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Shivani Devi
07-02-2020, 03:44 AM
Salutations to all.

A few months ago, I was on the search for new bhajans (devotional hymns) I have not already listened to ad nauseum and I came across one in particular.

It was a beautiful hymn composed by Kabir and sung by a very young girl with amazing vocal control. Her name, Sooryagayathri.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kZCgStafklE

The message of Sant Kabir Das is like a fusion of Non Duality as expounded by Adi Shankaracharya and the Divine Love poems of the mystic Sufis like Rumi and Kahlil Gibran.

Kabir Quotes:

"Are you looking for me?
I am in the next seat.
My shoulder is against yours.
you will not find me in the stupas,
not in Indian shrine rooms,
nor in synagogues,
nor in cathedrals:
not in masses,
nor kirtans,
not in legs winding around your own neck,
nor in eating nothing but vegetables.
When you really look for me,
you will see me instantly —
you will find me in the tiniest house of time."

Kabir says: "Student, tell me, what is God?
He is the breath inside the breath."

"Many have died; you also will die. The drum of death is being beaten. The world has fallen in love with a dream. Only sayings of the wise will remain."

"...But if a mirror ever makes
you sad...

you should know
that it does not know you"

"All know that the drop merges into the ocean, but few know that the ocean merges into the drop."

"If you want the truth,
I’ll tell you the truth:
Listen to the secret sound,
the real sound,
which is inside you."

"The river that flows in you also flows in me."

"I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty.

You don't grasp the fact that what is most alive of all is inside your own house;
and you walk from one holy city to the next with a confused look!

Kabir will tell you the truth: go wherever you like, to Calcutta or Tibet;
if you can't find where your soul is hidden,
for you the world will never be real!"

"Love does not grown on trees or brought in the market, but if one wants to be "LOVED" one must first know how to give (unconditional)LOVE.."

".. What is God?
He is the breath inside the breath."

"If you don't break your ropes while you're alive, do you think ghosts will do it after?"

"There is dew
on these poems in the morning,
and at night a cool breeze may rise from them.

In the winter they are blankets, in the summer a place to swim.

I like talking to you like this. Have you moved
a step closer?

Soon we may be kissing".

"The guest is inside you, and also inside me;
you know the sprout is hidden inside the seed.
We are all struggling; none of us has gone far.
Let your arrogance go, and look around inside.

The blue sky opens out farther and farther,
the daily sense of failure goes away,
the damage I have done to myself fades,
a million suns come forward with light,
when I sit firmly in that world.

I hear bells ringing that no one has shaken,
inside "love" there is more joy than we know of,
rain pours down, although the sky is clear of clouds,
there are whole rivers of light.
The universe is shot through in all parts by a single sort of love.
How hard it is to feel that joy in all our four bodies!

Those who hope to be reasonable about it fail.
The arrogance of reason has separated us from that love.
With the word "reason" you already feel miles away."

"Wherever you are is the entry point"

"I talk to my inner lover, and I say, why such rush?
We sense that there is some sort of spirit that loves
birds and animals and the ants--
perhaps the same one who gave a radiance to you
in your mother's womb.
Is it logical you would be walking around entirely orphaned now?
The truth is you turned away yourself,
and decided to go into the dark alone.
Now you are tangled up in others, and have forgotten
what you once knew,
and that's why everything you do has some weird sense of failure in it."

"The sun is within me and so is the moon."

"Nindak niyare rakhiye aangan kuti chhawaye;
Bin sabun pani bina nirmal karat subhaye."

"I don't think there is such a thing as
an intelligent mega-rich
person.

For who with a fine mind can look
out upon this world and
hoard

what can nourish
a thousand
souls."

"Listen to the secret sound, the real sound, which is inside you. The one no one talks of speaks the secret sound to himself, and he is the one who has made it all."

"What is seen is not the Truth
What is cannot be said
Trust comes not without seeing
Nor understanding without words
The wise comprehends with knowledge
To the ignorant it is but a wonder
Some worship the formless God
Some worship his various forms
In what way He is beyond these attributes
Only the Knower knows
That music cannot be written
How can then be the notes
Say Kabir, awareness alone will overcome illusion."

"Listen, my friend. He who loves understands."

"The Lord is in me, the Lord is in you, as life is in every seed, put false pride away and seek the Lord within.."

"Slowly slowly O mind...
Everything in own pace happens,
Gardner may water a hundred buckets...
Fruit arrives only in its season."

"बुरा जो देखण मैं चला, बुरा ना मिलया कोए
जो मन खोजा अपना, तो मुझसे बुरा ना कोए"


"It is time to put up a love-swing!
Tie the body and then tie the mind so that they
swing between the arms of the Secret One you love,
Bring the water that falls from the clouds to your eyes,
and cover yourself inside entirely with the shadow of night.
Bring your face up close to his ear,
and then talk only about what you want deeply to happen."

"As long as a human being worries about when he will die, and what he has that is his,
all of his works are zero.
When affection for the I-creature and what it owns is dead,
then the work of the Teacher is over."

"tahiya hote pavan nahin pani, tahiya srishti kown utpati;
tahiya hote kali nahin phula, tahiya hote garbh nahi mula;
tahiya hote vidya nahin Veda, tahiya hote shabd nahin swada;
tahiya hote pind nahin basu,
nahin dhar dharni na pavan akasu;
tahiya hote guru nahin chela, gamya agamya na panth duhela.

Sakhi: avigati ki gati ka kahown, jake gawn na thawn
gun bihuna pekhana, ka kahi lijai nawn

In that state there is no air or water, and no creation or creator; There is no bud or flower, and no fetus or semen; There is no education or Vedas, and no word or taste; There is no body or settlement, and no earth, air or space; There is no guru or disciple, and no easy or difficult path.

Sakhi: That state is very strange. I cannot explain it. It has no village or resting place. That state is without gunas (qualities). What name can on give it?"

"You have left Your Beloved and are thinking of others:
and this is why your work is in vain."

"as jolaha ka maram na jana, jinh jag ani pasarinhh tana;
dharti akas dou gad khandaya, chand surya dou nari banaya;
sahastra tar le purani puri, ajahu bine kathin hai duri;
kahai kabir karm se jori, sut kusut bine bhal kori;


No one could understand the secret of this weaver who, coming into existence, spread the warp as the world; He fixed the earth and the sky as the pillars, and he used the sun and the moon as two shuttles; He took thousands of stars and perfected the cloth; but even today he weaves, and the end is difficult to fathom.

Kabir says that the weaver, getting good or bad yarn and connecting karmas with it, weaves beautifully."

‎"Lift the veil that obscures the heart, and there you will find what you are looking for."

"Faith, waiting in the heart of a seed, promises a miracle of life which cannot prove at once".

Kabir is the only one I have discovered who displays bhakti (Divine Love) towards an impersonal, Non-Dual concept of "God" and that is intriguing to me...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IN8fQT4qJEQ

I am enjoying the time I am now spending in research on Sant Kabir Das..and I am hoping you all enjoy this as much as I do bringing it to you.

Namaste.

janielee
07-02-2020, 06:29 AM
You are so beautiful, SD.

Thank you, how this moves me, how it sings the most glorious of truths.

How I sway with it’s sound, rhythm, it’s silent truths.

Gratitude,

Jl

Shivani Devi
07-02-2020, 06:49 AM
You are so beautiful, SD.

Thank you, how this moves me, how it sings the most glorious of truths.

How I sway with it’s sound, rhythm, it’s silent truths.

Gratitude,

Jl
You are very welcome my beloved friend. :hug3:

I have also been unfolding to Kabir's truths myself over the past few days as I place all judgment aside.

I really enjoy the way in which it has been expressed through prose and song which reaches my core a lot quicker than dry scripture does.

I'm so glad you got something out of this too.

iamthat
07-02-2020, 08:04 AM
My favourite Kabir poem is very simple:

Do not go to the garden of flowers!
Do not go to the garden of flowers!
O Friend! go not there;
In your body is the garden of flowers.

Take your seat on the thousand petals of the lotus,
and there gaze on the Infinite Beauty.

I do believe that Kabir practised Shabd Yoga, as you quote:

"If you want the truth,
I’ll tell you the truth:
Listen to the secret sound,
the real sound,
which is inside you."

"Listen to the secret sound, the real sound, which is inside you. The one no one talks of speaks the secret sound to himself, and he is the one who has made it all."

And one of my favourite bhajans from Yogananda (in English):

Door of my Heart - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOMsY-R2U5M

Or the same bhajan sung by Kriyananda - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOVPUGgyAOg

Peace

Unseeking Seeker
07-02-2020, 08:26 AM
***

Thanks Shivani & iamthat :hug3:

***

Shivani Devi
07-02-2020, 08:50 AM
My favourite Kabir poem is very simple:

Do not go to the garden of flowers!
Do not go to the garden of flowers!
O Friend! go not there;
In your body is the garden of flowers.

Take your seat on the thousand petals of the lotus,
and there gaze on the Infinite Beauty.

I do believe that Kabir practised Shabd Yoga, as you quote:

"If you want the truth,
I’ll tell you the truth:
Listen to the secret sound,
the real sound,
which is inside you."

"Listen to the secret sound, the real sound, which is inside you. The one no one talks of speaks the secret sound to himself, and he is the one who has made it all."

And one of my favourite bhajans from Yogananda (in English):

Door of my Heart - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOMsY-R2U5M

Or the same bhajan sung by Kriyananda - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOVPUGgyAOg

Peace
That Yogananda chant takes me WAY back!

I recall owning that cassette tape in my early 20s and my fave track was "Polestar of my Life" but I also loved "Door of my Heart" and "Oh God, Beautiful" and "I am the Sky".

I listened to that many times over...forget the album it came from though.

I also agree that Kabir was heavily influenced by Shabd/Nada Yoga according to his renditions describing the Anahata Chakra sounds and I also noticed the reference to the Sahasrara Chakra in that poem you quoted too!

Miss Hepburn
07-02-2020, 12:26 PM
What? :smile: We're doing Kabir?!!! :thumbsup:

Kabir knew The Holy Name, Sat Nam or Naam, Shabd, the Word - as did Rumi and Guru Nanak. :wink:

iamthat
07-02-2020, 05:47 PM
That Yogananda chant takes me WAY back!

I recall owning that cassette tape in my early 20s and my fave track was "Polestar of my Life" but I also loved "Door of my Heart" and "Oh God, Beautiful" and "I am the Sky".

I listened to that many times over...forget the album it came from though.


And also When I Awake - https://www.ananda.org/mp3/music/when-i-awake.mp3

Brings back memories of staying at Ananda in Italy and being woken up in the mornings by a guy with a guitar walking round singing "Oh God, Beautiful". :smile:

Peace

janielee
08-02-2020, 05:45 AM
You are very welcome my beloved friend. :hug3:

I have also been unfolding to Kabir's truths myself over the past few days as I place all judgment aside.

I really enjoy the way in which it has been expressed through prose and song which reaches my core a lot quicker than dry scripture does.

I'm so glad you got something out of this too.

I wish I had your Grace.

Namaste,

JL

Unseeking Seeker
08-02-2020, 02:31 PM
***

aisâ lo nahîn taisâ lo

“ O HOW may I ever express that secret word?
O how can I say He is not like this, and He is like that?
If I say that He is within me, the universe is ashamed:
If I say that He is without me, it is falsehood.
He makes the inner and the outer worlds to be indivisibly one;
The conscious and the unconscious, both are His footstools.
He is neither manifest nor hidden, He is neither revealed nor unrevealed:
There are no words to tell that which He is.”

Kabir (translated by Rabindranath Tagore)

***

Unseeking Seeker
08-02-2020, 03:35 PM
***

paramâtam guru nikat virâjatn

“O MY heart! the Supreme Spirit, the great Master, is near you: wake, oh wake!
Run to the feet of your Beloved: for your Lord stands near to your head.
You have slept for unnumbered ages; this morning will you not wake?”

Kabir (translation by Rabindranath Tagore)

***

Unseeking Seeker
11-02-2020, 06:56 AM
***

ônkâr siwae kôî sirjai

ALL things are created by the Om;
The love-form is His body.
He is without form, without quality, without decay:
Seek thou union with Him!
But that formless God takes a thousand forms in the eyes of His creatures:
He is pure and indestructible,
His form is infinite and fathomless,
He dances in rapture, and waves of form arise from His dance.
The body and the mind cannot contain themselves, when they are touched by His great joy.
He is immersed in all consciousness, all joys, and all sorrows;
He has no beginning and no end;
He holds all within His bliss.“

Kabir (translation by Rabindranath Tagore)

***

Unseeking Seeker
11-02-2020, 08:02 AM
***

vâlam, âwo hamâre geh re

“MY body and my mind are grieved for the want of Thee;
O my Beloved! come to my house.
When people say I am Thy bride, I am ashamed; for I have not touched Thy heart with my heart.
Then what is this love of mine? I have no taste for food, I have no sleep; my heart is ever restless within doors and without.
As water is to the thirsty, so is the lover to the bride. Who is there that will carry my news to my Beloved?
Kabîr is restless: he is dying for sight of Him.”

Kabir (translation by Rabindranath Tagore)

***

Unseeking Seeker
17-02-2020, 03:29 AM
***

sâdho, sahajai kâyâ s'odho

“O SADHU! purify your body in the simple way.

As the seed is within the banyan tree, and within the seed are the flowers, the fruits, and the shade:

So the germ is within the body, and within that germ is the body again.
The fire, the air, the water, the earth, and the ether; you cannot have these outside of Him.

O, Kazi, O Pundit, consider it well: what is there that is not in the soul?
The water-filled pitcher is placed upon water, it has water within and without.
It should not be given a name, lest it call forth the error of dualism.

Kabîr says: "Listen to the Word, the Truth, which is your essence. He speaks the Word to Himself; and He Himself is the Creator."

Kabir (translation by Rabindranath Tagore)

***

Unseeking Seeker
17-02-2020, 03:32 AM
***

calat mansâ acal kînhî

“I HAVE stilled my restless mind, and my heart is radiant: for in Thatness I have seen beyond That-ness. In company I have seen the Comrade Himself.

Living in bondage, I have set myself free: I have broken away from the clutch of all narrowness.

Kabîr says: "I have attained the unattainable, and my heart is coloured with the colour of love."

Kabir (translated by Rabindranath Tagore)

***

Miss Hepburn
24-02-2020, 03:30 PM
Excerpt, trans. Robert Bly


If you don't break your ropes while you're alive,
do you think
ghosts will do it after?

Shivani Devi
24-02-2020, 11:40 PM
"Are you ready to cut off your head and place your foot on it?
If so, come; Love awaits you!
Love is not grown in a garden, nor sold in the marketplace;
Whether you are a king or a servant, the price is your head, and nothing less.
Yes, the cost of the elixir of love is your head!
Do you hesitate? O miser, It is cheap at that price!"

Unseeking Seeker
26-02-2020, 04:46 AM
***

sâdho, s'abd sâdhnâ kîjai

“RECEIVE that Word from which the Universe springeth!
That word is the Guru; I have heard it, and become the disciple.
How many are there who know the meaning of that word?
O Sadhu! practise that Word!
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 Word.
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 Word,
From that Word the world-form has sprung,
That Word reveals all.
Kabîr says: "But who knows whence the Word cometh?”

Kabir (translation by Rabindranath Tagore)

***

Unseeking Seeker
26-02-2020, 10:54 AM
***

khasm na cînhai bâwari

“ O MAN, if thou dost not know thine own Lord, whereof art thou so proud?
Put thy cleverness away: mere words shall never unite thee to Him.
Do not deceive thyself with the witness of the Scriptures:
Love is something other than this, and he who has sought it truly has found it.”

Kabir (translation by Rabindranath Tagore)

***

Miss Hepburn
24-03-2020, 05:00 PM
Kabir:
Subtle is the path of love.
.
.
There one is immersed in the joy of the seeking:
plunged in the deeps of love as the fish in the water.
The lover is never slow in offering his head for his Lord's service.
Kabir declares the secret of this love.


(I wonder if Tagore meant, 'the depths of love'.)

Miss Hepburn
26-03-2020, 07:01 AM
Kabir:

The infinite dwelling of the Infinite Being is everywhere;
in earth,water, sky and air...