Written Messages

 

                Chelyabinsk (Russia)

                14 May 2015

 

 

Perceptions of Kabir

 

I

The flute of the infinite is played without ceasing, and

Its sound is love:

When love renounces all limits, it reaches revelation.

It has no end; nothing stands in its way.

The form of this melody is brilliant like thousand suns;

Incomparably sounds the veena -

The veena of the divine perceptions.

 

II

I am wandering yet in the alleys of knowledge without knowing, but

I have received His evidence in these sparks of knowing.

I have a communication from my Beloved:

In this, there is an unutterable message, and

The fear of death is gone forever.

Kabir says: “O my Sadhu!

‘I-less-ness’ has got a gift from the Deathless One!”

 

III

Kabir says: “Listen, O my Sadhu! There is no other happiness,

Save in an encounter with the Un-nameable”.

 

IV

Have you not heard the tune which the Un-struck Music is playing?

In the midst of the chamber the harp of joy is gently and sweetly played, and

Where then is the need of going without to hear it?

If you have already heard the tune of that Melody, then

All influence of ‘religious’ mafias’ has been completely purged!

The Kazi is searching the words of the Koran, and instructing others: but

If his heart be not steeped in Love, what does it avail?

The sadhu dyes his garments with red: but

If he knows not the colorlessness of Silence,

What does it avail though his garments be tinted?

Kabir says: “Whether I be in the temple or in the balcony,

In the camp or in the flower garden, I tell you truly that

Every moment Lord is taking delight in Me-less-ness!”

 

V

Subtle is the path of love!

Therein there is no asking and no not-asking,

There one loses one’s self at His feet,

There one is immersed in the joy of the seeing;

Plunged in the depth of love, as the fish in the water.

The lover is never slow in offering his mind

To the mystery of the Omnipresence.

 

VI

He is the real Sadhu, who can reveal

The form of the Formless to the vision of these eyes;

Who teaches the simple way of attaining Him,

That is other than rites or ceremonies:

Who does not make you close the door and renounce the world;

Who makes you perceive the Supreme whenever you look within;

Who teaches you to be still in the midst of all your activities.

Ever immersed in bliss, having no fear in his mind,

He perceives joy every moment;

And is established in the vitality and virtue of void.

He who is within, is without: One sees him and none else!

 

VII

Receive that Sound from which the Universe springs!

That Sound is the Guru; I have heard it, and became the disciple.

How many are there who know the meaning of that Sound?

O Sadhu! Practice that Sound “Om Guru”.

The Vedas and the Puranas proclaim it,

The world is established in it,

The Rishis and devotees speak of it:

But none knows the mystery of the Sound.

The householder leaves his house when he hears it,

The ascetic comes back to love when he hears it,

The Six Philosophies expound it,

The Spirit of Renunciation points to that Sound,

From that Om the world-form has sprung,

That Sound reveals all.

Kabir says: “But who knows whence the Sound cometh?”

 

VIII

O man, if you do not know your own Lord,

How are you so proud then?

Put your cleverness away: mere words shall never bring you to Him.

Do not deceive yourself with the witness of the Scriptures.

 

IX

The saviour in the ocean of deathless life

Has rid me of all my asking:

As the tree is in the seed, so all diseases are in this asking!

 

X

When at last you have come to the ocean of happiness,

Do not go back thirsty.

Wake up, foolish man! For death stalks you.

Here is pure water before you; drink it at every breath.

Do not follow the mirage on foot, but thirst for the nectar.

The saints are drunk with love, their thirst is for love.

Kabir says: “Listen to me, brother! The grip of fear is strong.

You are weaving your bondage of falsehood,

Your words are full of deception:

With the load of desires which you hold on your head,

How can you be light?”

Kabir says: “Keep within you truth, detachment and love”.

 

XI

He who watches over birds, beasts and insects,

He who cared for you whilst you were yet in your mother’s womb,

Shall He not care for you now that you have come forth?

Oh my heart, how could the mind turn from the smile of our Lord and

Wander so far away from Him?

You have left your Beloved and are thinking of others: and

This is why all your work is in vain.

 

XII

O brother! When I was in a trance, a revelation showed me the Way!

Then I left off all the rites and ceremonies, I bathed no more in the holy water:

Then I learned that it was I alone who was mad, and

The whole world beside me was sane; and

I had disturbed these wise people!

From that time forth: I do not ring the temple bell:

I do not set the idol on its throne:

I do not worship the image with flowers:

There were no austerities that mortify the body.

Then man who is kind and who practices righteousness,

Who remains passive amidst the affairs of the world;

Who considers all creatures on earth as his own self;

He attains the Immortal Being, the true God is ever with him.

And he is free from pride and conceit.

 

XIII

The Sadhu dyes his garments, instead of dyeing his mind in the colour of love:

He sits within the temple leaving the Lord to worship a stone.

He pierces holes in his ears, he has a great beard and

Matted locks, he looks like a goat:

He goes forth into the wilderness, killing all his desires, and

Turns himself into a eunuch:

He shaves his head and dyes his garments; he also reads “Holy books”

And becomes a mighty talker.

Kabir says: “You are rotting in the mischiefs of mind and

In the escalation of the ego”.

 

XIV

I hear the melody of his flute, and I cannot contain myself.

Kabir says: “My mind is dying, but life is awakening in its bloom!

Touch His feet, who is one and indivisible,

Immutable and peaceful; who fills the vessels to the brim with joy,

And whose form is love”.

Kabir deliberates and says: “Thou (mind) shall never find the beloved!”

Let mind be banished, for Beloved to be!

 

XV

When you think that He is not here, then you wander further and further away,

And seek him in vain and tears.

Know yourself then, O Kabir; for He is in you from head to foot.

Sing with gladness, and keep your joy unmoved within your heart.

 

XVI

I am neither a speaker nor hearer; I am neither a servant nor a master,

I am neither bonded 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.

 

XVII

Kabir ponders and says: “He who has neither caste, nor country,

Who is formless and without quality, fills all space”.

The Creator brought into being the Game of Joy: and

From the word Om the Creation sprang.

The earth is His joy; His joy is the sky;

His joy is the flashing of the sun and the moon;

His joy is the beginning, the middle and the end;

His joy is eyes, darkness, and light.

Oceans and waves are His joy: His joy is Saraswati, Jumna and Ganga.

The Guru is One; and life and death, union and separation are

All His plays of joy!

His play is the land and water, the whole universe!

His play is the earth and the sky!

In play is the Creation spread out, in play it is established.

The whole world, says Kabir, rests in His play, yet still

The Player remains unknown.

 

XVIII

Seeing is Revelation in the Depth Immeasurable.

“I” is in the fear of getting drowned in the depth of ‘no-I’ and

Thus remains rotting in the shore of

The separative psyche, the mind, the myth!

When mind begins melting in ‘no-mind’,

Life resurrects to overwhelm you;
To wake you up in Divinity!

If by repeating “God”, “God”, “God”,

One can experience God; then

One would experience sweetness by repeating

“sugar”, “sugar”, “sugar”!

One would then be fabulously rich by repeating

“money”, “money”, “money”!

It is not the repetition by the shoddy “I”, but

A revelation in the dimension of “no-I”,

Beyond the experience structure;

The Existential Vitality, Virtue & Veracity.

Drop belongs to the Ocean –-

Mind finds it easy to accept, but

The Ocean is holistically contained in the drop –

This, mind can never comprehend!

 

 

Jai Kabir