The following was addressed to an admirer who had offered Kabir a horse.
Let me put a bit and bridle on my steed,3
And abandoning all else course him in heaven.4
Let me make self -reflection my saddle,
And put my foot in the stirrup of divine love.
Come, my steed, let me drive thee to heaven ;
If thou jib, I will strike thee with the whip of love.
Saith Kabir, they are good riders
Who keep themselves aloof from the Veds and the books of the Musalmans.
The following was written after witnessing a cremation : —
1 have seen fire applied to the mouth Which used to eat the five nectars.5
KABIR'S HYMNS 157
Remove, O God, my one misery
Of abiding in the womb and being burned in its fire.
The body is destroyed in various ways and manners —
Some burn it, and some bury it in the earth.
Saith Kabir, ' O God, show me Thy feet ;
Afterwards why not send death ? 1
Kabir was engaged in his devotions when a hostile neighbour took the opportunity to set his house on fire. Kabir heard of it and returning home suc ceeded in extinguishing the flames. It is said that the hostile neighbour's house took fire from Kabir's, and was totally consumed. The following hymn was composed on the occasion :—
God Himself is the fire, Himself the wind ; When the Master setteth fire to the house, who can save it ? What if even my body burn when I am repeating God's name ?
My mind was absorbed in God's name ;
Whose house burneth, and who suffereth loss ? 2
God playeth like an acrobat.
Saith Kabir, utter two letters ; 3
As sure as I have a Master, He will save me.
Kabir thinks he has not performed sufficient worship.
I have not applied my mind to the science of union with God or contemplation of Him ;
Without hate of the world I shall not escape from mammon. How shall I live
back teeth, and the tongue ; bhojya, what is masticated by the back teeth and the tongue ; khiya, what is licked or sipped by the tongue alone ; peya, what is drunk ; and choshya, what is sucked.
Another list of the five nectars is — milk, cream, clarified butter, honey, and sugar.
If I have not God's name as my support ? Saith Kabir, I have searched in heaven, And have seen none equal to God.
The following was written on seeing ravens sitting on a skull and feeding on its contents : —
Ravens were cleaning their beaks on the skull
On which a turban had been once very daintily bound.
Why be proud of this body and of wealth ?
Why dost thou not hold fast God's name ?
Saith Kabir, hear, O my man,
This shall be thy condition at last.
Kabir discourses on the soul.
GAURI ASHTAPADI
Man prayeth for temporal happiness, but sorrow cometh to meet him.
It pleaseth me not to pray for such happiness as shall bring sorrow.
Man still intent on sin hopeth for happiness ;
How shall he find his dwelling in the Supreme God ?
The happiness which even Shiv and Brahma would dread, I supposed to be real.
Even the four sons of Brahma, the muni Narad, and Sheshnag,
Never found their minds stable in their bodies until they had given up hopes of such happiness.
O my brethren, let any one inquire into the condition of the soul.
When it escapeth from the body, where shall it be ?
By the favour of the guru, Jaidev and Namdev
Discovered that, by love and devotion to God,
The soul shall not suffer transmigration.
He whose doubts are dispelled knoweth the truth —
This soul hath no shape or outline ;
KABIR'S HYMNS 159
By God's order it was created, and by understanding God's order it shall be absorbed in Him.
If any one understand the secret of the soul,
It shall only obtain divine happiness when absorbed in God.
There is but one Soul l which occupieth all bodies.
Kabir worshippeth that Soul.
God's name is the tree of life.
Of those who watch day and night to utter the one Name,
How many have become perfect by the love they bore to God!
Sidhs and their disciples and all the munis have grown weary in their efforts without God's name :
The one Name like the tree of life saveth mankind.
They who are regenerated by God shall never alter.
Saith Kabir, I have recognized God's name.
The worship of the one God inculcated.
AND SORATH
XXXVIII
0 shameless man, art thou not ashamed ?
Why dost thou forsake God, and go to some one else ? 2
It becometh not him whose God is the Most High
To go to a strange temple.
That Lord pervadeth all space,
Is ever present, and never distant.
Say, O man, what is there not in His palace
At whose feet Lakshmi taketh refuge ?
Every one speaketh of Him :
He is ommipotent, our own Lord, and our Benefactor.
Saith Kabir, that man is perfect in the world,
In whose heart no other than God abideth.
They who are absorbed in God feel not joy or sorrow for relations.
Who hath a son ? who hath a father ? Who dieth ? who inflicteth pain ? God is the Illusionist who hath illuded the world.1 If separated from God how shall I survive, my mother ? Who hath a husband ? who hath a wife ? reflect on this truth in thy heart.
Saith Kabir, I have become reconciled with the Illusionist ; The illusion vanished when I recognized Him.
Kabir's satisfaction on feeling that he had ob tained salvation.
The sovereign God hath now become my helper ;
Having cut away birth and death I have obtained the supreme state.
God hath united me with the guild of the saints,
And freed me from the five deadly sins.
The ambrosial name I repeat with my tongue ;
God hath made me His unbought 2 slave.
The True Guru did me a favour
By rescuing me from the ocean of the world.
I have begun to love God's lotus feet,
And God ever and ever dwelleth in my heart.
The sparks of the fire of worldly love have become extin guished,
And my mind hath obtained resignation by the support of the Name.
In sea and land the Lord God is fully contained ;
Wherever I look, there is the Searcher of hearts.
It is He Himself who implanteth His service in my heart ;
God is obtained, my brethren, according to primal destiny.
KABIR'S HYMNS 161
The man to whom He showeth favour succeedeth in his affairs.
Kabir's Lord is the Cherisher of the poor.
The following was a remonstrance to a Brahman who had found impurity and caste defilement in almost everything.
There is impurity in water, there is impurity in land, there is impurity in whatever is born.
There is impurity in birth, and again in death ; God's subjects are ruined by this impurity.1
0 pandit, tell me who is pure ;
Explain to me such knowledge as thou hast on the subject, my friend.
There is impurity in the eyes, there is impurity in the tongue, there is impurity in the ears ;
Standing or sitting there is impurity, impurity entereth the kitchen.
Every one knoweth how to be caught in impurity, but few how to escape from it.
Saith Kabir, no impurity attacheth to those who meditate on God in their hearts.
God is greater than any creature, and His saint than any place of pilgrimage.
Decide one controversy, O Ramanand,
If thou desire any service from thy slave.
Is this soul or He to whom it is attached the greater ?
Is God or he who knoweth God the greater ?
Is Brahma or He who created him the greater ?
Are the Veds or the source whence they came the greater ?
Is the pilgrimage or God's saint the greater ?
Saith Kabir, I have been unhappy on this subject.
The effects of the influx of divine knowledge. Kabir likens his mind to a hut.
Lo ! my brethren, a storm of divine knowledge hath come ;
The screens of doubt have all been blown away, and even the ropes of mammon have not been left ;
The two props of indecision 1 have been thrown down, and the beam 2 of worldly love hath been broken ;
The thatched roof of avarice hath fallen to the ground, and the vessel of evil inclinations hath burst.
Saith Kabir, thy slave, O Lord, hath become saturated by the rain 3 which fell after the storm.
And when next he saw the sun appear,4 his mind was illumined.
The following was addressed to a Brahman. Kabir did not desire his followers to associate with infidels.
What shall one say to such people
As neither hear God's praises nor sing His attributes,
But who knock down the heavens by their boasting ?
They whom God hath excluded from His service should always be feared.
They who give not a handful of water to the thirsty
Slander him 5 who brought down the Ganges.
Sitting or standing crooked are their ways ;
They have ruined themselves and ruined others :
They know nothing save evil converse ;
They obey not even Brahma's bidding ;
They have gone astray themselves and are leading others astray.
KABIR'S HYMNS 163
They set fire to their houses and sleep in them ; l They laugh at others, though they have only one eye themselves ;
Kabir is ashamed on beholding them.
A lecture against the shradhs and idolatry of the Hindus.
Nobody obeyeth his parents when alive, yet he giveth them feasts when dead ;
Say how shall the poor parents obtain what the ravens and the dogs have eaten.
Let some one explain to me what kushal 2 means ;
The world dieth talking of kushal ; however shall kushal be obtained ?
Men make goddesses and gods of clay, and offer them living sacrifices —
As your lifeless gods, so your deceased, who ask not for what they want themselves.
You kill living things, and you worship lifeless things ; at the last moment great shall be your suffering.
You know not the worth of God's name, and you shall be drowned in the sea of terror.
You waver and know not the supreme God, wherefore you worship gods and goddesses.
Saith Kabir, you have not thought of the Unknowable, and have become entangled in the deadly sins.
The holy obtain their great reward.
If while living thou be dead, while dead return to life by means of divine knowledge, and thus become absorbed in God ;
If thou abide pure amid impurity, thou shalt not again fall into the terrible ocean of the world.
M 2
My God, such milk should be churned — 1
Keep thy mind steadfast under the guru's instruction ; in this way shalt thou quaff nectar.2
The guru's arrow hath pierced this adamantine age, and let in the light of God's word.
The doubt which I felt, through the power of ignorance whether this world was a snake or a rope, is at an end ; I have a permanent abode in God's house.
The guru without putting an arrow on his bow hath pierced this world, my brethren.
In all directions the kite3 fluttereth in the wind, but its string is fixed in the love of God.
My perturbed mind is absorbed in God ; duality and evil inclinations depart.
Saith Kabir, I have seen the Fearless One by fixing my attention on His name.
Rather than practise Jog search for God through the guru.
When I turned my thoughts towards God, I restrained my mind and my senses 4, and my attention became lovingly fixed on Him.
My soul turning away from sin is absorbed in the universal Soul ;
By the favour of the guru I have now obtained a different understanding ; otherwise I should become estranged from God.
What was near 5 hath become distant, what was distant 6 hath become near for him who accepteth God as He is.
KABIR'S HYMNS 165
As sharbat made from sugar — only he who drinketh it knoweth its flavour.
O Thou devoid of qualities, is there any discriminating person to whom I may speak of Thee ?
Saith Kabir, only he who applieth the spiritual fuse seeth the blast.
Heaven described by negatives.
There (with God) is no rainy season, no ocean, no sun shine, no shade ; there is no creation and no destruction ;
No life, no death ; nor are sorrow and joy felt ; nor is there either retirement or contemplation —
A description of celestial rest would be impossible and peculiar to itself —
There nothing is weighed in the balance, and nothing is exhausted ; there is nothing light, nothing heavy.
There are no nether or upper regions, neither night nor day;
There is no water, wind, or fire ; the True Guru is there contained.
Inaccessible and inapprehensible, He dwelleth uninter ruptedly in everything ;
He is found by the favour of the guru.
Saith Kabir, I am a sacrifice to my guru ; may I remain attached to his society !
Human life under the allegory of an ox and his burden.
With merits and demerits an ox is purchased ; 1 life appeareth as the capital ; 2
In this way a herd is purchased ; 3 covetousness which filleth man's heart is as a sack on the ox's back.
So potent a master is my God
Who made the whole world dealers.1
Lust and wrath are both tax-gatherers ; 2 the whims of the mind are highway robbers.
The herd, which spring from the five elements, pay the tax,3 and are saved.
Saith Kabir, hear, O saints, this is now the state of things —
One ox 4 hath grown weary of travelling the steep road, and dropping his sack, proceedeth on his journey.5
The world under the allegory of a well, human life under that of a well-rope.
A woman hath four days in her father's house ; she must then go to her father-in-law's —
The blind, the stupid, and the silly know not this —
The bride with her sarhi round her is ready to go ;
The guests arrive ; her husband hath come to take her home.6
Men have purchased the bullocks of their bodies with bad and good acts, the breath of life is their capital.
Desires are packed in the sack of the heart, and thus are the good and evil produced by which oxen are purchased.
Our God is such a head of the firm that He hath made the whole world His traders.
Both lust and wrath become tax-gatherers, and mental vagaries high way robbers.
The man who associateth with the elect who know God, payeth the tax and his ox crosseth over.
Saith Kabir, hear O ye saints, it hath now come to this with me,
That in scaling the pass of divine knowledge one ox at least hath cast away his sack of desires and proceeded on his journey.
KABIR'S HYMNS 167
Who is that we see letting down the rope into the well ?
When the rope break eth by the weight of the water-pot, the water-drawer departeth.
If the Lord be compassionate and show mercy, woman shall settle her affairs ;
She is known as a happy wife who pondereth on the guru's instructions.
All men bound by their acts transmigrate ; attentively consider this.
Why blame woman ? what can the poor creature do ?
Without hope she departeth ; she hath not the firmness of faith in her heart.
Cling to the feet of God, and flee to His asylum, O Kabir.
It is the truly pious and not the Jogis or Hindu sectaries who shall be saved.
The Jogi says that jog and nothing else is good and sweet ;
They who shave their bodies, and the Ekshabdis, say that they alone have obtained perfection.
Without God thou art lost in error, O blind one ;
They to whom I go to release myself, are themselves bound by many toils.
You call yourselves pandits, virtuous, brave, generous, and assert that you alone are great ;
It is only when this pride of yours is forgotten that you shall be absorbed in Him from whom you sprang.
Only he understandeth whom Thou, O God, causest to understand ; how can man obtain permanence without understanding ?
When the true guru is found, darkness is dispelled ; in this way the gem l is obtained.
Lay aside the sins of thy left hand and thy right ; 2 take firm hold of God's feet.
Then comes the mukaldiva or ' hauling home '. The meaning here is that Death takes away his victim.
Saith Kabir, if a dumb man eat molasses, what can he say if questioned ? l
The following was composed by Kabir on the death of a Jogi : — i i LII
Where there was something there is nothing; thy body of five elements is no more.
What availeth thee now the suspension of thy breath in the left and right nostrils and their junction ?
The string 2 is broken, thy brain destroyed ; whither hath thy speech gone ?
I feel this anxiety night and day ; who will explain and ease my mind ?
Thy body is no longer in the world ; thy creative mind is no more.
The Joiner dwelleth ever separate from the world ; say who else hath this power ?
If / try to join the elements of the body, I cannot join them ; if / try to separate them, they will not be separated until they perish.
Who hath a master ? who hath a servant ? who waiteth on any one else ? 3
Saith Kabir, my attention is directed to that place where God dwelleth night and day ;
His secret He Himself fully knoweth ; He is ever im perishable.
Kabir was advised to become a Jogi ; the following was his reply : —
Meditation and remembrance of God are my two ear rings, independence of the world my patched coat ;
Dwelling in a silent cave my devotional posture, the abandonment of worldly desires my sect.
KABIR'S HYMNS 169
My king,1 I am a Jogi without temporal love ; I repine not at death and separation.
In the regions of the universe / find my horn ; the whole world, which I hold as ashes, is my wallet ;
Riddance of the three qualities and release from the world are my contemplative attitude.
I have made my heart and breath the two gourds of my lyre, and unbroken attention on God its frame.
The strings are strong and break not ; the lyre playeth spontaneously ;
On hearing it the perfect are enraptured, and I no longer feel the swaying of worldly love.
Saith Kabir, the soul which hath played in this way shall not be born again.
The body under the allegory of a full piece of cloth.
Reason went to the soul to order a body to be woven —
Let a full piece of nine yards, ten yards, and twenty-one yards be woven.2
Let there be sixty threads, nine joinings, and seventy- two cross threads 3 added ;
The weaver 4 then cometh, leaving his last abode.
Is not the body measured by yards, weighed by weight, and starched by two and a half sers of flour ? 5
If the body obtain not starch quickly, it will quarrel and destroy its abode.1
0 man, how many days are there for thee to sit idly ? When shalt thou, who art adverse to the Lord, again have the present opportunity ?
The vessels 2 and the wetted bobbins shall fall to pieces, and the weaver depart in anger ;
Thread cometh not out of an empty bobbin,3 and the cloth will not remain wound around the beam.
0 wretched man, abide in the world, but renounce dis play — Kabir giveth thee this advice.4
The weaver's wife (reason) went to her spouse (the mind) to have a piece woven,
But the weaver was always leaving his home.
Kablr was then asked how he could compare the body to a piece of cloth. He replied: —
It consisteth of nine yards, ten yards, and twenty-one yards.
Sixty threads of the warp, nine joinings, sixty-two cross threads.
Is not the body measured by yards, weighed by weight, and starched by two and a half sers of flour ?
If the body obtain not starch quickly, its spouse (the mind) will quarrel.