Poem by Kabir

I am so lucky to be on my friend's computer again, reading this beautiful poetry.
Thank you very much.

Gisele

I really love this poem. Kabir is also one of my favorite authors. This website has so much beautiful material.

Christina

I missed this very early post.

Thank you for sharing the Kabir.

Love,
Vicky
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This union with the guru, O Kabir,
Sets me free; like salt mingled
With flour, I am no more I!

Now I have no caste, no creed,
I am no more what I am!

O dear brother!
By what name would you call me?



I do not quote from the scriptures;
I simply see what I see.

When the bride is one
with her lover,
who cares about
the wedding party?



I am not a Hindu,
Nor a Muslim am I!

I am this body, a play
Of five elements; a drama
Of the spirit dancing
With joy and sorrow.



A drop
Melting into the sea,
Everyone can see.
But the sea
Absorped
In a drop--
A rare one
can follow!



I am looking at you,
You at him,
Kabir asks, how to solve
This puzzle--
You, he, and I?



Dying, dying, the world
Is dying only.
But lo! None knows how to die
In such a way
That he dies never again.



Man, here is your worth:
Your meat is of no use!
Your bones cannot be sold
For making ornaments,
And your skin cannot be played
On an instrument!

Kabir
Translated by Azfar Hussain

kabir's poems have been somehow neglected, so I thought I will find a few more.

Do Not Go To The Garden Of Flowers



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.


Kabir

Having Crossed the River


Having crossed the river,
where will you go, O friend?

There's no road to tread,
No traveler ahead,
Neither a beginning, nor an end.

There's no water, no boat, no boatman, no cord;
No earth is there, no sky, no time, no bank, no ford.

You have forgotten the Self within,
Your search in the void will be in vain;
In a moment the life will ebb
And in this body you won't remain.

Be ever conscious of this, O friend,
You've to immerse within your Self;
Kabir says, salvation you won't then need,
For what you are, you would be indeed.

Kabir

Friend, Wake Up! Why Do You Go On Sleeping?



Friend, wake up! Why do you go on sleeping?
The night is over— do you want to lose the day
the same way?
Other women who managed to get up early have
already found an elephant or a jewel...
so much was lost already while you slept...
and that was so unnecessary!

The one who loves you understood, but you did not.
You forgot to make a place in your bed next to you.
Instead you spent your life playing.
In your twenties you did not grow
because you did not know who your Lord was.
Wake up! Wake up! There's no one in your bed—
He left you during the long night.

Kabir says: The only woman awake is the woman
who has heard the flute!

Kabir

Are you looking for me?


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.

Between the Poles of the Conscious


Between the poles of the conscious and the unconscious,

there has the mind made a swing:
Thereon hang all beings and all worlds,

and that swing never ceases its sway.

Millions of beings are there:

the sun and the moon in their courses are there:
Millions of ages pass, and the swing goes on.

All swing! the sky and the earth and the air and the water;

and the Lord Himself taking form:
And the sight of this has made Kabîr a servant.

Kabir
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