Hindi poetry -- Translations into English; Indic poetry -- Translations into English
Go thou to the company of the good, where the Beloved One has His
dwelling place:
Take all thy thoughts and love and instruction from thence.
Let that assembly be burnt to ashes where His Name is not spoken!
Tell me, how couldst thou hold a wedding-feast, if the bridegroom
himself were not there?
Waver no more, think only of the Beloved;
Set not thy heart on the worship of other gods, there is no worth
in the worship of other masters.
Kabîr deliberates and says: "Thus thou shalt never find the
Beloved!"
LXXII
III. 26. _tor hîrâ hirâilwâ kîcad men_
The jewel is lost in the mud, and all are seeking for it;
Some look for it in the east, and some in the west; some in the
water and some amongst stones.
But the servant Kabîr has appraised it at its true value, and has
wrapped it with care in the end of the mantle of his heart.
LXXIII
III. 26. _âyau din gaune kâ ho_
The palanquin came to take me away to my husband's home, and it
sent through my heart a thrill of joy;
But the bearers have brought me into the lonely forest, where I
have no one of my own.
O bearers, I entreat you by your feet, wait but a moment longer:
let me go back to my kinsmen and friends, and take my leave of
them.
The servant Kabîr sings: "O Sadhu! finish your buying and
selling, have done with your good and your bad: for there are
no markets and no shops in the land to which you go."
LXXIV
III. 30. _are dil, prem nagar kä ant na pâyâ_
O my heart! you have not known all the secrets of this city of
love: in ignorance you came, and in ignorance you return.
O my friend, what have you done with this life? You have taken
on your head the burden heavy with stones, and who is to
lighten it for you?
Your Friend stands on the other shore, but you never think in
your mind how you may meet with Him:
The boat is broken, and yet you sit ever upon the bank; and thus
you are beaten to no purpose by the waves.
The servant Kabîr asks you to consider; who is there that shall
befriend you at the last?
You are alone, you have no companion: you will suffer the
consequences of your own deeds.
LXXV
III. 55. _ved kahe sargun ke âge_
The Vedas say that the Unconditioned stands beyond the world of
Conditions.
O woman, what does it avail thee to dispute whether He is beyond
all or in all?
See thou everything as thine own dwelling place: the mist of
pleasure and pain can never spread there.
There Brahma is revealed day and night: there light is His
garment, light is His seat, light rests on thy head.
Kabîr says: "The Master, who is true, He is all light."
LXXVI
III. 48. _tû surat nain nihâr_
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