Mind, where will you go to cross the ocean?
There is no path ahead and no destination will be reached.
There is no water, no boat, no rowing, no pulling power.
Earth, sky, there is nothing, nothing can be achieved.
Neither my body nor my mind, I cannot find purity in my own words.
Become strong and enter the heart, that is the place where you are.
After thinking over it again and again, I am not able to say anything in the end.
Kabir says, leave aside all imagination and everything will remain as it is.
O mind, where do you want to go after crossing the river? On this bank, where there is no traveller with you and no path in front; there is neither any movement, nor any halt and no shore? There is neither water nor boat; neither boatman nor rope and neither people pulling it. There is nothing there, neither earth, sky, nor time. There is neither ghat nor shore! There is neither body nor mind; where is that place where the thirst of the soul can find peace? You will not get anything in that emptiness. Be firm and enter your body! You will get your respect in this only. O mind, think again and again, do not go anywhere else! Kabir says, “Leave all imaginations and remain firm as you are!”
The love with which I can live in this vast world is dear to me.
As if the pure water remains inside the water and spreads itself among the water.
The water does not stick to the leaf, it moves like mercury.
Like a Sati who has jumped into the fire of love, her words have not been touched.
You may burn others but keep the dignity of love.
The ocean of the world is an unfathomable river, its flow is limitless.
Kabir says, listen brother Sadhu, rarely does the mercury come down.
That love is dearest to my soul. The way a lotus grows and blossoms by staying in water but water does not stay on its leaves – those leaves are situated above, beyond the reach of water. The way a wife enters the fire but does not violate her love command, she herself burns to death in the fire, makes others also grieve and thus never lets love be tarnished. This world is an infinite ocean, its water is limitless and unfathomable. Kabir says, “Oh brother Sadhu, very few people are able to cross it.”
There is only water in the pilgrimage place, I did not see anything invisible.
All the statues are inanimate, they do not speak, I saw them speaking.
It’s all an old story, go and open the curtain of the cloud and see.
Kabir says from his experience that all this is a lie, I have seen the truth.
There is only water on the bathing ghats of pilgrimages and I know that they are useless – I have seen this by bathing. Statues are lifeless, they say nothing – I have seen this by calling out. Puranas and Quran are mere storehouses of words; I have lifted the veil in them and looked. Kabir talks only about experiences; and he knows very well that all other things are hollow and false.
Book – Hundred verses of Kabir
Selection and Interpretation – Rabindranath Tagore
Translation and editing from Bengali – Ranajit Saha
Publisher – Radhakrishna Publications
Tags: Hindi Literature, Hindi Writer
FIRST PUBLISHED : June 22, 2024, 16:04 IST