Some quotes of Kabr

Moko kah hhe re bande Where will you nd me, my friend? Im always near. Not in idols or sacred spas, not in secret places, Im not in temples or mosques, not in K or Kail. Im not in prayer or penance, not in vows or fasts. I dont stay in yoga, in rites, or renunciation. Look and youll nd me as quick as the wink of an eye. Says Kabr: Listen, sadhu. Im found in faith.1 Man t phl phire O mind, you merrily strut your stu, But who in this world can you nd to trust? The The The The mother says: This is my son. sister says: He is my hero. brother says: He is my rock. woman says: He is my man.

His mother cries for the rest of her life. His sister cries for less than a year. His woman cries for a couple of weeks Then goes to live with someone else. The The The The
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shroud the begged was four yards long. pyre was lite, just like at Holi. bones burned up like rewood. hair burned up like dried grass.

David N. Lorenzen. Praises to a Formless God: Nirgu Texts from North India. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1997, p. 213.

The body that once was gold is burnt And no one wants to come near to it now. The women of the house begin to cry, Wandering all over, searching in vain. Says Kabr: Listen, brother sadhu. Give up the hopes you hold for the world.2 Pad 119 (Kabr Granthval) Pundit, so well-read, go ask God who his teacher is and who hes taught. He alone knows what shape he has and he keeps it to himself, alone. Child of a childless woman, a fatherless son, someone without feet who climbs trees, A solider without weaponry, no elephant, no horse, charging into battle with no sword, A sprout without a seed, a tree without a trunk, blossoms on a tree without a branch, A woman without beauty, a scent without a ower, a tank lled to the top without water, A temple without a god, worship without leaves, a lazy bee that has no wings. You have to be a hero to reach that highest state; the rest, like insects, burn like moths in the ame A ame without a lamp, a lamp without a ame, an unsounded sound that sounds without end.
2

Lorenzen, Praises to a Formless God , pp. 210211.

Those who comprehend it, let them comprehend. Kabir has gone o into God.3 Pad 174 (Kabr Granthval) Go naked if you want, Put on animal skins. What does it matter till you see the inward Ram? If the union yogis seek Came form roaming about in the bu, every deer in the forest would be saved. If shaving your head Spelled spiritual success, heaven would be lled with sheep. And brother, if holding back your seed Earned you a place in paradise, eunuchs would be the rst to arrive. Kabir says: Listen brother, Without the name of Ram who has ever won the spirits prize?4 Pad 182 (Kabr Granthval) If case was what the Creator had in mind, why wasnt anyone born with Sivas three-lined sign? If youre a Brahmin, from a Brahmin woman born, why didnt you come out some special way? And if youre a Muslim, from a Muslim woman born, why werent you circumcised inside?
3 John Stratton Hawley and Mark Juergensmeyer. Songs of the Saints of India. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988, p. 57. 4 Ibid., p. 50.

Says Kabir: No one is lowly born. The only lowly are those who never talk of Ram.5 Skh 1 (Bjak ) Seekers, bhakti came from the Guru. A woman bore two men get this, pandits and sages. A rock broke open, out came the Ganges on all sides, water, water. Two mountaints hit the water, stream entered wave. A y ew up, perched in a tree, and spoke one word. A female y without a male, she swelled up without water. One woman ate up all the men, now I alone remain. Kabir says, if you understand this, youre guru, Im disciple.6 abda 10 (Bjak ) Saints, Ive seen both ways. Hindus and Muslims dont want discipline, they want tasty food. The Hindu keeps the elventh-day fast eating chestnuts and milk. He curbs his grain but not his brain and breaks his fast with meat. The Turk prays daily, fasts once a year, and crows God! God! like a cock. What heaven is reserved for people who kill chickens in the dark?
Hawley and Juergensmeyer, Songs of the Saints of India , p. 54. Linda Hess. Three Kabir Collections: A Comparative Study. In: The Sants: Studies in a Devotional Tradition of India. Ed. by Karine Schomer and W.H. McLeod. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1987, pp. 111142, p. 132. Also see ibid., p. 132 for a short discussion on this skh.
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For kindness and compassion theyve cast out all desire. One kills with a chop, one lets the blood drop, in both houses burns the same re. Turks and Hindus have one way, the gurus made it clear. Dont say Ram, dont say Khuda. So says Kabir.7 abda 75 (Bjak ) Its a heavy confusion. Veda, Koran, holiness, hell, woman, man, a clay pot shot with air and sperm When the pot falls apart, what do you call it? Numskull! Youve missed the point. Its all one skin and bone, one piss and shit, one blood, one meat. From one drop, a universe. Whos Brahmin? Whos Shudra? Brahma rajas, Shiva tamas, Vishnu sattva Kabir says, plunge into Ram! There: No Hindu. No Turk.8

References
Hawley, John Stratton and Mark Juergensmeyer. Songs of the Saints of India. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Hess, Linda. Three Kabir Collections: A Comparative Study. In: The Sants: Studies in a Devotional Tradition of India. Ed. by Karine Schomer and W.H. McLeod. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1987, pp. 111142. Hess, Linda and Sukhdev Singh. The Bjak of Kabir. reprint 2001. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, 1983. Lorenzen, David N. Praises to a Formless God: Nirgu Texts from North India. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1997.
Linda Hess and Sukhdev Singh. The Bjak of Kabir. reprint 2001. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, 1983, p. 46. 8 Ibid., p. 67.
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