ram!\"--the name of the incarnation under\nwhich he worshipped God.  Kab\u00eer then declared that he had\nreceived the mantra of initiation from R\u00e2m\u00e2nanda's lips, and was\nby it admitted to discipleship.  In spite of the protests of\northodox Br\u00e2hmans and Mohammedans, both equally annoyed by this\ncontempt of theological landmarks, he persisted in his claim;\nthus exhibiting in action that very principle of religious\nsynthesis which R\u00e2m\u00e2nanda had sought to establish in thought.\nR\u00e2m\u00e2nanda appears to have accepted him, and though Mohammedan\nlegends speak of the famous S\u00fbf\u00ee P\u00eer, Takk\u00ee of Jhans\u00ee, as Kab\u00eer's\nmaster in later life, the Hindu saint is the only human teacher\nto whom in his songs he acknowledges indebtedness.\n\nThe little that we know of Kab\u00eer's life contradicts many current\nideas concerning the Oriental mystic.  Of the stages of\ndiscipline through which he passed, the manner in which his\nspiritual genius developed, we are completely ignorant.  He seems\nto have remained for years the disciple of R\u00e2m\u00e2nanda, joining in\nthe theological and philosophical arguments which his master held\nwith all the great Mullahs and Br\u00e2hmans of his day; and to this\nsource we may perhaps trace his acquaintance with the terms of\nHindu and S\u00fbf\u00ee philosophy.  He may or may not have submitted to\nthe traditional education of the Hindu or the S\u00fbf\u00ee contemplative:\nit is clear, at any rate, that he never adopted the life of the\nprofessional ascetic, or retired from the world in order to\ndevote himself to bodily mortifications and the exclusive pursuit\nof the contemplative life.  Side by side with his interior life\nof adoration, its artistic expression in music and words--for he\nwas a skilled musician as well as a poet--he lived the sane and\ndiligent life of the Oriental craftsman.  All the legends agree\non this point: that Kab\u00eer was a weaver, a simple and unlettered\nman, who earned his living at the loom.  Like Paul the tentmaker,\nBoehme the cobbler, Bunyan the tinker, Tersteegen the\nribbon-maker, he knew how to combine vision and industry; the\nwork of his hands helped rather than hindered the impassioned\nmeditation of his heart.  Hating mere bodily austerities, he was\nno ascetic, but a married man, the father of a family--a\ncircumstance which Hindu legends of the monastic type vainly\nattempt to conceal or explain--and it was from out of the heart\nof the common life that he sang his rapturous lyrics of divine\nlove.  Here his works corroborate the traditional story of his\nlife.  Again and again he extols the life of home, the value and\nreality of diurnal existence, with its opportunities for love and\nrenunciation; pouring contempt--upon the professional sanctity of\nthe Yogi, who \"has a great beard and matted locks, and looks like\na goat,\" and on all who think it necessary to flee a world\npervaded by love, joy, and beauty--the proper theatre of man's\nquest--in order to find that One Reality Who has \"spread His form\nof love throughout all the world.\" [Footnote: Cf. Poems Nos. XXI,\nXL, XLIII, LXVI, LXXVI.]\n\nIt does not need much experience of ascetic literature to\nrecognize the boldness and originality of this attitude in such a\ntime and place.  From the point of view of orthodox sanctity,\nwhether Hindu or Mohammedan, Kab\u00eer was plainly a heretic; and his\nfrank dislike of all institutional religion, all external\nobservance--which was as thorough and as intense as that of the\nQuakers themselves--completed, so far as ecclesiastical opinion\nwas concerned, his reputation as a dangerous man.  The \"simple\nunion\" with Divine Reality which he perpetually extolled, as alike\nthe duty and the joy of every soul, was independent both of ritual\nand of bodily austerities; the God whom he proclaimed was \"neither\nin Kaaba nor in Kail\u00e2sh.\"  Those who sought Him needed not to go\nfar; for He awaited discovery everywhere, more accessible to \"the\nwasherwoman and the carpenter\" than to the self--righteous holy man.\n[Footnote: Poems I, II, XLI.]  Therefore the whole apparatus of\npiety, Hindu and Moslem alike--the temple and mosque, idol and holy\nwater, scriptures and priests--were denounced by this inconveniently\nclear-sighted poet as mere substitutes for reality; dead things\nintervening between the soul and its love--\n\n/*\n  The images are all lifeless, they cannot speak:\n    I know, for I have cried aloud to them.\n  The Pur\u00e2na and the Koran are mere words:\n    lifting up the curtain, I have seen.\n*/\n[Footnote: Poems XLII, LXV, LXVII.]\n\nThis sort of thing cannot be tolerated by any organized church;\nand it is not surprising that Kab\u00eer, having his head-quarters in\nBenares, the very centre of priestly influence, was subjected to\nconsiderable persecution.  The well-known legend of the beautiful\ncourtesan sent by Br\u00e2hmans to tempt his virtue, and converted,\nlike the Magdalen, by her sudden encounter with the initiate of a\nhigher love, pre serves the memory of the fear and dislike with\nwhich he was regarded by the ecclesiastical powers.  Once at\nleast, after the performance of a supposed miracle of healing, he\nwas brought before the Emperor Sikandar Lodi, and charged with\nclaiming the possession of divine powers.  But Sikandar Lodi, a\nruler of considerable culture, was tolerant of the eccentricities\nof saintly persons belonging to his own faith.  Kab\u00eer, being of\nMohammedan birth, was outside the authority of the Br\u00e2hmans, and\ntechnically classed with the S\u00fbf\u00ees, to whom great theological\nlatitude was allowed.  Therefore, though he was banished in the\ninterests of peace from Benares, his life was spared.  This seems\nto have happened in 1495, when he was nearly sixty years of age;\nit is the last event in his career of which we have definite\nknowledge.  Thenceforth he appears to have moved about amongst\nvarious cities of northern India, the centre of a group of\ndisciples; continuing in exile that life of apostle and poet of\nlove to which, as he declares in one of his songs, he was destined\n\"from the beginning of time.\"  In 1518, an old man, broken in\nhealth, and with hands so feeble that he could no longer make the\nmusic which he loved, he died at Maghar near Gorakhpur.\n\nA beautiful legend tells us that after his death his\nMohammedan and Hindu disciples disputed the possession of his\nbody; which the Mohammedans wished to bury, the Hindus to burn.\nAs they argued together, Kab\u00eer appeared before them, and told\nthem to lift the shroud and look at that which lay beneath.  They\ndid so, and found in the place of the corpse a heap of flowers;\nhalf of which were buried by the Mohammedans at Maghar, and half\ncarried by the Hindus to the holy city of Benares to be\nburned--fitting conclusion to a life which had made fragrant the\nmost beautiful doctrines of two great creeds.\n\n\n\nII\n\n\nThe poetry of mysticism might be defined on the one hand as a\ntemperamental reaction to the vision of Reality: on the other, as\na form of prophecy.  As it is the special vocation of the\nmystical consciousness to mediate between two orders, going out\nin loving adoration towards God and coming home to tell the\nsecrets of Eternity to other men; so the artistic self-expression\nof this consciousness has also a double character.  It is\nlove-poetry, but love-poetry which is often written with a missionary\nintention.\n\nKab\u00eer's songs are of this kind: out-births at once of rapture and\nof charity.  Written in the popular Hindi, not in the literary\ntongue, they were deliberately addressed--like the vernacular\npoetry of Jacopone da Tod\u00ec and Richard Rolle--to the people rather\nthan to the professionally religious class; and all must be struck\nby the constant employment in them of imagery drawn from the\ncommon life, the universal experience.  It is by the simplest\nmetaphors, by constant appeals to needs, passions, relations which\nall men understand--the bridegroom and bride, the guru and\ndisciple, the pilgrim, the farmer, the migrant bird-- that he\ndrives home his intense conviction of the reality of the soul's\nintercourse with the Transcendent.  There are in his universe no\nfences between the \"natural\" and \"supernatural\" worlds; everything\nis a part of the creative Play of God, and therefore--even in its\nhumblest details--capable of revealing the Player's mind.\n\nThis willing acceptance of the here-and-now as a means of\nrepresenting supernal realities is a trait common to the greatest\nmystics.  For them, when they have achieved at last the true\ntheopathetic state, all aspects of the universe possess equal\nauthority as sacramental declarations of the Presence of God; and\ntheir fearless employment of homely and physical symbols--often\nstartling and even revolting to the unaccustomed taste--is in\ndirect proportion to the exaltation of their spiritual life.  The\nworks of the great S\u00fbf\u00ees, and amongst the Christians of Jacopone\nda Tod\u00ec, Ruysbroeck, Boehme, abound in illustrations of this law.\nTherefore we must not be surprised to find in Kab\u00eer's songs--his\ndesperate attempts to communicate his ecstasy and persuade other\nmen to share it--a constant juxtaposition of concrete and\nmetaphysical language; swift alternations between the most\nintensely anthropomorphic, the most subtly philosophical, ways of\napprehending man's communion with the Divine.  The need for this\nalternation, and its entire naturalness for the mind which\nemploys it, is rooted in his concept, or vision, of the Nature of\nGod; and unless we make some attempt to grasp this, we shall not\ngo far in our understanding of his poems.\n\nKab\u00eer belongs to that small group of supreme mystics--amongst\nwhom St.  Augustine, Ruysbroeck, and the S\u00fbf\u00ee poet Jal\u00e2lu'dd\u00een\nR\u00fbm\u00ee are perhaps the chief--who have achieved that which we might\ncall the synthetic vision of God.  These have resolved the\nperpetual opposition between the personal and impersonal, the\ntranscendent and immanent, static and dynamic aspects of the\nDivine Nature; between the Absolute of philosophy and the \"sure\ntrue Friend\" of devotional religion.  They have done this, not by\ntaking these apparently incompatible concepts one after the\nother; but by ascending to a height of spiritual intuition at\nwhich they are, as Ruysbroeck said, \"melted and merged in the\nUnity,\" and perceived as the completing opposites of a perfect\nWhole.  This proceeding entails for them--and both Kab\u00eer and\nRuysbroeck expressly acknowledge it--a universe of three orders:\nBecoming, Being, and that which is \"More than Being,\" i.e., God.\n[Footnote: Nos. VII and XLIX.]  God is here felt to be not the\nfinal abstraction, but the one actuality.  He inspires, supports,\nindeed inhabits, both the durational, conditioned, finite world\nof Becoming and the unconditioned, non-successional, infinite\nworld of Being; yet utterly transcends them both.  He is the\nomnipresent Reality, the \"All-pervading\" within Whom \"the worlds\nare being told like beads.\"  In His personal aspect He is the\n\"beloved Fakir,\" teaching and companioning each soul.  Considered\nas Immanent Spirit, He is \"the Mind within the mind.\"  But all\nthese are at best partial aspects of His nature, mutually\ncorrective: as the Persons in the Christian doctrine of the\nTrinity--to which this theological diagram bears a striking\nresemblance--represent different and compensating experiences of\nthe Divine Unity within which they are resumed.  As Ruysbroeck\ndiscerned a plane of reality upon which \"we can speak no more of\nFather, Son, and Holy Spirit, but only of One Being, the very\nsubstance of the Divine Persons\"; so Kab\u00eer says that \"beyond both\nthe limited and the limitless is He, the Pure Being.\"  [Footnote:\nNo. VII.]\n\nBrahma, then, is the Ineffable Fact compared with which \"the\ndistinction of the Conditioned from the Unconditioned is but a\nword\": at once the utterly transcendent One of Absolutist\nphilosophy, and the personal Lover of the individual\nsoul--\"common to all and special to each,\" as one Christian mystic\nhas it.  The need felt by Kab\u00eer for both these ways of describing\nReality is a proof of the richness and balance of his spiritual\nexperience; which neither cosmic nor anthropomorphic symbols,\ntaken alone, could express.  More absolute than the Absolute,\nmore personal than the human mind, Brahma therefore exceeds\nwhilst He includes all the concepts of philosophy, all the\npassionate intuitions of the heart.  He is the Great Affirmation,\nthe font of energy, the source of life and love, the unique\nsatisfaction of desire.  His creative word is the _Om_ or\n\"Everlasting Yea.\"  The negative philosophy which strips from the\nDivine Nature all Its attributes and defining Him only by that\nwhich He is not--reduces Him to an \"Emptiness,\" is abhorrent to\nthis most vital of poets.--Brahma, he says, \"may never be found\nin abstractions.\"  He is the One Love who Pervades the world.,\ndiscerned in His fullness only by the eyes of love; and those who\nknow Him thus share, though they may never tell, the joyous and\nineffable secret of the universe.  [Footnote: Nos. VII, XXVI,\nLXXVI, XC.]\n\nNow Kab\u00eer, achieving this synthesis between the personal and\ncosmic aspects of the Divine Nature, eludes the three great\ndangers which threaten mystical religion.\n\nFirst, he escapes the excessive emotionalism, the tendency to\nan exclusively anthropomorphic devotion, which results from an\nunrestricted cult of Divine Personality, especially under an\nincarnational form; seen in India in the exaggerations of\nKrishna worship, in Europe in the sentimental extravagances of\ncertain Christian saints.\n\nNext, he is protected from the soul-destroying conclusions of\npure monism, inevitable if its logical implications are pressed\nhome: that is, the identity of substance between God and the\nsoul, with its corollary of the total absorption of that soul in\nthe Being of God as the goal of the spiritual life.  For the\nthorough-going monist the soul, in so far as it is real, is\nsubstantially identical with God; and the true object of\nexistence is the making patent of this latent identity, the\nrealization which finds expression in the Ved\u00e2ntist formula \"That\nart thou.\"  But Kab\u00eer says that Brahma and the creature are \"ever\ndistinct, yet ever united\"; that the wise man knows the spiritual\nas well as the material world to \"be no more than His footstool.\"\n[Footnote: Nos. VII and IX.]  The soul's union with Him is a love\nunion, a mutual inhabitation; that essentially dualistic relation\nwhich all mystical religion expresses, not a self-mergence which\nleaves no place for personality.  This eternal distinction, the\nmysterious union-in-separateness of God and the soul, is a\nnecessary doctrine of all sane mysticism; for no scheme which\nfails to find a place for it can represent more than a fragment of\nthat soul's intercourse with the spiritual world.  Its affirmation\nwas one of the distinguishing features of the Vaishnavite\nreformation preached by R\u00e2m\u00e2nuja; the principle of which had\ndescended through R\u00e2m\u00e2nanda to Kab\u00eer.\n\nLast, the warmly human and direct apprehension of God as the\nsupreme Object of love, the soul's comrade, teacher, and\nbridegroom, which is so passionately and frequently expressed in\nKab\u00eer's poems, balances and controls those abstract tendencies\nwhich are inherent in the metaphysical side of his vision of\nReality: and prevents it from degenerating into that sterile\nworship of intellectual formul\u00e6 which became the curse of the\nVed\u00e2ntist school.  For the mere intellectualist, as for the mere\npietist, he has little approbation.  [Footnote: Cf. especially\nNos. LIX, LXVII, LXXV, XC, XCI.]  Love is throughout his\n\"absolute sole Lord\": the unique source of the more abundant life\nwhich he enjoys, and the common factor which unites the finite\nand infinite worlds.  All is soaked in love: that love which he\ndescribed in almost Johannine language as the \"Form of God.\"\nThe whole of creation is the Play of the Eternal Lover; the\nliving, changing, growing expression of Brahma's love and joy.\nAs these twin passions preside over the generation of human life,\nso \"beyond the mists of pleasure and pain\" Kab\u00eer finds them\ngoverning the creative acts of God.  His manifestation is love;\nHis activity is joy.  Creation springs from one glad act of\naffirmation: the Everlasting Yea, perpetually uttered within the\ndepths of the Divine Nature.  [Footnote: Nos. XVII, XXVI, LXXVI,\nLXXXII.]  In accordance with this concept of the universe as a\nLove-Game which eternally goes forward, a progressive\nmanifestation of Brahma--one of the many notions which he adopted\nfrom the common stock of Hindu religious ideas, and illuminated\nby his poetic genius--movement, rhythm, perpetual change, forms\nan integral part of Kab\u00eer's vision of Reality.  Though the\nEternal and Absolute is ever present to his consciousness, yet\nhis concept of the Divine Nature is essentially dynamic.  It is\nby the symbols of motion that he most often tries to convey it to\nus: as in his constant reference to dancing, or the strangely\nmodern picture of that Eternal Swing of the Universe which is\n\"held by the cords of love.\"  [Footnote: No. XVI.]\n\nIt is a marked characteristic of mystical literature that the\ngreat contemplatives, in their effort to convey to us the nature\nof their communion with the supersensuous, are inevitably driven\nto employ some form of sensuous imagery: coarse and inaccurate as\nthey know such imagery to be, even at the best.  Our normal human\nconsciousness is so completely committed to dependence on the\nsenses, that the fruits of intuition itself are instinctively\nreferred to them.  In that intuition it seems to the mystics that\nall the dim cravings and partial apprehensions of sense find\nperfect fulfilment.  Hence their constant declaration that they\n_see_ the uncreated light, they _hear_ the celestial\nmelody, they _taste_ the sweetness of the Lord, they know an\nineffable fragrance, they feel the very contact of love.  \"Him\nverily seeing and fully feeling, Him spiritually hearing and Him\ndelectably smelling and sweetly swallowing,\" as Julian of Norwich\nhas it.  In those amongst them who develop psycho-sensorial\nautomatisms, these parallels between sense and spirit may present\nthemselves to consciousness in the form of hallucinations: as the\nlight seen by Suso, the music heard by Rolle, the celestial\nperfumes which filled St.  Catherine of Siena's cell, the physical\nwounds felt by St.  Francis and St. Teresa.  These are excessive\ndramatizations of the symbolism under which the mystic tends\ninstinctively to represent his spiritual intuition to the surface\nconsciousness.  Here, in the special sense-perception which he\nfeels to be most expressive of Reality, his peculiar\nidiosyncrasies come out.\n\nNow Kab\u00eer, as we might expect in one whose reactions to the\nspiritual order were so wide and various, uses by turn all the\nsymbols of sense.  He tells us that he has \"seen without sight\"\nthe effulgence of Brahma, tasted the divine nectar, felt the\necstatic contact of Reality, smelt the fragrance of the heavenly\nflowers.  But he was essentially a poet and musician: rhythm and\nharmony were to him the garments of beauty and truth.  Hence in\nhis lyrics he shows himself to be, like Richard Rolle, above all\nthings a musical mystic.  Creation, he says again and again, is\nfull of music: it _is_ music.  At the heart of the Universe\n\"white music is blossoming\": love weaves the melody, whilst\nrenunciation beats the time.  It can be heard in the home as well\nas in the heavens; discerned by the ears of common men as well as\nby the trained senses of the ascetic.  Moreover, the body of\nevery man is a lyre on which Brahma, \"the source of all music,\"\nplays.  Everywhere Kab\u00eer discerns the \"Unstruck Music of the\nInfinite\"--that celestial melody which the angel played to St.\nFrancis, that ghostly symphony which filled the soul of Rolle\nwith ecstatic joy.  [Footnote: Nos. XVII, XVIII, XXXIX, XLI, LIV,\nLXXVI, LXXXIII, LXXXIX, XCVII.]  The one figure which he adopts\nfrom the Hindu Pantheon and constantly uses, is that of Krishna\nthe Divine Flute Player.  [Footnote: Nos. L, LIII, LXVIII.]  He\nsees the supernal music, too, in its visual embodiment, as\nrhythmical movement: that mysterious dance of the universe before\nthe face of Brahma, which is at once an act of worship and an\nexpression of the infinite rapture of the Immanent God.'\n\nYet in this wide and rapturous vision of the universe Kab\u00eer\nnever loses touch with diurnal existence, never forgets the\ncommon life.  His feet are firmly planted upon earth; his lofty\nand passionate apprehensions are perpetually controlled by the\nactivity of a sane and vigorous intellect, by the alert\ncommonsense so often found in persons of real mystical genius.\nThe constant insistence on simplicity and directness, the hatred\nof all abstractions and philosophizings,[Footnote: Nos. XXVI,\nXXXII, LXXVI] the ruthless criticism of external religion: these\nare amongst his most marked characteristics.  God is the Root\nwhence all manifestations, \"material\" and \"spiritual,\" alike\nproceed; [Footnote: Nos. LXXV, LXXVIII, LXXX, XC.] and God is\nthe only need of man--\"happiness shall be yours when you come to\nthe Root.\"  [Footnote: No. LXXX.]  Hence to those who keep their\neye on the \"one thing needful,\" denominations, creeds, ceremonies,\nthe conclusions of philosophy, the disciplines of asceticism, are\nmatters of comparative indifference.  They represent merely the\ndifferent angles from which the soul may approach that simple\nunion with Brahma which is its goal; and are useful only in so\nfaras they contribute to this consummation.  So thorough-going is\nKab\u00eer's eclecticism, that he seems by turns Ved\u00e2ntist and\nVaishnavite, Pantheist and Transcendentalist, Br\u00e2hman and S\u00fbf\u00ee.\nIn the effort to tell the truth about that ineffable apprehension,\nso vast and yet so near, which controls his life, he seizes and\ntwines together--as he might have woven together contrasting\nthreads upon his loom--symbols and ideas drawn from the most\nviolent and conflicting philosophies and faiths.  All are needed,\nif he is ever to suggest the character of that One whom the\nUpanishad called \"the Sun-coloured Being who is beyond this\nDarkness\": as all the colours of the spectrum are needed if we\nwould demonstrate the simple richness of white light.  In thus\nadapting traditional materials to his own use he follows a method\ncommon amongst the mystics; who seldom exhibit any special love\nfor originality of form.  They will pour their wine into almost\nany vessel that comes to hand: generally using by preference--and\nlifting to new levels of beauty and significance--the religious or\nphilosophic formul\u00e6 current in their own day.  Thus we find that\nsome of Kab\u00eer's finest poems have as their subjects the\ncommonplaces of Hindu philosophy and religion: the L\u00eel\u00e2 or Sport of\nGod, the Ocean of Bliss, the Bird of the Soul, M\u00e2y\u00e2, the Hundred-petalled\nLotus, and the \"Formless Form.\"  Many, again, are soaked\nin S\u00fbf\u00ee imagery and feeling.  Others use as their material the\nordinary surroundings and incidents of Indian life: the temple bells,\nthe ceremony of the lamps, marriage, suttee, pilgrimage, the\ncharacters of the seasons; all felt by him in their mystical aspect,\nas sacraments of the soul's relation with Brahma.  In many of these\na particularly beautiful and intimate feeling for Nature is shown.\n[Footnote: Nos. XV, XXIII, LXVII, LXXXVII, XCVII.]\n\nIn the collection of songs here translated there will be found\nexamples which illustrate nearly every aspect of Kab\u00eer's thought,\nand all the fluctuations of the mystic's emotion: the ecstasy,\nthe despair, the still beatitude, the eager self-devotion, the\nflashes of wide illumination, the moments of intimate love.  His\nwide and deep vision of the universe, the \"Eternal Sport\" of\ncreation (LXXXII), the worlds being \"told like beads\" within the\nBeing of God (XIV, XVI, XVII, LXXVI), is here seen balanced by\nhis lovely and delicate sense of intimate communion with the\nDivine Friend, Lover, Teacher of the soul (X, XI, XXIII, XXXV, LI,\nLXXXV, LXXXVI, LXXXVIII, XCII, XCIII; above all, the beautiful\npoem XXXIV).  As these apparently paradoxical views of Reality\nare resolved in Br\u00e2hma, so all other opposites are reconciled in\nHim: bondage and liberty, love and renunciation, pleasure and pain\n(XVII, XXV, XL, LXXIX).  Union with Him is the one thing that\nmatters to the soul, its destiny and its need (LI, I, II, LIV, LXX,\nLXXIV, XCIII, XCVI); and this union, this discovery of God, is the\nsimplest and most natural of all things, if we would but grasp it\n(XLI, XLVI, LVI, LXXII, LXXVI, LXXVIII, XCVII).  The union, however,\nis brought about by love, not by knowledge or ceremonial observances\n(XXXVIII, LIV, LV, LIX, XCI); and the apprehension which that union\nconfers is ineffable--\"neither This nor That,\" as Ruysbroeck has it\n(IX, XLVI, LXXVI).  Real worship and communion is in Spirit and in\nTruth (XL, XLI, LVI, LXIII, LXV, LXX), therefore idolatry is an\ninsult to the Divine Lover (XLII, LXIX) and the devices of\nprofessional sanctity are useless apart from charity and purity\nof soul (LIV, LXV, LXVI).  Since all things, and especially the\nheart of man, are God-inhabited, God-possessed (XXVI, LVI, LXXVI,\nLXXXIX, XCVII), He may best be found in the here-and-now: in the\nnormal.  human, bodily existence, the \"mud\" of material life (III,\nIV, VI, XXI, XXXIX, XL, XLIII, XLVIII, LXXII).  \"We can reach the\ngoal without crossing the road\" (LXXVI)--not the cloister but the\nhome is the proper theatre of man's efforts: and if he cannot find\nGod there, he need not hope for success by going farther afield.\n\"In the home is reality.\"  There love and detachment, bondage and\nfreedom, joy and pain play by turns upon the soul; and it is from\ntheir conflict that the Unstruck Music of the Infinite proceeds.\nKab\u00eer says: \"None but Brahma can evoke its melodies.\"\n\n\"This version of Kab\u00eer's songs is chiefly the work of\nMr. Rab\u00eendran\u00e2th Tagore, the trend of whose mystical genius makes\nhim--as all who read these poems will see--a peculiarly\nsympathetic interpreter of Kab\u00eer's vision and thought.  It has\nbeen based upon the printed Hind\u00ee text with Bengali translation\nof Mr. Kshiti Mohan Sen; who has gathered from many sources--sometimes\nfrom books and manuscripts, sometimes from the lips of\nwandering ascetics and minstrels--a large collection of poems\nand hymns to which Kab\u00eer's name is attached, and carefully\nsifted the authentic songs from the many spurious works now\nattributed to him.  These painstaking labours alone have made\nthe present undertaking possible.\n\nWe have also had before us a manuscript English translation of\n116 songs made by Mr. Ajit Kum\u00e2r Chakravarty from Mr. Kshiti\nMohan Sen's text, and a prose essay upon Kab\u00eer from the same\nhand.  From these we have derived great assistance.  A\nconsiderable number of readings from the translation have been\nadopted by us; whilst several of the facts mentioned in the essay\nhave been incorporated into this introduction.  Our most grateful\nthanks are due to Mr. Ajit Kumar Chakravarty for the extremely\ngenerous and unselfish manner in which he has placed his work at\nour disposal.\n\nE.  U.\n\nThe reference of the headlines of the poems is to:\n\nS\u00e2ntiniketana; Kab\u00eer by Sr\u00ee Kshitimohan Sen, 4 parts,\nBrahmachary\u00e2srama, Bolpur, 1910-1911.\n\n\nFor some assistance in normalizing the transliteration we are\nindebted to Professor J. F. Blumhardt.\n\n\n\n\n\nKABIR'S POEMS\n\n\n  I\n\n\n  I.  13.  _mo ko kah\u00e2n dh\u00fbnro bande_\n\n  O servant, where dost thou seek Me?\n  Lo!  I am beside thee.\n  I am neither in temple nor in mosque: I am neither in Kaaba nor\n    in Kailash:\n  Neither am I in rites and ceremonies, nor in Yoga and\n    renunciation.\n  If thou art a true seeker, thou shalt at once see Me: thou shalt\n    meet Me in a moment of time.\n  Kab\u00eer says, \"O Sadhu!  God is the breath of all breath.\"\n\n\n\n  II\n\n\n  I. 16. _Santan j\u00e2t na p\u00fbcho nirguniy\u00e2n_\n\n  It is needless to ask of a saint the caste to which he belongs;\n  For the priest, the warrior.  the tradesman, and all the\n    thirty-six castes, alike are seeking for God.\n  It is but folly to ask what the caste of a saint may be;\n  The barber has sought God, the washerwoman, and the carpenter--\n  Even Raidas was a seeker after God.\n  The Rishi Swapacha was a tanner by caste.\n  Hindus and Moslems alike have achieved that End, where remains no\n    mark of distinction.\n\n\n\n  III\n\n\n  I. 57. _s\u00e2dho bh\u00e2\u00ee, j\u00eeval h\u00ee karo \u00e2s'\u00e2_\n\n  O friend!  hope for Him whilst you live, know whilst you live,\n    understand whilst you live: for in life deliverance abides.\n  If your bonds be not broken whilst living, what hope of\n    deliverance in death?\n  It is but an empty dream, that the soul shall have union with Him\n    because it has passed from the body:\n  If He is found now, He is found then,\n  If not, we do but go to dwell in the City of Death.\n  If you have union now, you shall have it hereafter.\n  Bathe in the truth, know the true Guru, have faith in the true\n    Name!\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"It is the Spirit of the quest which helps; I am the\n  slave of this Spirit of the quest.\"\n\n\n\n  IV\n\n\n  I. 58. _b\u00e2go n\u00e2 j\u00e2 re n\u00e2 j\u00e2_\n\n  Do not go to the garden of flowers!\n  O Friend! go not there;\n  In your body is the garden of flowers.\n  Take your seat on the thousand petals of the lotus, and there\n    gaze on the Infinite Beauty.\n\n\n\n  V\n\n\n  I. 63. _avadh\u00fb, m\u00e2y\u00e2 taj\u00ee na j\u00e2y_\n\n  Tell me, Brother, how can I renounce Maya?\n  When I gave up the tying of ribbons, still I tied my garment\n    about me:\n  When I gave up tying my garment, still I covered my body in its\n    folds.\n  So, when I give up passion, I see that anger remains;\n  And when I renounce anger, greed is with me still;\n  And when greed is vanquished, pride and vainglory remain;\n  When the mind is detached and casts Maya away, still it clings to\n    the letter.\n  Kab\u00eer says, \"Listen to me, dear Sadhu!  the true path is rarely\n    found.\"\n\n\n\n  VI\n\n\n  I. 83. _cand\u00e2 jhalkai yahi ghat m\u00e2h\u00een_\n\n  The moon shines in my body, but my blind eyes cannot see it:\n  The moon is within me, and so is the sun.\n  The unstruck drum of Eternity is sounded within me; but my deaf\n    ears cannot hear it.\n\n  So long as man clamours for the _I_ and the _Mine_,\n    his works are as naught:\n  When all love of the _I_ and the _Mine_ is dead, then\n    the work of the Lord is done.\n  For work has no other aim than the getting of knowledge:\n  When that comes, then work is put away.\n\n  The flower blooms for the fruit: when the fruit comes, the flower\n    withers.\n  The musk is in the deer, but it seeks it not within itself: it\n    wanders in quest of grass.\n\n\n\n  VII\n\n\n  I. 85. _S\u00e2dho, Brahm alakh lakh\u00e2y\u00e2_\n\n  When He Himself reveals Himself, Brahma brings into manifestation\n    That which can never be seen.\n  As the seed is in the plant, as the shade is in the tree, as the\n    void is in the sky, as infinite forms are in the void--\n  So from beyond the Infinite, the Infinite comes; and from the\n    Infinite the finite extends.\n\n  The creature is in Brahma, and Brahma is in the creature: they\n    are ever distinct, yet ever united.\n  He Himself is the tree, the seed, and the germ.\n  He Himself is the flower, the fruit, and the shade.\n  He Himself is the sun, the light, and the lighted.\n  He Himself is Brahma, creature, and Maya.\n  He Himself is the manifold form, the infinite space;\n  He is the breath, the word, and the meaning.\n  He Himself is the limit and the limitless: and beyond both the\n    limited and the limitless is He, the Pure Being.\n  He is the Immanent Mind in Brahma and in the creature.\n\n  The Supreme Soul is seen within the soul,\n  The Point is seen within the Supreme Soul,\n  And within the Point, the reflection is seen again.\n  Kab\u00eer is blest because he has this supreme vision!\n\n\n\n  VIII\n\n\n  I. 101. _is ghat antar b\u00e2g bag\u00eece_\n\n  Within this earthen vessel are bowers and groves, and within it\n    is the Creator:\n  Within this vessel are the seven oceans and the unnumbered stars.\n  The touchstone and the jewel-appraiser are within;\n  And within this vessel the Eternal soundeth, and the spring wells\n    up.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Listen to me, my Friend!  My beloved Lord is within.\"\n\n\n\n  IX\n\n\n  I. 104. _ais\u00e2 lo nah\u00een tais\u00e2 lo_\n\n  O How may I ever express that secret word?\n  O how can I say He is not like this, and He is like that?\n  If I say that He is within me, the universe is ashamed:\n  If I say that He is without me, it is falsehood.\n  He makes the inner and the outer worlds to be indivisibly one;\n  The conscious and the unconscious, both are His footstools.\n  He is neither manifest nor hidden, He is neither revealed nor\n    unrevealed:\n  There are no words to tell that which He is.\n\n\n\n  X\n\n\n  I. 121. _tohi mori lagan lag\u00e2ye re phak\u00eer w\u00e2_\n\n  To Thee Thou hast drawn my love, O Fakir!\n  I was sleeping in my own chamber, and Thou didst awaken me;\n    striking me with Thy voice, O Fakir!\n  I was drowning in the deeps of the ocean of this world, and\n    Thou didst save me: upholding me with Thine arm, O Fakir!\n  Only one word and no second--and Thou hast made me tear off all\n    my bonds, O Fakir!\n  Kab\u00eer says, \"Thou hast united Thy heart to my heart, O Fakir!\"\n\n\n\n  XI\n\n\n  I. 131. _nis' din khelat rah\u00ee sakhiy\u00e2n sang_\n\n  I played day and night with my comrades, and now I am greatly\n    afraid.\n  So high is my Lord's palace, my heart trembles to mount its\n    stairs: yet I must not be shy, if I would enjoy His love.\n  My heart must cleave to my Lover; I must withdraw my veil, and\n    meet Him with all my body:\n  Mine eyes must perform the ceremony of the lamps of love.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Listen to me, friend: he understands who loves.  If\n    you feel not love's longing for your Beloved One, it is vain\n    to adorn your body, vain to put unguent on your eyelids.\"\n\n\n\n  XII\n\n\n  II. 24. _hams\u00e2, kaho pur\u00e2tan v\u00e2t_\n\n  Tell me, O Swan, your ancient tale.\n  From what land do you come, O Swan? to what shore will you fly?\n  Where would you take your rest, O Swan, and what do you seek?\n\n  Even this morning, O Swan, awake, arise, follow me!\n  There is a land where no doubt nor sorrow have rule: where the\n    terror of Death is no more.\n  There the woods of spring are a-bloom, and the fragrant scent \"He\n    is I\" is borne on the wind:\n  There the bee of the heart is deeply immersed, and desires no\n    other joy.\n\n\n\n  XIII\n\n\n  II. 37. _angadhiy\u00e2 dev\u00e2_\n\n  O Lord Increate, who will serve Thee?\n  Every votary offers his worship to the God of his own creation:\n    each day he receives service--\n  None seek Him, the Perfect: Brahma, the Indivisible Lord.\n  They believe in ten Avatars; but no Avatar can be the Infinite\n    Spirit, for he suffers the results of his deeds:\n  The Supreme One must be other than this.\n  The Yogi, the Sanyasi, the Ascetics, are disputing one with\n    another:\n  Kab\u00eer says, \"O brother!  he who has seen that radiance of love,\n    he is saved.\"\n\n\n\n  XIV\n\n\n  II. 56. _dariy\u00e2 k\u00ee lahar dariy\u00e2o hai j\u00ee_\n\n  The river and its waves are one\n  surf: where is the difference between the river and its waves?\n  When the wave rises, it is the water; and when it falls, it is\n    the same water again.  Tell me, Sir, where is the distinction?\n  Because it has been named as wave, shall it no longer be\n    considered as water?\n\n  Within the Supreme Brahma, the worlds are being told like beads:\n  Look upon that rosary with the eyes of wisdom.\n\n\n\n  XV\n\n\n  II. 57. _j\u00e2nh khelat vasant ritur\u00e2j_\n\n  Where Spring, the lord of the seasons, reigneth, there the\n    Unstruck Music sounds of itself,\n  There the streams of light flow in all directions;\n  Few are the men who can cross to that shore!\n  There, where millions of Krishnas stand with hands folded,\n  Where millions of Vishnus bow their heads,\n  Where millions of Brahm\u00e2s are reading the Vedas,\n  Where millions of Shivas are lost in contemplation,\n  Where millions of Indras dwell in the sky,\n  Where the demi-gods and the munis are unnumbered,\n  Where millions of Saraswatis, Goddess of Music, play on the vina--\n  There is my Lord self-revealed: and the scent of sandal and\n    flowers dwells in those deeps.\n\n\n\n  XVI\n\n\n  II. 59. _j\u00e2nh, cet acet khambh d\u00f4\u00fb_\n\n  Between the poles of the conscious and the unconscious, there has\n    the mind made a swing:\n  Thereon hang all beings and all worlds, and that swing never\n    ceases its sway.\n  Millions of beings are there: the sun and the moon in their\n    courses are there:\n  Millions of ages pass, and the swing goes on.\n  All swing! the sky and the earth and the air and the water; and\n    the Lord Himself taking form:\n  And the sight of this has made Kab\u00eer a servant.\n\n\n\n  XVII\n\n\n  II. 61. _grah candra tapan jot varat hai_\n\n  The light of the sun, the moon, and the stars shines bright:\n  The melody of love swells forth, and the rhythm of love's\n    detachment beats the time.\n  Day and night, the chorus of music fills the heavens; and Kab\u00eer\n    says\n  \"My Beloved One gleams like the lightning flash in the sky.\"\n\n  Do you know how the moments perform their adoration?\n  Waving its row of lamps, the universe sings in worship day and\n    night,\n  There are the hidden banner and the secret canopy:\n  There the sound of the unseen bells is heard.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"There adoration never ceases; there the Lord of the\n    Universe sitteth on His throne.\"\n  The whole world does its works and commits its errors: but few\n    are the lovers who know the Beloved.\n  The devout seeker is he who mingles in his heart the double\n    currents of love and detachment, like the mingling of the\n    streams of Ganges and Jumna;\n  In his heart the sacred water flows day and night; and thus the\n    round of births and deaths is brought to an end.\n\n  Behold what wonderful rest is in the Supreme Spirit!  and he\n    enjoys it, who makes himself meet for it.\n  Held by the cords of love, the swing of the Ocean of Joy sways to\n    and fro; and a mighty sound breaks forth in song.\n  See what a lotus blooms there without water!  and Kab\u00eer says\n  \"My heart's bee drinks its nectar.\"\n  What a wonderful lotus it is, that blooms at the heart of the\n    spinning wheel of the universe!  Only a few pure souls know of\n    its true delight.\n  Music is all around it, and there the heart partakes of the joy\n  of the Infinite Sea.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Dive thou into that Ocean of sweetness: thus let all\n    errors of life and of death flee away.\"\n\n  Behold how the thirst of the five senses is quenched there!  and\n    the three forms of misery are no more!\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"It is the sport of the Unattainable One: look\n    within, and behold how the moon-beams of that Hidden One shine\n    in you.\"\n  There falls the rhythmic beat of life and death:\n  Rapture wells forth, and all space is radiant with light.\n  There the Unstruck Music is sounded; it is the music of the love\n    of the three worlds.\n  There millions of lamps of sun and of moon are burning;\n  There the drum beats, and the lover swings in play.\n  There love-songs resound, and light rains in showers; and the\n    worshipper is entranced in the taste of the heavenly nectar.\n  Look upon life and death; there is no separation between them,\n  The right hand and the left hand are one and the same.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"There the wise man is speechless; for this truth may\n    never be found in Vadas or in books.\"\n\n  I have had my Seat on the Self-poised One,\n  I have drunk of the Cup of the Ineffable,\n  I have found the Key of the Mystery,\n  I have reached the Root of Union.\n  Travelling by no track, I have come to the Sorrowless Land: very\n    easily has the mercy of the great Lord come upon me.\n  They have sung of Him as infinite and unattainable: but I in my\n    meditations have seen Him without sight.\n  That is indeed the sorrowless land, and none know the path that\n    leads there:\n  Only he who is on that path has surely transcended all sorrow.\n  Wonderful is that land of rest, to which no merit can win;\n  It is the wise who has seen it, it is the wise who has sung of\n    it.\n  This is the Ultimate Word: but can any express its marvellous\n    savour?\n  He who has savoured it once, he knows what joy it can give.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Knowing it, the ignorant man becomes wise, and the\n    wise man becomes speechless and silent,\n  The worshipper is utterly inebriated,\n  His wisdom and his detachment are made perfect;\n  He drinks from the cup of the inbreathings and the outbreathings\n    of love.\"\n\n  There the whole sky is filled with sound, and there that music is\n    made without fingers and without strings;\n  There the game of pleasure and pain does not cease.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"If you merge your life in the Ocean of Life, you\n    will find your life in the Supreme Land of Bliss.\"\n\n  What a frenzy of ecstasy there is in every hour! and the\n    worshipper is pressing out and drinking the essence of the\n    hours: he lives in the life of Brahma.\n  I speak truth, for I have accepted truth in life; I am now\n    attached to truth, I have swept all tinsel away.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Thus is the worshipper set free from fear; thus have\n    all errors of life and of death left him.\"\n\n  There the sky is filled with music:\n  There it rains nectar:\n  There the harp-strings jingle, and there the drums beat.\n  What a secret splendour is there, in the mansion of the sky!\n  There no mention is made of the rising and the setting of the\n    sun;\n  In the ocean of manifestation, which is the light of love, day\n    and night are felt to be one.\n  Joy for ever, no sorrow,--no struggle!\n  There have I seen joy filled to the brim, perfection of joy;\n  No place for error is there.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"There have I witnessed the sport of One Bliss!\"\n\n  I have known in my body the sport of the universe: I have escaped\n    from the error of this world..\n  The inward and the outward are become as one sky, the Infinite\n    and the finite are united: I am drunken with the sight of this\n    All!\n  This Light of Thine fulfils the universe: the lamp of love that\n    burns on the salver of knowledge.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"There error cannot enter, and the conflict of life\n    and death is felt no more.\"\n\n\n\n  XVIII\n\n\n  II. 77. _maddh \u00e2kas' \u00e2p jah\u00e2n baithe_\n\n  The middle region of the sky, wherein the spirit dwelleth, is\n    radiant with the music of light;\n  There, where the pure and white music blossoms, my Lord takes His\n    delight.\n  In the wondrous effulgence of each hair of His body, the\n    brightness of millions of suns and of moons is lost.\n  On that shore there is a city, where the rain of nectar pours and\n    pours, and never ceases.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Come, O Dharmadas!  and see my great Lord's Durbar.\"\n\n\n\n  XIX\n\n\n  II. 20. _param\u00e2tam guru nikat vir\u00e2jatn_\n\n  O my heart!  the Supreme Spirit, the great Master, is near you:\n    wake, oh wake!\n  Run to the feet of your Beloved: for your Lord stands near to your\n    head.\n  You have slept for unnumbered ages; this morning will you not\n    wake?\n\n\n\n  XX\n\n\n  II. 22. _man tu p\u00e2r utar k\u00e2nh jaiho_\n\n  To what shore would you cross, O my heart?  there is no traveller\n    before you, there is no road:\n  Where is the movement, where is the rest, on that shore?\n  There is no water; no boat, no boatman, is there;\n  There is not so much as a rope to tow the boat, nor a man to draw\n    it.\n  No earth, no sky, no time, no thing, is there: no shore, no ford!\n  There, there is neither body nor mind: and where is the place\n    that shall still the thirst of the soul?  You shall find naught\n    in that emptiness.\n  Be strong, and enter into your own body: for there your foothold\n    is firm.  Consider it well, O my heart! go not elsewhere,\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Put all imaginations away, and stand fast in that\n    which you are.\"\n\n\n\n  XXI\n\n\n  II. 33. _ghar ghar d\u00eepak barai_\n\n  Lamps burn in every house, O blind one! and you cannot see them.\n  One day your eyes shall suddenly be opened, and you shall see:\n    and the fetters of death will fall from you.\n  There is nothing to say or to hear, there is nothing to do: it is\n    he who is living, yet dead, who shall never die again.\n\n  Because he lives in solitude, therefore the Yogi says that his\n    home is far away.\n  Your Lord is near: yet you are climbing the palm-tree to seek\n    Him.\n  The Br\u00e2hman priest goes from house to house and initiates people\n    into faith:\n  Alas!  the true fountain of life is beside you., and you have set\n    up a stone to worship.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"I may never express how sweet my Lord is.  Yoga and\n    the telling of beads, virtue and vice--these are naught to Him.\"\n\n\n\n  XXII\n\n\n  II. 38. _S\u00e2dho, so satgur mohi bh\u00e2wai_\n\n  O brother, my heart yearns for that true Guru, who fills the cup\n    of true love, and drinks of it himself, and offers it then to\n    me.\n  He removes the veil from the eyes, and gives the true Vision of\n    Brahma:\n  He reveals the worlds in Him, and makes me to hear the Unstruck\n    Music:\n  He shows joy and sorrow to be one:\n  He fills all utterance with love.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Verily he has no fear, who has such a Guru to lead\n    him to the shelter of safety!\"\n\n\n\n  XXIII\n\n\n  II. 40. _tinwir s\u00e2\u00f1jh k\u00e2 gahir\u00e2 \u00e2wai_\n\n  The shadows of evening fall thick and deep, and the darkness of\n    love envelops the body and the mind.\n  Open the window to the west, and be lost in the sky of love;\n  Drink the sweet honey that steeps the petals of the lotus of the\n    heart.\n  Receive the waves in your body: what splendour is in the region\n    of the sea!\n  Hark!  the sounds of conches and bells are rising.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"O brother, behold!  the Lord is in this vessel of my\n    body.\"\n\n\n\n  XXIV\n\n\n  II. 48. _jis se rahani ap\u00e2r jagat men_\n\n  More than all else do I cherish at heart that love which makes me\n    to live a limitless life in this world.\n  It is like the lotus, which lives in the water and blooms in the\n    water: yet the water cannot touch its petals, they open beyond\n    its reach.\n  It is like a wife, who enters the fire at the bidding of love.\n    She burns and lets others grieve, yet never dishonours love.\n  This ocean of the world is hard to cross: its waters are very\n    deep.  Kab\u00eer says: \"Listen to me, O Sadhu! few there are who\n    have reached its end.\"\n\n\n\n  XXV\n\n\n  II. 45. _Hari ne apn\u00e2 \u00e2p chip\u00e2y\u00e2_\n\n  My Lord hides Himself, and my Lord wonderfully reveals Himself:\n  My Lord has encompassed me with hardness, and my Lord has cast\n    down my limitations.\n  My Lord brings to me words of sorrow and words of joy, and He\n    Himself heals their strife.\n  I will offer my body and mind to my Lord: I will give up my life,\n    but never can I forget my Lord!\n\n\n\n  XXVI\n\n\n  II. 75. _\u00f4nk\u00e2r siwae k\u00f4\u00ee sirjai_\n\n  All things are created by the Om;\n  The love-form is His body.\n  He is without form, without quality, without decay:\n  Seek thou union with Him!\n  But that formless God takes a thousand forms in the eyes of His\n    creatures:\n  He is pure and indestructible,\n  His form is infinite and fathomless,\n  He dances in rapture, and waves of form arise from His dance.\n  The body and the mind cannot contain themselves, when they are\n    touched by His great joy.\n  He is immersed in all consciousness, all joys, and all sorrows;\n  He has no beginning and no end;\n  He holds all within His bliss.\n\n\n\n  XXVII\n\n\n  II. 81. _satgur s\u00f4\u00ee day\u00e2 kar d\u00eenh\u00e2_\n\n  It is the mercy of my true Guru that has made me to know the\n    unknown;\n  I have learned from Him how to walk without feet, to see without\n    eyes, to hear without ears, to drink without mouth, to fly\n    without wings;\n  I have brought my love and my meditation into the land where\n    there is no sun and moon, nor day and night.\n  Without eating, I have tasted of the sweetness of nectar; and\n    without water, I have quenched my thirst.\n  Where there is the response of delight, there is the fullness of\n    joy.  Before whom can that joy be uttered?\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"The Guru is great beyond words, and great is the\n    good fortune of the disciple.\"\n\n\n\n  XXVIII\n\n\n  II. 85. _nirgun \u00e2ge sargun n\u00e2cai_\n\n  Before the Unconditioned, the Conditioned dances: \"Thou and I are\n    one!\" this trumpet proclaims.\n  The Guru comes, and bows down before the disciple:\n  This is the greatest of wonders.\n\n\n\n  XXIX\n\n\n  II. 87. _Kab\u00eer kab se bhaye vair\u00e2g\u00ee_\n\n  Gorakhnath asks Kab\u00eer:\n  \"Tell me, O Kab\u00eer, when did your vocation begin?  Where did your\n    love have its rise?\"\n  Kab\u00eer answers:\n  \"When He whose forms are manifold had not begun His play: when\n    there was no Guru, and no disciple: when the world was not\n    spread out: when the Supreme One was alone--\n  Then I became an ascetic; then, O Gorakh, my love was drawn to\n    Brahma.\n  Brahma did not hold the crown on his head; the god Vishnu was not\n    anointed as king; the power of Shiva was still unborn; when I\n    was instructed in Yoga.\n\n  I became suddenly revealed in Benares, and R\u00e2m\u00e2nanda illumined\n    me;\n  I brought with me the thirst for the Infinite, and I have come\n    for the meeting with Him.\n  In simplicity will I unite with the Simple One; my love will\n    surge up.\n  O Gorakh, march thou with His music!\"\n\n\n\n  XXX\n\n\n  II. 95. _y\u00e2 tarvar men ek pakher\u00fb_\n\n  On this tree is a bird: it dances in the joy of life.\n    None knows where it is: and who knows what the burden of its\n    music may be?\n  Where the branches throw a deep shade, there does it have its\n    nest: and it comes in the evening and flies away in the morning,\n    and says not a word of that which it means.\n  None tell me of this bird that sings within me.\n  It is neither coloured nor colourless: it has neither form nor\n    outline:\n  It sits in the shadow of love.\n  It dwells within the Unattainable, the Infinite, and the Eternal;\n    and no one marks when it comes and goes.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"O brother Sadhu! deep is the mystery.  Let wise men\n    seek to know where rests that bird.\"\n\n\n\n  XXXI\n\n\n  II. 100. _nis` din s\u00e2lai gh\u00e2w_\n\n  A sore pain troubles me day and night, and I cannot sleep;\n  I long for the meeting with my Beloved, and my father's house\n    gives me pleasure no more.\n  The gates of the sky are opened, the temple is revealed:\n  I meet my husband, and leave at His feet the offering of my body\n    and my mind.\n\n\n\n  XXXII\n\n\n  II. 103. _n\u00e2co re mero man, matta hoy_\n\n  Dance, my heart!  dance to-day with joy.\n  The strains of love fill the days and the nights with music, and\n    the world is listening to its melodies:\n  Mad with joy, life and death dance to the rhythm of this music.\n    The hills and the sea and the earth dance.  The world of man\n    dances in laughter and tears.\n  Why put on the robe of the monk, and live aloof from the world in\n    lonely pride?\n  Behold!  my heart dances in the delight of a hundred arts; and\n    the Creator is well pleased.\n\n\n\n  XXXIII\n\n\n  II. 105. _man mast hu\u00e2 tab kyon bole_\n\n  Where is the need of words, when love has made drunken the heart?\n  I have wrapped the diamond in my cloak; why open it again and\n    again?\n  When its load was light, the pan of the balance went up: now it\n    is full, where is the need for weighing?\n  The swan has taken its flight to the lake beyond the mountains;\n  why should it search for the pools and ditches any more?\n  Your Lord dwells within you: why need your outward eyes be\n    opened?\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Listen, my brother!  my Lord, who ravishes my eyes,\n    has united Himself with me.\"\n\n\n\n  XXXIV\n\n\n  II. 110. _mohi tohi l\u00e2g\u00ee kaise chute_\n\n  How could the love between Thee and me sever?\n  As the leaf of the lotus abides on the water: so thou art my\n    Lord, and I am Thy servant.\n  As the night-bird Chakor gazes all night at the moon: so Thou art\n    my Lord and I am Thy servant.\n  From the beginning until the ending of time, there is love\n    between Thee and me; and how shall such love be extinguished?\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"As the river enters into the ocean, so my heart\n    touches Thee.\"\n\n\n\n  XXXV\n\n\n  II. 113. _v\u00e2lam, \u00e2wo ham\u00e2re geh re_\n\n  My body and my mind are grieved for the want of Thee;\n  O my Beloved!  come to my house.\n  When people say I am Thy bride, I am ashamed; for I have not\n    touched Thy heart with my heart.\n  Then what is this love of mine?  I have no taste for food, I have\n    no sleep; my heart is ever restless within doors and without.\n  As water is to the thirsty, so is the lover to the bride.  Who is\n    there that will carry my news to my Beloved?\n  Kab\u00eer is restless: he is dying for sight of Him.\n\n\n\n  XXXVI\n\n\n  II. 126. _j\u00e2g piy\u00e2r\u00ee, ab k\u00e2n sowai_\n\n  O friend, awake, and sleep no more!\n  The night is over and gone, would you lose your day also?\n  Others, who have wakened, have received jewels;\n  O foolish woman!  you have lost all whilst you slept.\n  Your lover is wise, and you are foolish, O woman!\n  You never prepared the bed of your husband:\n  O mad one! you passed your time in silly play.\n  Your youth was passed in vain, for you did not know your Lord;\n  Wake, wake!  See!  your bed is empty: He left you in the night.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Only she wakes, whose heart is pierced with the\n    arrow of His music.\"\n\n\n\n  XXXVII\n\n\n  I. 36. _s\u00fbr park\u00e2s', tanh rain kah\u00e2n p\u00e2\u00efye_\n\n  Where is the night, when the sun is shining?  If it is night,\n    then the sun withdraws its light.  Where knowledge is, can\n    ignorance endure?\n  If there be ignorance, then knowledge must die.\n  If there be lust, how can love be there?  Where there is love,\n    there is no lust.\n\n  Lay hold on your sword, and join in the fight.  Fight, O my\n    brother, as long as life lasts.\n  Strike off your enemy's head, and there make an end of him\n    quickly: then come, and bow your head at your King's Durbar.\n  He who is brave, never forsakes the battle: he who flies from it\n    is no true fighter.\n  In the field of this body a great war goes forward, against\n    passion, anger, pride, and greed:\n  It is in the kingdom of truth, contentment and purity, that this\n    battle is raging; and the sword that rings forth most loudly is\n    the sword of His Name.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"When a brave knight takes the field, a host of\n    cowards is put to flight.\n  It is a hard fight and a weary one, this fight of the\n    truth-seeker: for the vow of the truth-seeker is more hard than\n    that of the warrior, or of the widowed wife who would follow her\n    husband.\n  For the warrior fights for a few hours, and the widow's struggle\n    with death is soon ended:\n  But the truth-seeker's battle goes on day and night, as long as\n    life lasts it never ceases.\"\n\n\n\n  XXXVIII\n\n\n  I. 50. _bhram k\u00e2 t\u00e2l\u00e2 lag\u00e2 mahal re_\n\n  The lock of error shuts the gate, open it with the key of love:\n    Thus, by opening the door, thou shalt wake the Beloved.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"O brother!  do not pass by such good fortune as\n    this.\"\n\n\n\n  XXXIX\n\n\n  I. 59. _s\u00e2dho, yah tan th\u00e2th tanvure ka_\n\n  O friend! this body is His lyre; He tightens its strings, and\n    draws from it the melody of Brahma.\n  If the strings snap and the keys slacken, then to dust must this\n    instrument of dust return:\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"None but Brahma can evoke its melodies.\"\n\n\n\n  XL\n\n\n  I. 65. _avadh\u00fb bh\u00fble ko ghar l\u00e2we_\n\n  He is dear to me indeed who can call back the wanderer to his\n    home.  In the home is the true union, in the home is enjoyment\n    of life: why should I forsake my home and wander in the forest?\n  If Brahma helps me to realize truth, verily I will find both\n    bondage and deliverance in home.\n  He is dear to me indeed who has power to dive deep into Brahma;\n    whose mind loses itself with ease in His contemplation.\n  He is dear to me who knows Brahma, and can dwell on His supreme\n    truth in meditation; and who can play the melody of the\n    Infinite by uniting love and renunciation in life.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"The home is the abiding place; in the home is\n    reality; the home helps to attain Him Who is real.  So stay\n    where you are, and all things shall come to you in time.\"\n\n\n\n  XLI\n\n\n  I. 76. _santo, sahaj sam\u00e2dh bhal\u00ee_\n\n  O sadhu!  the simple union is the best.  Since the day when I met\n    with my Lord, there has been no end to the sport of our love.\n  I shut not my eyes, I close not my ears, I do not mortify my\n    body;\n  I see with eyes open and smile, and behold His beauty everywhere:\n  I utter His Name, and whatever I see, it reminds me of Him;\n    whatever I do., it becomes His worship.\n  The rising and the setting are one to me; all contradictions are\n    solved.\n  Wherever I go, I move round Him,\n  All I achieve is His service:\n  When I lie down, I lie prostrate at His feet.\n\n  He is the only adorable one to me: I have none other.\n  My tongue has left off impure words, it sings His glory day and\n    night:\n  Whether I rise or sit down, I can never forget Him; for the\n    rhythm of His music beats in my ears.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"My heart is frenzied, and I disclose in my soul what\n    is hidden.  I am immersed in that one great bliss which\n    transcends all pleasure and pain.\"\n\n\n\n  XLII\n\n\n  I. 79. _t\u00eerath men to sab p\u00e2n\u00ee hai_\n\n  There is nothing but water at the holy bathing places; and I know\n    that they are useless, for I have bathed in them.\n  The images are all lifeless, they cannot speak; I know, for I\n    have cried aloud to them.\n  The Purana and the Koran are mere words; lifting up the curtain,\n    I have seen.\n  Kab\u00eer gives utterance to the words of experience; and he knows\n    very well that all other things are untrue.\n\n\n\n  XLIII\n\n\n  I. 82. _p\u00e2n\u00ee vic m\u00een piy\u00e2s\u00ee_\n\n  I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty:\n  You do not see that the Real is in your home, and you wander from\n    forest to forest listlessly!\n  Here is the truth!  Go where you will, to Benares or to Mathura;\n    if you do not find your soul, the world is unreal to you.\n\n\n\n  XLIV\n\n\n  I. 93. _gagan math gaib nis\u00e2n gade_\n\n  The Hidden Banner is planted in the temple of the sky; there the\n    blue canopy decked with the moon and set with bright jewels is\n    spread.\n  There the light of the sun and the moon is shining: still your\n    mind to silence before that splendour.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"He who has drunk of this nectar, wanders like one\n    who is mad.\"\n\n\n\n  XLV\n\n\n  I. 97. _s\u00e2dho, ko hai k\u00e2nh se \u00e2yo_\n\n  Who are you, and whence do you come?\n  Where dwells that Supreme Spirit, and how does He have His sport\n    with all created things?\n  The fire is in the wood; but who awakens it suddenly?  Then it\n    turns to ashes, and where goes the force of the fire?\n  The true guru teaches that He has neither limit nor infinitude.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Brahma suits His language to the understanding of\n    His hearer.\"\n\n\n\n  XLVI\n\n  I. 98. _s\u00e2dho, sahajai k\u00e2y\u00e2 s'odho_\n\n  O sadhu!  purify your body in the simple way.\n  As the seed is within the banyan tree, and within the seed are\n    the flowers, the fruits, and the shade:\n  So the germ is within the body, and within that germ is the body\n    again.\n  The fire, the air, the water, the earth, and the aether; you\n    cannot have these outside of Him.\n  O, Kazi, O Pundit, consider it well: what is there that is not in\n    the soul?\n  The water-filled pitcher is placed upon water, it has water\n    within and without.\n  It should not be given a name, lest it call forth the error of\n    dualism.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Listen to the Word, the Truth, which is your\n    essence.  He speaks the Word to Himself; and He Himself is the\n    Creator.\"\n\n\n\n  XLVII\n\n\n  I. 102. _tarvar ek m\u00fbl vin th\u00e2d\u00e2_\n\n  There is a strange tree, which stands without roots and bears\n    fruits without blossoming;\n  It has no branches and no leaves, it is lotus all over.\n  Two birds sing there; one is the Guru, and the other the\n    disciple:\n  The disciple chooses the manifold fruits of life and tastes them,\n    and the Guru beholds him in joy.\n  What Kab\u00eer says is hard to understand: \"The bird is beyond\n    seeking, yet it is most clearly visible.  The Formless is in\n    the midst of all forms.  I sing the glory of forms.\"\n\n\n\n  XLVIII\n\n\n  I. 107. _calat mans\u00e2 acal k\u00eenh\u00ee_\n\n  I have stilled my restless mind, and my heart is radiant: for in\n    Thatness I have seen beyond That-ness.  In company I have seen\n    the Comrade Himself.\n  Living in bondage, I have set myself free: I have broken away\n    from the clutch of all narrowness.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"I have attained the unattainable, and my heart is\n    coloured with the colour of love.\"\n\n\n\n  XLIX\n\n\n  I. 105. _jo d\u00eesai, so to hai n\u00e2h\u00een_\n\n  That which you see is not: and for that which is, you have no\n    words.\n  Unless you see, you believe not: what is told you you cannot\n    accept.\n  He who is discerning knows by the word; and the ignorant stands\n    gaping.\n  Some contemplate the Formless, and others meditate on form: but\n    the wise man knows that Brahma is beyond both.\n  That beauty of His is not seen of the eye: that metre of His is\n    not heard of the ear.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"He who has found both love and renunciation never\n    descends to death.\"\n\n\n\n  L\n\n\n  I. 126. _mural\u00ee bajat akhand sad\u00e2ye_\n\n  The flute of the Infinite is played without ceasing, and its\n    sound is love:\n  When love renounces all limits, it reaches truth.\n  How widely the fragrance spreads!  It has no end, nothing stands\n    in its way.\n  The form of this melody is bright like a million suns:\n    incomparably sounds the vina, the vina of the notes of truth.\n\n\n\n  LI\n\n\n  I. 129. _sakhiyo, ham h\u00fbn bh\u00e2\u00ee v\u00e2lam\u00e2s'\u00ee_\n\n  Dear friend, I am eager to meet my Beloved!  My youth has\n    flowered, and the pain of separation from Him troubles my\n    breast.\n  I am wandering yet in the alleys of knowledge without purpose,\n    but I have received His news in these alleys of knowledge.\n  I have a letter from my Beloved: in this letter is an unutterable\n    message, and now my fear of death is done away.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"O my loving friend!  I have got for my gift the\n    Deathless One.\"\n\n\n\n  LII\n\n\n  I. 130. _s\u00e2\u00een vin dard kareje hoy_\n\n  When I am parted from my Beloved, my heart is full of misery: I\n    have no comfort in the day, I have no sleep in the night.  To\n    whom shall I tell my sorrow?\n  The night is dark; the hours slip by.  Because my Lord is absent,\n    I start up and tremble with fear.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Listen, my friend!  there is no other satisfaction,\n    save in the encounter with the Beloved.\"\n\n\n\n  LIII\n\n\n  I. 122. _kaum mural\u00ee s'abd s'un \u00e2nand bhayo_\n\n  What is that flute whose music thrills me with joy?\n  The flame burns without a lamp;\n  The lotus blossoms without a root;\n  Flowers bloom in clusters;\n  The moon-bird is devoted to the moon;\n  With all its heart the rain-bird longs for the shower of rain;\n  But upon whose love does the Lover concentrate His entire life?\n\n\n\n  LIV\n\n\n  I. 112. _s'unt\u00e2 nah\u00ee dhun k\u00ee khabar_\n\n  Have you not heard the tune which the Unstruck Music is playing?\n    In the midst of the chamber the harp of joy is gently and\n    sweetly played; and where is the need of going without to hear\n    it?\n  If you have not drunk of the nectar of that One Love, what boots\n    it though you should purge yourself of all stains?\n  The Kazi is searching the words of the Koran, and instructing\n    others: but if his heart be not steeped in that love, what does\n    it avail, though he be a teacher of men?\n  The Yogi dyes his garments with red: but if he knows naught of\n    that colour of love, what does it avail though his garments be\n    tinted?\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Whether I be in the temple or the balcony, in the\n    camp or in the flower garden, I tell you truly that every\n    moment my Lord is taking His delight in me.\"\n\n\n\n  LV\n\n\n  I. 73. _bhakti k\u00e2 m\u00e2rag jh\u00een\u00e2 re_\n\n  Subtle is the path of love!\n  Therein there is no asking and no not-asking,\n  There one loses one's self at His feet,\n  There one is immersed in the joy of the seeking: plunged in the\n    deeps of love as the fish in the water.\n  The lover is never slow in offering his head for his Lord's\n    service.\n  Kab\u00eer declares the secret of this love.\n\n\n\n  LVI\n\n\n  I. 68. _bh\u00e2i k\u00f4\u00ee satguru sant kah\u00e2wa\u00ee_\n\n  He is the real Sadhu, who can reveal the form of the Formless to\n    the vision of these eyes:\n  Who teaches the simple way of attaining Him, that is other than\n    rites or ceremonies:\n  Who does not make you close the doors, and hold the breath, and\n    renounce the world:\n  Who makes you perceive the Supreme Spirit wherever the mind\n    attaches itself:\n  Who teaches you to be still in the midst of all your activities.\n  Ever immersed in bliss, having no fear in his mind, he keeps the\n    spirit of union in the midst of all enjoyments.\n  The infinite dwelling of the Infinite Being is everywhere: in\n    earth, water, sky, and air:\n  Firm as the thunderbolt, the seat of the seeker is established\n    above the void.\n  He who is within is without: I see Him and none else.\n\n\n\n  LVII\n\n\n  I. 66. _s\u00e2dho, s'abd s\u00e2dhn\u00e2 k\u00eejai_\n\n  Receive that Word from which the Universe springeth!\n  That word is the Guru; I have heard it, and become the disciple.\n  How many are there who know the meaning of that word?\n\n  O Sadhu!  practise that Word!\n  The Vedas and the Puranas proclaim it,\n  The world is established in it,\n  The Rishis and devotees speak of it:\n  But none knows the mystery of the Word.\n  The householder leaves his house when he hears it,\n  The ascetic comes back to love when he hears it,\n  The Six Philosophies expound it,\n  The Spirit of Renunciation points to that Word,\n  From that Word the world-form has sprung,\n  That Word reveals all.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"But who knows whence the Word cometh?\n\n\n\n  LVIII\n\n\n  I. 63. _p\u00eele py\u00e2l\u00e2, ho matw\u00e2l\u00e2_\n\n  Empty the Cup!  O be drunken!\n  Drink the divine nectar of His Name!\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Listen to me, dear Sadhu!\n  From the sole of the foot to the crown of the head this mind is\n    filled with poison.\"\n\n\n\n  LIX\n\n\n  I. 52. _khasm na c\u00eenhai b\u00e2wari_\n\n  O man, if thou dost not know thine own Lord, whereof art thou so\n    proud?\n  Put thy cleverness away: mere words shall never unite thee to\n    Him.\n  Do not deceive thyself with the witness of the Scriptures:\n  Love is something other than this, and he who has sought it truly\n    has found it.\n\n\n\n  LX\n\n\n  I. 56. _sukh sindh k\u00ee sair k\u00e2_\n\n  The savour of wandering in the ocean of deathless life has rid me\n    of all my asking:\n  As the tree is in the seed, so all diseases are in this asking.\n\n\n\n  LXI\n\n\n  I. 48. _sukh s\u00e2gar men \u00e2\u00eeke_\n\n  When at last you are come to the ocean of happiness, do not go\n    back thirsty.\n  Wake, foolish man!  for Death stalks you.  Here is pure water\n    before you; drink it at every breath.\n  Do not follow the mirage on foot, but thirst for the nectar;\n  Dhruva, Prahlad, and Shukadeva have drunk of it, and also Raidas\n    has tasted it:\n  The saints are drunk with love, their thirst is for love.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Listen to me, brother!  The nest of fear is broken.\n  Not for a moment have you come face to face with the world:\n  You are weaving your bondage of falsehood, your words are full of\n    deception:\n  With the load of desires which you.  hold on your head, how can\n    you be light?\"\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Keep within you truth, detachment, and love.\"\n\n\n\n  LXII\n\n\n  I. 35. _sat\u00ee ko kaun s'ikh\u00e2wt\u00e2 hai_\n\n  Who has ever taught the widowed wife to burn herself on the pyre\n    of her dead husband?\n  And who has ever taught love to find bliss in renunciation?\n\n\n\n  LXIII\n\n\n  I. 39. _are man, dh\u00eeraj k\u00e2he na dharai_\n\n  Why so impatient, my heart?\n  He who watches over birds, beasts, and insects,\n  He who cared for you whilst you were yet in your mother's womb,\n  Shall He not care for you now that you are come forth?\n  Oh my heart, how could you turn from the smile of your Lord and\n    wander so far from Him?\n  You have left Your Beloved and are thinking of others: and this\n    is why all your work is in vain.\n\n\n\n  LXIV\n\n\n  I. 117. _s\u00e2\u00een se lagan kathin hai, bh\u00e2\u00ee_\n\n  Now hard it is to meet my Lord!\n  The rain-bird wails in thirst for the rain: almost she dies of\n    her longing, yet she would have none other water than the\n    rain.\n  Drawn by the love of music, the deer moves forward: she dies as\n    she listens to the music, yet she shrinks not in fear.\n  The widowed wife sits by the body of her dead husband: she is not\n    afraid of the fire.\n  Put away all fear for this poor body.\n\n\n\n  LXV\n\n\n  I. 22. _jab main bh\u00fbl\u00e2, re bh\u00e2\u00ee_\n\n  O brother! when I was forgetful, my true Guru showed me the Way.\n  Then I left off all rites and ceremonies, I bathed no more in the\n    holy water:\n  Then I learned that it was I alone who was mad, and the whole\n    world beside me was sane; and I had disturbed these wise people.\n  From that time forth I knew no more how to roll in the dust in\n    obeisance:\n  I do not ring the temple bell:\n  I do not set the idol on its throne:\n  I do not worship the image with flowers.\n  It is not the austerities that mortify the flesh which are\n    pleasing to the Lord,\n  When you leave off your clothes and kill your senses, you do not\n    please the Lord:\n  The man who is kind and who practises righteousness, who remains\n    passive amidst the affairs of the world, who considers all\n    creatures on earth as his own self,\n  He attains the Immortal Being, the true God is ever with him.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"He attains the true Name whose words are pure, and\n    who is free from pride and conceit.\"\n\n\n\n  LXVI\n\n\n  I. 20. _man na rang\u00e2ye_\n\n  The Yogi dyes his garments, instead of dyeing his mind in the\n    colours of love:\n  He sits within the temple of the Lord, leaving Brahma to worship\n    a stone.\n  He pierces holes in his ears, he has a great beard and matted\n    locks, he looks like a goat:\n  He goes forth into the wilderness, killing all his desires, and\n    turns himself into an eunuch:\n  He shaves his head and dyes his garments; he reads the G\u00eet\u00e2 and\n    becomes a mighty talker.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"You are going to the doors of death, bound hand and\n    foot!\"\n\n\n\n  LXVII\n\n\n  I. 9. _n\u00e2 j\u00e2ne s\u00e2hab kais\u00e2 hai_\n\n  I do not know what manner of God is mine.\n  The Mullah cries aloud to Him: and why?  Is your Lord deaf?  The\n    subtle anklets that ring on the feet of an insect when it moves\n    are heard of Him.\n  Tell your beads, paint your forehead with the mark of your God,\n    and wear matted locks long and showy: but a deadly weapon is in\n    your heart, and how shall you have God?\n\n\n\n  LXVIII\n\n\n  III. 102. _ham se rah\u00e2 na j\u00e2y_\n\n  I hear the melody of His flute, and I cannot contain myself:\n  The flower blooms, though it is not spring; and already the bee\n    has received its invitation.\n  The sky roars and the lightning flashes, the waves arise in my\n    heart,\n  The rain falls; and my heart longs for my Lord.\n  Where the rhythm of the world rises and falls, thither my heart\n    has reached:\n  There the hidden banners are fluttering in the air.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"My heart is dying, though it lives.\"\n\n\n\n  LXIX\n\n\n  III. 2. _jo khod\u00e2 masjid vasat hai_\n\n  If God be within the mosque, then to whom does this world belong?\n  If Ram be within the image which you find upon your pilgrimage,\n    then who is there to know what happens without?\n  Hari is in the East: Allah is in the West.  Look within your\n    heart, for there you will find both Karim and Ram;\n  All the men and women of the world are His living forms.\n  Kab\u00eer is the child of Allah and of Ram: He is my Guru, He is my\n    Pir.\n\n\n\n  LXX\n\n\n  III. 9. _s'\u00eel santosh sad\u00e2 samadrishti_\n\n  He who is meek and contented., he who has an equal vision, whose\n    mind is filled with the fullness of acceptance and of rest;\n  He who has seen Him and touched Him, he is freed from all fear\n    and trouble.\n  To him the perpetual thought of God is like sandal paste smeared\n    on the body, to him nothing else is delight:\n  His work and his rest are filled with music: he sheds abroad the\n    radiance of love.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Touch His feet, who is one and indivisible,\n    immutable and peaceful; who fills all vessels to the brim with\n    joy, and whose form is love.\"\n\n\n\n  LXXI\n\n\n  III. 13. _s\u00e2dh sangat p\u00eetam_\n\n  Go thou to the company of the good, where the Beloved One has His\n    dwelling place:\n  Take all thy thoughts and love and instruction from thence.\n  Let that assembly be burnt to ashes where His Name is not spoken!\n  Tell me, how couldst thou hold a wedding-feast, if the bridegroom\n    himself were not there?\n  Waver no more, think only of the Beloved;\n  Set not thy heart on the worship of other gods, there is no worth\n    in the worship of other masters.\n  Kab\u00eer deliberates and says: \"Thus thou shalt never find the\n    Beloved!\"\n\n\n\n  LXXII\n\n\n  III. 26. _tor h\u00eer\u00e2 hir\u00e2ilw\u00e2 k\u00eecad men_\n\n  The jewel is lost in the mud, and all are seeking for it;\n  Some look for it in the east, and some in the west; some in the\n    water and some amongst stones.\n  But the servant Kab\u00eer has appraised it at its true value, and has\n    wrapped it with care in the end of the mantle of his heart.\n\n\n\n  LXXIII\n\n\n  III. 26. _\u00e2yau din gaune k\u00e2 ho_\n\n  The palanquin came to take me away to my husband's home, and it\n    sent through my heart a thrill of joy;\n  But the bearers have brought me into the lonely forest, where I\n    have no one of my own.\n  O bearers, I entreat you by your feet, wait but a moment longer:\n    let me go back to my kinsmen and friends, and take my leave of\n    them.\n  The servant Kab\u00eer sings: \"O Sadhu!  finish your buying and\n    selling, have done with your good and your bad: for there are\n    no markets and no shops in the land to which you go.\"\n\n\n\n  LXXIV\n\n\n  III. 30. _are dil, prem nagar k\u00e4 ant na p\u00e2y\u00e2_\n\n  O my heart! you have not known all the secrets of this city of\n    love: in ignorance you came, and in ignorance you return.\n  O my friend, what have you done with this life?  You have taken\n    on your head the burden heavy with stones, and who is to\n    lighten it for you?\n  Your Friend stands on the other shore, but you never think in\n    your mind how you may meet with Him:\n  The boat is broken, and yet you sit ever upon the bank; and thus\n    you are beaten to no purpose by the waves.\n  The servant Kab\u00eer asks you to consider; who is there that shall\n    befriend you at the last?\n  You are alone, you have no companion: you will suffer the\n    consequences of your own deeds.\n\n\n\n  LXXV\n\n\n  III. 55. _ved kahe sargun ke \u00e2ge_\n\n  The Vedas say that the Unconditioned stands beyond the world of\n    Conditions.\n  O woman, what does it avail thee to dispute whether He is beyond\n    all or in all?\n  See thou everything as thine own dwelling place: the mist of\n    pleasure and pain can never spread there.\n  There Brahma is revealed day and night: there light is His\n    garment, light is His seat, light rests on thy head.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"The Master, who is true, He is all light.\"\n\n\n\n  LXXVI\n\n\n  III. 48. _t\u00fb surat nain nih\u00e2r_\n\n  Open your eyes of love, and see Him who pervades this world I\n    consider it well, and know that this is your own country.\n  When you meet the true Guru, He will awaken your heart;\n  He will tell you the secret of love and detachment, and then you\n    will know indeed that He transcends this universe.\n  This world is the City of Truth, its maze of paths enchants the\n    heart:\n  We can reach the goal without crossing the road, such is the\n    sport unending.\n  Where the ring of manifold joys ever dances about Him, there is\n    the sport of Eternal Bliss.\n  When we know this, then all our receiving and renouncing is\n    over;\n  Thenceforth the heat of having shall never scorch us more.\n\n  He is the Ultimate Rest unbounded:\n  He has spread His form of love throughout all the world.\n  From that Ray which is Truth, streams of new forms are\n    perpetually springing: and He pervades those forms.\n  All the gardens and groves and bowers are abounding with blossom;\n    and the air breaks forth into ripples of joy.\n  There the swan plays a wonderful game,\n  There the Unstruck Music eddies around the Infinite One;\n  There in the midst the Throne of the Unheld is shining, whereon\n    the great Being sits--\n  Millions of suns are shamed by the radiance of a single hair of\n    His body.\n  On the harp of the road what true melodies are being sounded!\n    and its notes pierce the heart:\n  There the Eternal Fountain is playing its endless life-streams of\n    birth and death.\n  They call Him Emptiness who is the Truth of truths, in Whom all\n    truths are stored!\n\n  There within Him creation goes forward, which is beyond all\n    philosophy; for philosophy cannot attain to Him:\n  There is an endless world, O my Brother! and there is the\n    Nameless Being, of whom naught can be said.\n  Only he knows it who has reached that region: it is other than\n    all that is heard and said.\n  No form, no body, no length, no breadth is seen there: how can I\n    tell you that which it is?\n  He comes to the Path of the Infinite on whom the grace of the\n    Lord descends: he is freed from births and deaths who attains\n    to Him.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"It cannot be told by the words of the mouth, it\n    cannot be written on paper:\n  It is like a dumb person who tastes a sweet thing--how shall it\n    be explained?\"\n\n\n\n  LXXVII\n\n\n  III. 60. _cal hams\u00e2 w\u00e2 des' jah\u00e2n_\n\n  O my heart!  let us go to that country where dwells the Beloved,\n    the ravisher of my heart!\n  There Love is filling her pitcher from the well, yet she has no\n    rope wherewith to draw water;\n  There the clouds do not cover the sky, yet the rain falls down in\n    gentle showers:\n  O bodiless one!  do not sit on your doorstep; go forth and bathe\n    yourself in that rain!\n  There it is ever moonlight and never dark; and who speaks of one\n    sun only?  that land is illuminate with the rays of a million\n    suns.\n\n\n\n  LXXVIII\n\n\n  III. 63. _kahain Kab\u00eer, s'uno ho s\u00e2dho_\n\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"O Sadhu! hear my deathless words.  If you want your\n    own good, examine and consider them well.\n  You have estranged yourself from the Creator, of whom you have\n    sprung: you have lost your reason, you have bought death.\n  All doctrines and all teachings are sprung from Him, from Him\n    they grow: know this for certain, and have no fear.\n  Hear from me the tidings of this great truth!\n  Whose name do you sing, and on whom do you meditate?  O, come\n    forth from this entanglement!\n  He dwells at the heart of all things, so why take refuge in empty\n    desolation?\n  If you place the Guru at a distance from you, then it is but the\n    distance that you honour:\n  If indeed the Master be far away, then who is it else that is\n    creating this world?\n  When you think that He is not here, then you wander further and\n    further away, and seek Him in vain with tears.\n  Where He is far off, there He is unattainable: where He is near,\n    He is very bliss.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Lest His servant should suffer pain He pervades him\n    through and through.\"\n  Know yourself then, O Kab\u00eer; for He is in you from head to foot.\n  Sing with gladness, and keep your seat unmoved within your heart.\n\n\n\n  LXXIX\n\n\n  III. 66. _n\u00e2 main dharm\u00ee nah\u00een adharm\u00ee_\n\n  I am neither pious nor ungodly, I live neither by law nor by\n    sense,\n  I am neither a speaker nor hearer, I am neither a servant nor\n    master, I am neither bond nor free,\n  I am neither detached nor attached.\n  I am far from none: I am near to none.\n  I shall go neither to hell nor to heaven.\n  I do all works; yet I am apart from all works.\n  Few comprehend my meaning: he who can comprehend it, he sits\n    unmoved.\n  Kab\u00eer seeks neither to establish nor to destroy.\n\n\n\n  LXXX\n\n\n  III. 69. _satta n\u00e2m hai sab ten ny\u00e2r\u00e2_\n\n  The true Name is like none other name!\n  The distinction of the Conditioned from the Unconditioned is but\n    a word:\n  The Unconditioned is the seed, the Conditioned is the flower and\n    the fruit.\n  Knowledge is the branch, and the Name is the root.\n  Look, and see where the root is: happiness shall be yours when\n    you come to the root.\n  The root will lead you to the branch, the leaf, the flower, and\n    the fruit:\n  It is the encounter with the Lord, it is the attainment of bliss,\n    it is the reconciliation of the Conditioned and the\n    Unconditioned.\n\n\n\n  LXXXI\n\n\n  III. 74. _pratham ek jo \u00e2pai \u00e2p_\n\n  In the beginning was He alone, sufficient unto Himself: the\n    formless, colourless, and unconditioned Being.\n  Then was there neither beginning, middle, nor end;\n  Then were no eyes, no darkness, no light;\n  Then were no ground, air, nor sky; no fire, water, nor earth; no\n    rivers like the Ganges and the Jumna, no seas, oceans, and waves.\n  Then was neither vice nor virtue; scriptures there were not, as\n    the Vedas and Puranas, nor as the Koran.\n  Kab\u00eer ponders in his mind and says, \"Then was there no activity:\n    the Supreme Being remained merged in the unknown depths of His\n    own self.\"\n  The Guru neither eats nor drinks, neither lives nor dies:\n  Neither has He form, line, colour, nor vesture.\n  He who has neither caste nor clan nor anything else--how may I\n    describe His glory?\n  He has neither form nor formlessness,\n  He has no name,\n  He has neither colour nor colourlessness,\n  He has no dwelling-place.\n\n\n\n  LXXXII\n\n\n  III. 76. _kahain Kab\u00eer vic\u00e2r ke_\n\n  Kab\u00eer ponders and says: \"He who has neither caste nor country,\n    who is formless and without quality, fills all space.\"\n  The Creator brought into being the Game of Joy: and from the word\n    Om the Creation sprang.\n  The earth is His joy; His joy is the sky;\n  His joy is the flashing of the sun and the moon;\n  His joy is the beginning, the middle, and the end;\n  His joy is eyes, darkness, and light.\n  Oceans and waves are His joy: His joy the Sarasvati, the Jumna,\n    and the Ganges.\n  The Guru is One: and life and death., union and separation, are\n    all His plays of joy!\n  His play the land and water, the whole universe!\n  His play the earth and the sky!\n  In play is the Creation spread out, in play it is established.\n    The whole world, says Kab\u00eer, rests in His play, yet still the\n    Player remains unknown.\n\n\n\n  LXXXIII\n\n\n  III. 84. _jh\u00ee jh\u00ee jantar b\u00e2jai_\n\n  The harp gives forth murmurous music; and the dance goes on\n    without hands and feet.\n  It is played without fingers, it is heard without ears: for He is\n    the ear, and He is the listener.\n  The gate is locked, but within there is fragrance: and there the\n    meeting is seen of none.\n  The wise shall understand it.\n\n\n\n  LXXXIV\n\n\n  III. 89. _mor phak\u00eerw\u00e2 m\u00e2ngi j\u00e2y_\n\n  The Beggar goes a-begging, but\n  I could not even catch sight of Him:\n  And what shall I beg of the Beggar He gives without my asking.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"I am His own: now let that befall which may befall!\"\n\n\n\n  LXXXV\n\n\n  III. 90. _naihar se jiyar\u00e2 ph\u00e2t re_\n\n  My heart cries aloud for the house of my lover; the open road and\n    the shelter of a roof are all one to her who has lost the city\n    of her husband.\n  My heart finds no joy in anything: my mind and my body are\n    distraught.\n  His palace has a million gates, but there is a vast ocean between\n    it and me:\n  How shall I cross it, O friend?  for endless is the outstretching\n    of the path.\n  How wondrously this lyre is wrought!  When its strings are\n    rightly strung, it maddens the heart: but when the keys are\n    broken and the strings are loosened, none regard it more.\n  I tell my parents with laughter that I must go to my Lord in the\n    morning;\n\n  They are angry, for they do not want me to go, and they say: \"She\n    thinks she has gained such dominion over her husband that she\n    can have whatsoever she wishes; and therefore she is impatient\n    to go to him.\"\n  Dear friend, lift my veil lightly now; for this is the night of\n    love.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Listen to me!  My heart is eager to meet my lover: I\n    lie sleepless upon my bed.  Remember me early in the morning!\"\n\n\n\n  LXXXVI\n\n\n  III. 96. _j\u00eev mahal men S'iv pahunw\u00e2_\n\n  Serve your God, who has come into this temple of life!\n  Do not act the part of a madman, for the night is thickening\n    fast.\n  He has awaited me for countless ages, for love of me He has\n    lost His heart:\n  Yet I did not know the bliss that was so near to me, for my love\n    was not yet awake.\n  But now, my Lover has made known to me the meaning of the note\n    that struck my ear:\n  Now, my good fortune is come.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Behold!  how great is my good fortune!  I have\n    received the unending caress of my Beloved!\"\n\n\n\n  LXXXVII\n\n\n  I. 71. _gagan ghat\u00e2 ghahar\u00e2n\u00ee, s\u00e2dho_\n\n  Clouds thicken in the sky!  O, listen to the deep voice of their\n    roaring;\n  The rain comes from the east with its monotonous murmur.\n  Take care of the fences and boundaries of your fields, lest the\n    rains overflow them;\n  Prepare the soil of deliverance, and let the creepers of love and\n    renunciation be soaked in this shower.\n  It is the prudent farmer who will bring his harvest home; he\n    shall fill both his vessels, and feed both the wise men and the\n    saints.\n\n\n\n  LXXXVIII\n\n\n  III. 118. _\u00e2j din ke main jaun balih\u00e2r\u00ee_\n\n  This day is dear to me above all other days, for to-day the\n    Beloved Lord is a guest in my house;\n  My chamber and my courtyard are beautiful with His presence.\n  My longings sing His Name, and they are become lost in His great\n    beauty:\n  I wash His feet, and I look upon His Face; and I lay before Him\n    as an offering my body, my mind, and all that I have.\n  What a day of gladness is that day in which my Beloved, who is my\n    treasure, comes to my house!\n  All evils fly from my heart when I see my Lord.\n  \"My love has touched Him; my heart is longing for the Name which\n    is Truth.\"\n  Thus sings Kab\u00eer, the servant of all servants.\n\n\n\n  LXXXIX\n\n\n  I. 100. _k\u00f4i s'unt\u00e2 hai j\u00f1\u00e2n\u00ee r\u00e2g gagan men_\n\n  Is there any wise man who will listen to that solemn music which\n    arises in the sky?\n  For He, the Source of all music, makes all vessels full fraught,\n    and rests in fullness Himself.\n  He who is in the body is ever athirst, for he pursues that which\n    is in part:\n  But ever there wells forth deeper and deeper the sound \"He is\n    this--this is He\"; fusing love and renunciation into one.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"O brother!  that is the Primal Word.\"\n\n\n\n  XC\n\n\n  I. 108. _main k\u00e2 se b\u00fbjhaun_\n\n  To whom shall I go to learn about my Beloved?\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"As you never may find the forest if you ignore the\n    tree, so He may never be found in abstractions.\"\n\n\n\n  XCI\n\n\n  III. 12. _samskirit bh\u00e2sh\u00e2 padhi l\u00eenh\u00e2_\n\n  I have learned the Sanskrit language, so let all men call me\n    wise:\n  But where is the use of this, when I am floating adrift, and\n    parched with thirst, and burning with the heat of desire?\n  To no purpose do you bear on your head this load of pride and\n    vanity.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Lay it down in the dust, and go forth to meet the\n    Beloved.  Address Him as your Lord.\"\n\n\n\n  XCII\n\n\n  III. 110. _carkh\u00e2 calai surat virahin k\u00e2_\n\n  The woman who is parted from her lover spins at the spinning\n    wheel.\n  The city of the body arises in its beauty; and within it the\n    palace of the mind has been built.\n  The wheel of love revolves in the sky, and the seat is made of\n    the jewels of knowledge:\n  What subtle threads the woman weaves, and makes them fine with\n    love and reverence!\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"I am weaving the garland of day and night.  When my\n    Lover comes and touches me with His feet, I shall offer Him my\n    tears.\"\n\n\n\n  XCIII\n\n\n  III. 111. _kot\u00een bh\u00e2nu candra t\u00e2r\u00e2gan_\n\n  Beneath the great umbrella of my King millions of suns and moons\n    and stars are shining!\n  He is the Mind within my mind: He is the Eye within mine eye.\n  Ah, could my mind and eyes be one!  Could my love but reach to my\n    Lover!  Could but the fiery heat of my heart be cooled!\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"When you unite love with the Lover, then you have\n    love's perfection.\"\n\n\n\n  XCIV\n\n\n  I. 92. _avadh\u00fb begam des' ham\u00e2r\u00e2_\n\n  O sadhu! my land is a sorrowless land.\n  I cry aloud to all, to the king and the beggar, the emperor and\n    the fakir--\n  Whosoever seeks for shelter in the Highest, let all come and\n    settle in my land!\n  Let the weary come and lay his burdens here!\n\n  So live here, my brother, that you may cross with ease to that\n    other shore.\n  It is a land without earth or sky, without moon or stars;\n  For only the radiance of Truth shines in my Lord's Durbar.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"O beloved brother!  naught is essential save Truth.\"\n\n\n\n  XCV\n\n\n  I. 109. _s\u00e2\u00een ke sangat s\u00e2sur \u00e2\u00ee_\n\n  Came with my Lord to my Lord's home: but I lived not with Him and\n    I tasted Him not, and my youth passed away like a dream.\n  On my wedding night my women-friends sang in chorus, and I was\n    anointed with the unguents of pleasure and pain:\n  But when the ceremony was over, I left my Lord and came away, and\n    my kinsman tried to console me upon the road.\n  Kab\u00eer says, \"I shall go to my Lord's house with my love at my\n    side; then shall I sound the trumpet of triumph!\"\n\n\n\n  XCVI\n\n\n  I. 75. _samajh dekh man m\u00eet piyarw\u00e2_\n\n  O friend, dear heart of mine, think well!  if you love indeed,\n    then why do you sleep?\n  If you have found Him, then give yourself utterly, and take Him\n    to you.\n  Why do you loose Him again and again?\n  If the deep sleep of rest has come to your eyes, why waste your\n    time making the bed and arranging the pillows?\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"I tell you the ways of love!  Even though the head\n    itself must be given, why should you weep over it?\"\n\n\n\n  XCVII\n\n\n  II. 90. _s\u00e2hab ham men, s\u00e2hab tum men_\n\n  The Lord is in me, the Lord is in you, as life is in every seed.\n    O servant!  put false pride away, and seek for Him within you.\n  A million suns are ablaze with light,\n  The sea of blue spreads in the sky,\n  The fever of life is stilled, and all stains are washed away;\n    when I sit in the midst of that world.\n  Hark to the unstruck bells and drums!  Take your delight in love!\n  Rains pour down without water, and the rivers are streams of\n    light.\n  One Love it is that pervades the whole world, few there are who\n    know it fully:\n  They are blind who hope to see it by the light of reason, that\n    reason which is the cause of separation--\n  The House of Reason is very far away!\n  How blessed is Kab\u00eer, that amidst this great joy he sings within\n    his own vessel.\n  It is the music of the meeting of soul with soul;\n  It is the music of the forgetting of sorrows;\n  It is the music that transcends all coming in and all going\n    forth.\n\n\n\n  XCVIII\n\n\n  II. 98. _ritu ph\u00e2gun niyar\u00e2n\u00ee_\n\n  The month of March draws near: ah, who will unite me to my Lover?\n  How shall I find words for the beauty of my Beloved?  For He is\n    merged in all beauty.\n  His colour is in all the pictures of the world, and it bewitches\n    the body and the mind.\n  Those who know this, know what is this unutterable play of the\n    Spring.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Listen to me, brother' there are not many who have\n    found this out.\"\n\n\n\n  XCIX\n\n\n  II. 111. _N\u00e2rad, py\u00e2r so antar n\u00e2h\u00ee_\n\n  Oh Narad!  I know that my Lover cannot be far:\n  When my Lover wakes, I wake; when He sleeps, I sleep.\n  He is destroyed at the root who gives pain to my Beloved.\n  Where they sing His praise, there I live;\n  When He moves, I walk before Him: my heart yearns for my Beloved.\n  The infinite pilgrimage lies at His feet, a million devotees are\n    seated there.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"The Lover Himself reveals the glory of true love.\"\n\n\n\n  C\n\n\n  II. 122. _k\u00f4\u00ee prem k\u00ee peng jhul\u00e2o re_\n\n  Hang up the swing of love to-day!  Hang the body and the mind\n    between the arms of the Beloved, in the ecstasy of love's joy:\n  Bring the tearful streams of the rainy clouds to your eyes, and\n    cover your heart with the shadow of darkness:\n  Bring your face nearer to His ear, and speak of the deepest\n    longings of your heart.\n  Kab\u00eer says: \"Listen to me, brother!  bring the vision of the\n    Beloved in your heart.\"","title":"Songs of Kabir","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":16791}