KABIR DAS
Kabir Das was a 15th-century Indian mystic poet and saint, whose writings influenced Hinduism's Bhakti movement and his verses are found in Sikhism's scripture Guru Granth Sahib. His early life was in a Muslim family, but he was strongly influenced by his teacher, the Hindu bhakti leader Ramananda. He was born in 1398, Varanasi, India and died in 1518, Maghar, India.
Kabir Das was a great saint of India. His writings inspired everyone in India. He is respected by Muslim, Sikh and Hindu communities. He spent his early life in a Muslim family. It is said that he was brought up by a Johaalas couple.
He spread the simplest message of love and fraternity among all. Presence of a one God was the central point of his teachings. God is unlimited, endless, pure, omniscient and omnipotent. He was a sharp critic of Hindu and Muslim religious customs and preached brotherhood and wisdom of character and conduct. He was against Caste System and Idol Worship
Kabir Das wrote small poems called 'Dohas' in either Sanskrit or simple Hindi. Though these dohas, he condemned the caste system and other discrepancies that existed in the society. He was also opposed to untouchability and animal sacrifice or meat-eating, for that matter. He opposed all this through his impressive poetic skills as a poet would do.
Kabir was also of the view that idol worship is a useless practice ordained by people. In fact, he was of the opinion that it would be much useful to contemplate one’s conduct and character than to visit temples and worship idols.
He was also the first poet in the history of the Indian subcontinent who out rightly rejected the caste system as prescribed in Vedas.
Kabir's poems were in vernacular Hindi, borrowing from various dialects including Braj. They cover various aspects of life and call for a loving devotion for God. Kabir composed his verses with simple Hindi words. Most of his work were concerned with devotion, mysticism and discipline.
In one of his poem he narrated translated by Tagore;
Where spring, the lord of seasons reigneth, there the unstruck music sounds of itself,
There the streams of light flow in all directions, few are the men who can cross to that shore!
There, where millions of Krishnas stand with hands folded,
Where millions of Vishnus bow their heads, where millions of Brahmas are reading the Vedas,
Where millions of Shivas are lost in contemplation, where millions of Indras dwell in the sky,
Where the demi-gods and the munis are unnumbered, where millions of Saraswatis, goddess of music play the vina,
There is my Lord self-revealed, and the scent of sandal and flowers dwells in those deeps.
Translated by Rabindranath Tagore
Many scholars interpret Kabir's philosophy to be questioning the need for religion, rather than attempting to propose either Hindu-Muslim unity or an independent synthesis of a new religious tradition. Kabir rejected the hypocrisy and misguided rituals evident in various religious practices of his day, including those in Islam and Hinduism.
He said;
Saints I've seen both ways.
Hindus and Muslims don't want discipline, they want tasty food.
The Hindu keeps the eleventh-day fast, eating chestnuts and milk.
He curbs his grain but not his brain, and breaks his fast with meat.
The Turk [Muslim] prays daily, fasts once a year, and crows "God!, God!" like a cock.
What heaven is reserved for people who kill chickens in the dark?
Instead of kindness and compassion, they've cast out all desire.
One kills with a chop, one lets the blood drop, in both houses burns the same fire.
Turks and Hindus have one way, the guru's made it clear.
Don't say Ram, don't say Khuda [Allah], so says Kabir.
Translated by Linda Hess and Shukdeo Singh
In Bijak, Kabir mocks the practice of praying to avatars such as Buddha of Buddhism, by asserting "don't call the master Buddha, he didn't put down devils". Kabir urged people to look within and consider all human beings as manifestation of God's living forms:
If God be within the mosque, then to whom does this world belong?
If Ram be within the image which you find upon your pilgrimage,
Then who is there to know what happens without?
Hari is in the East, Allah is in the West.
Look within your heart, for there you will find both Karim and Ram;
All the men and women of the world are His living forms.
Kabir is the child of Allah and of Ram: He is my Guru, He is my Pir.
Translated by Rabindranath Tagore
Legacy;
Kabir literature legacy was championed by two of his disciples, Bhāgodās and Dharmadās. Songs of Kabir were collected by Kshitimohan Sen from mendicants across India, these were then translated to English by Rabindranath Tagore.
New English translations of Songs of Kabir is done by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. August Kleinzahler writes about this: "It is Mehrotra who has succeeded in capturing the ferocity and improvisational energy of Kabir’s poetry".
Kabir's legacy continues to be carried forward by the Kabir panth ("Path of Kabir"), a religious community that recognizes him as its founder and is one of the Sant Mat sects. This community was founded centuries after Kabir died, in various parts of India, over the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Its members, known as Kabir panthis, are estimated to be around 9.6 million. They are spread over north and central India, as well as dispersed with the Indian diaspora across the world.
There are two temples dedicated to Kabir located in Benares. One of them is maintained by Hindus, while the other by Muslims. Both the temples practice similar forms of worship where his songs are sung daily. Other rituals of aarti and distributing prasad are similar to other Hindu temples. The followers of Kabir are vegetarians and abstain from alcohol.
QAVI KABIR DAS
KABIR - The Enlightened Weaver
The mystic poet Kabir has been an inspiration for seekers over centuries. Sadhguru explains how by debating on his religion, we miss out on his wisdom.
Sadhguru wisdom article on kabir the enlightened weaver
Jun 17, 2019
"Maatti Kahe Kumhaar Ko – A Poem by Kabir"
Maatti kahe kumhaar ko, tu kya roondhe mohe
[The clay says to the potter, who are you to knead me?]
Ek din aisa aayega, main rundhoongi tohe
[There will come a day, when I will knead you]
Aaye hain so jayenge, raaja rank fakir
[Everyone who is born will die some day, be it a king or a poor man]
Ek sinhaasan chadh chale, ek bandhe zanjir
[One sits on a throne, another is a prisoner]
Missing the Truth of Kabir
Sadhguru: Today is Kabir’s Jayanti. Kabir was a weaver by profession - a great mystic poet who still lives through his various poems. The poetry that he wrote or sang is just a small portion of his life. Most of the time he worked as a weaver. Since only the poetry is here, people think that is all he did. No, his life was an engagement in weaving, not in poetry. The cloth doesn’t live, but here and there, a poem or a verse still lives. I don't know how many have been lost, but what is left is still incredible.
Though such a fantastic human being, we don't know much about him except his poetry. Obviously he was a man of profound experience, there is no question. But his entire life till the point of his death and even beyond, what mattered to people was not mysticism, his wisdom, or the new vision of clarity that he wanted to bring. It was all about whether he was a Hindu or a Muslim. This was the main question. Just in case you don't know, I'm bringing some very vital information to you: nobody is born as a Hindu or a Muslim or whatever other nonsense. Nor does anybody die as a Hindu, or a Muslim or anything else. But when we are here, there's a big social drama going on.
Everything that you made up - your ideas of who you are, what religion you belong to, what is yours, what is not yours – is untruth. Truth is just there; you don't have to do anything about it. It is in the lap of this truth that all of us exist. Truth does not mean what you utter; truth means the fundamental laws which makes this life and everything happen. The choice is only either you are in tune with it or you are not in tune with it. You don't have to invent truth. You don't have to study truth. You don't have to bring it down from heaven.
If a tree is growing up and blossoming, obviously all the necessary ingredients to support life is here - that is why it is on. If you are here, it means everything that is necessary for this life to happen is here. Otherwise you wouldn't be here. The question is are you in tune with these forces or are you against it?
“Oh, why would I be against the forces of life?” Well, the moment you believe you are something that you are not, you are against it. You may think you are being religious, but all that is happening is you are just screwed up; you are creating a psychological drama and completely screening up the existential drama. You are completely missing the Creator's creation, because your own silly creation is keeping you busy in your head.
Enlightenment – A Celebration of Ignorance
You will move towards truth only when you realize “I do not know”. If you think you know, you will start moving towards untruth - because “I know” is only a thought; “I do not know” is a fact, it is reality. The sooner you get it, the better it is. The greatest realization in your life is you do not know. “I do not know” is a tremendous possibility. Only when you see “I do not know”, the longing and seeking to know and the possibility of knowing become a reality.
In this culture we always identified with ignorance because our knowledge is minuscule - no matter how much we know - but our ignorance is boundless. So if you identify with your ignorance, you become boundless in some sense, because whatever you identify will be your quality. In a way, enlightenment is a celebration of ignorance, a blissful ignorance. You are not cluttered with knowledge, so you see everything just the way it is, that's all. If you are cluttered with knowledge, you do not see anything the way it is; you are prejudiced about everything.
So Kabir was an enlightened weaver, a mystic. Mysticism should not be with one individual from somewhere in the past, from a few poems that you read. Mysticism means every day you are stepping into a new sphere of life. Something new, that you did not know, has come into your experience today. Mysticism does not mean an accumulated amount of knowledge; mysticism means an exploration. If you believe, you will not explore anything. You can genuinely explore only when you know that you do not know.
https://isha.sadhguru.org/us/en/wisdom/ ... 0KCQiA5vb-
The mystic poet Kabir has been an inspiration for seekers over centuries. Sadhguru explains how by debating on his religion, we miss out on his wisdom.
Sadhguru wisdom article on kabir the enlightened weaver
Jun 17, 2019
"Maatti Kahe Kumhaar Ko – A Poem by Kabir"
Maatti kahe kumhaar ko, tu kya roondhe mohe
[The clay says to the potter, who are you to knead me?]
Ek din aisa aayega, main rundhoongi tohe
[There will come a day, when I will knead you]
Aaye hain so jayenge, raaja rank fakir
[Everyone who is born will die some day, be it a king or a poor man]
Ek sinhaasan chadh chale, ek bandhe zanjir
[One sits on a throne, another is a prisoner]
Missing the Truth of Kabir
Sadhguru: Today is Kabir’s Jayanti. Kabir was a weaver by profession - a great mystic poet who still lives through his various poems. The poetry that he wrote or sang is just a small portion of his life. Most of the time he worked as a weaver. Since only the poetry is here, people think that is all he did. No, his life was an engagement in weaving, not in poetry. The cloth doesn’t live, but here and there, a poem or a verse still lives. I don't know how many have been lost, but what is left is still incredible.
Though such a fantastic human being, we don't know much about him except his poetry. Obviously he was a man of profound experience, there is no question. But his entire life till the point of his death and even beyond, what mattered to people was not mysticism, his wisdom, or the new vision of clarity that he wanted to bring. It was all about whether he was a Hindu or a Muslim. This was the main question. Just in case you don't know, I'm bringing some very vital information to you: nobody is born as a Hindu or a Muslim or whatever other nonsense. Nor does anybody die as a Hindu, or a Muslim or anything else. But when we are here, there's a big social drama going on.
Everything that you made up - your ideas of who you are, what religion you belong to, what is yours, what is not yours – is untruth. Truth is just there; you don't have to do anything about it. It is in the lap of this truth that all of us exist. Truth does not mean what you utter; truth means the fundamental laws which makes this life and everything happen. The choice is only either you are in tune with it or you are not in tune with it. You don't have to invent truth. You don't have to study truth. You don't have to bring it down from heaven.
If a tree is growing up and blossoming, obviously all the necessary ingredients to support life is here - that is why it is on. If you are here, it means everything that is necessary for this life to happen is here. Otherwise you wouldn't be here. The question is are you in tune with these forces or are you against it?
“Oh, why would I be against the forces of life?” Well, the moment you believe you are something that you are not, you are against it. You may think you are being religious, but all that is happening is you are just screwed up; you are creating a psychological drama and completely screening up the existential drama. You are completely missing the Creator's creation, because your own silly creation is keeping you busy in your head.
Enlightenment – A Celebration of Ignorance
You will move towards truth only when you realize “I do not know”. If you think you know, you will start moving towards untruth - because “I know” is only a thought; “I do not know” is a fact, it is reality. The sooner you get it, the better it is. The greatest realization in your life is you do not know. “I do not know” is a tremendous possibility. Only when you see “I do not know”, the longing and seeking to know and the possibility of knowing become a reality.
In this culture we always identified with ignorance because our knowledge is minuscule - no matter how much we know - but our ignorance is boundless. So if you identify with your ignorance, you become boundless in some sense, because whatever you identify will be your quality. In a way, enlightenment is a celebration of ignorance, a blissful ignorance. You are not cluttered with knowledge, so you see everything just the way it is, that's all. If you are cluttered with knowledge, you do not see anything the way it is; you are prejudiced about everything.
So Kabir was an enlightened weaver, a mystic. Mysticism should not be with one individual from somewhere in the past, from a few poems that you read. Mysticism means every day you are stepping into a new sphere of life. Something new, that you did not know, has come into your experience today. Mysticism does not mean an accumulated amount of knowledge; mysticism means an exploration. If you believe, you will not explore anything. You can genuinely explore only when you know that you do not know.
https://isha.sadhguru.org/us/en/wisdom/ ... 0KCQiA5vb-
Chalti Chakki Dekh Kar, Diya Kabira Roye
Dui Paatan Ke Beech Mein,Sabit Bacha Na Koye
Looking at the grinding stones, Kabir laments
In the duel of wheels, nothing stays intact.
**
Bura Jo Dekhan Main Chala, Bura Naa Milya Koye
Jo Munn Khoja Apnaa, To Mujhse Bura Naa Koye
I searched for the crooked man, met not a single one
Then searched myself, "I" found the crooked one
**
Kaal Kare So Aaj Kar, Aaj Kare So Ab
Pal Mein Pralaya Hoyegi, Bahuri Karoge Kub
Tomorrow's work do today, today's work now
if the moment is lost, the work be done how
**
Aisee Vani Boliye, Mun Ka Aapa Khoye
Apna Tan Sheetal Kare, Auran Ko Sukh Hoye
Speak such words, sans ego's ploy
Body remains composed, giving the listener joy
**
Dheere Dheere Re Mana, Dheere Sub Kutch Hoye
Mali Seenche So Ghara, Ritu Aaye Phal Hoye
Slowly slowly O mind, everything in own pace happens
The gardiner may water with a hundred buckets, fruit arrives only in its season
**
Sayeen Itna Deejiye, Ja Mein Kutumb Samaye
Main Bhi Bhookha Na Rahun, Sadhu Na Bhookha Jaye
Give so much, O God, suffice to envelop my clan
I should not suffer cravings, nor the visitor go unfed
**
Bada Hua To Kya Hua, Jaise Ped Khajoor
Panthi Ko Chaya Nahin, Phal Laage Atidoor
In vain is the eminence, just like a date tree
No shade for travelers, fruit is hard to reach
**
Jaise Til Mein Tel Hai, Jyon Chakmak Mein Aag
Tera Sayeen Tujh Mein Hai, Tu Jaag Sake To Jaag
Just as seed contains the oil, fire's in flint stone
Your temple seats the Divine, realize if you can
**
Kabira Khara Bazaar Mein, Mange Sabki Khair
Na Kahu Se Dosti, Na Kahu Se Bair
Kabira in the market place, wishes welfare of all
Neither friendship nor enmity with anyone at all
**
Pothi Padh Padh Kar Jag Mua, Pandit Bhayo Na Koye
Dhai Aakhar Prem Ke, Jo Padhe so Pandit Hoye
Reading books where everyone died, none became anymore wise
One who reads the word of Love, only becomes wise
**
Dukh Mein Simran Sab Kare, Sukh Mein Kare Na Koye
Jo Sukh Mein Simran Kare, Tau Dukh Kahe Ko Hoye
In anguish everyone prays to Him, in joy does none
To One who prays in happiness, how sorrow can come
Dui Paatan Ke Beech Mein,Sabit Bacha Na Koye
Looking at the grinding stones, Kabir laments
In the duel of wheels, nothing stays intact.
**
Bura Jo Dekhan Main Chala, Bura Naa Milya Koye
Jo Munn Khoja Apnaa, To Mujhse Bura Naa Koye
I searched for the crooked man, met not a single one
Then searched myself, "I" found the crooked one
**
Kaal Kare So Aaj Kar, Aaj Kare So Ab
Pal Mein Pralaya Hoyegi, Bahuri Karoge Kub
Tomorrow's work do today, today's work now
if the moment is lost, the work be done how
**
Aisee Vani Boliye, Mun Ka Aapa Khoye
Apna Tan Sheetal Kare, Auran Ko Sukh Hoye
Speak such words, sans ego's ploy
Body remains composed, giving the listener joy
**
Dheere Dheere Re Mana, Dheere Sub Kutch Hoye
Mali Seenche So Ghara, Ritu Aaye Phal Hoye
Slowly slowly O mind, everything in own pace happens
The gardiner may water with a hundred buckets, fruit arrives only in its season
**
Sayeen Itna Deejiye, Ja Mein Kutumb Samaye
Main Bhi Bhookha Na Rahun, Sadhu Na Bhookha Jaye
Give so much, O God, suffice to envelop my clan
I should not suffer cravings, nor the visitor go unfed
**
Bada Hua To Kya Hua, Jaise Ped Khajoor
Panthi Ko Chaya Nahin, Phal Laage Atidoor
In vain is the eminence, just like a date tree
No shade for travelers, fruit is hard to reach
**
Jaise Til Mein Tel Hai, Jyon Chakmak Mein Aag
Tera Sayeen Tujh Mein Hai, Tu Jaag Sake To Jaag
Just as seed contains the oil, fire's in flint stone
Your temple seats the Divine, realize if you can
**
Kabira Khara Bazaar Mein, Mange Sabki Khair
Na Kahu Se Dosti, Na Kahu Se Bair
Kabira in the market place, wishes welfare of all
Neither friendship nor enmity with anyone at all
**
Pothi Padh Padh Kar Jag Mua, Pandit Bhayo Na Koye
Dhai Aakhar Prem Ke, Jo Padhe so Pandit Hoye
Reading books where everyone died, none became anymore wise
One who reads the word of Love, only becomes wise
**
Dukh Mein Simran Sab Kare, Sukh Mein Kare Na Koye
Jo Sukh Mein Simran Kare, Tau Dukh Kahe Ko Hoye
In anguish everyone prays to Him, in joy does none
To One who prays in happiness, how sorrow can come
“Are you looking for me?
I am in the next seat.
My shoulder is against yours.
you will not find me in the stupas,
not in Indian shrine rooms,
nor in synagogues,
nor in cathedrals:
not in masses,
nor kirtans,
not in legs winding around your own neck,
nor in eating nothing but vegetables.
When you really look for me,
you will see me instantly —
you will find me in the tiniest house of time.
Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.”
Kabir Das
I am in the next seat.
My shoulder is against yours.
you will not find me in the stupas,
not in Indian shrine rooms,
nor in synagogues,
nor in cathedrals:
not in masses,
nor kirtans,
not in legs winding around your own neck,
nor in eating nothing but vegetables.
When you really look for me,
you will see me instantly —
you will find me in the tiniest house of time.
Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.”
Kabir Das
Mystical Saint-Poet Sant Kabir (1440 to 1518)
His Unique Life and Works
By Subhamoy Das
Updated March 08, 2019
The saint-poet Kabir is one of the most interesting personalities in the history of Indian mysticism. Born near Benaras, or Varanasi, of Muslim parents in 1440, in early life he became a disciple of the celebrated 15th-century Hindu ascetic Ramananda, a great religious reformer and founder of a sect to which millions of Hindus still belong.
Kabir's Early Life in Varanasi
Kabir's story is surrounded by contradictory legends that emanate from both Hindu and Islamic sources, which claim him by turns as a Sufi and a Hindu saint. Undoubtedly, his name is of Islamic ancestry, and he is said to be the actual or adopted child of a Muslim weaver of Varanasi, the city in which the chief events of his life took place.
How Kabir Became a Disciple of Ramananda
The boy Kabir, in whom the religious passion was innate, saw in Ramananda his destined teacher; but knew the chances were slight that a Hindu guru would accept a Muslim as a disciple. He, therefore, hid on the steps of the Ganges River, where Ramananda came to bathe often; with the result that the master, coming down to the water, trod upon his body unexpectedly, and exclaimed in his astonishment, "Ram! Ram!"—the name of the incarnation under which he worshiped God. Kabir then declared that he had received the mantra of initiation from Ramananda's lips, which admitted him to discipleship. In spite of the protests of orthodox Brahmins and Muslims, both equally annoyed by this contempt of theological landmarks, he persisted in his claim.
Ramananda's Influence on Kabir's Life and Works
Ramananda appears to have accepted Kabir, and though Muslim legends speak of the famous Sufi Pir, Takki of Jhansi, as Kabir's master in later life, the Hindu saint is the only human teacher to whom he acknowledges indebtedness in his songs. Ramananda, Kabir's guru, was a man of wide religious culture who dreamed of reconciling this intense and personal Mohammedan mysticism with the traditional theology of Brahmanism and even Christian faith. It is one of the outstanding characteristics of Kabir's genius that he was able to fuse these thoughts into one in his poems.
Was Kabir a Hindu or a Muslim?
Hindus called him Kabir Das, but it is impossible to say whether Kabir was Brahmin or Sufi, Vedantist or Vaishnavite. He is, as he says himself, "at once the child of Allah and of Ram." Kabir was a hater of religious exclusivism and sought above all things to initiate human beings into liberty as the children of God. Kabir remained the disciple of Ramananda for years, joining in the theological and philosophical arguments which his master held with all the great Mullahs and Brahmins of his day. Thus, he became acquainted with both Hindu and Sufi philosophy.
Kabir's Songs Are His Greatest Teachings
It is by his wonderful songs, the spontaneous expressions of his vision and his love, and not by the didactic teachings associated with his name, that Kabir makes his immortal appeal to the heart. In these poems, a wide range of mystical emotion is brought into play—expressed in homely metaphors and religious symbols drawn without distinction from Hindu and Islamic beliefs.
Kabir Lived a Simple Life
Kabir may or may not have submitted to the traditional education of the Hindu or the Sufi contemplative and never adopted the life of an ascetic. Side-by-side with his interior life of adoration and its artistic expression in music and words, he lived the sane and diligent life of a craftsman. Kabir was a weaver, a simple and unlettered man who earned his living at the loom. Like Paul the tentmaker, Boehme the cobbler, Bunyan the tinker, and Tersteegen the ribbon-maker, Kabir knew how to combine vision and industry. And it was from out of the heart of the common life of a married man and the father of a family that he sang his rapturous lyrics of divine love.
Kabir's Mystical Poetry Was Rooted in Life and Reality
Kabir's works corroborate the traditional story of his life. Again and again, he extols the life of home and the value and reality of diurnal existence with its opportunities for love and renunciation. The "simple union" with Divine Reality was independent both of ritual and of bodily austerities; the God whom he proclaimed was "neither in Kaaba nor in Kailash." Those who sought Him needed not to go far; for He awaited discovery everywhere, more accessible to "the washerwoman and the carpenter" than to the self-righteous holy man. Therefore, the whole apparatus of piety, Hindu and Muslim alike—the temple and mosque, idol and holy water, scriptures and priests—were denounced by this clear-sighted poet as mere substitutes for reality. As he said, "The Purana and the Koran are mere words."
The Last Days of Kabir's Life
Kabir's Varanasi was the very center of Hindu priestly influence, which made him subject to considerable persecution. There is a well-known legend about a beautiful courtesan who was sent by Brahmins to tempt Kabir's virtue. Another tale talks of Kabir being brought before the Emperor Sikandar Lodi and charged with claiming the possession of divine powers. He was banished from Varanasi in 1495 when he was nearly 60 years old. Thereafter, he moved about throughout northern India with his disciples; continuing in exile the life of an apostle and a poet of love. Kabir died at Maghar near Gorakhpur in 1518.
The Legend of Kabir's Last Rites
A beautiful legend tells us that after Kabir's death, his Muslim and Hindu disciples disputed the possession of his body—which the Muslims wished to bury; the Hindus, to burn. As they argued together, Kabir appeared before them and told them to lift the shroud and look at that which lay beneath. They did so, and found in place of the corpse a heap of flowers, half of which were buried by the Muslims at Maghar and half carried by the Hindus to the holy city of Varanasi to be burned—a fitting conclusion to a life which had made fragrant the most beautiful doctrines of two great creeds.
https://www.learnreligions.com/guru-sant-kabir-1770345
His Unique Life and Works
By Subhamoy Das
Updated March 08, 2019
The saint-poet Kabir is one of the most interesting personalities in the history of Indian mysticism. Born near Benaras, or Varanasi, of Muslim parents in 1440, in early life he became a disciple of the celebrated 15th-century Hindu ascetic Ramananda, a great religious reformer and founder of a sect to which millions of Hindus still belong.
Kabir's Early Life in Varanasi
Kabir's story is surrounded by contradictory legends that emanate from both Hindu and Islamic sources, which claim him by turns as a Sufi and a Hindu saint. Undoubtedly, his name is of Islamic ancestry, and he is said to be the actual or adopted child of a Muslim weaver of Varanasi, the city in which the chief events of his life took place.
How Kabir Became a Disciple of Ramananda
The boy Kabir, in whom the religious passion was innate, saw in Ramananda his destined teacher; but knew the chances were slight that a Hindu guru would accept a Muslim as a disciple. He, therefore, hid on the steps of the Ganges River, where Ramananda came to bathe often; with the result that the master, coming down to the water, trod upon his body unexpectedly, and exclaimed in his astonishment, "Ram! Ram!"—the name of the incarnation under which he worshiped God. Kabir then declared that he had received the mantra of initiation from Ramananda's lips, which admitted him to discipleship. In spite of the protests of orthodox Brahmins and Muslims, both equally annoyed by this contempt of theological landmarks, he persisted in his claim.
Ramananda's Influence on Kabir's Life and Works
Ramananda appears to have accepted Kabir, and though Muslim legends speak of the famous Sufi Pir, Takki of Jhansi, as Kabir's master in later life, the Hindu saint is the only human teacher to whom he acknowledges indebtedness in his songs. Ramananda, Kabir's guru, was a man of wide religious culture who dreamed of reconciling this intense and personal Mohammedan mysticism with the traditional theology of Brahmanism and even Christian faith. It is one of the outstanding characteristics of Kabir's genius that he was able to fuse these thoughts into one in his poems.
Was Kabir a Hindu or a Muslim?
Hindus called him Kabir Das, but it is impossible to say whether Kabir was Brahmin or Sufi, Vedantist or Vaishnavite. He is, as he says himself, "at once the child of Allah and of Ram." Kabir was a hater of religious exclusivism and sought above all things to initiate human beings into liberty as the children of God. Kabir remained the disciple of Ramananda for years, joining in the theological and philosophical arguments which his master held with all the great Mullahs and Brahmins of his day. Thus, he became acquainted with both Hindu and Sufi philosophy.
Kabir's Songs Are His Greatest Teachings
It is by his wonderful songs, the spontaneous expressions of his vision and his love, and not by the didactic teachings associated with his name, that Kabir makes his immortal appeal to the heart. In these poems, a wide range of mystical emotion is brought into play—expressed in homely metaphors and religious symbols drawn without distinction from Hindu and Islamic beliefs.
Kabir Lived a Simple Life
Kabir may or may not have submitted to the traditional education of the Hindu or the Sufi contemplative and never adopted the life of an ascetic. Side-by-side with his interior life of adoration and its artistic expression in music and words, he lived the sane and diligent life of a craftsman. Kabir was a weaver, a simple and unlettered man who earned his living at the loom. Like Paul the tentmaker, Boehme the cobbler, Bunyan the tinker, and Tersteegen the ribbon-maker, Kabir knew how to combine vision and industry. And it was from out of the heart of the common life of a married man and the father of a family that he sang his rapturous lyrics of divine love.
Kabir's Mystical Poetry Was Rooted in Life and Reality
Kabir's works corroborate the traditional story of his life. Again and again, he extols the life of home and the value and reality of diurnal existence with its opportunities for love and renunciation. The "simple union" with Divine Reality was independent both of ritual and of bodily austerities; the God whom he proclaimed was "neither in Kaaba nor in Kailash." Those who sought Him needed not to go far; for He awaited discovery everywhere, more accessible to "the washerwoman and the carpenter" than to the self-righteous holy man. Therefore, the whole apparatus of piety, Hindu and Muslim alike—the temple and mosque, idol and holy water, scriptures and priests—were denounced by this clear-sighted poet as mere substitutes for reality. As he said, "The Purana and the Koran are mere words."
The Last Days of Kabir's Life
Kabir's Varanasi was the very center of Hindu priestly influence, which made him subject to considerable persecution. There is a well-known legend about a beautiful courtesan who was sent by Brahmins to tempt Kabir's virtue. Another tale talks of Kabir being brought before the Emperor Sikandar Lodi and charged with claiming the possession of divine powers. He was banished from Varanasi in 1495 when he was nearly 60 years old. Thereafter, he moved about throughout northern India with his disciples; continuing in exile the life of an apostle and a poet of love. Kabir died at Maghar near Gorakhpur in 1518.
The Legend of Kabir's Last Rites
A beautiful legend tells us that after Kabir's death, his Muslim and Hindu disciples disputed the possession of his body—which the Muslims wished to bury; the Hindus, to burn. As they argued together, Kabir appeared before them and told them to lift the shroud and look at that which lay beneath. They did so, and found in place of the corpse a heap of flowers, half of which were buried by the Muslims at Maghar and half carried by the Hindus to the holy city of Varanasi to be burned—a fitting conclusion to a life which had made fragrant the most beautiful doctrines of two great creeds.
https://www.learnreligions.com/guru-sant-kabir-1770345
I won’t come
BY KABIR
TRANSLATED FROM THE HINDI BY ARVIND KRISHNA MEHROTRA
I won’t come
I won’t go
I won’t live
I won’t die
I’ll keep uttering
The name
And lose myself
In it
I’m bowl
And I’m platter
I’m man
And I’m woman
I’m grapefruit
And I’m sweet lime
I’m Hindu
And I’m Muslim
I’m fish
And I’m net
I’m fisherman
And I’m time
I’m nothing
Says Kabir
I’m not among the living
Or the dead
BY KABIR
TRANSLATED FROM THE HINDI BY ARVIND KRISHNA MEHROTRA
I won’t come
I won’t go
I won’t live
I won’t die
I’ll keep uttering
The name
And lose myself
In it
I’m bowl
And I’m platter
I’m man
And I’m woman
I’m grapefruit
And I’m sweet lime
I’m Hindu
And I’m Muslim
I’m fish
And I’m net
I’m fisherman
And I’m time
I’m nothing
Says Kabir
I’m not among the living
Or the dead
Where do you search me
Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande
Mein To Tere Paas Mein
Na Teerath Mein, Na Moorat Mein
Na Ekant Niwas Mein
Na Mandir Mein, Na Masjid Mein
Na Kabe Kailas Mein
Mein To Tere Paas Mein Bande
Mein To Tere Paas Mein
Na Mein Jap Mein, Na Mein Tap Mein
Na Mein Barat Upaas Mein
Na Mein Kiriya Karm Mein Rehta
Nahin Jog Sanyas Mein
Nahin Pran Mein Nahin Pind Mein
Na Brahmand Akas Mein
Na Mein Prakuti Prawar Gufa Mein
Nahin Swasan Ki Swans Mein
Khoji Hoye Turat Mil Jaoon
Ik Pal Ki Talas Mein
Kahet Kabir Suno Bhai Sadho
Mein To Hun Viswas Mein
English Translation:
Where do you search me?
I am with you
Not in pilgrimage, nor in icons
Neither in solitudes
Not in temples, nor in mosques
Neither in Kaba nor in Kailash
I am with you O man
I am with you
Not in prayers, nor in meditation
Neither in fasting
Not in yogic exercises
Neither in renunciation
Neither in the vital force nor in the body
Not even in the ethereal space
Neither in the womb of Nature
Not in the breath of the breath
Seek earnestly and discover
In but a moment of search
Says Kabir, Listen with care
Where your faith is, I am there
Moko Kahan Dhundhere Bande
Mein To Tere Paas Mein
Na Teerath Mein, Na Moorat Mein
Na Ekant Niwas Mein
Na Mandir Mein, Na Masjid Mein
Na Kabe Kailas Mein
Mein To Tere Paas Mein Bande
Mein To Tere Paas Mein
Na Mein Jap Mein, Na Mein Tap Mein
Na Mein Barat Upaas Mein
Na Mein Kiriya Karm Mein Rehta
Nahin Jog Sanyas Mein
Nahin Pran Mein Nahin Pind Mein
Na Brahmand Akas Mein
Na Mein Prakuti Prawar Gufa Mein
Nahin Swasan Ki Swans Mein
Khoji Hoye Turat Mil Jaoon
Ik Pal Ki Talas Mein
Kahet Kabir Suno Bhai Sadho
Mein To Hun Viswas Mein
English Translation:
Where do you search me?
I am with you
Not in pilgrimage, nor in icons
Neither in solitudes
Not in temples, nor in mosques
Neither in Kaba nor in Kailash
I am with you O man
I am with you
Not in prayers, nor in meditation
Neither in fasting
Not in yogic exercises
Neither in renunciation
Neither in the vital force nor in the body
Not even in the ethereal space
Neither in the womb of Nature
Not in the breath of the breath
Seek earnestly and discover
In but a moment of search
Says Kabir, Listen with care
Where your faith is, I am there
He Himself is the tree, the seed, and the germ.
He Himself is the flower, the fruit, and the shade.
He Himself is the sun, the light, and the lighted.
He Himself is Brahma, creature, and Maya.
He Himself is the manifold form, the infinite space;
He is the breath, the word, and the meaning.
He Himself is the limit and the limitless:
And beyond both the limited and the limitless is He, the Pure Being.
He is the Immanent Mind in Brahma and in the creature.
The Supreme Soul is seen within the soul,
The Point is seen within the Supreme Soul,
And within the Point, the reflection is seen again.
Kabîr is blest because he has this supreme vision!
He Himself is the flower, the fruit, and the shade.
He Himself is the sun, the light, and the lighted.
He Himself is Brahma, creature, and Maya.
He Himself is the manifold form, the infinite space;
He is the breath, the word, and the meaning.
He Himself is the limit and the limitless:
And beyond both the limited and the limitless is He, the Pure Being.
He is the Immanent Mind in Brahma and in the creature.
The Supreme Soul is seen within the soul,
The Point is seen within the Supreme Soul,
And within the Point, the reflection is seen again.
Kabîr is blest because he has this supreme vision!
Abode Of The Beloved
Sakhiya Wah Ghar Sabse Nyara,
Jaha Puran Purush Humara
Jaha Nahi Sukh Dukh
Sanch Jhuth Nahi
Pap Na Pun Pasara
Nahin Din Reyn Chand Nahi Suraj,
Bina Jyoti Ujyara
Nahin Tahan Gyan Dhyan
Nahin Jap Tap
Ved Kiteb Na Bani
Karni Dharni Rehni Gehni,
Yeh Sub Jahan Hirani
Ghar Nahin Aghar Na Bahar Bhitar,
Pind Brahmand Kachu Nahin
Panch Tatva Gun Tin Nahin Tahan,
Sakhi Shabd Na Tahin
Mul Na Phul Beli Nahin Bija,
Bina Braksh Phal Sohe,
Oham Soham Ardh Urdh Nahin,
Swasa Lekhan Kou Hai
Jahan Purush Tahwan Kachu Nahin,
Kahe Kabir Hum Jana
Humri Sain Lakhe Jo Koi,
Pawe Pad Nirvana
English Translation
Oh Companion That Abode Is Unmatched,
Where My Complete Beloved Is.
In that Place There Is No Happiness or Unhappiness,
No Truth or Untruth
Neither Sin Nor Virtue.
There Is No Day or Night, No Moon or Sun,
There Is Radiance Without Light.
There Is No Knowledge or Meditation
No Repetition of Mantra or Austerities,
Neither Speech Coming From Vedas or Books.
Doing, Not-Doing, Holding, Leaving
All These Are All Lost Too In This Place.
No Home, No Homeless, Neither Outside or Inside,
Micro and Macrocosm Are Non-Existent.
Five Elemental Constituents and the Trinity Are Both Not There
Witnessing Un-struck Shabad Sound is Also Not There.
No Root or Flower, Neither Branch or Seed,
Without a Tree Fruits are Adorning,
Primordial Om Sound, Breath-Synchronized Soham,
This and That - All Are Absent, The Breath Too Unknown
Where the Beloved Is There is Utterly Nothing
Says Kabir I Have Come To Realize.
Whoever Sees My Indicative Sign
Will Accomplish the Goal of Liberation.
Sakhiya Wah Ghar Sabse Nyara,
Jaha Puran Purush Humara
Jaha Nahi Sukh Dukh
Sanch Jhuth Nahi
Pap Na Pun Pasara
Nahin Din Reyn Chand Nahi Suraj,
Bina Jyoti Ujyara
Nahin Tahan Gyan Dhyan
Nahin Jap Tap
Ved Kiteb Na Bani
Karni Dharni Rehni Gehni,
Yeh Sub Jahan Hirani
Ghar Nahin Aghar Na Bahar Bhitar,
Pind Brahmand Kachu Nahin
Panch Tatva Gun Tin Nahin Tahan,
Sakhi Shabd Na Tahin
Mul Na Phul Beli Nahin Bija,
Bina Braksh Phal Sohe,
Oham Soham Ardh Urdh Nahin,
Swasa Lekhan Kou Hai
Jahan Purush Tahwan Kachu Nahin,
Kahe Kabir Hum Jana
Humri Sain Lakhe Jo Koi,
Pawe Pad Nirvana
English Translation
Oh Companion That Abode Is Unmatched,
Where My Complete Beloved Is.
In that Place There Is No Happiness or Unhappiness,
No Truth or Untruth
Neither Sin Nor Virtue.
There Is No Day or Night, No Moon or Sun,
There Is Radiance Without Light.
There Is No Knowledge or Meditation
No Repetition of Mantra or Austerities,
Neither Speech Coming From Vedas or Books.
Doing, Not-Doing, Holding, Leaving
All These Are All Lost Too In This Place.
No Home, No Homeless, Neither Outside or Inside,
Micro and Macrocosm Are Non-Existent.
Five Elemental Constituents and the Trinity Are Both Not There
Witnessing Un-struck Shabad Sound is Also Not There.
No Root or Flower, Neither Branch or Seed,
Without a Tree Fruits are Adorning,
Primordial Om Sound, Breath-Synchronized Soham,
This and That - All Are Absent, The Breath Too Unknown
Where the Beloved Is There is Utterly Nothing
Says Kabir I Have Come To Realize.
Whoever Sees My Indicative Sign
Will Accomplish the Goal of Liberation.
The moon shines in my body, but my blind eyes cannot see it
The moon is within me, and so is the sun
The unstruck drum of Eternity is sounded within me
But my deaf ears cannot hear it
So long as man clamours for the I and the Mine
his works are as naught
When all love of the I and the Mine is dead
Then the work of the Lord is done
For work has no other aim than the getting of knowledge
When that comes, then work is put away
The flower blooms for the fruit
When the fruit comes, the flower withers
The musk is in the deer, but it seeks it not within itself
It wanders in quest of grass
The moon is within me, and so is the sun
The unstruck drum of Eternity is sounded within me
But my deaf ears cannot hear it
So long as man clamours for the I and the Mine
his works are as naught
When all love of the I and the Mine is dead
Then the work of the Lord is done
For work has no other aim than the getting of knowledge
When that comes, then work is put away
The flower blooms for the fruit
When the fruit comes, the flower withers
The musk is in the deer, but it seeks it not within itself
It wanders in quest of grass
UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
In Islam the meaning of the Kabir is The Great. He was very spiritual person and became a great Sadhu. He got fame all over the world because of his influential traditions and culture.It is considered that he got all his spiritual training from his Guru named, Ramananda, in his early childhood.
There is no clue of the birth parent of the Kabir Das but it is considered that he was cared by a Muslim family. He was founded in Lehartara, a small town in Varanasi by the Niru and Nima (his care taker parents). His parents were extremely poor and uneducated but they very heartily adopted the little baby and trained him about their own business. He lived the balanced life of a simple house holder and a mystic.Kabir suggested that True God is with the person who is on the path of righteousness, considered all creatures on earth as his own self, and who is passively detached from the affairs of the world. To know God, suggested Kabir, meditate with the mantra Rāma, Rāma.
Sant Kabir was prejudiced by the existing religious mood of that time like Hinduism, Tantrism as well as the personal devotionalism mixed with the imageless God of Islam. Kabir Das is the first Indian saint who has coordinated the Hinduism and Islam by giving a universal path which could be followed by both Hindus and Muslims. According to him every life has relationship with two spiritual principles (Jivatma and Paramatma). His view about the moksha that, it is the process of uniting these two divine principles.
His great writing Bijak has huge a collection of poems which makes clear the Kabir’s general view of the spirituality. Kabir’s Hindi was a dialect, simple like his philosophies. He simply followed the oneness in the God. He has always rejected the murti pujan in Hinduism and shown the clear confidence in bhakti and Sufi ideas.
He had composed the poems in a concise and simple style resonating the admire for factual guru. After being an illiterate he had written his poems in Hindi mixing with Avadhi, Braj, and Bhojpuri. He was insulted by some people but he never attended.
Legacy
All the poems and songs credited to the Sant Kabir are existing in the several languages. Kabir and his followers are named according to his poetic response such as banis and utterances. The poems are called variously as dohe, saloka and sakhi. Sakhi means to be memorizes and to remind the highest Truth. The memorizing, performing, and pondering over these utterances comprises for the Kabir and all his followers a way to the spiritual awakening.
The books written by the Kabir Das are generally the collections of dohas and songs. The total works are seventy two including some of the important and well known works are Rekhtas, Kabir Bijak, the Suknidhan, Mangal, Vasant, Sabdas, Sakhis and Holy Agams.
The writing style and language of the Kabir Das is very simple and beautiful. He had written his dohas very boldly and naturally which are full of meanings and significance. He wrote from the depth of his heart. He has compressed the sense of whole world in his simple dohas and couplet. His sayings are beyond compare and inspiring.
In Islam the meaning of the Kabir is The Great. He was very spiritual person and became a great Sadhu. He got fame all over the world because of his influential traditions and culture.It is considered that he got all his spiritual training from his Guru named, Ramananda, in his early childhood.
There is no clue of the birth parent of the Kabir Das but it is considered that he was cared by a Muslim family. He was founded in Lehartara, a small town in Varanasi by the Niru and Nima (his care taker parents). His parents were extremely poor and uneducated but they very heartily adopted the little baby and trained him about their own business. He lived the balanced life of a simple house holder and a mystic.Kabir suggested that True God is with the person who is on the path of righteousness, considered all creatures on earth as his own self, and who is passively detached from the affairs of the world. To know God, suggested Kabir, meditate with the mantra Rāma, Rāma.
Sant Kabir was prejudiced by the existing religious mood of that time like Hinduism, Tantrism as well as the personal devotionalism mixed with the imageless God of Islam. Kabir Das is the first Indian saint who has coordinated the Hinduism and Islam by giving a universal path which could be followed by both Hindus and Muslims. According to him every life has relationship with two spiritual principles (Jivatma and Paramatma). His view about the moksha that, it is the process of uniting these two divine principles.
His great writing Bijak has huge a collection of poems which makes clear the Kabir’s general view of the spirituality. Kabir’s Hindi was a dialect, simple like his philosophies. He simply followed the oneness in the God. He has always rejected the murti pujan in Hinduism and shown the clear confidence in bhakti and Sufi ideas.
He had composed the poems in a concise and simple style resonating the admire for factual guru. After being an illiterate he had written his poems in Hindi mixing with Avadhi, Braj, and Bhojpuri. He was insulted by some people but he never attended.
Legacy
All the poems and songs credited to the Sant Kabir are existing in the several languages. Kabir and his followers are named according to his poetic response such as banis and utterances. The poems are called variously as dohe, saloka and sakhi. Sakhi means to be memorizes and to remind the highest Truth. The memorizing, performing, and pondering over these utterances comprises for the Kabir and all his followers a way to the spiritual awakening.
The books written by the Kabir Das are generally the collections of dohas and songs. The total works are seventy two including some of the important and well known works are Rekhtas, Kabir Bijak, the Suknidhan, Mangal, Vasant, Sabdas, Sakhis and Holy Agams.
The writing style and language of the Kabir Das is very simple and beautiful. He had written his dohas very boldly and naturally which are full of meanings and significance. He wrote from the depth of his heart. He has compressed the sense of whole world in his simple dohas and couplet. His sayings are beyond compare and inspiring.
Brother, I’ve seen some
BY KABIR
TRANSLATED FROM THE HINDI BY ARVIND KRISHNA MEHROTRA
Brother, I’ve seen some
Astonishing sights:
A lion keeping watch
Over pasturing cows;
A mother delivered
After her son was;
A guru prostrated
Before his disciple;
Fish spawning
On treetops;
A cat carrying away
A dog;
A gunny-sack
Driving a bullock-cart;
A buffalo going out to graze,
Sitting on a horse;
A tree with its branches in the earth,
Its roots in the sky;
A tree with flowering roots.
This verse, says Kabir,
Is your key to the universe.
If you can figure it out.
BY KABIR
TRANSLATED FROM THE HINDI BY ARVIND KRISHNA MEHROTRA
Brother, I’ve seen some
Astonishing sights:
A lion keeping watch
Over pasturing cows;
A mother delivered
After her son was;
A guru prostrated
Before his disciple;
Fish spawning
On treetops;
A cat carrying away
A dog;
A gunny-sack
Driving a bullock-cart;
A buffalo going out to graze,
Sitting on a horse;
A tree with its branches in the earth,
Its roots in the sky;
A tree with flowering roots.
This verse, says Kabir,
Is your key to the universe.
If you can figure it out.
How do you
BY KABIR
TRANSLATED FROM THE HINDI BY ARVIND KRISHNA MEHROTRA
How do you,
Asks the chief of police,
Patrol a city
Where the butcher shops
Are guarded by vultures;
Where bulls get pregnant,
Cows are barren,
And calves give milk
Three times a day;
Where mice are boatmen
And tomcats the boats
They row;
Where frogs keep snakes
As watchdogs,
And jackals
Go after lions?
Does anyone know
What I’m talking about?
Says Kabir.
Translator’s Notes: “How do you” by Kabir
BY ARVIND KRISHNA MEHROTRA
About Kabir, the facts are few, the legends many. He was born in Benares (now Varanasi) and lived in the fifteenth century, though opinion is divided whether it was in the first or the second half. From his poems we learn that he was a julaha, or weaver, his family perhaps having recently converted to Islam to escape its low status in the Hindu caste system. In several poems, Kabir speaks out against caste, as he does also, with as much vehemence, against Muslim practices:
If you say you’re a Brahmin
Born of a mother who’s a Brahmin,
Was there a special canal
Through which you were born?
And if you say you’re a Turk
And your mother’s a Turk,
Why weren’t you circumcised
Before birth?
Kabir’s Muslim birth was something not liked by his Hindu followers, who, beginning around 1600, concocted legends to gloss over this uncomfortable fact. In one of them, he was a foundling, born to a Brahmin widow and raised in a Muslim household. Similarly, there are stories about his death. In the best-known one, after he died both Hindus and Muslims laid claim to his body. A quarrel broke out but when they lifted the shroud they saw instead of the corpse a heap of flowers. The two communities divided the flowers and performed Kabir’s last rites, each according to its custom.
Kabir belonged to the popular devotional movement called bhakti, whose focus is on inward love for the One Deity, in opposition to religious orthodoxies and social hierarchies. Kabir called his god Rama or Hari, who is not to be confused with the Hindu god Rama of the Ramayana.
Many of the bhakti poets came from the bottom of the Hindu caste ladder. Among them you find a cobbler, a tailor, a barber, a boatman, a weaver. One, Janabai (see epigraph to “Chewing slowly”), was a maidservant. They wrote in the vernaculars (Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati) rather than in Sanskrit, the language of the gods and the preserve of Brahmins. Occasionally, eschewing his abrupt debunking manner, Kabir speaks in riddles. These enigmatic poems (see “Brother I’ve seen some” and “How do you”) are called ulatbamsi or “poems in upside-down language,” in which the intention seems to be to force the reader (or listener) into new ways of thinking and seeing. They each end in a revelation, though exactly what has been revealed is open to question.
The Kabir songs have come down to us in essentially three groups of texts. They are the Bijak or “eastern” tradition, the Rajasthani or “western” tradition, and the Punjabi tradition centered around the Adi Granth, the sacred book of the Sikhs. Kabir may never have traveled outside Benares, but his songs certainly did. To further complicate matters, the Rajasthani manuscripts come in different recensions, so the same song can appear in more than one version. As it passed from singer to singer, the song kept changing, as is the case with blues.
Outside the work done by or commissioned by colonial administrators, some of the earliest English translations of Kabir were made by Ezra Pound. They were based on literal versions supplied by one of Rabindranath Tagore’s young Bengali friends, Kali Mohan Ghose, and published in the Modern Review (Calcutta) in June 1913. The following year Tagore brought out his own One Hundred Poems of Kabir, which became the basis of several European- and Asian- language translations of Kabir as well as of Robert Bly’s reworkings. Both Ghose’s literal version and Tagore’s translation were made from Kshiti Mohan Sen’s Kabir compilation of 1910-11. It gave the Hindi originals along with their Bengali paraphrase. In 1945, in one of the Pisan cantos, Pound recalled his London years: “Thus saith Kabir: ‘Politically’ said Rabindranath.”
Subsequent scholarship has shown that of the 341 poems in Sen, only three are in the pre-1700 manuscripts. And even they are likely to have been composed by someone other than Kabir. An authentic Kabir poem, in the thousands attributed to him, may never be found, nor does it matter. If you catch the spirit, anyone can write an authentic Kabir poem. Innumerable anonymous poets have done so in the past and continue to do so even today, adding their voices to his. A researcher in Rajasthan in the nineties looking for Kabir songs in the oral tradition came across one that used a railway metaphor and English words like “engine,” “ticket,” and “line.” Asked how Kabir could have known these words, the singer replied that Kabir, being a seer, knew everything. In “To tonsured monks,” too, Kabir knows everything, including a Jamaican sect and the name of a London publishing house. — akm
Originally Published: March 1st, 2011
Arvind Krishna Mehrotra is the author of eight collections of poetry, three books of translations, and two books of essays, in addition to being the editor of several books. He lives in Allahabad and Dehradun.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetry ... u-by-kabir
BY KABIR
TRANSLATED FROM THE HINDI BY ARVIND KRISHNA MEHROTRA
How do you,
Asks the chief of police,
Patrol a city
Where the butcher shops
Are guarded by vultures;
Where bulls get pregnant,
Cows are barren,
And calves give milk
Three times a day;
Where mice are boatmen
And tomcats the boats
They row;
Where frogs keep snakes
As watchdogs,
And jackals
Go after lions?
Does anyone know
What I’m talking about?
Says Kabir.
Translator’s Notes: “How do you” by Kabir
BY ARVIND KRISHNA MEHROTRA
About Kabir, the facts are few, the legends many. He was born in Benares (now Varanasi) and lived in the fifteenth century, though opinion is divided whether it was in the first or the second half. From his poems we learn that he was a julaha, or weaver, his family perhaps having recently converted to Islam to escape its low status in the Hindu caste system. In several poems, Kabir speaks out against caste, as he does also, with as much vehemence, against Muslim practices:
If you say you’re a Brahmin
Born of a mother who’s a Brahmin,
Was there a special canal
Through which you were born?
And if you say you’re a Turk
And your mother’s a Turk,
Why weren’t you circumcised
Before birth?
Kabir’s Muslim birth was something not liked by his Hindu followers, who, beginning around 1600, concocted legends to gloss over this uncomfortable fact. In one of them, he was a foundling, born to a Brahmin widow and raised in a Muslim household. Similarly, there are stories about his death. In the best-known one, after he died both Hindus and Muslims laid claim to his body. A quarrel broke out but when they lifted the shroud they saw instead of the corpse a heap of flowers. The two communities divided the flowers and performed Kabir’s last rites, each according to its custom.
Kabir belonged to the popular devotional movement called bhakti, whose focus is on inward love for the One Deity, in opposition to religious orthodoxies and social hierarchies. Kabir called his god Rama or Hari, who is not to be confused with the Hindu god Rama of the Ramayana.
Many of the bhakti poets came from the bottom of the Hindu caste ladder. Among them you find a cobbler, a tailor, a barber, a boatman, a weaver. One, Janabai (see epigraph to “Chewing slowly”), was a maidservant. They wrote in the vernaculars (Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati) rather than in Sanskrit, the language of the gods and the preserve of Brahmins. Occasionally, eschewing his abrupt debunking manner, Kabir speaks in riddles. These enigmatic poems (see “Brother I’ve seen some” and “How do you”) are called ulatbamsi or “poems in upside-down language,” in which the intention seems to be to force the reader (or listener) into new ways of thinking and seeing. They each end in a revelation, though exactly what has been revealed is open to question.
The Kabir songs have come down to us in essentially three groups of texts. They are the Bijak or “eastern” tradition, the Rajasthani or “western” tradition, and the Punjabi tradition centered around the Adi Granth, the sacred book of the Sikhs. Kabir may never have traveled outside Benares, but his songs certainly did. To further complicate matters, the Rajasthani manuscripts come in different recensions, so the same song can appear in more than one version. As it passed from singer to singer, the song kept changing, as is the case with blues.
Outside the work done by or commissioned by colonial administrators, some of the earliest English translations of Kabir were made by Ezra Pound. They were based on literal versions supplied by one of Rabindranath Tagore’s young Bengali friends, Kali Mohan Ghose, and published in the Modern Review (Calcutta) in June 1913. The following year Tagore brought out his own One Hundred Poems of Kabir, which became the basis of several European- and Asian- language translations of Kabir as well as of Robert Bly’s reworkings. Both Ghose’s literal version and Tagore’s translation were made from Kshiti Mohan Sen’s Kabir compilation of 1910-11. It gave the Hindi originals along with their Bengali paraphrase. In 1945, in one of the Pisan cantos, Pound recalled his London years: “Thus saith Kabir: ‘Politically’ said Rabindranath.”
Subsequent scholarship has shown that of the 341 poems in Sen, only three are in the pre-1700 manuscripts. And even they are likely to have been composed by someone other than Kabir. An authentic Kabir poem, in the thousands attributed to him, may never be found, nor does it matter. If you catch the spirit, anyone can write an authentic Kabir poem. Innumerable anonymous poets have done so in the past and continue to do so even today, adding their voices to his. A researcher in Rajasthan in the nineties looking for Kabir songs in the oral tradition came across one that used a railway metaphor and English words like “engine,” “ticket,” and “line.” Asked how Kabir could have known these words, the singer replied that Kabir, being a seer, knew everything. In “To tonsured monks,” too, Kabir knows everything, including a Jamaican sect and the name of a London publishing house. — akm
Originally Published: March 1st, 2011
Arvind Krishna Mehrotra is the author of eight collections of poetry, three books of translations, and two books of essays, in addition to being the editor of several books. He lives in Allahabad and Dehradun.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetry ... u-by-kabir
Having Crossed The River
Having crossed the river,
where will you go, O friend?
There's no road to tread,
No traveler ahead,
Neither a beginning, nor an end.
There's no water, no boat, no boatman, no cord;
No earth is there, no sky, no time, no bank, no ford.
You have forgotten the Self within,
Your search in the void will be in vain;
In a moment the life will ebb
And in this body you won't remain.
Be ever conscious of this, O friend,
You've to immerse within your Self;
Kabir says, salvation you won't then need,
For what you are, you would be indeed.
Kabir
Having crossed the river,
where will you go, O friend?
There's no road to tread,
No traveler ahead,
Neither a beginning, nor an end.
There's no water, no boat, no boatman, no cord;
No earth is there, no sky, no time, no bank, no ford.
You have forgotten the Self within,
Your search in the void will be in vain;
In a moment the life will ebb
And in this body you won't remain.
Be ever conscious of this, O friend,
You've to immerse within your Self;
Kabir says, salvation you won't then need,
For what you are, you would be indeed.
Kabir
TELL me, Brother, how can I renounce Maya?
When I gave up the tying of ribbons, still I tied my garment about me:
When I gave up tying my garment, still I covered my body in its folds.
So, when I give up passion, I see that anger remains;
And when I renounce anger, greed is with me still;
And when greed is vanquished, pride and vainglory remain;
When the mind is detached and casts Maya away, still it clings to the letter.
Kabîr says, "Listen to me, dear Sadhu! the true path is rarely found."
When I gave up the tying of ribbons, still I tied my garment about me:
When I gave up tying my garment, still I covered my body in its folds.
So, when I give up passion, I see that anger remains;
And when I renounce anger, greed is with me still;
And when greed is vanquished, pride and vainglory remain;
When the mind is detached and casts Maya away, still it clings to the letter.
Kabîr says, "Listen to me, dear Sadhu! the true path is rarely found."
I. mo ko kahân dhûnro bande
O SERVANT, where dost thou seek Me?
Lo! I am beside thee.
I am neither in temple nor in mosque: I am neither in Kaaba nor in Kailash:
Neither am I in rites and ceremonies, nor in Yoga and renunciation.
If thou art a true seeker, thou shalt at once see Me: thou shalt meet Me in a moment of time.
Kabîr says, "O Sadhu! God is the breath of all breath."
2. Santan jât na pûcho nirguniyân
It is needless to ask of a saint the caste to which he belongs;
For the priest, the warrior. the tradesman, and all the thirty-six castes, alike are seeking for God.
It is but folly to ask what the caste of a saint may be;
The barber has sought God, the washerwoman, and the carpenter--
Even Raidas was a seeker after God.
The Rishi Swapacha was a tanner by caste.
Hindus and Moslems alike have achieved that End, where remains no mark of distinction.
3. avadhû, mâyâ tajî na jây
TELL me, Brother, how can I renounce Maya?
When I gave up the tying of ribbons, still I tied my garment about me:
When I gave up tying my garment, still I covered my body in its folds.
So, when I give up passion, I see that anger remains;
And when I renounce anger, greed is with me still;
And when greed is vanquished, pride and vainglory remain;
When the mind is detached and casts Maya away, still it clings to the letter.
Kabîr says, "Listen to me, dear Sadhu! the true path is rarely found."
4. candâ jhalkai yahi ghat mâhîn
THE moon shines in my body, but my blind eyes cannot see it:
The moon is within me, and so is the sun.
The unstruck drum of Eternity is sounded within me; but my deaf ears cannot hear it.
So long as man clamours for the I and the Mine, his works are as naught:
When all love of the I and the Mine is dead, then the work of the Lord is done.
For work has no other aim than the getting of knowledge:
When that comes, then work is put away.
The flower blooms for the fruit: when the fruit comes, the flower withers.
The musk is in the deer, but it seeks it not within itself: it wanders in quest of grass.
5. Sâdho, Brahm alakh lakhâyâ
WHEN He Himself reveals Himself, Brahma brings into manifestation That which can never be seen.
As the seed is in the plant, as the shade is in the tree, as the void is in the sky, as infinite forms are in the void--
So from beyond the Infinite, the Infinite comes; and from the Infinite the finite extends.
The creature is in Brahma, and Brahma is in the creature: they are ever distinct, yet ever united.
He Himself is the tree, the seed, and the germ.
He Himself is the flower, the fruit, and the shade.
He Himself is the sun, the light, and the lighted.
He Himself is Brahma, creature, and Maya.
He Himself is the manifold form, the infinite space;
He is the breath, the word, and the meaning.
He Himself is the limit and the limitless: and beyond both the limited and the limitless is He, the Pure Being.
He is the Immanent Mind in Brahma and in the creature.
The Supreme Soul is seen within the soul,
The Point is seen within the Supreme Soul,
And within the Point, the reflection is seen again.
Kabîr is blest because he has this supreme vision!
6. aisâ lo nahîn taisâ lo
O HOW may I ever express that secret word?
O how can I say He is not like this, and He is like that?
If I say that He is within me, the universe is ashamed:
If I say that He is without me, it is falsehood.
He makes the inner and the outer worlds to be indivisibly one;
The conscious and the unconscious, both are His footstools.
He is neither manifest nor hidden, He is neither revealed nor unrevealed:
There are no words to tell that which He is.
7. hamsâ, kaho purâtan vât
TELL me, O Swan, your ancient tale.
From what land do you come, O Swan? to what shore will you fly?
Where would you take your rest, O Swan, and what do you seek?
Even this morning, O Swan, awake, arise, follow me!
There is a land where no doubt nor sorrow have rule: where the terror of Death is no more.
There the woods of spring are a-bloom, and the fragrant scent "He is I" is borne on the wind:
There the bee of the heart is deeply immersed, and desires no other joy.
O SERVANT, where dost thou seek Me?
Lo! I am beside thee.
I am neither in temple nor in mosque: I am neither in Kaaba nor in Kailash:
Neither am I in rites and ceremonies, nor in Yoga and renunciation.
If thou art a true seeker, thou shalt at once see Me: thou shalt meet Me in a moment of time.
Kabîr says, "O Sadhu! God is the breath of all breath."
2. Santan jât na pûcho nirguniyân
It is needless to ask of a saint the caste to which he belongs;
For the priest, the warrior. the tradesman, and all the thirty-six castes, alike are seeking for God.
It is but folly to ask what the caste of a saint may be;
The barber has sought God, the washerwoman, and the carpenter--
Even Raidas was a seeker after God.
The Rishi Swapacha was a tanner by caste.
Hindus and Moslems alike have achieved that End, where remains no mark of distinction.
3. avadhû, mâyâ tajî na jây
TELL me, Brother, how can I renounce Maya?
When I gave up the tying of ribbons, still I tied my garment about me:
When I gave up tying my garment, still I covered my body in its folds.
So, when I give up passion, I see that anger remains;
And when I renounce anger, greed is with me still;
And when greed is vanquished, pride and vainglory remain;
When the mind is detached and casts Maya away, still it clings to the letter.
Kabîr says, "Listen to me, dear Sadhu! the true path is rarely found."
4. candâ jhalkai yahi ghat mâhîn
THE moon shines in my body, but my blind eyes cannot see it:
The moon is within me, and so is the sun.
The unstruck drum of Eternity is sounded within me; but my deaf ears cannot hear it.
So long as man clamours for the I and the Mine, his works are as naught:
When all love of the I and the Mine is dead, then the work of the Lord is done.
For work has no other aim than the getting of knowledge:
When that comes, then work is put away.
The flower blooms for the fruit: when the fruit comes, the flower withers.
The musk is in the deer, but it seeks it not within itself: it wanders in quest of grass.
5. Sâdho, Brahm alakh lakhâyâ
WHEN He Himself reveals Himself, Brahma brings into manifestation That which can never be seen.
As the seed is in the plant, as the shade is in the tree, as the void is in the sky, as infinite forms are in the void--
So from beyond the Infinite, the Infinite comes; and from the Infinite the finite extends.
The creature is in Brahma, and Brahma is in the creature: they are ever distinct, yet ever united.
He Himself is the tree, the seed, and the germ.
He Himself is the flower, the fruit, and the shade.
He Himself is the sun, the light, and the lighted.
He Himself is Brahma, creature, and Maya.
He Himself is the manifold form, the infinite space;
He is the breath, the word, and the meaning.
He Himself is the limit and the limitless: and beyond both the limited and the limitless is He, the Pure Being.
He is the Immanent Mind in Brahma and in the creature.
The Supreme Soul is seen within the soul,
The Point is seen within the Supreme Soul,
And within the Point, the reflection is seen again.
Kabîr is blest because he has this supreme vision!
6. aisâ lo nahîn taisâ lo
O HOW may I ever express that secret word?
O how can I say He is not like this, and He is like that?
If I say that He is within me, the universe is ashamed:
If I say that He is without me, it is falsehood.
He makes the inner and the outer worlds to be indivisibly one;
The conscious and the unconscious, both are His footstools.
He is neither manifest nor hidden, He is neither revealed nor unrevealed:
There are no words to tell that which He is.
7. hamsâ, kaho purâtan vât
TELL me, O Swan, your ancient tale.
From what land do you come, O Swan? to what shore will you fly?
Where would you take your rest, O Swan, and what do you seek?
Even this morning, O Swan, awake, arise, follow me!
There is a land where no doubt nor sorrow have rule: where the terror of Death is no more.
There the woods of spring are a-bloom, and the fragrant scent "He is I" is borne on the wind:
There the bee of the heart is deeply immersed, and desires no other joy.
Re: QAVI KABIR DAS
DOHAS OF KABIR WITH MEANING
Maya Taje To Kya Hua
Maan Taja Naa Jaaye
Maan Bade Munivar Gaye
Maan Saban Ko Khaye
It is very easy to give up efforts and lose weath. It is really very difficult to give up the ego. Very great and analytical people have fallen victim to ego. The ego is killing one and a
Kade Abhimaan Na Kijiye
Kaha Kabir Samajhaye
Ja Seer Aha Jo Sanchare
Pade Chouryasi Jaaye
Don’t have ego. He who has ego is restless always
*****
Sukha Ke Sangi Swarthi
Dukh Me Rahate Door
Kahe Kabir Parmarathi
Dukh Sukh Sada Hujoor
The fair weather friends stay away when we face the rough weather. Those who understand the truth are with us at all times.
*****
Sabase Laghuta Hi Bhali
Laghuta Se Sab Hoye
Jasa Dwitiya Ka Chandrama
Shashi Lahai Sab Koye
It is always better to be humble. Being humble is an effective way of getting results. The Moon of the second day ( after the no moon day) is loved by all.
*****
Chhama Badan Ko Uchit Hai
Chhotan Ko Utpat
Ka Bishno Ka Ghati Gaya
Jo Bhrug Mari Laat
Forgiveness befits the person who is great. One who is petty does something destructive. What is the loss incured by God Vishnu after receiving a blow from Maharishi Bhrugu.
*****
Jaisa Bhojan Kijiye
Vaisa Hi Mana Hoye
Jaisa Paani Pijiye
Taisi Vani Hoye
Your mind is affected by the food that you consume. Your voice is the reflection of the drinks you have.
*****
Kabira Te Nar Andh Hai
Jo Guru Kahate Aur
Hari Ruthe Guru Thor Hai
Guru Ruthe Nahi Thor
Kabir says that the people who do not understand Guru are blind. If God is displeased with us then Guru is there for salvation. If he is displeased there can be no salvation.
*****
Kabira Dheeraj Ke Dhare
Haathi Man Bhar Khaaye
Tuk Tuk Bekar Me
Svan Ghare Ghar Jaaye
As the elephant has patience it eats till its mind is satisfied. But the impatient dog runs here and there in the hope of food.
*****
Ghee Ke To Darshan Bhale
Khana Bhala Na Tel
Dana To Dushman Bhala
Murakh Ka Kya Mel
It is better if one can just have a chance of looking at the purified butter. It is not good to eat oil. It is good to have a sensible person as our enemy than to befriend a fool.
*****
Chandan Jaisa Sadhu Hai
Sarp Hi Sab Sansar
Taake Ang Lapta Rahe
Mana Me Nahi Vikar
A good person is like a sandal tree. The world is like a snake. The snake resides on the sandal tree but the sandal tree does not become poisonous to any extent.
*****
Vruksha Bola Paat Se
Sun Patte Meri Baat
Is Ghar Ki Yah Reet Hai
Ik Aawat Ik Jaat
A tree tells a leave that listen to the tradition of my family. It is that one comes while another goes.
*****
Mai Meri Jab Jayegi
Tab Aayegi Aur
Jab Ye Nishchal Hoyega
Tab Pavega Thor
When ego will go then someone else will come. When the mind becomes calm then the truth is revealed.
*****
Dhan Rahe Na Jauvan Rahe
Rahe Gaav Na Dhaam
Kahe Kabira Jas Rahe
Kar De Kisika Kaam
Neither the wealth has permanence nor the youth. What someone can have forever is his good name. This someone can achieve only after working for the wellbeing of others.
*****
Jhute Sukha Ko Sukha Kahe
Manat Hai Mana Mouj
Jagat Chabena Kaal Ka
Kuch Mukh Me Kuch Goud
Our mind is delighted in having sensual pleasures. Let us understand that the world is being devoured by the time. Somebody is in the mouth while others are on the platter.
*****
Maan Badai Naa Kare
Bada Na Bole Bol
Hira Mukha Se Na Kahe
Laakh Hamara Mol
Dont have ego. Dont talk big. A diamond never says that it has a great cost.
****
Gyani Se Kahiye Kaha
Kahat Kabir Lajaye
Andhe Aage Nachate
Kala Akarat Jaaye
When Kabir is asked to teach an intellectual then he feels shy. What is the use of showing dancing skills to one who is blind.
*****
Sheetal Shabad Uchchariye
Aham Maniye Nahi
Tera Pritam Tujh Me Hai
Dushman Bhi Tujh Mahi
You should speak sweet honeyed words. You should not have ego. Your beloved is in your mind and your enemy is also there.
*****
Khod Khad Dharati Sahe
Kaat Koot Vanaraay
Kutil Vachan Sadhu Sahe
Aur Se Saha Na Jaaye
The earth bears the digging. The forest bears the axe. A person who is good bears the harsh words. Others cannot bear the harsh words.
*****
Mana Ke Bahu Satrang Hai
Chhin Chhin Badale Soye
Ek Rang Me Jo Rahe
Aisa Birla Koye
There are many colors of the mind. The mind is always changing its color. He is very rare whose mind does not change color.
*****
Mitha Sab Koi Khaat Hai
Vish Hai Laage Dhaay
Neem Na Koi Peevasi
Sabe Rog Mit Jaay
Everyone likes eating sugar. This results in spreading of poison in the body. None likes to drink juice of Neem leaves. This can cure the body from all diseases.
*****
Naari Purush Sab Hi Suno
Yah Satguru Ki Saakh
Vish Phal Phale Anek Hai
Mat Dekho Koi Chaakh
Listen everybody to the preaching of a good preacher. There are many ways of sensual enjoyment. But one should abstain from any such way.
*****
Parnari Ki Yaachna
Jo Lahasun Ki Khan
Kone Baithe Khaiye
Pragat Hoye Nidaan
A desire for other’s wife is like a mine of garlic. A person can eat garlic hiding from all. But the fact of his having consumed garlic is clear to anyone who meets him.
*****
Padha Suna Seekha Sabhi
Miti Naa Sanshay Shool
Kahe Kabir Kaso Kahu
Ye Sab Dukh Ka Mool
One may read, listen and learn everything. But after doing all this he has confusion. Kabir is at pains to explain that confusion is the root of sorrow.
*****
Pahale Shabad Pichhaniye
Pichhe Kije Mol
Parkhi Parkhe Ratan Ko
Shabad Ka Mol Na Tol
First you should understand what has been said by others. Then you can make the valuation of the words that you have listened. A goldsmith can test the purity of gold. One does not have any means for the valuation and weighment of words.
*****
Mana Unmana Na Toliye
Shabada Ke Mol Na Tol
Murakh Log Na Janaasi
Aapa Khoya Bol
When your mind is raged then you should not react to the words. One does not have any means for the valuation and weighment of words. The fools do not understand this and lose their balance while talking.
*****
Shram Hi Se Sab Kuchh Bane
Bin Shram Mile Na Kaahi
Sidhi Ungli Ghee Jamo
Kabasu Nikase Naahi
Efforts can accomplish everything. Nothing can be accomplished without taking efforts. A purified butter that is frozen cannot be taken out with a straight finger.
*****
Tinka Kabahu Naa Nindiye
Paav Tale Jo Hoye
Kaba Huni Aankho Pare
Peed Ghaneri Hoye
One should not abuse a blade of grass under one’s feet. If that happens to strike on one’s eye then there will be terrific pain.
*****
Oonche Kul Ke Karane
Bhool Raha Sansar
Tab Kul Ki Kya Laaj Hai
Jab Tan Laago Chaad
Dont disregard the world at large under the notion that you belong to a great family. Where will be the prestige of your family on the day on which you will have to depart from the world.
*****
Maya Maya Sab Kahe
Maya Lakhe Na Koye
Jo Manase Na Utare
Maya Kahiye Soye
Everyone talks about delusion. No one understands what it is. The one that wraps the mind should be identified as delusion.
*****
Bhookhe Ko Kuch Deejiye
Yathashakti Jo Hoye
Taa Upar Sheetal Bachan
Lakho Aatma Soye
Offer to the needy whatever you can. Speak sweet honeyed words to all. This is how you will come to know the eternal spirit.
*****
Chidiya Choch Bhar Le Gayi
Nadi Ko Ghatyo Naa Neer
Daan Diye Dhan Naa Ghaate
Kaha Gaye Daas Kabir
A sparrow flies away with a beakful of water. A river does not have any depletion of its water due to this. Similarly one does not decrease his wealth by giving donation.
*****
Jo Koi Ninde Sadhu Ko
Sankat Aave Soye
Narak Jaaye Janame Mare
Mukti Kabahu Na Hoye
One who abuses a good person invites disaster for himself. He goes to hell and changes his state of mind every time. He cannot attain salvation in any manner.
*****
Vishaya Vasana Uljhikar
Jaanam Gavaya Baat
Ab Pachatava Kya Kare
Nij Karani Kar Yaad
You were entangled in the sensual pleasures. This is how you have wasted your life. You are repenting today. You should remind your past actions.
*****
Dharma Kiye Dhan Na Ghaate
Nadi Ghate Naa Neer
Apni Aakhan Dekh Lo
Kaha Gaye Das Kabir
One does not decrease his wealth by giving donation. A river does not experience any depletion of its water. Kabirdas wants you to see this on your own.
*****
Ati Hat Mat Kar Bavare
Hat Se Baat Ne Hoye
Jyon Jyon Bheeje Kamari
Tyon Tyon Bhaari Hoye
Dont just insist for something without sense. Just by your insisting the thing cannot happen. The gunny bags of salt will gain weight every moment if these are immmersed in water.
*****
Gyan Samagam Prem Sukh
Daya Bhakti Biswas
Guru Seva Te Paiye
Satguru Charan Niwas
Knowledge, association with good, love, happiness, mercy, devotion and faith. All this after being in the service at the feet of a good preceptor.
*****
Guru Kumbhar Shish Kumbh Hai
Gadi Gadi Kadhe Khot
Andar Haat Savar De
Bahar Mare Chot
A preceptor is like a potter (earthman) and a disciple is like a pot. A potter hits the pot from outside and provides every support from within.
*****
Kabira Man Panchi Bhaya
Bhave Taha Aa Jaaye
Jo Jaisi Sangat Kare
So Taisa Phal Paye
A mind is like a bird. It goes where it likes. The results one gets is for the company he keeps.
*****
Sheel Shama Jab Upaje
Alakh Drishti Tab Hoye
Bin Sheel Pahuche Nahi
Laakh Kathe Jo Koye
When one experiences great qualities like good character and mercy rising in his mind then one can see the truth. Without this there is no other path to the truth.
*****
Kabira Gyan Bichar Bin
Hari Dhundhan Ko Jaye
Tan Me Tirloki Base
Ab Tak Parkha Naye
Kabir says that you are searching God without proper thinking and knowledge. He is there within you. You dont know how to see.
*****
Kala Nala Heen Jal
So Phir Paani Hoye
Jo Paani Moti Bhaya
So Phir Neer Na Hoye
An ice becomes water in the course of time. The water that has become a pearl will never again become water.
*****
Kaami Tare Krodhi Tare
Lobhi Ki Gati Hoye
Salil Bhakta Sansar Me
Tarat Na Dekha Koye
A man of lust or a man of anger can get salvation. A man of greed can come to the right path. But a person who drinks wine is never seen as being saved in this world.
*****
Tan Man Lajja Na Kare
Kaam Baan Ur Shaal
Ek Kaam Sab Bas Kiye
Sur Nar Muni Behaal
He who has arrows of lust pricked in his chest does not know how to tame his body or mind. The one lust has occupied the mind of all. The divine creatures, human beings and the people undertaking penance have been made to lose the peace by the lust.
*****
Ghar Jaaye Ghar Ubhare
Ghar Raakhe Ghar Jaaye
Ek Achambha Dekhiya
Mua Kaal To Khaye
The utmost wonder is that the time devours everything.
*****
Kabira Yah Gati Atpati
Chatpati Lakhi Naa Jaaye
Jo Mana Ki Khatpat Mite
Adhar Bhaya Thaharaye
A restless mind is not a mind in good state. Only the mind that becomes stable can get rest.
*****
Sevak Seva Me Rahe
Sevak Kahiye Soye
Kahe Kabira Bavla
Sevak Kabhi Na Hoye
A good disciple remains in the service of preceptor. A person who is senseless can never be a good disciple.
*****
Satguru Mila Jo Janiye
Gyan Ujala Hoye
Bharam Ka Bhanda Todkar
Rahe Nirala Hoye
If you will be at the feet of the preceptor then you will experience the glow of knowledge. You should break the sphere of delusion and maintain your independence.
*****
Bandhe Ko Bandhe Mile
Chhoote Koun Upaaye
Jo Mile Nirbandh Ko
Pal Me Le Chhudaye
A person who has his arms tied meets others whose arms are also tied. Now how should they set themselves free. If they meet the one whose arms are not tied then he will set them free immediately.
*****
Kabir Lahare Samudra Ki
Moti Bikhare Aaye
Bagula Parakh Na Jaan Hi
Hansa Chun Chun Khaye
The waves of sea spread the pearls on the sea-shore. A heron cannot understand how to identify a pearl. A swan carefully identifies the pearls and gets satisfied.
****
Kabira Darshan Sadhu Ke
Karan Na Kije Kaani
Jo Udham Se Lakshami Ki
Alas Mana Se Haani
Dont shirk to meet a good person. An intoxicated or lethargic mind causes loss of wealth.
*****
Sadhu Shabda Samudra Hai
Jaa Me Ratan Bharaay
Mand Bhag Mutthi Bhar
Kankar Haath Lagaay
A good person is an ocean of pearls. Those who are not intelligent end with handful of sand after meeting a good person.
*****
Sadhu Bhookha Bhav Ka
Dhan Ka Bhookha Nahi
Dhan Ka Bhookha Jo Phire
So To Sadhu Naahi
A good person wants that you should have faith in what he says. He is not after your money. He who roams for money is not a good person.
*****
Bhes Dekh Na Puchhiye
Puchh Lijiye Gyan
Bina Kasouti Hot Nahi
Kanchan Ki Pehchan
Dont go after the outward appearance. See whether he has the right knowledge. A goldsmith cannot verify the purity of gold without putting it to test.
*****
Kasturi Kundal Base
Mrug Dhoondhe Ban Maahi
Jyo Ghat Ghat Ram Hai
Duniya Dekhe Nahi
A deer has the fragrance in itself and runs throughout the forest for finding it. Similarly Ram is everywhere but the world does not see.
*****
Koyala Bhi Ho Ujala
Jari Pari Jo Sek
Murakh Hoy Naa Ujala
Jo Kaala Ka Khet
A coal becomes white when put on fire. A fool does not shun his foolishness after any treatment.
*****
Kabira Teri Jhopadi
Gal Katiyan Ke Paas
Jaisi Karani Vaisi Bharani
Tu Kyu Hua Udaas
One reaps what one sows
*****
Karata Raha So Kyo Raha
Ab Kari Kyo Pachhataye
Boye Ped Babul Ka
So Amua Kaha Se Paaye
You were about to do this. But why you did not do. You had sown seeds of babul tree. Therefore you should not expect mangos from the tree.
*****
Kabira Garva Naa Kijiye
Kabahu Naa Hasiye Koye
Aja Ye Naav Samudra Me
Naa Jane Kya Hoye
Dont feel proud. Dont mock at anybody. Your life is like a boat in the sea. Who can say what may happen at any time.
*****
Maati kahe kumbhar ko
Tu kya roondhe mohe
Ek din aisaa aayega
Mai roondhoo gi tohe.
A person who makes earthen pots from the earth beats the earth under his feet to facilitate fine moulding work. See how the destiny works. His body is decomposed in the same earth after his death.
*****
Aaye hai jo jaayenge
Raaja rank fakir
Ek sinhaansan chadhi chale
Dooja bandhe janjeer.
He who comes to this world has to depart. He may be a king or a fakir. He who departs also comes back due to his effects of past actions.
*****
Chalti chakki dekh re
Diya kabira roye
Do paatan ke beech mein
Baaki bacha na koyi
Baaki bacha na koyi.
Between the grinding stones of cravings and aversions the whole world is being crushed. Kabir weeps at the plight of the world as none is able to see the truth.
*****
Kabira Seep Samudra Ki
Khara Jal Nahi Le
Paani Piye Swati Ka
Shobha Sagar De
A shell in the ocean does not take any salty water from the ocean. It drinks the raindrops falling during the period of Swati Constellation and adds to the beauty of the ocean.
*****
Satguru Mila To Sab Mile
Naa To Mila Naa Koye
Maat Pita Sut Bandhava
Ye To Ghar Ghar Hoye
If someone is able to have a privilege of being in the company of a good preceptor then he has the privilege of being in the company of all. Otherwise he does not understand any relation. The relatives like mother, father, son and brother are there in all families.
*****
Chinta To Guru Naam Ki
Aur Na Chitave Daas
Jo Koi Chitave Naam Binu
Soi Kaal Ki Aas
It is better to meditate on Guru. He who meditates on anything else will be devoured by the time.
*****
Kahata Hu Kahi Jaat Hu
Kahat Bajaye Dhol
Swasa Khaali Jaat Hai
Teen Lok Ka Mol
Dont say that you belong to a very prominent caste. This is nothing for which you should beat drums. You are wasting your breaths and standing separated from the eternal spirit.
*****
Daas Bananna Kathin Hai
Mai Dasan Ka Daas
Ab To Aisa Hoye Rahu
Paav Tale Ki Ghaas
It is difficult to serve others. I am serving those who are serving others. Now I long to become like a grass under the feet of people.
*****
Vishaya Tyag Bairagya Hai
Samata Kahiye Gyan
Sukhadayi Sab Jeev So
Yahi Bhakati Parmaan
Being detached means renouncing the sensual pleasures. Knowledge means equanimity. Devotion means creating happiness for all the beings.
*****
Bhakati Mahal Bahu Ooch Hai
Door Hi Se Darshaay
Jo Koi Jan Bhakati Kare
Shobha Barni Naa Jaaye
The palace of devotion has a very great height. This one can observe from a distance. Whoever is engaged in devotion, words fall short for describing his beauty.
*****
Kabira Yeh Sansar Hai
Jaisa Semal Phool
Din Das Ke Vyavahar Me
Jhoote Rang Na Bhool
This world is like a flower that traps a bee. Dont get overwhelmed by what you experience for a while.
*****
Ek Din Aisa Aayega
Sab Se Pade Bichhoh
Raja Rani Raav Rank
Savadh Kyo Nahi Hoye
On the last day there will be separation from everybody. This should be understood by one and all.
*****
Jaise Bhakati Kare Sabai
Vaise Pooja Hoye
Bhay Palat Hai Jeev Ko
Nirbhay Hoye Naa Koye
Your mind should have devotion to come out of the loop of fear.
*****
Shabda Barabar Dhan Nahi
Jo Koi Jaane Bol
Hira To Damo Mile
Shabda Mol Naa Tol
He who is good at speaking understands that there is no wealth like words. A diamond can be purchased for a value. One do not just have any means for valuation of word.
*****
Ram Naam Ki Loot Hai
Loot Sake To Loot
Antakaal Pachhatayega
Jab Pran Jayenge Chhoot
You have the access to the name of Ram without any cost. Why dont you have access to it as much as you can. Otherwise at the last moment of your life you will feel sorry.
****
Neend Nishani Mout Ki
Uttha Kabira Jaag
Aur Rasayan Chaadi Ke
Naam Rasayan Laag
A state of being asleep is at par with the state of being dead. Therefore Kabir should get up. He should shun everything else and remember the God.
https://dohe.in/kabir-ke-dohe-in-english/
Maya Taje To Kya Hua
Maan Taja Naa Jaaye
Maan Bade Munivar Gaye
Maan Saban Ko Khaye
It is very easy to give up efforts and lose weath. It is really very difficult to give up the ego. Very great and analytical people have fallen victim to ego. The ego is killing one and a
Kade Abhimaan Na Kijiye
Kaha Kabir Samajhaye
Ja Seer Aha Jo Sanchare
Pade Chouryasi Jaaye
Don’t have ego. He who has ego is restless always
*****
Sukha Ke Sangi Swarthi
Dukh Me Rahate Door
Kahe Kabir Parmarathi
Dukh Sukh Sada Hujoor
The fair weather friends stay away when we face the rough weather. Those who understand the truth are with us at all times.
*****
Sabase Laghuta Hi Bhali
Laghuta Se Sab Hoye
Jasa Dwitiya Ka Chandrama
Shashi Lahai Sab Koye
It is always better to be humble. Being humble is an effective way of getting results. The Moon of the second day ( after the no moon day) is loved by all.
*****
Chhama Badan Ko Uchit Hai
Chhotan Ko Utpat
Ka Bishno Ka Ghati Gaya
Jo Bhrug Mari Laat
Forgiveness befits the person who is great. One who is petty does something destructive. What is the loss incured by God Vishnu after receiving a blow from Maharishi Bhrugu.
*****
Jaisa Bhojan Kijiye
Vaisa Hi Mana Hoye
Jaisa Paani Pijiye
Taisi Vani Hoye
Your mind is affected by the food that you consume. Your voice is the reflection of the drinks you have.
*****
Kabira Te Nar Andh Hai
Jo Guru Kahate Aur
Hari Ruthe Guru Thor Hai
Guru Ruthe Nahi Thor
Kabir says that the people who do not understand Guru are blind. If God is displeased with us then Guru is there for salvation. If he is displeased there can be no salvation.
*****
Kabira Dheeraj Ke Dhare
Haathi Man Bhar Khaaye
Tuk Tuk Bekar Me
Svan Ghare Ghar Jaaye
As the elephant has patience it eats till its mind is satisfied. But the impatient dog runs here and there in the hope of food.
*****
Ghee Ke To Darshan Bhale
Khana Bhala Na Tel
Dana To Dushman Bhala
Murakh Ka Kya Mel
It is better if one can just have a chance of looking at the purified butter. It is not good to eat oil. It is good to have a sensible person as our enemy than to befriend a fool.
*****
Chandan Jaisa Sadhu Hai
Sarp Hi Sab Sansar
Taake Ang Lapta Rahe
Mana Me Nahi Vikar
A good person is like a sandal tree. The world is like a snake. The snake resides on the sandal tree but the sandal tree does not become poisonous to any extent.
*****
Vruksha Bola Paat Se
Sun Patte Meri Baat
Is Ghar Ki Yah Reet Hai
Ik Aawat Ik Jaat
A tree tells a leave that listen to the tradition of my family. It is that one comes while another goes.
*****
Mai Meri Jab Jayegi
Tab Aayegi Aur
Jab Ye Nishchal Hoyega
Tab Pavega Thor
When ego will go then someone else will come. When the mind becomes calm then the truth is revealed.
*****
Dhan Rahe Na Jauvan Rahe
Rahe Gaav Na Dhaam
Kahe Kabira Jas Rahe
Kar De Kisika Kaam
Neither the wealth has permanence nor the youth. What someone can have forever is his good name. This someone can achieve only after working for the wellbeing of others.
*****
Jhute Sukha Ko Sukha Kahe
Manat Hai Mana Mouj
Jagat Chabena Kaal Ka
Kuch Mukh Me Kuch Goud
Our mind is delighted in having sensual pleasures. Let us understand that the world is being devoured by the time. Somebody is in the mouth while others are on the platter.
*****
Maan Badai Naa Kare
Bada Na Bole Bol
Hira Mukha Se Na Kahe
Laakh Hamara Mol
Dont have ego. Dont talk big. A diamond never says that it has a great cost.
****
Gyani Se Kahiye Kaha
Kahat Kabir Lajaye
Andhe Aage Nachate
Kala Akarat Jaaye
When Kabir is asked to teach an intellectual then he feels shy. What is the use of showing dancing skills to one who is blind.
*****
Sheetal Shabad Uchchariye
Aham Maniye Nahi
Tera Pritam Tujh Me Hai
Dushman Bhi Tujh Mahi
You should speak sweet honeyed words. You should not have ego. Your beloved is in your mind and your enemy is also there.
*****
Khod Khad Dharati Sahe
Kaat Koot Vanaraay
Kutil Vachan Sadhu Sahe
Aur Se Saha Na Jaaye
The earth bears the digging. The forest bears the axe. A person who is good bears the harsh words. Others cannot bear the harsh words.
*****
Mana Ke Bahu Satrang Hai
Chhin Chhin Badale Soye
Ek Rang Me Jo Rahe
Aisa Birla Koye
There are many colors of the mind. The mind is always changing its color. He is very rare whose mind does not change color.
*****
Mitha Sab Koi Khaat Hai
Vish Hai Laage Dhaay
Neem Na Koi Peevasi
Sabe Rog Mit Jaay
Everyone likes eating sugar. This results in spreading of poison in the body. None likes to drink juice of Neem leaves. This can cure the body from all diseases.
*****
Naari Purush Sab Hi Suno
Yah Satguru Ki Saakh
Vish Phal Phale Anek Hai
Mat Dekho Koi Chaakh
Listen everybody to the preaching of a good preacher. There are many ways of sensual enjoyment. But one should abstain from any such way.
*****
Parnari Ki Yaachna
Jo Lahasun Ki Khan
Kone Baithe Khaiye
Pragat Hoye Nidaan
A desire for other’s wife is like a mine of garlic. A person can eat garlic hiding from all. But the fact of his having consumed garlic is clear to anyone who meets him.
*****
Padha Suna Seekha Sabhi
Miti Naa Sanshay Shool
Kahe Kabir Kaso Kahu
Ye Sab Dukh Ka Mool
One may read, listen and learn everything. But after doing all this he has confusion. Kabir is at pains to explain that confusion is the root of sorrow.
*****
Pahale Shabad Pichhaniye
Pichhe Kije Mol
Parkhi Parkhe Ratan Ko
Shabad Ka Mol Na Tol
First you should understand what has been said by others. Then you can make the valuation of the words that you have listened. A goldsmith can test the purity of gold. One does not have any means for the valuation and weighment of words.
*****
Mana Unmana Na Toliye
Shabada Ke Mol Na Tol
Murakh Log Na Janaasi
Aapa Khoya Bol
When your mind is raged then you should not react to the words. One does not have any means for the valuation and weighment of words. The fools do not understand this and lose their balance while talking.
*****
Shram Hi Se Sab Kuchh Bane
Bin Shram Mile Na Kaahi
Sidhi Ungli Ghee Jamo
Kabasu Nikase Naahi
Efforts can accomplish everything. Nothing can be accomplished without taking efforts. A purified butter that is frozen cannot be taken out with a straight finger.
*****
Tinka Kabahu Naa Nindiye
Paav Tale Jo Hoye
Kaba Huni Aankho Pare
Peed Ghaneri Hoye
One should not abuse a blade of grass under one’s feet. If that happens to strike on one’s eye then there will be terrific pain.
*****
Oonche Kul Ke Karane
Bhool Raha Sansar
Tab Kul Ki Kya Laaj Hai
Jab Tan Laago Chaad
Dont disregard the world at large under the notion that you belong to a great family. Where will be the prestige of your family on the day on which you will have to depart from the world.
*****
Maya Maya Sab Kahe
Maya Lakhe Na Koye
Jo Manase Na Utare
Maya Kahiye Soye
Everyone talks about delusion. No one understands what it is. The one that wraps the mind should be identified as delusion.
*****
Bhookhe Ko Kuch Deejiye
Yathashakti Jo Hoye
Taa Upar Sheetal Bachan
Lakho Aatma Soye
Offer to the needy whatever you can. Speak sweet honeyed words to all. This is how you will come to know the eternal spirit.
*****
Chidiya Choch Bhar Le Gayi
Nadi Ko Ghatyo Naa Neer
Daan Diye Dhan Naa Ghaate
Kaha Gaye Daas Kabir
A sparrow flies away with a beakful of water. A river does not have any depletion of its water due to this. Similarly one does not decrease his wealth by giving donation.
*****
Jo Koi Ninde Sadhu Ko
Sankat Aave Soye
Narak Jaaye Janame Mare
Mukti Kabahu Na Hoye
One who abuses a good person invites disaster for himself. He goes to hell and changes his state of mind every time. He cannot attain salvation in any manner.
*****
Vishaya Vasana Uljhikar
Jaanam Gavaya Baat
Ab Pachatava Kya Kare
Nij Karani Kar Yaad
You were entangled in the sensual pleasures. This is how you have wasted your life. You are repenting today. You should remind your past actions.
*****
Dharma Kiye Dhan Na Ghaate
Nadi Ghate Naa Neer
Apni Aakhan Dekh Lo
Kaha Gaye Das Kabir
One does not decrease his wealth by giving donation. A river does not experience any depletion of its water. Kabirdas wants you to see this on your own.
*****
Ati Hat Mat Kar Bavare
Hat Se Baat Ne Hoye
Jyon Jyon Bheeje Kamari
Tyon Tyon Bhaari Hoye
Dont just insist for something without sense. Just by your insisting the thing cannot happen. The gunny bags of salt will gain weight every moment if these are immmersed in water.
*****
Gyan Samagam Prem Sukh
Daya Bhakti Biswas
Guru Seva Te Paiye
Satguru Charan Niwas
Knowledge, association with good, love, happiness, mercy, devotion and faith. All this after being in the service at the feet of a good preceptor.
*****
Guru Kumbhar Shish Kumbh Hai
Gadi Gadi Kadhe Khot
Andar Haat Savar De
Bahar Mare Chot
A preceptor is like a potter (earthman) and a disciple is like a pot. A potter hits the pot from outside and provides every support from within.
*****
Kabira Man Panchi Bhaya
Bhave Taha Aa Jaaye
Jo Jaisi Sangat Kare
So Taisa Phal Paye
A mind is like a bird. It goes where it likes. The results one gets is for the company he keeps.
*****
Sheel Shama Jab Upaje
Alakh Drishti Tab Hoye
Bin Sheel Pahuche Nahi
Laakh Kathe Jo Koye
When one experiences great qualities like good character and mercy rising in his mind then one can see the truth. Without this there is no other path to the truth.
*****
Kabira Gyan Bichar Bin
Hari Dhundhan Ko Jaye
Tan Me Tirloki Base
Ab Tak Parkha Naye
Kabir says that you are searching God without proper thinking and knowledge. He is there within you. You dont know how to see.
*****
Kala Nala Heen Jal
So Phir Paani Hoye
Jo Paani Moti Bhaya
So Phir Neer Na Hoye
An ice becomes water in the course of time. The water that has become a pearl will never again become water.
*****
Kaami Tare Krodhi Tare
Lobhi Ki Gati Hoye
Salil Bhakta Sansar Me
Tarat Na Dekha Koye
A man of lust or a man of anger can get salvation. A man of greed can come to the right path. But a person who drinks wine is never seen as being saved in this world.
*****
Tan Man Lajja Na Kare
Kaam Baan Ur Shaal
Ek Kaam Sab Bas Kiye
Sur Nar Muni Behaal
He who has arrows of lust pricked in his chest does not know how to tame his body or mind. The one lust has occupied the mind of all. The divine creatures, human beings and the people undertaking penance have been made to lose the peace by the lust.
*****
Ghar Jaaye Ghar Ubhare
Ghar Raakhe Ghar Jaaye
Ek Achambha Dekhiya
Mua Kaal To Khaye
The utmost wonder is that the time devours everything.
*****
Kabira Yah Gati Atpati
Chatpati Lakhi Naa Jaaye
Jo Mana Ki Khatpat Mite
Adhar Bhaya Thaharaye
A restless mind is not a mind in good state. Only the mind that becomes stable can get rest.
*****
Sevak Seva Me Rahe
Sevak Kahiye Soye
Kahe Kabira Bavla
Sevak Kabhi Na Hoye
A good disciple remains in the service of preceptor. A person who is senseless can never be a good disciple.
*****
Satguru Mila Jo Janiye
Gyan Ujala Hoye
Bharam Ka Bhanda Todkar
Rahe Nirala Hoye
If you will be at the feet of the preceptor then you will experience the glow of knowledge. You should break the sphere of delusion and maintain your independence.
*****
Bandhe Ko Bandhe Mile
Chhoote Koun Upaaye
Jo Mile Nirbandh Ko
Pal Me Le Chhudaye
A person who has his arms tied meets others whose arms are also tied. Now how should they set themselves free. If they meet the one whose arms are not tied then he will set them free immediately.
*****
Kabir Lahare Samudra Ki
Moti Bikhare Aaye
Bagula Parakh Na Jaan Hi
Hansa Chun Chun Khaye
The waves of sea spread the pearls on the sea-shore. A heron cannot understand how to identify a pearl. A swan carefully identifies the pearls and gets satisfied.
****
Kabira Darshan Sadhu Ke
Karan Na Kije Kaani
Jo Udham Se Lakshami Ki
Alas Mana Se Haani
Dont shirk to meet a good person. An intoxicated or lethargic mind causes loss of wealth.
*****
Sadhu Shabda Samudra Hai
Jaa Me Ratan Bharaay
Mand Bhag Mutthi Bhar
Kankar Haath Lagaay
A good person is an ocean of pearls. Those who are not intelligent end with handful of sand after meeting a good person.
*****
Sadhu Bhookha Bhav Ka
Dhan Ka Bhookha Nahi
Dhan Ka Bhookha Jo Phire
So To Sadhu Naahi
A good person wants that you should have faith in what he says. He is not after your money. He who roams for money is not a good person.
*****
Bhes Dekh Na Puchhiye
Puchh Lijiye Gyan
Bina Kasouti Hot Nahi
Kanchan Ki Pehchan
Dont go after the outward appearance. See whether he has the right knowledge. A goldsmith cannot verify the purity of gold without putting it to test.
*****
Kasturi Kundal Base
Mrug Dhoondhe Ban Maahi
Jyo Ghat Ghat Ram Hai
Duniya Dekhe Nahi
A deer has the fragrance in itself and runs throughout the forest for finding it. Similarly Ram is everywhere but the world does not see.
*****
Koyala Bhi Ho Ujala
Jari Pari Jo Sek
Murakh Hoy Naa Ujala
Jo Kaala Ka Khet
A coal becomes white when put on fire. A fool does not shun his foolishness after any treatment.
*****
Kabira Teri Jhopadi
Gal Katiyan Ke Paas
Jaisi Karani Vaisi Bharani
Tu Kyu Hua Udaas
One reaps what one sows
*****
Karata Raha So Kyo Raha
Ab Kari Kyo Pachhataye
Boye Ped Babul Ka
So Amua Kaha Se Paaye
You were about to do this. But why you did not do. You had sown seeds of babul tree. Therefore you should not expect mangos from the tree.
*****
Kabira Garva Naa Kijiye
Kabahu Naa Hasiye Koye
Aja Ye Naav Samudra Me
Naa Jane Kya Hoye
Dont feel proud. Dont mock at anybody. Your life is like a boat in the sea. Who can say what may happen at any time.
*****
Maati kahe kumbhar ko
Tu kya roondhe mohe
Ek din aisaa aayega
Mai roondhoo gi tohe.
A person who makes earthen pots from the earth beats the earth under his feet to facilitate fine moulding work. See how the destiny works. His body is decomposed in the same earth after his death.
*****
Aaye hai jo jaayenge
Raaja rank fakir
Ek sinhaansan chadhi chale
Dooja bandhe janjeer.
He who comes to this world has to depart. He may be a king or a fakir. He who departs also comes back due to his effects of past actions.
*****
Chalti chakki dekh re
Diya kabira roye
Do paatan ke beech mein
Baaki bacha na koyi
Baaki bacha na koyi.
Between the grinding stones of cravings and aversions the whole world is being crushed. Kabir weeps at the plight of the world as none is able to see the truth.
*****
Kabira Seep Samudra Ki
Khara Jal Nahi Le
Paani Piye Swati Ka
Shobha Sagar De
A shell in the ocean does not take any salty water from the ocean. It drinks the raindrops falling during the period of Swati Constellation and adds to the beauty of the ocean.
*****
Satguru Mila To Sab Mile
Naa To Mila Naa Koye
Maat Pita Sut Bandhava
Ye To Ghar Ghar Hoye
If someone is able to have a privilege of being in the company of a good preceptor then he has the privilege of being in the company of all. Otherwise he does not understand any relation. The relatives like mother, father, son and brother are there in all families.
*****
Chinta To Guru Naam Ki
Aur Na Chitave Daas
Jo Koi Chitave Naam Binu
Soi Kaal Ki Aas
It is better to meditate on Guru. He who meditates on anything else will be devoured by the time.
*****
Kahata Hu Kahi Jaat Hu
Kahat Bajaye Dhol
Swasa Khaali Jaat Hai
Teen Lok Ka Mol
Dont say that you belong to a very prominent caste. This is nothing for which you should beat drums. You are wasting your breaths and standing separated from the eternal spirit.
*****
Daas Bananna Kathin Hai
Mai Dasan Ka Daas
Ab To Aisa Hoye Rahu
Paav Tale Ki Ghaas
It is difficult to serve others. I am serving those who are serving others. Now I long to become like a grass under the feet of people.
*****
Vishaya Tyag Bairagya Hai
Samata Kahiye Gyan
Sukhadayi Sab Jeev So
Yahi Bhakati Parmaan
Being detached means renouncing the sensual pleasures. Knowledge means equanimity. Devotion means creating happiness for all the beings.
*****
Bhakati Mahal Bahu Ooch Hai
Door Hi Se Darshaay
Jo Koi Jan Bhakati Kare
Shobha Barni Naa Jaaye
The palace of devotion has a very great height. This one can observe from a distance. Whoever is engaged in devotion, words fall short for describing his beauty.
*****
Kabira Yeh Sansar Hai
Jaisa Semal Phool
Din Das Ke Vyavahar Me
Jhoote Rang Na Bhool
This world is like a flower that traps a bee. Dont get overwhelmed by what you experience for a while.
*****
Ek Din Aisa Aayega
Sab Se Pade Bichhoh
Raja Rani Raav Rank
Savadh Kyo Nahi Hoye
On the last day there will be separation from everybody. This should be understood by one and all.
*****
Jaise Bhakati Kare Sabai
Vaise Pooja Hoye
Bhay Palat Hai Jeev Ko
Nirbhay Hoye Naa Koye
Your mind should have devotion to come out of the loop of fear.
*****
Shabda Barabar Dhan Nahi
Jo Koi Jaane Bol
Hira To Damo Mile
Shabda Mol Naa Tol
He who is good at speaking understands that there is no wealth like words. A diamond can be purchased for a value. One do not just have any means for valuation of word.
*****
Ram Naam Ki Loot Hai
Loot Sake To Loot
Antakaal Pachhatayega
Jab Pran Jayenge Chhoot
You have the access to the name of Ram without any cost. Why dont you have access to it as much as you can. Otherwise at the last moment of your life you will feel sorry.
****
Neend Nishani Mout Ki
Uttha Kabira Jaag
Aur Rasayan Chaadi Ke
Naam Rasayan Laag
A state of being asleep is at par with the state of being dead. Therefore Kabir should get up. He should shun everything else and remember the God.
https://dohe.in/kabir-ke-dohe-in-english/
Re: QAVI KABIR DAS
Some more from Kabir Das in the manuscript collection of library.ismaili.net
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs0410-pic-0018-left
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs0181-pic-0037-left
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs001 ... 0110-right
https://library.ismaili.net/documents/hs0386
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs005 ... -0103-left
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs0410-pic-0018-right
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs024 ... 0038-right
https://library.ismaili.net/documents/hs0058
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs0268-pic-0033-right
https://library.ismaili.net/documents/hs0244
https://library.ismaili.net/search/node/Kabir?page=1
https://library.ismaili.net/documents/hs0268
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs005 ... -0075-left
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs0410-pic-0018-left
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs0181-pic-0037-left
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs001 ... 0110-right
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs0410-pic-0018-left
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs0181-pic-0037-left
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs001 ... 0110-right
https://library.ismaili.net/documents/hs0386
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs005 ... -0103-left
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs0410-pic-0018-right
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs024 ... 0038-right
https://library.ismaili.net/documents/hs0058
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs0268-pic-0033-right
https://library.ismaili.net/documents/hs0244
https://library.ismaili.net/search/node/Kabir?page=1
https://library.ismaili.net/documents/hs0268
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs005 ... -0075-left
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs0410-pic-0018-left
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs0181-pic-0037-left
https://library.ismaili.net/books/hs001 ... 0110-right
Re: QAVI KABIR DAS
JEN(N)E RUNG NE RUUP NAHI
NAHEE KUCHH NAAM NE THHAAM RE
SO GUPTA PRAGATT BHAYO
LAAKH DHARO TISS NAAM RE
(BHUJ NIRINJIN-PIR SADRUDDIN)
Translation: That which does not have any color or form, nor any name or abode; so when this hidden entity became manifest, it assumes hundreds of thousands of names.
Kabir Das believed in the formless God. His teachings were followed by people from different communities. He was a famous poet of the fifteenth century. He had a positive influence on the different religious movements of the century.
Kabir Das was one of the most influential saints. He probably lived in the fifteenth -sixteenth century. He was a mystic poet. His writings greatly influenced Hinduism and the Bhakti movement. There are not much evidence or information about his life but it is said that he was brought up in a family of Muslim Julahas or weavers, who were settled in or near the city of Benares(Varanasi). His verses are found in the Sikhism scripture Guru Granth Sahib, Panch Vani and Bijak. We get to know about his ideas through a vast collection of verses known as ‘sakhis’ and ‘pads’.
Kabir’s teachings were vehement and rejected major religious traditions. His teachings ridiculed different forms of external worship of both Brahmanical, Hinduism and Islam. He used to teach Hindu, Muslim unity. He believed that God is one who just has different names. He believed in a formless Supreme God. He also said that the only path to salvation was through bhakti or devotion. He also preached the lessons about the brotherhood of man. He was not in support of the caste system. His poetry was a form of spoken Hindi making it easy to understand for ordinary people. He has his followers among both Hindus and Muslims.
Note:
Kabir Das was a famous mystic poet of the fifteenth century. He had followers among different communities. His teachings were found in the sakhis and pads. He rejected major religious traditions and said that God is one with different names.
NAHEE KUCHH NAAM NE THHAAM RE
SO GUPTA PRAGATT BHAYO
LAAKH DHARO TISS NAAM RE
(BHUJ NIRINJIN-PIR SADRUDDIN)
Translation: That which does not have any color or form, nor any name or abode; so when this hidden entity became manifest, it assumes hundreds of thousands of names.
Kabir Das believed in the formless God. His teachings were followed by people from different communities. He was a famous poet of the fifteenth century. He had a positive influence on the different religious movements of the century.
Kabir Das was one of the most influential saints. He probably lived in the fifteenth -sixteenth century. He was a mystic poet. His writings greatly influenced Hinduism and the Bhakti movement. There are not much evidence or information about his life but it is said that he was brought up in a family of Muslim Julahas or weavers, who were settled in or near the city of Benares(Varanasi). His verses are found in the Sikhism scripture Guru Granth Sahib, Panch Vani and Bijak. We get to know about his ideas through a vast collection of verses known as ‘sakhis’ and ‘pads’.
Kabir’s teachings were vehement and rejected major religious traditions. His teachings ridiculed different forms of external worship of both Brahmanical, Hinduism and Islam. He used to teach Hindu, Muslim unity. He believed that God is one who just has different names. He believed in a formless Supreme God. He also said that the only path to salvation was through bhakti or devotion. He also preached the lessons about the brotherhood of man. He was not in support of the caste system. His poetry was a form of spoken Hindi making it easy to understand for ordinary people. He has his followers among both Hindus and Muslims.
Note:
Kabir Das was a famous mystic poet of the fifteenth century. He had followers among different communities. His teachings were found in the sakhis and pads. He rejected major religious traditions and said that God is one with different names.