Songs of Kabir, Translated by Rabindranath Tagore

Re: Songs of Kabir, Translated by Rabindranath Tagore

Postby admin » Fri Mar 13, 2020 8:08 pm

LXXXI-XC

LXXXI

III. 74. pratham ek jo âpai âp

In the beginning was He alone, sufficient unto Himself: the
formless, colourless, and unconditioned Being.
Then was there neither beginning, middle, nor end;
Then were no eyes, no darkness, no light;
Then were no ground, air, nor sky; no fire, water, nor earth; no
rivers like the Ganges and the Jumna, no seas, oceans, and waves.
Then was neither vice nor virtue; scriptures there were not, as
the Vedas and Puranas, nor as the Koran.
Kabîr ponders in his mind and says, "Then was there no activity:
the Supreme Being remained merged in the unknown depths of His
own self."
The Guru neither eats nor drinks, neither lives nor dies:
Neither has He form, line, colour, nor vesture.
He who has neither caste nor clan nor anything else--how may I
describe His glory?
He has neither form nor formlessness,
He has no name,
He has neither colour nor colourlessness,
He has no dwelling-place.

LXXXII

III. 76. kahain Kabîr vicâr ke

Kabîr 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 the Sarasvati, the Jumna,
and the Ganges.
The Guru is One: and life and death., union and separation, are
all His plays of joy!
His play the land and water, the whole universe!
His play the earth and the sky!
In play is the Creation spread out, in play it is established.
The whole world, says Kabîr, rests in His play, yet still the
Player remains unknown.

LXXXIII

III. 84. jhî jhî jantar bâjai

The harp gives forth murmurous music; and the dance goes on
without hands and feet.
It is played without fingers, it is heard without ears: for He is
the ear, and He is the listener.
The gate is locked, but within there is fragrance: and there the
meeting is seen of none.
The wise shall understand it.

LXXXIV

III. 89. mor phakîrwâ mângi jây

The Beggar goes a-begging, but
I could not even catch sight of Him:
And what shall I beg of the Beggar He gives without my asking.
Kabîr says: "I am His own: now let that befall which may befall!"

LXXXV

III. 90. naihar se jiyarâ phât re

My heart cries aloud for the house of my lover; the open road and
the shelter of a roof are all one to her who has lost the city
of her husband.
My heart finds no joy in anything: my mind and my body are
distraught.
His palace has a million gates, but there is a vast ocean between
it and me:
How shall I cross it, O friend? for endless is the outstretching
of the path.
How wondrously this lyre is wrought! When its strings are
rightly strung, it maddens the heart: but when the keys are
broken and the strings are loosened, none regard it more.
I tell my parents with laughter that I must go to my Lord in the
morning;
They are angry, for they do not want me to go, and they say: "She
thinks she has gained such dominion over her husband that she
can have whatsoever she wishes; and therefore she is impatient
to go to him."
Dear friend, lift my veil lightly now; for this is the night of
love.
Kabîr says: "Listen to me! My heart is eager to meet my lover: I
lie sleepless upon my bed. Remember me early in the morning!"

LXXXVI

III. 96. jîv mahal men S'iv pahunwâ

Serve your God, who has come into this temple of life!
Do not act the part of a madman, for the night is thickening
fast.
He has awaited me for countless ages, for love of me He has
lost His heart:
Yet I did not know the bliss that was so near to me, for my love
was not yet awake.
But now, my Lover has made known to me the meaning of the note
that struck my ear:
Now, my good fortune is come.
Kabîr says: "Behold! how great is my good fortune! I have
received the unending caress of my Beloved!"

LXXXVII

I. 71. gagan ghatâ ghaharânî, sâdho

Clouds thicken in the sky! O, listen to the deep voice of their
roaring;
The rain comes from the east with its monotonous murmur.
Take care of the fences and boundaries of your fields, lest the
rains overflow them;
Prepare the soil of deliverance, and let the creepers of love and
renunciation be soaked in this shower.
It is the prudent farmer who will bring his harvest home; he
shall fill both his vessels, and feed both the wise men and the
saints.

LXXXVIII

III. 118. âj din ke main jaun balihârî

This day is dear to me above all other days, for to-day the
Beloved Lord is a guest in my house;
My chamber and my courtyard are beautiful with His presence.
My longings sing His Name, and they are become lost in His great
beauty:
I wash His feet, and I look upon His Face; and I lay before Him
as an offering my body, my mind, and all that I have.
What a day of gladness is that day in which my Beloved, who is my
treasure, comes to my house!
All evils fly from my heart when I see my Lord.
"My love has touched Him; my heart is longing for the Name which
is Truth."
Thus sings Kabîr, the servant of all servants.

LXXXIX

I. 100. kôi s'untâ hai jñânî râg gagan men

Is there any wise man who will listen to that solemn music which
arises in the sky?
For He, the Source of all music, makes all vessels full fraught,
and rests in fullness Himself.
He who is in the body is ever athirst, for he pursues that which
is in part:
But ever there wells forth deeper and deeper the sound "He is
this--this is He"; fusing love and renunciation into one.
Kabîr says: "O brother! that is the Primal Word."

XC

I. 108. main kâ se bûjhaun

To whom shall I go to learn about my Beloved?
Kabîr says: "As you never may find the forest if you ignore the
tree, so He may never be found in abstractions."
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Re: Songs of Kabir, Translated by Rabindranath Tagore

Postby admin » Fri Mar 13, 2020 8:09 pm

XCI-C

XCI

III. 12. samskirit bhâshâ padhi lînhâ

I have learned the Sanskrit language, so let all men call me
wise:
But where is the use of this, when I am floating adrift, and
parched with thirst, and burning with the heat of desire?
To no purpose do you bear on your head this load of pride and
vanity.
Kabîr says: "Lay it down in the dust, and go forth to meet the
Beloved. Address Him as your Lord."

XCII

III. 110. carkhâ calai surat virahin kâ

The woman who is parted from her lover spins at the spinning
wheel.
The city of the body arises in its beauty; and within it the
palace of the mind has been built.
The wheel of love revolves in the sky, and the seat is made of
the jewels of knowledge:
What subtle threads the woman weaves, and makes them fine with
love and reverence!
Kabîr says: "I am weaving the garland of day and night. When my
Lover comes and touches me with His feet, I shall offer Him my
tears."

XCIII

III. 111. kotîn bhânu candra târâgan

Beneath the great umbrella of my King millions of suns and moons
and stars are shining!
He is the Mind within my mind: He is the Eye within mine eye.
Ah, could my mind and eyes be one! Could my love but reach to my
Lover! Could but the fiery heat of my heart be cooled!
Kabîr says: "When you unite love with the Lover, then you have
love's perfection."

XCIV

I. 92. avadhû begam des' hamârâ

O sadhu! my land is a sorrowless land.
I cry aloud to all, to the king and the beggar, the emperor and
the fakir--
Whosoever seeks for shelter in the Highest, let all come and
settle in my land!
Let the weary come and lay his burdens here!
So live here, my brother, that you may cross with ease to that
other shore.
It is a land without earth or sky, without moon or stars;
For only the radiance of Truth shines in my Lord's Durbar.
Kabîr says: "O beloved brother! naught is essential save Truth."

XCV

I. 109. sâîn ke sangat sâsur âî

Came with my Lord to my Lord's home: but I lived not with Him and
I tasted Him not, and my youth passed away like a dream.
On my wedding night my women-friends sang in chorus, and I was
anointed with the unguents of pleasure and pain:
But when the ceremony was over, I left my Lord and came away, and
my kinsman tried to console me upon the road.
Kabîr says, "I shall go to my Lord's house with my love at my
side; then shall I sound the trumpet of triumph!"

XCVI

I. 75. samajh dekh man mît piyarwâ

O friend, dear heart of mine, think well! if you love indeed,
then why do you sleep?
If you have found Him, then give yourself utterly, and take Him
to you.
Why do you loose Him again and again?
If the deep sleep of rest has come to your eyes, why waste your
time making the bed and arranging the pillows?
Kabîr says: "I tell you the ways of love! Even though the head
itself must be given, why should you weep over it?"

XCVII

II. 90. sâhab ham men, sâhab tum men

The Lord is in me, the Lord is in you, as life is in every seed.
O servant! put false pride away, and seek for Him within you.
A million suns are ablaze with light,
The sea of blue spreads in the sky,
The fever of life is stilled, and all stains are washed away;
when I sit in the midst of that world.
Hark to the unstruck bells and drums! Take your delight in love!
Rains pour down without water, and the rivers are streams of
light.
One Love it is that pervades the whole world, few there are who
know it fully:
They are blind who hope to see it by the light of reason, that
reason which is the cause of separation--
The House of Reason is very far away!
How blessed is Kabîr, that amidst this great joy he sings within
his own vessel.
It is the music of the meeting of soul with soul;
It is the music of the forgetting of sorrows;
It is the music that transcends all coming in and all going
forth.

XCVIII

II. 98. ritu phâgun niyarânî

The month of March draws near: ah, who will unite me to my Lover?
How shall I find words for the beauty of my Beloved? For He is
merged in all beauty.
His colour is in all the pictures of the world, and it bewitches
the body and the mind.
Those who know this, know what is this unutterable play of the
Spring.
Kabîr says: "Listen to me, brother' there are not many who have
found this out."

XCIX

II. 111. Nârad, pyâr so antar nâhî

Oh Narad! I know that my Lover cannot be far:
When my Lover wakes, I wake; when He sleeps, I sleep.
He is destroyed at the root who gives pain to my Beloved.
Where they sing His praise, there I live;
When He moves, I walk before Him: my heart yearns for my Beloved.
The infinite pilgrimage lies at His feet, a million devotees are
seated there.
Kabîr says: "The Lover Himself reveals the glory of true love."

C

II. 122. kôî prem kî peng jhulâo re

Hang up the swing of love to-day! Hang the body and the mind
between the arms of the Beloved, in the ecstasy of love's joy:
Bring the tearful streams of the rainy clouds to your eyes, and
cover your heart with the shadow of darkness:
Bring your face nearer to His ear, and speak of the deepest
longings of your heart.
Kabîr says: "Listen to me, brother! bring the vision of the
Beloved in your heart."
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