Songs of Kabir: LXXI-LXXX

LXXI-LXXX

LXXI

III. 13. s�dh sangat p�tam
Go thou to the company of the good, where the Beloved One has His
  dwelling place:
Take all thy thoughts and love and instruction from thence.
Let that assembly be burnt to ashes where His Name is not spoken!
Tell me, how couldst thou hold a wedding-feast, if the bridegroom
  himself were not there?
Waver no more, think only of the Beloved;
Set not thy heart on the worship of other gods, there is no worth
  in the worship of other masters.
Kab�r deliberates and says: "Thus thou shalt never find the
  Beloved!"
LXXII

III. 26. tor h�r� hir�ilw� k�cad men
The jewel is lost in the mud, and all are seeking for it;
Some look for it in the east, and some in the west; some in the
  water and some amongst stones.
But the servant Kab�r has appraised it at its true value, and has
  wrapped it with care in the end of the mantle of his heart.
LXXIII

III. 26. �yau din gaune k� ho
The palanquin came to take me away to my husband's home, and it
  sent through my heart a thrill of joy;
But the bearers have brought me into the lonely forest, where I
  have no one of my own.
O bearers, I entreat you by your feet, wait but a moment longer:
  let me go back to my kinsmen and friends, and take my leave of
  them.
The servant Kab�r sings: "O Sadhu!  finish your buying and
  selling, have done with your good and your bad: for there are
  no markets and no shops in the land to which you go."
LXXIV

III. 30. are dil, prem nagar k� ant na p�y�
O my heart! you have not known all the secrets of this city of
  love: in ignorance you came, and in ignorance you return.
O my friend, what have you done with this life?  You have taken
  on your head the burden heavy with stones, and who is to
  lighten it for you?
Your Friend stands on the other shore, but you never think in
  your mind how you may meet with Him:
The boat is broken, and yet you sit ever upon the bank; and thus
  you are beaten to no purpose by the waves.
The servant Kab�r asks you to consider; who is there that shall
  befriend you at the last?
You are alone, you have no companion: you will suffer the
  consequences of your own deeds.
LXXV

III. 55. ved kahe sargun ke �ge
The Vedas say that the Unconditioned stands beyond the world of
  Conditions.
O woman, what does it avail thee to dispute whether He is beyond
  all or in all?
See thou everything as thine own dwelling place: the mist of
  pleasure and pain can never spread there.
There Brahma is revealed day and night: there light is His
  garment, light is His seat, light rests on thy head.
Kab�r says: "The Master, who is true, He is all light."
LXXVI

III. 48. t� surat nain nih�r
Open your eyes of love, and see Him who pervades this world I
  consider it well, and know that this is your own country.
When you meet the true Guru, He will awaken your heart;
He will tell you the secret of love and detachment, and then you
  will know indeed that He transcends this universe.
This world is the City of Truth, its maze of paths enchants the
  heart:
We can reach the goal without crossing the road, such is the
  sport unending.
Where the ring of manifold joys ever dances about Him, there is
  the sport of Eternal Bliss.
When we know this, then all our receiving and renouncing is
  over;
Thenceforth the heat of having shall never scorch us more.
He is the Ultimate Rest unbounded:
He has spread His form of love throughout all the world.
From that Ray which is Truth, streams of new forms are
  perpetually springing: and He pervades those forms.
All the gardens and groves and bowers are abounding with blossom;
  and the air breaks forth into ripples of joy.
There the swan plays a wonderful game,
There the Unstruck Music eddies around the Infinite One;
There in the midst the Throne of the Unheld is shining, whereon
  the great Being sits--
Millions of suns are shamed by the radiance of a single hair of
  His body.
On the harp of the road what true melodies are being sounded!
  and its notes pierce the heart:
There the Eternal Fountain is playing its endless life-streams of
  birth and death.
They call Him Emptiness who is the Truth of truths, in Whom all
  truths are stored!
There within Him creation goes forward, which is beyond all
  philosophy; for philosophy cannot attain to Him:
There is an endless world, O my Brother! and there is the
  Nameless Being, of whom naught can be said.
Only he knows it who has reached that region: it is other than
  all that is heard and said.
No form, no body, no length, no breadth is seen there: how can I
  tell you that which it is?
He comes to the Path of the Infinite on whom the grace of the
  Lord descends: he is freed from births and deaths who attains
  to Him.
Kab�r says: "It cannot be told by the words of the mouth, it
  cannot be written on paper:
It is like a dumb person who tastes a sweet thing--how shall it
  be explained?"
LXXVII

III. 60. cal hams� w� des' jah�n
O my heart!  let us go to that country where dwells the Beloved,
  the ravisher of my heart!
There Love is filling her pitcher from the well, yet she has no
  rope wherewith to draw water;
There the clouds do not cover the sky, yet the rain falls down in
  gentle showers:
O bodiless one!  do not sit on your doorstep; go forth and bathe
  yourself in that rain!
There it is ever moonlight and never dark; and who speaks of one
  sun only?  that land is illuminate with the rays of a million
  suns.
LXXVIII

III. 63. kahain Kab�r, s'uno ho s�dho
Kab�r says: "O Sadhu! hear my deathless words.  If you want your
  own good, examine and consider them well.
You have estranged yourself from the Creator, of whom you have
  sprung: you have lost your reason, you have bought death.
All doctrines and all teachings are sprung from Him, from Him
  they grow: know this for certain, and have no fear.
Hear from me the tidings of this great truth!
Whose name do you sing, and on whom do you meditate?  O, come
  forth from this entanglement!
He dwells at the heart of all things, so why take refuge in empty
  desolation?
If you place the Guru at a distance from you, then it is but the
  distance that you honour:
If indeed the Master be far away, then who is it else that is
  creating this world?
When you think that He is not here, then you wander further and
  further away, and seek Him in vain with tears.
Where He is far off, there He is unattainable: where He is near,
  He is very bliss.
Kab�r says: "Lest His servant should suffer pain He pervades him
  through and through."
Know yourself then, O Kab�r; for He is in you from head to foot.
Sing with gladness, and keep your seat unmoved within your heart.
LXXIX

III. 66. n� main dharm� nah�n adharm�
I am neither pious nor ungodly, I live neither by law nor by
  sense,
I am neither a speaker nor hearer, I am neither a servant nor
  master, I am neither bond nor free,
I am neither detached nor attached.
I am far from none: I am near to none.
I shall go neither to hell nor to heaven.
I do all works; yet I am apart from all works.
Few comprehend my meaning: he who can comprehend it, he sits
  unmoved.
Kab�r seeks neither to establish nor to destroy.
LXXX

III. 69. satta n�m hai sab ten ny�r�
The true Name is like none other name!
The distinction of the Conditioned from the Unconditioned is but
  a word:
The Unconditioned is the seed, the Conditioned is the flower and
  the fruit.
Knowledge is the branch, and the Name is the root.
Look, and see where the root is: happiness shall be yours when
  you come to the root.
The root will lead you to the branch, the leaf, the flower, and
  the fruit:
It is the encounter with the Lord, it is the attainment of bliss,
  it is the reconciliation of the Conditioned and the
  Unconditioned.

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