Vol. VI — Bhagats of the Granth Sahib
On the eighth day know that the body is made of eight ingredients.
In it is the Unknowable, the King of great treasures.
The guru who is versed in divine knowledge discloseth the secret
How man may turn away from the world, and remain absorbed in the Infrangible and the Indivisible.1
On the ninth day keep watch over the nine gates,
And restrain thy flowing desires ;
Forget all covetousness and worldly love,
And thou shalt eat the immortal fruit and live through all ages.
On the tenth day joy prevaileth in the ten directions ; 2
Doubts are dispelled and God is found.
God is light, the essence of all things, incomparable,
Pure without a stain ; where He dwelleth is neither shade nor sunshine.
On the eleventh day, if man run in one direction,3
He shall not again suffer the pain of birth ;
His heart shall become cool and pure,
And God, whom men say is distant, he shall find near.
On the twelfth day let twelve suns 4 arise for thee, And day and night trumpets shall play spontaneous music.
When a man meeteth a guru the latter discloseth to him the secret of divine knowledge,
And man turneth away from the world and remaineth absorbed in the Infrangible and Indivisible.
KABIR'S HYMNS 193
Thou shalt behold the Father of the three worlds ; A miracle shall be wrought for thee, and from man thou shalt become God.
On the thirteenth day they who repeat the name of the Inaccessible escape transmigration ;
Know that God is equally diffused below and above.
God is neither low nor high, in Him is neither honour nor dishonour ;
He is equally contained in all things.
On the fourteenth day remember that God filleth the fourteen worlds,
And that He dwelleth in every hair of man's body.
Meditate on truth and patience,
And recite the legend of divine knowledge.
On the day of the full moon the moon is full in the heavens And there is gentle light diffused from its beams.1 God is firmly fixed in the beginning, the middle, and the end of all things.
Kabir is absorbed in the ocean of happiness.
KABIR'S WEEK DAYS
Sing God's praises all the days of the week :
On meeting the guru thou shalt obtain God's secret.
On Sunday begin God's service, Restrain the desires in the temple of thy body. Let man day and night keep his attention on the Infrangible One,
And the lute shall tranquilly play spontaneous music.
On Monday nectar trickleth from the moon ; l When tasted, it is a speedy antidote to all poison ; He who drinketh it shall become intoxicated. Let thy mouth remain closed to idle converse.21
On Tuesday learn what thou really art ; Know how to guard against thine evil passions.3 Leave not the God who is in thine own home 4 to wander abroad ;
If thou do, He will be exceeding wroth.
On Wednesday let man enlighten his understanding, So that God's dwelling may be in the lotus of his heart. Let him, on meeting his guru, consider both his soul and God as the same,
And set erect the inverted lotus of his heart.5
On Thursday let him throw his evil passions into the river,
And consider the three gods of the Hindus the same.6 Why doth he not day and night wash away his sins At the junction where the three rivers 7 meet ?
On Friday by the practice of endurance man shall attain his object.
KABIR'S HYMNS 195
By struggling with himself daily,
And carefully restraining all his five senses,
He shall never fall into duality.
On Saturday if man keep strong within him The wick of God's light which shineth in his heart, He shall be illumined without and within, And all his sins shall be erased.
Know that as long as man hath duality in his heart,
He shall not attain God's court.
Let him love the omnipresent God,
And then, saith Kabir, his heart shall be pure.
ASA
The first three lines of the following were addressed by Kabir to his guru Ramanand. The remainder of the hymn contains Ramanand' s replies and instruction.
Touching my guru's feet I bow and ask him why the soul was made,
Why man was born and why he shall perish — tell and explain to me.
O divine one, show mercy to me and put me in the way of escaping from worldly entanglements and the fear of transmigration.
The pain of transmigration resulteth from deeds done, and happiness cometh when the soul is released from it.
Man bursteth not the entanglements of worldly love, and therefore is not absorbed in God.
He knoweth nothing of the rank of nirvan, and so his fears are not dispelled.1
The soul is not born, though men think it is ; it is free from birth and death.1
When the idea of birth and death 2 departeth from man's mind, he shall for ever be absorbed in God.
As the reflection of an object in a vessel of water blendeth with the object when the vessel is broken,
So, saith Kabir, through virtue doubts flee away, and the soul is absorbed in God.3
The following is a satire on the Brahmans of Banaras : —
They wear loin-cloths three and a half yards long and sacrificial threads of three strands ;
They carry rosaries on their necks and glittering brass utensils in their hands ;
They should not be called saints of God, but cheats of Banaras —
Such saints are not pleasing to me—
They gulp down trees with their branches ;
They scrub their vessels, and put them on fires whose wood hath been washed ; 4
They dig up the earth, make two fire-places,5 and eat up men whole !
Those sinners ever wander in evil deeds, yet they call themselves Aparas.
Ever and ever they wander about in their pride and ruin all their families.
Man is attached to what God hath attached him, and his acts correspond.
KABIR'S HYMNS 197
Saith Kabir, he who meeteth the true guru shall not be born again.
Thanksgiving to God the father.
The Father gave me this consolation —
He made me a comfortable bed and put ambrosia into my mouth.
Why should I forget that Father ?
When I go to the next world I shall not lose my game.1
My mother 2 is dead, and I am quite happy.
I do not put on a beggar's coat ; I feel not the frost.
I am a sacrifice to that Father who begot me,
Who put an end to my companionship with the five deadly sins,
Who enabled me to subdue, and trample on them.
When I remember God, my soul and body are happy.
My Father is the great Lord of the earth.
To that Father how shall I go ?
When I met the true guru, he showed me the way—
The Father of the world then became dear to my mind ;
I am Thy son, Thou art my Father ;
We both live in the same place.
Saith Kabir, God's slave knoweth the one God ;
By the guru's favour I know everything.
The central idea of the following is the worship of Maya. She is represented in a hideous and repulsive guise, her nose having been cut off for her infidelity. The first two lines of the hymn describe Tantric ceremonies.
Into one vessel they put a slaughtered cock, and another they fill with liquor.
Five Jogis sit round/and the noseless queen in the midst. The bell of the noseless one resoundeth in both worlds ; But some discriminating person cut off thy nose, 0 Maya.
The noseless one hath her dwelling everywhere ; she killeth every one and looketh out for more.
' I am,' saith she, c the sister and niece of all ; l I am the handmaiden of him who weddeth me.2
My husband is very wise and calleth himself a saint.3
He standeth continually over me ; no one else cometh near me.'
It was I, saith Kabir, who cut off her nose and her ears, and assaulted and expelled her,
Because, though dear to the three worlds, she was an enemy of the saints.
All must die at last ; God's name is their only salvation.
Jogis, celibates, penitents, anchorets, they who wander on many pilgrimages,
They who pluck out and shave their hair, they who practise silence, and they who wear matted locks, must all die at last;
Wherefore worship God.
What can the Jamna do for those whose tongues love God's name ? 4
They who know the Shastars, the Veds, astrology, and various languages,
Who know written and spoken incantations, and all medical science, must die at last.
They who enjoy empires, umbrellas, thrones, many beauti ful women,
Betel, camphor, and highly fragrant sandal, must die at last.
The Veds, Purans. and Simritis I have all searched, but there is no salvation anywhere in them.
Saith Kabir, so repeat God's name that transmigration may be at an end.
KABIR'S HYMNS 199
Kabir was asked whether the world was real or unreal. The following hymn was his reply. His meaning is that the world is unreal like the im possibilities mentioned.
Can an elephant be a rebeck-player, or an ox a drummer ? can a raven play the cymbals ?
Can an ass put on a dancer's skirt and dance ? Can a buffalo perform worship ?
Can Raja Ram1 cook cakes of ice ?
Can any man in his senses eat them ?
Can a lion seated in his den prepare betel ? Can a mam moth rat serve it when made up ?
Can a mouse sing a song of rejoicing from house to house ? Can a tortoise blow a shell ?
Can a barren woman's son go to wed, and build a mansion in the sky ?
Can he marry a fair and beautiful virgin ? Can the hare and the lion sing their eulogies ?
Saith Kabir, hear, O saints, hath an ant eaten a moun tain ?
Can the tortoise say, ' I want fire ' ? Can the gnat pro claim God's word ? 2
The following was addressed to a Jogi who main tained the superiority of his sect and the advantages of its external accessories.
I have one wallet which containeth seventy-two chambers and one door.3
In the whole world he alone is a Jogi
Who craveth for God in the earth containing nine regions.4
That Jogi shall obtain the nine treasures
Who lifteth his soul from below to heaven,
Who maketh divine knowledge his patched coat, medita tion his needle,
Who twisteth the thread of the Word and putteth it therein,
Who maketh the five elements his deer-skin jacket, and walketh in the way of his guru,
Who maketh mercy his fire-shovel, his body his fire-wood, and applieth to it the light of knowledge,1
Who loveth God within his heart, and ever sitteth in the attitude of contemplation.
All the Jogi's craft consisteth in the name of God, to whom belong the body and soul.
Saith Kabir, if God be merciful, He will give man a true mark.2
Trust to God alone and not to thy relations.
As long as the oil and the wick 3 are in the lamp, every thing is visible ;
When the oil is spent, and the wick goeth out, the chamber is dark.
O madman, when thy lamp is out, no one will keep thee even for a ghari,
Therefore repeat the name of God.
Who hath a mother ? who hath a father ? what man hath a wife ?
When the vessel bursteth,4 no one asketh about thee ; it is all ' Take him out ! Take him out ! '
Thy mother sitteth and weepeth on the threshold, thy brother taketh away thy bier.
Thy wife openeth the plaits of her hair and weepeth ; the soul departeth alone.
Saith Kabir, hear, ye saints, regarding this terrible ocean.
The slave man suffereth torture, and the lord of death retireth not from him, 0 God.
J The power of knowing the reality of things seen.
KABIR'S HYMNS 201
The body under the allegory of a churn from which salvation is obtained through the Word.
Sanak and Sanand, sons of Brahma, never found God's limits.
Nor did Brahma himself though he spent his life reading the Veds.
Churn God's churn,1 my brethren.
Gently churn it that the butter may not be lost.2
Make thy body the churn, thy heart the churning-staff ;
Into the churn put the Word instead of milk ;
Make hearty meditation on God thy churning.
Pour the guru's favour into it as thy cold water.
Saith Kabir, he on whom the King looketh with favour,
And who clingeth to His name, shall gain the shore.
When the deadly sins are subdued man arrives at a knowledge of the one God and obtains salvation.
When the wick of pride is dry and the oil of worldly love is spent ;
When the drum of boasting is not heard, and the mind 3 is fast asleep,
When the fire of avarice is out, and the smoke of desires no longer issueth,
Then shall man know that one God is everywhere con tained, and that there is no second.
When the strings are broken, the rebeck no longer playeth,4—
Man hath ruined his affairs by error—
When man obtaineth understanding he shall forget
Preaching, ranting, arguing, and intoning.
Saith Kabir, the highest dignity shall not be far from those
Who crush their deadly sins.
If Kabir commits sin he hopes that God will pardon him as a mother pardons her child, when he prays for forgiveness.
A mother beareth not in mind
All the faults her son committeth.
O God, I am Thy child ;
Why destroyest Thou not my demerits ? l
If a son in great anger rush at his mother,
Even then she beareth it not in mind.
Since I have fallen into the prison of anxiety,
How shall I be saved without God's name ?
My pilgrimage is to the bank of the Gomti,
Where dwelleth the yellow-robed priest.3
Bravo ! bravo ! how sweetly he singeth
God's name delighteth my soul ;
Narad and Saraswati wait on him,
And near him sits lady Lakshmi as his handmaiden.
With my rosary on my neck and God on my tongue
1 repeat His thousand names and salute Him. Saith Kabir, I sing God's praises,
And instruct both Hindus and Musalmans.
Kabir deprecated the destruction of life in any form for idol worship.
Thou cuttest leaves, O flower-girl ; in every leaf there is life.
The stone for which thou gather est the leaves is lifeless. Thou art in error, O flower-girl, in this ; The true Guru is a living God.
KABIR'S HYMNS 203
Brahma is in the leaves, Vishnu in the branches, and Shiv in the flowers.
Thou destroyest three gods in our presence ; whom dost thou worship ?
The sculptor carving the stone turned it into an idol ; and, in doing so, put his foot upon its breast.
If it were a real God, it would have destroyed him.
Men cook rice, dal, lapasi, pancakes, kasar ; 1
The Brahman feasters feast on these things, and put ashes into the idol's mouth.
The flower-girl is in error, and leadeth the world astray, but I go not astray.
Saith Kabir, God hath mercifully preserved me from error.
The stages of man.
Twelve years pass away in childhood ; man performeth no penance even to the age of twenty ;
Until thirty he worshippeth not God ; he repenteth when old age cometh upon him.
His life hath passed in talking about his property ;
His arms strong as the sea have dried up.
He with his own hands constructeth a fence for a tank that hath dried up and a hedge for a reaped field.
When the thief cometh, he quickly taketh what the fool hath preserved as his own.
When the feet, head, and hands begin to totter,
And water floweth copiously from the eyes ;
When words come indistinctly from the tongue,
Dost thou then, sir, hope to perform religious works ?
If God be merciful and thou love Him, thou shalt obtain His name as thy profit.
By the favour of the guru thou shalt obtain the wealth of God,2
Which shall go with thee as thou depart est.
Saith Kabir, hear, O ye good people, ye shall not take other wealth with you ;
When the Supreme God's summons cometh, ye shall depart leaving your wealth and homes.
The inequality of life due to man's own acts and not to God's caprice.
To one man God hath given silks and satins and a niwar bed,1
Others have not even a ragged coat or straw in their houses to lie on.
Indulge not in envy and bickering, O my soul,
Do good deeds and gain their reward.
Out of the same earth the potter mouldeth vessels, but painteth different designs on them ;
Into one vessel is put strings of pearls, and into another filth.
God gave the miser wealth to keep, but the blockhead calleth it his own.
When Death's mace toucheth his head, it shall be decided in a moment whose wealth it is.
God's slave is the highest saint ; he obeyeth God's order and obtaineth happiness.
He accepteth as true what pleaseth God, and God's will he treasureth in his heart.
Saith Kabir, hear, O good people, to call things one's own is untrue ;
Death, breaking the cage, taketh away the bird ; 2 its wires and strings3 are then relaxed.
The following is a remonstrance to a Qazi who desired that Kabir should perform the usual Muham- madan fasts and ceremonies :—
I am God's poor slave, royal state is pleasing to thee ; The Supreme God, the Lord of religions, never ordained tyranny.
KABIR'S HYMNS 205
O Qazi, nothing is done by mere talk ;
It is not by fasting and repeating prayers and the creed that one goeth to heaven.
The inner veil of the temple of Makka is in man's heart, if the truth be known.
Just decisions should be thy prayers, knowledge of God, the inscrutable One, thy creed,
The subjugation of thine evil passions the spreading of the prayer-carpet ; then shouldst thou know what religion is.
Recognize thy Master and fear Him in thy heart ; despise and destroy thy mental pride.1
As thou deemest thyself so deem others, then shalt thou become a partner in heaven.
Matter is one but hath assumed divers shapes ; in the midst of all recognize God.
Saith Kabir, thou hast abandoned heaven and attached thyself to hell.
The following was composed on the occasion of Kabir's visit to the house of a Jogi friend whom he found dead : —
Not a drop now trickleth from the citadel of thy brain — where is the music that filled it ?
The great saint hath departed with the name of the supreme Brahm, the supreme God.
O father, whither hath departed the soul which dwelt with thy body,
Which revelled in divine knowledge, expounded, and preached ?
Whither hath the player gone who played the drum of thy body ? 2
Thy tales, thy words, thy divine instruction, are no longer heard ; all thy vital energy hath been drawn away.
Thine ears have become deaf, the vigour of thine organs hath declined ;
Thy feet have failed, thy hands are relaxed, no word issueth from thy lips ;
The five enemies,1 robbers all, which wander according to their own will have grown weary ;
The elephant,2 thy mind, hath grown weary ; the heart which beat by the force of thy soul, the wire-puller, hath grown weary ;
Thou art dead ; the ten breaths which kept thee together have escaped ; thou hast left thy friends and relations.
Saith Kabir, he who meditateth on God bursteth his bonds even while alive.
Mammon under the guise of a serpent.
Nothing is potent against the serpent
Which deceived Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiv.
The serpent having completely subdued the world hath entered pure water.3
By the guru's favour I have seen her coming who hath stung the three worlds, and guarded myself against her.
0 my brethren, why call out ' Serpent, serpent ' ?
He who knoweth the True One hath destroyed the ser pent ;
No one else is free from her attack*
When the serpent is vanquished what can Death do to man ?
This serpent is God's creature ;
She is weak, what can she do ?
As long, however, as she abideth with man, his soul shall abide in bodies ; 5