On The Experience
When I was, Hari was not, now Hari is and I am no more:
All darkness vanished, when I saw the Lamp within my heart.
The effulgence of the supreme Being is beyond the imagination:
Ineffable is His beauty, to see it is the only 'proof.'
It was a good thing the hail fell to ground, for it lost its own selfhood:
Melting, it turned into water and rolled down to the pond.
Him whom I went out to seek, I found just where I was:
He now has become myself whom before I called 'Another!'
Source: Vidyasoft.com/kabir.
The Lord is in me, the Lord is in you, as life is in every seed.
O servant! put false pride away, and seek for Him within you.
A million suns are ablaze with light,
The sea of blue spreads in the sky,
The fever of life is stilled, and all stains are washed away;
when I sit in the midst of that world.
Hark to the unstruck bells and drums! Take your delight in love!
Rains pour down without water, and the rivers are streams of light.
One Love it is that pervades the whole world, few there are who know
it fully:
They are blind who hope to see it by the light of reason,
that reason which is the cause of separation —
The House of Reason is very far away!
How blessed is Kabîr, that amidst this great joy he sings within
his own vessel.
It is the music of the meeting of soul with soul;
It is the music of the forgetting of sorrows;
It is the music that transcends all coming in and all going forth.
Source: Tagore, R. Songs of Kabir. XCVII (at Poet
Seers.org).
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.
Source: Tagore, R. Songs of Kabir. IX. Translated by Rabindranath Tagore
(at Poet
Seers.org).
That which you see is not: and for that which is, you have
no words.
Unless you see, you believe not: what is told you you cannot
accept.
He who is discerning knows by the word; and the ignorant
stands gaping.
Some contemplate the Formless, and others meditate on form:
but the wise man knows that Brahma is beyond both.
That beauty of His is not seen by the eye: that metre of His
is not heard by the ear.
...
Kabîr says:
“He who has found both love and renunciation never
descends to death.”
~ Kabir, translated by Rabindranath Tagore
This union with the guru, O Kabir,
Sets me free; like salt mingled
With flour, I am no more I!
Now I have no caste, no creed,
I am no more what I am!
O dear brother!
By what name would you call me?
I do not quote from the scriptures;
I simply see what I see.
When the bride is one with her lover,
who cares about the wedding party?
I am not a Hindu,
Nor a Muslim am I!
I am this body, a play
Of five elements; a drama
Of the spirit dancing
With joy and sorrow.
A drop
Melting into the sea,
Everyone can see.
But the sea
Absorbed
In a drop —
A rare one can follow!
I am looking at you,
You at him,
Kabir asks, how to solve
This puzzle —
You, he, and I?
Dying, dying, the world
Is dying only.
But lo! None knows how to die
In such a way
That he dies never again.
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O servant, where dost thou seek Me?
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."
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The Bride-Soul Longs for Her Husband, the Beloved
When will that day dawn, Mother;
When the One I took birth for
Holds me to His heart with deathless love?
I long for the bliss of divine union.
I long to lose my body, mind, and soul
And become one with my husband.
When will that day dawn, Mother?
Husband, fulfill now the longing I have had
Since before the universe was made.
Enter me completely and release me.
In terrible lonely years without You
I yearn and yearn for You.
I spend sleepless nights hunting for You,
Gazing into darkness after You,
With unblinking hopeless eyes.
When will that day dawn, Mother?
When will my Lord hold me to His heart?
My empty bed, like a hungry tigress,
Devours me whenever I try to sleep.
Listen to your slave's prayer —
Come and put out this blaze of agony
That consumes my soul and body.
When will He hold me to His heart?
When will that day dawn, Mother?
Kabir sings, "If I ever meet You, my Beloved,
I'll cling to you so fiercely You melt into me;
I'll sing from inside You songs of union,
World-dissolving songs of Eternal Bliss."
Source: Poet
Seers/kabir.
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God is the tree in the forests that
allows itself to die and will not defend itself in front of those
with the ax,
not wanting to cause them shame.
And God is the earth that will allow itself to
be deformed by man's tools, but He cries; yes, God cries,
but only in front of His closest ones.
And a beautiful animal is being beaten to death,
but nothing can make God break His silence
to the masses and say,
"Stop, please stop, why are you doing this to Me?"
How humble is God?
Kabir wept,
when I knew.
Source: Love Poems from God.
Compilation by Daniel Ladinsky (at Poet
Seers.org). |
Within this earthen vessel
are bowers and groves,
and within it is the Creator:
Within this vessel are the seven oceans
and the unnumbered stars.
The touchstone
and the jewel-appraiser
are within;
and within this vessel the Eternal
soundeth,
and the spring wells up.
Kabîr says: "Listen to me, my Friend!
My beloved Lord is within."
Source: Tagore, R. Songs of Kabir. VIII (at Sacred-texts.com).
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Abode of the Beloved
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.
Source: Old
Poetry/kabir.
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