I wanted to share some sweet delicious water from the Beloved. As Kabir says, so it is. It takes lifetimes I see now to learn to Love. That is how we make now real.
“If you want the truth,
I’ll tell you the truth:
Listen to the secret sound,
the real sound,
which is inside you.”
― Kabir
“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.”
― Kabir, The Kabir book: Forty-four of the ecstatic poems of Kabir
“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.”
― Kabir
“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.”
― Kabir, The Bijak of Kabir
“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!”
― Kabir, The Kabir book: Forty-four of the ecstatic poems of Kabir
“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.”
― Kabir
“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.”
― Kabir
Kabir might be lesser known in the western world than some of the other Sufi mystics, but he is the essence of syncretic Indian spiritualism. Thanks for sharing this!
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So clear. He seems like a Hindu mystic to me. Is he seen as such from the Indian side? I am exploring the esoteric commonality between all religion and none. Quite illuminating 😉 Not a scholar, just comparing anecdotal and first hand experiences.
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Kabir – like Saibaba (dunno if you’ve heard of him – is someone who was revered by all communities. Hindus & Muslims both claimed him. In fact legend says that when he died, Hindus wanted to cremate him & Muslims, bury. But the shroud covering him flew away to reveal only flowers. There are many such stories of Bhakti-Sufi traditions.
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I like that. Thanks.
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If you like, look up his couplets on the net… 🙂
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Thanks, will do.
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