 Section 16 of the Sick Religion, Sacred Writings and Authors Volume 6 by Max Arthur McCullough This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Section 16, Cabir's Hens, Part 3 Worldly greatness secures not salvation. 21. There is no trace of Ruan or his line, though Salon was his fortress and the ocean its moat. What shall I pray for? Nothing remaineth stable. While I look on the world passeth away, though Ruan had a lock of sons and a lock and a quarter of grandsons, yet at last he had neither lamp nor wick in his house. The sun and moon used to heat his kitchen, the fire to wash his clothes. He who, through the Guru's instruction, puteth God's name in his heart shall remain permanent and be released from transmigration. Say of Cabir, hear, O ye people, without the name of God there is no salvation. A mystical hymn with its interpretation. 22. Hear these wonderful things, my brethren, first as son was born and afterwards his mother, the Guru, worshiped his disciples' feet. I've seen a lion, herding, kind, a fish out of water give birth upon a tree. I've seen a cat taking away a dog, the branches of a tree below, its roots above, and its trunk bearing fruit and blossom, a buffalo on horseback going to graze a horse. An ox on his way while his burden arrived at home before him. Say of Cabir, he who understandeth this hymn shall know everything on repeating God's name. The soul's toil to obtain a human body shall all be lost if God be not remembered. 23. God maketh the body from seed and placeeth it in the pit of fire. For ten months he keepeth it in the mother's womb. Worldly love attacheth to it on emerging. O mortal, why attaching thyself to covetousness loses thou the jewel of thy life? In former births thou dost not sow the seed in this world. From childhood thou hast grown to old age, what was to be hath been? When death cometh and catcheth thee by the top lock, why then weep thou hopest for longer life, while he waited for thy last breath? The world is a game, O Cabir, carefully throw the dice. Cabir was invited to a marriage feast. He said his own marriage was being celebrated, and he could not go elsewhere. The following is the description of it. 24. I turned my body into a dire's vat, and then died my heart therein. The five virtues I made my marriage guests. With God I made my marriage circumambulations. My soul being died with his love. Sing, sing, he brideswomen. The marriage song, the sovereign God hath come to my house as my husband. I made the bridal pavilion in the lotus of my heart and divine knowledge, the recitation of my lineage. I obtained God as my bridegroom, so great hath been my good fortune. Demigods, men, saints, and that thirty-three carors of gods and their chariots came as spectators. Save Cabir the one God, the divine male hath wed and taken me with him. In the following again, Cabir represents himself as a wedded woman. 25. I am plagued by my mother-in-law, beloved by my father-in-law. I dread the very name of my husband's eldest brother. O my friends and companions, my husband's sister hath seized me, and I burn by separation from my husband's youngest brother. My mind hath become insane since I have forgotten God. How can I abide? I behold not with mine eyes him who enjoyeth me on the couch. To whom shall I tell my sorrow? My stepfather quarreled with me. My mother is ever intoxicated. As long as I remain with my elder brother, I was dear to my spouse. Save Cabir, I have lost my life struggling with the five evil passions. The Seafel Maya hath led captive the whole world, but I have obtained immunity by repeating God's name. Maman, a thieving courtesan. 27. Worldly life is like a dream, but believing the world to be real, I attached myself to it and abandoned the supreme treasure. O Father, I made love to the courtesan, Maman, and she stole from me the jewel of divine knowledge. With his eyes open, the moth becomeeth entangled. The insect regarded hath not the flame. So, stupid men, attached to gold and women, he hath not death's noose. Reflect, abandon, sin, and God will save thee. Save Cabir, such is the life of the world, he hath no equal. Cabir has found God and put an end to his transmigration. 28. Though I have assumed many shapes, this is my last. The strings and wires of the musical instrument are all worn out. I am now in the power of God's name. I shall not have again to dance to the tune of birth and death. Nor shall my heart accompany on the drum. I have taken and destroyed my bodily lust and anger. The picture of avarice hath burst. Lust, raiment hath grown old, and all my doubts are dispelled. Recognize one God and all creatures. Vein wranglings on this subject are at an end. Save Cabir, when God was gracious unto me, I obtained him, the perfect one. 29. The following was addressed to Ocazi. 29. Thou fastest to appease God, yet thou destroys life to please thy pallet. 30. Thou, regardless not others, as thou dost thyself, why praytest thou? 31. Ocazi, that one God is in thee, but thou beholdest him, not by thought and reflection. 32. Mad on religion, thou he dost not wear forth, thy life is of no account. 33. Thy books tell thee that God is true, and that he is neither male nor female. 34. Thou gainest nothing by thy reading and study, O madman, since thou regardest him not at heart. 35. God is concealed in every heart, reflect on this in thy mind. 36. Cabir, loudly proclaimeth, there is the same God for the Hindu as for the Mohammedan. 37. God becomes not propitious by the mere wearing of religious garbs. 38. I decorated myself to meet my spouse, but God, the life and Lord of the world, met me not. 39. God is my husband, I am his wife. He is big, I am little. 40. The wife and her husband dwell together, but to cohabit is difficult. 41. Blessed the woman who is pleasing to her husband, saith Cabir, she shall not be born again. 42. God under the allegory of a diamond, thirty-one. 43. When the soul meeteth God, the once fickle mind is easily absorbed in him. 44. This diamond, God, filleth everything with light. 45. I have found, despite the instruction of the true Guru, the praise of God were an endless story. 46. When a man becomeeth perfect, he recognizes the diamond. 47. Sayeth, Cabir, I have seen such a diamond as filleth the world with its light. 48. The concealed diamond became manifest when I met the Guru, he showed it to me. 49. In the following allegory, Cabir refers to his early understanding as his first wife and to his conversions as his second wife. 52. My first wife was ugly, of low caste, and bad character, evil both in her father's house and mine. 53. My present wife is handsome, sensible, of good character. I naturally took her to my heart. 54. It turned out well that my first wife departed, may she whom I have now taken live forever. 55. Sayeth, Cabir, when the young wife came, I ceased to cohabit with the old one. 56. The young wife is with me now. The elder hath taken another husband. 57. Cabir's mother addresses him in the first four lines of the following hymn. 58. Cabir was married to Dania, the holy men who frequented the house called her Ramjanya, our worshipper of God. 59. But the name is also applied to courtesans dedicated to idols, and it was consequently offensive to Cabir's mother. 60. She also complains that Cabir had devoted himself to religion and neglected his business. 33. My daughter-in-law was called Dania. They have now given her the name of Ramjanya. 34. These shaven fellows have ruined my family. They have set my son uttering the name of God. 35. Sayeth, Cabir, here, O my mother, these shaven men have done away with my caste. 36. The following is a lecture against the bailing of women. It was addressed to the second wife of Kamal, Cabir's son, 34. 36. Stay, stay, my daughter-in-law. Veil not thy face. At the last moment it will not avail thee, the eighth of Paesa. 37. She who preceded thee used to veil her face. Follow not thou in her footsteps. 38. The only advantage of veiling thy face is that for five or ten days people will say, a good daughter-in-law hath come. 39. Thy veil will only be real if thou sing God's praises and skip and dance in his service. 40. Sayeth, Cabir, O daughter-in-law, thou shalt be victorious when thou passes thy life in singing God's praises. 41. Cabir's wife, Loy, refused to prepare a meal for a holy visitor upon which Cabir manifested his displeasure. 42. The following hymn accepts the last two lines as Loy's pleading for forgiveness. 35. Better would it be to be cut in twain with a saw than that thou shouldst turn thy back on me. Here my entreaty and embrace me. I must sacrifice unto thee, turn thy face towards me, my beloved. White killest thou me by turning thy back on me. Even though thou cut my body, I will not turn it away from thee. My body may perish, but I will not cease to love thee. There hath been no quarrel between thee and me. Thou art the same good husband, and I the same wife as before. Sayeth, Cabir, here, O Loy, I shall believe in thee no longer. The following was Cabir's reply to a brahmin who had advised him to bathe in the sacred rivers of the Hindus. 37. He who is foul within will not go to heaven by bathing out of place of pilgrimage. Nothing is gained by pleasing men. God is not a simpleton. Worship the Lord, the only God. Serving the Guru is the true ablution. If salvation be obtained by bathing in water, the frogs, which are continually bathing, will obtain it. But as the frogs sow the pilgrims they shall be born again and again. If a hardened sinner die in Banaras, he cannot escape hell. If a saint of God die in Haramba, he saith the whole multitude, where there is neither day nor night, beds nor shna stars, there dwelleth the formless one. Save Cabir, meditate on him, ye foolish denizens of the world. The following was addressed to a brahmin who, Cabir, supposed would be turned into an ox for his idleness and gluttony. The Hindus believe that they who live on others' wealth without any exertion on their own parts will become oxen, in which condition they will have to labor and suffer for their idleness in human lives. One, with four legs, two horns, and a dumb mouth, how wealth thou sing God's praises. Standing or lying down, the stick will fall on thee, then where wilt thou hide thy head? Without God thou shalt become somebody else's bullock. Thy nose shall be torn, thy shoulders maimed, and thou shalt eat worthless straw. All day shalt thou wander in the forest, but even then thy belly shall not be satisfied. Thou didst not listen to the advice of holy men, and thou shalt suffer for thine omissions. Overwhelmed with great superstition, thou shalt endure hardship and wander in many birds. Thou hast lost thy precious life by forgetting God, when wilt thou again have such an opportunity. Thou shalt turn and revolve like an oilman's bullock, round his press and restless shalt thou pass the night. Save Kabir for not having repeated God's name, thou shalt smite thy head and repent. Kabir's mother was distressed at his conduct in relinquishing his trade and adopting a religious life. The following is a conversation between the mother and son on the subject. Two, Kabir's mother, Sabbath and Weepeth, O God, how shall these children live? Kabir hath given up all his weaving and hath inscribed God's name on his body. Kabir replied, while the thread was passing through the bobbin, I forgot my beloved God. My understanding is me, my caste is that of weaver. I've gained the name of God as my prophet. Save Kabir here, O my mother, the one God will provide for us and them. All are lost without devotion. One, the Hindus kill themselves, worshipping idols. The Muslims make prostrations. The former are burned, the latter buried, but neither sec knoweth anything of thee, O God. O my soul, the world is stark blind. On all sides death's noose is thrown, but men see it not. Poets kill themselves, reciting verses. The Kaparis kill themselves going to Kedarnath. Yogis kill themselves wearing matted hair, but they know nothing of thee, O God. Kings kill themselves amassing wealth and bearing masses of gold. Pondits kill themselves, reading the vets and women and gazing on their beauty. Without the name of God, all these are lost. Think and ponder upon this, O man. Without the name of God, who hath obtained salvation. Kabir giveth his admonition. The body is frail, yet it attaches itself to worldly things which desert it. Two, when the body is burnt, it becomeeth ashes. When it is not burnt, a host of worms eateth up. A soft clay vessel will break when water is put into it, such as the nature of the body. Why, O brother, goest thou about puffing and blowing thy self out? How hast thou forgotten the ten months thou didst remain inverted in the womb? As the bee collected honey with great zest, so the fool collected wealth. When a man is dead, they say, take him away, take him away. Why allow a ghost to remain? His wedded wife accompanyeth him to the door, and after that his male friends. All the other members of his family go as far as the cremation ground. The soul departed alone. Save Kabir here, O mortals, they who have entangled themselves with the deceitful world, are seized by death and fallen to the pit, like the parrot deceived by the trap. None may escape physical death, but it brings salvation to the holy. Three, man hearing all the instructions of the vets and the parants, desire to perform religious ceremonies to overcome death. Thou hath seized all people, even the wise, the pundits to depart without hope. O man, thou hast not succeeded in thy sole object, since thou hast not worshiped the supreme God. Men have gone to the forests, practiced yoke, performed austerities, and lived on the tubers and roots they picked up. The notties, the readers of the vets, the act-job-dees, and the moneys are all enrolled in death's register. Loving service entereth not into man's heart. He pampereth his body and giveth it to death. He hypocritically singeth hymns about what can he obtain from God. Death hath fallen on the whole world, in his register the skeptical theologian is recorded. Save Kabir, they who know God's love and devotion to God are pure. The holy are completely saturated with God. Four, with both mine eyes I look, but I behold nothing save God. Mine eyes gaze affectionately on him. There is now no other subject mentioned. My doubts have departed, my fear hath fled, since I applied my mind to God's name. When the actor beateth the drum, everybody cometh to see the show. When the actor collected the stage properties, he abideth alone in his happiness. Doubts are not dispelled by the use of words, everybody continueeth to talk. God filleth the heart of him, to whom, through the Guru's instruction, he hath revealed himself. When the Guru bestowed even a little kindness, bodies and minds are all absorbed in God. Save Kabir, I am died with the die of God, and have found the magnificent life of the world. Man unto the allegory of a milkmaid is won by the Guru from neglect of God. Five, the words of the sacred texts are as seas of milk, for that ocean let the Guru be the churning staff. Be thou the churner of that milk. Why shouldst thou be despoiled of thy butter? O damsel, why makeest thou not God thy husband? He is the life of the world, and the support of the soul. The straight collar is on thy neck, and chains on thy feet. God hath sent thee wandering from birth to birth. Thou heat is not even yet, O damsel. Thou art the wretched victim of death. It is God who acted, and causeeth men to act, while power hath the poor. Handmaiden, the damsel whom God awakened, attended to the duties he assigneth her. O damsel, where hast thou obtained that wisdom by which thou hast erased the line of doubt? Kabir beeth great delight, and by his Guru's favor his mind is happy. In reply to an inquiry, Kabir describes the happiness he obtained from humility and devotion. Six, when he without whom one cannot live is found, man's toil is productive. Men call it a good thing to live forever, but there is no life without death. Where divine knowledge is discussed, what more remaineth to be said. As we look on, the things of this world pass away. As men rub and mix saffron and sandal, so man's soul is bonded with God, and thus seeeth the world without bodily eyes. Abandonment of the world as a father hath begotten divine knowledge as a son, though placed in an unsubstantial city, I, a beggar, have found the giver. He hath given me so much that I cannot eat it, I cannot leave off eating or finish it. And I have ceased to go to strangers. The elect who know life to be death hath obtained a mountain of happiness. Kabir hath obtained that wealth, and he faced his pride on meeting God. The lamp of holiness, not the vids and parans, lights up man's heart. Seven, what availeth reading, what studying, what hearing the vids and parans, what availeth reading and listening, if divine knowledge be not obtained? Thou repeatest not the name of God, O ignorant man, every moment of what thinkest thou? A lamp is required in this darkness to find the one incomprehensible thing. The lamp hath lit up my heart, and I have found the incomprehensible thing. Sayeth Kabir, I now recognize him, and when I recognize him, my mind is happy. People do not believe that my mind is happy, but even if they do not, of what consequence is it? The following was addressed to a hypocritical Brahmin who advised Kabir to bathe at Hindu places of pilgrimage. Eight, in thy heart is deception. In thy mouth religion falls man white, turnest thou water? What advantage is it to bathe the body, if there be filth in the heart? If it would be washed at the sixty-eight places of pilgrimage, even then its bitterness will not depart. Thus sayeth Kabir deliberately, cause me to cross over the terrible ocean, O God. Men should not practice deceit for the advantages of relations. Nine, with great deceit, man acquires other men's wealth, and taketh it, and lavisheth it on his son and wife. O my man, practice not deception even by mistake. At the last moment it is thine own soul that shall have to render an account. Every moment the body wastes away and old age warneth thee, then no one will pour water into thy hands, sayeth Kabir, thou shalt have no friend then. Why not repeat God's name in thy heart the times? The Guru has shown man how to protect himself from ferocious animals, to which the evil passions are compared. Ten, O saints, my wandering mind hath obtained rest. I reckon that I have obtained my deserts. The Guru hath shown me the passage through which wild animals surreptitiously enter. I close the gates thereof, and spontaneous music playeth for me. The picture of my heart was filled with the water of sin. When I upturned it, the water was spilled. Sayeth Kabir, the man of God, knoweth this, and knowing it, his mind is happy. Kabir once felt hungry and rebelled against God. Eleven, a hungry man cannot perform service. Take back this rosary thine. I only ask for the dust of the saints' feet since I owe not any man. O God, how shall I fare if I am shamed before thee? If thou give me not of thine own accord, I will beg for it. I beg for two sers of flour, a quarter of a sir of clarified butter and salt. I beg for half a sir of dowel, which will feed me twice a day. I beg for a bed with four legs to it, a pillow and a mattress. I beg for a quilt over me, and then thy slave will cheerfully serve thee. I have never been covetous, thy name alone becomeeth me. Sayeth Kabir, my soul is happy, and when my soul is happy, then I recognize God. The gods of the Hindus are ignorant of the Creator. Dhanasari, one, beings like Brahma's four sons, Shiv, and Sheshnag, know not thy secret, through association with the saints, God dwelleth in the heart, beings like Hanuman and Garuda. Indar and Brahma, know not, O God, thine attributes, the forebears, the similarities, Vishnu and Lakshmi, know them not. Sayeth Kabir, he who toucheth God's feet and seeketh his shelter, shall not wander in trans-migration. Life gradually draws through clothes, man should practice devotion in betimes, too. Pahars are made up of Garis, days of Pahars, life draweth through clothes, the body pineeth the way. Death wanders about like a poacher, in quest of gain, say what shall man do to escape? The last day approaches, mother, father, brother, son, wife, say whose are they? As long as the light of life remaineth in man's body, the brute knoweth not himself, he is anxious to obtain a long life, but he seeeth not death, who is at hand? Sayeth Kabir, hear, O mortal, dismiss thy mental doubts, repeat only the one name, O mortal, and seek the asylum of the one God. Salvation depends on the state that is changed to him, who knoweth something of the love and service of God, as water, when blended with water, separated not again, so the weaver hath blended with God. O men of God, I am out of my senses. If Kabir, leave his body at Benares, what obligation is he under to God? Sayeth Kabir, hear, O people, let know, one make a mistake, what difference is there between Benares and the bare Magahar, if God be in the heart. Kabir requires nothing but God's name for it is through insufficient devotion, men go to the heavens of Indra and Sheev, and are born again. What shall I pray for? Nothing is stable. Keep God's name in thy heart, fame, power, wealth, and greatness, help no one at the last moment. Say who hath derived any happiness from some wife or wealth. Sayeth Kabir, nothing else availeth me. The name of God is sufficient wealth for my heart. Remember and love God. Remember God, my brethren, without remembering God's name, the majority of men shall be lost. Wife, son, body, house, and wealth confer happiness. But none of these shall be thine when the time of death arriveeth. Adjamal, the elephant, and the courtesan committed sinful acts, yet they were saved by repeating God's name. My brethren, you have wandered in the wombs of pigs and dogs, and yet you are not ashamed. Why forsake the ambrosia of God's name and eat poison? Abandoned doubt prescribed as well as those which are forbidden and take God's name. The slave Kabir sayeth, by the favor of the guru, love God. Suhi, Kabir, calls on a worldly man to render an account of his life. One, having been born, what hast thou done? Thou hast never repeated God's name. Thou wilt now repeat his name of what thinkest thou? What preparation art thou making for death, O luckless one? Though through woe and wheel, thou hast met thy family. At the time of death thou shalt bear thy troubles alone. When death seeseth thee by the neck, thou shalt utter loud cries. Sayeth, Kabir, why did I not remember God before? The condition of one who fears God. Two, my woman's heart palpitated and trembled. I know not how my spouse will treat me. The night hath passed away, letting out the days also pass. The black flies have gone. The white grains have now taken their way. As water will not remain in a frail vessel, so the soul departed when the body hath faded. I adorn myself like a young virgin, but how can I enjoy dalliance without my spouse? My arm is pained from driving away the crows. Sayeth, Kabir, this tale is at an end. A dialogue between the soul and the messengers of death, he who feels God's love needs have no apprehension. Three, thy stewardship being ended, thou must give thine account when the cruel will come to take thee. They will ask thee what thou hast to earn and where thou hast squandered it. They will say to thee, come quickly, thou art summoned to court. The warrant of God's court hath come for thee. Thou shalt implore them and say, I have to collect some outstandings in the village, and I shall adjust my accounts tonight. I will also pay you something for your expenses. At dawn we shall pray at an inn on the road. Blessed, blessed is he, that man shall living in the church and the church. Blessed is he, that man shall follow his reputation with the saints. That man shall be never happy in this world in the necks. He hath won the priceless prize of human birth. He who, while awake to the world is asleep to God hath lost it, the property and wealth he hath accumulated shall become another. Sayeth, Kabir, that man hath gone astray. Who forgetting the bridegroom hath grow weary of seeing, the ears grow weary of hearing, this fair body groweth weary, when old age herbs at thee, while thy senses grow weary, the desire for wealth alone, weary of not, O foolish man, thou hast not obtained by knowledge and meditation, thou hast lost thy human birth in vain, immortal, serve God as long as there is breath in thy body, even though thy body perish, let not thy love for Him perish, dwell thou at his feet, he in whose heart God hath implanted his word hath seized to thirst, that the comprehension of God's will be the game of the shopper, and the conquest of thy heart the throwing of the dice, thou who know and worship God shall not perish, saith Kabir, they who know how to throw such dice shall never lose their game. Kabir has dreamt over his evil passions as senses and death itself. Five there are five kings of one fortress, the whole five ask for revenue, I've not till land belonging to any of them, it would be hard on me to pay a tax for nothing. O God's people, the village accountant continually worried me, but I raised my arms aloft, complained to my guru, and he saved me. Nine surveyors and ten judges go on tour, and will not allow the agriculturalists to live, they measure not with a full tape, and they take many bribes, the one being who is contained in the 72 chambers of the body, hath written off my account, I have searched the darn Rajah's office and find I owe him, not an atom. Let no one revive the saints, the saints and God are one, saith Kabir, I have obtained that guru whose name is Bebeco, death triumphs over all except God's sincere worshippers, the law of all. One, this world is like a show, none may remain here, proceed the straight way, otherwise thou shalt be severely buffeted. Children, the old and the young, O my brethren, shalt all be taken away by death. God hath made poor man, like a mouse, death like a cat, eateth him up, he payeth no regard to rich or poor, he destroyeth kings equally with their subjects, so mighty is death. They who please God become his worshippers, and theirs is a special case, they neither come nor go, they never die, God is with them. Know in your hearts that by forsaking son, wife, wealth, and property, which are perishable, saith Kabir, you shall meet the Lord, hear this, O ye saints. Kabir is frenzied with devotion. Two, I am not skilled in book knowledge, nor do I understand controversy. I have grown mad reciting and hearing God's praises. O Father, I am mad. The whole world is sane. I am mad. I am ruined. Let not others be ruined likewise. I have not grown mad of mine own will. God hath made me mad. The true guru hath to spell my doubts. I am ruined and have lost my intellect. Let nobody be led astray in doubts like mine. He who knoweth not himself is mad. When one knoweth himself, he knoweth not the one God. He who is not intoxicated with divine love in this human birth shall never be so. Sayeth Kabir, I am died with the die of God. Kabir's self abasement. Three, the man leave his home for the forest region and gather tubers to live on. Is sinful and evil mind even then abandoneth not misdeeds? How shall I be saved? How cross over the great terrible ocean? Preserve me, preserve me, O God. I, thy slave, have come to thine asylum. The desire to gratify my evil passions, for a sake of me not, though I make many efforts to guard myself against them, I am entangled in them again and again. My life hath passed, youth and old age, no good have I done. This priceless human life attached itself to a cowrie, and became like it. Sayeth Kabir, O my God, thou art contained in everything. There is none so merciful as thou, none so sinful as I. The superiority of God's saint, five. There is no king equal to God. All the kings of this world are only four or four days. They make false display. Why should the slave of him, who overshadoweth the three worlds waiver? Who can lay hands on him when one cannot even speak with due respect before him? O thoughtless and foolish mind of mine, think upon God, and the unbeaten music of ecstasy shall play for thee. Sayeth Kabir, all my doubts and uncertainties are at an end. God hath favored me as he did, drew and prologued. Kabir depreciates himself. Six. Preserve me, O God, though I have offended thee, I have not practiced humility, the duties of my religion, repetition of thy name or worship. I am proud. I wear my turban on the side of my head. Believing this body immortal, I have pampered the frail and perishable vessel. I have forgotten him who made and favored me, and have attached myself to strangers. I am thy housebreaker, and not thy saint. I fall at thy feet for protection. Sayeth Kabir, hear this supplication. Send me not intelligence of death. An appeal to God. Seven. O God, I stand weary that thy court. Who but thee careeth for me? Open thy door and show thyself unto me. Thou art my wealth, O master. Thou art generous. Thou art lavish. I hear with my ears thy great praise. Of whom shall I beg? I see everyone poor. From thee alone I obtain salvation. Thou disconfer endless favor. On ye I dead, now I'm dead. And the brahmin, said Amma. Sayeth Kabir, Thou art all-powerful. Thou art generous. Thou bestowest the four blessings without delay. The following was addressed to a yogi. Eight. Thou dependest on a club, earrings, and patched coat. In error thou wanderest in a yogi's garb. Put away thy devotional attitudes and thy suspension of breath, abandon deception, and ever worship God, O fool. The wealth thou begest for, the three worlds have enjoyed. Sayeth Kabir, God is the only yogi in the world. Kabir mourns his lukewarmness and condemns all worldly things. Nine. O sovereign of the world, Lord of the earth, mammon, hath caused me to forget thy feet. Even a little affection for thee is not felt by thy slave. What shall thy poor slave do? Curse on this body. Curse on this wealth. Curse on these worldly things. A double curse on this perishable intellect and understanding. O man, firmly restrain this worldly love. If thou subjugate it, thou shalt be saved. What availeth agriculture? What commerce? False is worldly pride. Sayeth Kabir, they who practice such things are ultimately ruined, and death cometh to them at last. The soul's dependence is on God, not on the perishable body. Ten. The body is a lake in which a peerless lotus bloometh. The supreme being who hath neither outlined nor formed, the prime of light, is within it. O my soul, worship that God, abandoned doubt. God is the life of the world. The soul is not seen either coming or going, as is the body. Where the body is born there, it perisheth like the leaves of the water lily. They who, knowing the world to be transitory, abandon it, are happy in the contemplation of God. Sayeth Kabir, worship God in my heart. During life, Kabir was absorbed in God, as the sound of a bronze vessel is absorbed in it when broken. 11. Since my attention is fixed on God, I no longer suspect that I shall suffer transmigration. Even in life I am absorbed in the infinite. The Guru's instruction hath awakened me. The sound which is produced from bronze blendeth again with it. When the bronze is broken or ponded, where will the sound be? At the union of the three breaths in the brain I have seen him who is awakened every heart. And now such understanding hath entered my heart that I have abandoned the world. When I knew myself, my light was blended with God's light. Sayeth Kabir, I now know God, and my mind is satisfied. The holy man will not waver but be everywhere happy. 12. O God, why should that man waver in his heart about thy lotus feet? Believe that all happiness and the nine treasures are his who tranquilly repeated God's praises. When God openeth the hard not, man shall be wise enough to behold him in everything. He who ever avoided worldly love and waith his heart in the scale of meditation shall be happy wherever he goeth. O Lord, and worldly love shall not sway him. Sayeth Kabir, my heart is happy since it hath been absorbed in God's love. An inquirer asked Kabir, with whom one should converse, the following was his reply. Gone? One, when thou meetest a saint, have some conversation with him. When thou meetest a man who is not a saint, remain silent. Kabir was asked again, O Father, if I speak, what shall I speak about? For instance, continue to repeat God's name. They who talk to saints confer advantage on others. They who talk to fools talk in vain. By incessant talking with them, sin increaseeth. If I speak not to them, what harm can the wretches do me? Sayeth Kabir an empty vessel, soundeth, when it is full, it never giveeth forth the sound. Man's dead body is much more worthless than that of a beast, and consequently an object of contempt. Two, when a man dyeth, he is of no use. When a beast dyeth, he is of ten uses. What do I know regarding my faith? What do I know, O Sir? Man's bones burn like a heap of firewood. His hair burneth like a bundle of grass. Sayeth Kabir, man only, awakeeth when the club of death touches his head. God is everywhere, even in the axe, which attached to the soul. Three, God abideth in the heaven above, in the earth beneath, and in every direction. The supreme being is ever the root of joy. The body may perish, but God shall not. I'm anxious to know whence the soul cometh, and whither it goeth. Five elements combined form the body out of what worthy elements form. Thou says that the soul is bound by its axe, who gave life to the axe. The body is containing God, God in the body. He is uninterruptedly in all things. Sayeth Kabir, I will not abandon God's name, come or may. The soul described by negatives. Five, somebody has Kabir. What is that whose limit hath never been found? Which dwelleth within the temple of the body? Kabir replied, it is neither man nor demigod. It is not a yati or a worshiper of sheave. It is not a yogi or an outhood. It hath no mother, nor is it any one's son. It is not a householder or an anchorit. It is not a king or a beggar. It hath neither a body nor a drop of blood. It is not a brahmin or a kathri. It is not an ascetic or a shaykh. It is not born, nor is it observed to die. Whoever weepeth for its death shall lose his honor. By the favor of the Guru, I have found the steep way. Birth and death have both been erased from me. Sayeth Kabir, this soul is a part of God, and his ink cannot be erased from paper. Kabir's wife thus addressed him on the neglect of his trade and his attentions to saints. Six, thy threads are broken. Thy size is at an end. Thy reeds shine over the door. Thy poor brush hath gone to pieces. May death light on this shaven fellow's head. This shaven fellow hath lost all his property. I am persecuted by those falqueers coming and going. Kabir now never speaketh of his beam or his shuttle. His mind is only concerned with the name of God. His daughter and sons have nothing to eat. Men with shaven heads are crammed night and day. One or two are in the house, and one or two on the way. We have only a pallet on the ground. They get a bed to sleep on. They rub their heads with satisfaction and carry books in their waistbands. We get parched paws. They bread to eat. The shaven heads and my shaven-headed husband have become all one. Kabir replied, these shaven heads are the support of the drowning. Here, O blind misguided lorry, Kabir hath taken the protection of these shaven heads. A man dies, mammon, who is described weeps not for him. Seven, when the husband dived, his wife weepeth not. She findeth another protector. And when that protector also dived, hell awaiteth him, though he have enjoyed pleasures here. One woman alone is dear to the world. She is the wife of all sentient beings. With a necklace on her neck, she looketh beautiful. She pleadseth the world, but is hateful, as poisoned to the holy. Adorning herself, she either sitteth like an abandoned woman, or the wretch, wandereth about, accursed of the saints. When the saints flee from her, she pursues them. But by the favor of the guru, she feareth punishment. She is the body and soul of the infidel, her dreadful which is I, falleth on me. When the merciful holy guru met me, I became well acquainted with her secrets. Sayeth Kabir, I have now turned her out, and she hath detached herself to the skirt of the world. A further description of mammon ate. The guest cometh and departed hungry from the house, which hath no wealth. The guest loses patience, and the host is blamed, because he hath no means to entertain him. Hail to the woman who hath turned the heads of very holy men, and penitents high and low. She is a miser's daughter, rejecting God's worshippers. She sleepeth with everybody. At last standing at the saint's door, she saith, I have sought your protection, save me. The woman is very beautiful. Her ornaments tinkle on her feet. As long as man is alive, she hath detached herself to him. When he dies, she quickly departed without waiting for her shoes. The woman hath conquered the three worlds. She hath made the eighteen parans and the palaces of pilgrimage lover. She hath pierced the hearts of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, and infatuated great kings and sovereigns. There are no bounds to the woman. She is in collusion with the five evil passions, where the vessels of the five evil passions burst. Sayeth Kabir, I was delivered, then spied the favor of the guru. Without a guru, man must fall and perish. Nine. If the raptors be taken from a house, the roof will fall. So without God's name, how can man be saved? As water will not remain without a vessel, so without a religious guide, man shall go to hell. Burn him who thinketh not on God, but whose mind is ever absorbed in the field of his body. As without a plowman, land cannot be tilled. As without a thread, jewels cannot be strung. And as without a loop, clothes cannot be fastened. So without a holy guide, man shall go to hell. As a child cannot be born without a father and mother, as clothes cannot be washed without water, as one cannot ride without an equipage. As without music, there cannot be dancing. So without a guru, man cannot reach God's court. As the bad woman leaving her husband looking for another, thus eager should man be to obtain a guru. Sayeth Kabir, do one thing, become holy, and thou shalt not die again. The following hymn was a reply to someone who had addressed Baba abuse to Kabir and called him a panda, a dancer, a street walker, and a thief. 10. Is he a panda who chaseneth his heart? He who chaseneth his heart shall escape from death. The panda who thoroughly chaseneth his heart and applied to it the touchstone of love shall obtain complete deliverance. Whom do you call a panda, O people? In everything that is spoken, discrimination should be used. Is he a dancer who dances with his mind, who is not satisfied with falsehood, who is pleased with truth, and who beateth time with his heart in the presence of God? God whose mind is pure preserves such a dancer. Is he a street walker who sweepeth the marketplace and lighteth up the five wicks? I accept as my guru that street walker who embraces the service of the Lord of the nine continents. Is he a thief who is not envious, who uttereth God's name and curbeth his senses? Sayeth Kabir blessings on my divine guru, who possesseth all such qualities, and who is very handsome and clever. The following hymn is an encomium on the staff of life. 11. Hail, O God, hail, O divine guru, hail to the corn by which the hearts of the hungry rejoice. Hail to that saint who realizes this, he shall meet God. Corn cometh from the primal being. Repeat God's name with a relish of corn. Praise his name, praise his corn. With water, pleasant is its taste. He who abstaineth from corn shall lose his honor in the three worlds. She who abandoneth corn and practice hypocrisy is neither a wife nor a widow. They who publicly boast that they live on milk secretly eat a whole five serves of corn. Without corn no one is happy. Abandoned corn and ye shall not meet God. Sayeth Kabir, such is what I think. Blessings on that corn by which man loveth his God. End of Section 16, Section 17 of the Sick Religion, Sacred Writings and Authors. Volume 6 by Max Arthur McCullough. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Section 17, Kabir's Hymns, Part 4. The following was addressed to a yogi who endeavored to induce Kabir to drink wine. Ram Kali, one, make thy body the vat, the guru's instruction, thy molasses, cut up avarice, lust, wrath, pride, and envy as thy kikar bark, thus mixed thy yeast. Is there any saint in whose heart composure and happiness dwell, to whom I may offer my devotion and penance as commission for procuring me such wine? I will give my soul and body for one drop of the wine, which that that produces. I've made the fourteen worlds my furnace and heated it with the fire of divine knowledge. I've sealed the still with the gentle sound of God's name and plastered it with what yieldeth mental happiness. Pilgrimage, fasting, daily religious ceremonies, purifications, and austerities at eclipses of the sun and moon, I would pledge for that wine. Make meditation thy cup, God's ambrosial name, the pure juice, and drink that elixir. From such a still, a very pure, trickling stream, ever issue with, and the soul is delighted therewith. Save Kabir, all other wines are insipid. This is the true elixir. On the same subject, too, make divine knowledge, thy molasses, meditation thy bossial flowers and the fear of God in thy heart, thy furnace. The drinker who is absorbed in God by means of the breath of the Sukhmana imbibed such wine, O yogi, my mind is intoxicated. When that wine ascended through the brain, man relisheth no other, there is then light in the three worlds. Joining God in the soul, I have prepared a furnace and drunk the excellent elixir. I've burnt lust and wrath as far wood and escaped from worldliness. The light of divine knowledge appeared to me when I met my true guru and obtained understanding. The slave Kabir is intoxicated with that wine and will never abstain therefrom. Kabir was likened to a cot wall for his severity to the wicked and to a dog for his barking. He accepted both imputations. For I honor the saints and I punish the wicked. This is my courthouse. I shampoo thy feet, O God, day and night. I turn my hair into a chari and wave it over thee. I am the dog at thy court. I bark in front of it, putting forward my snout. In her former birth I was thy servant. That position I cannot now resign. The gentle order of thy court was branded on my forehead. They who bear such brand fight bravely in battle. They who bear it not flee away. He who is holy knoweth how to serve God, and God puteth him into his treasury. In the house of the body is the chamber of the heart which becomeeth the most precious chamber of all when filled with meditation on God. The Guru hath granted God's name, the real thing, to Kabir saying, take it and guard it. Kabir hath offered it to the world, but only he who was so destined receiveth it. Abiding is the married state of her who hath found the immortal elixir. The brahmin trust not to God, but to the vets and the Gayatri, and hence he shall be lost. Five. Why shouldst thou, O brahmin, forget him from whose mouth the vets and the Gayatri issue? Why shouldst not thou, O pundit, utter the name of God, whose feet every one toucheth? O my brahmin, why not repeat God's name? If thou utter not his name, O pundit, thou shalt be cast into hell. Thou callest thyself exalted, yet thou eatest in the houses of the low, and fillest thy belly by the exaction of alms. On the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the half month thou devisest, tails, and begest, but even with a lamp in thy hand, thou shalt fall into the pit. Thou art a brahmin, I am a weaver of Benares. How can I be a match for thee? By repeating the name of God I have been saved, while thou, O pundit, shalt be lost by trusting to the vets. A mystic hymn in which God is represented under the allegory of a tree. Six. There is one tree, it hath endless branches and shoots, its blossoms and leaves are filled with nectar. This world is a garden of ambrosia. God, who is perfect, hath created it. The few holy men in whose hearts the light of God shineth, know the story of my beloved sovereign God. One bumblebee intoxicated with the juice of the flowers hath fixed his mind within the twelve petals of the lotus of the heart. He, then raising his breath to the lotus of sixteen petals in his brain, gaineth the ecstatic fruit thereof. Another tree was produced in the silent vacuum. It dried up the waters of the earth. Say of Kabir, I am a servant of those who have seen that tree. The following was addressed to a yogi. Seven. Make silence thine earrings, mercy thy wallet, and meditation thy cup. Stitch thy body for thy patched coat, and make the name thy support. O yogi, practice such yog that thou mayest, while enjoying the world, perform thy devotion, penance, and austerities under the guru's instruction. Make the knowledge of God the ashes, thou smearst on thy body, and meditation thy horn, abandoning the world, Rome, in the city of the body, and play thy heart as a kangaroo. Plant the five virtues in thy heart so that thy contemplation may be undisturbed by the world. Say of Kabir, here, O saints, make honest the mercy your garden. Kabir, in a fit of introspection and self-abasement, addressed himself eight. For what object was thou born in the world, and what advantage hast thou gained from thy human birth? Thou hast not applied thy mind even for a moment to God, the fulfiller of desires, the vessel to take thee across the terrible ocean. O God, such sinners are we that we have never performed service for that Lord who gave us our souls and bodies. The passion to possess others' wealth, children and wives, and to slander and columniate others, have not forsaken us. We suffer transmigration again and again. This law is not broken. I have not wandered even for a moment to where the conversation of the saints of God is held. Libertines, thieves, panders, and drunkards, with them have I ever consorted. My possessions are lust, wrath, covetousness, pride, and envy. Mercy, honesty, and service to the Guru have not come to me even in my dreams. O God, compassionate to the poor, merciful, dear to the saints, remover of fear, pray of Kabir, preserve thine afflicted slave, O God, and I will perform thy service. Remember God and do him homage. Nine, remember in thy heart the being, by whose remembrance thou shalt obtain the gate of deliverance. Go to heaven and return not to this world. Play the trumpets in the house of the fearless one, and the unbeaten strain shall ever fully resound for thee. Without remembering him, deliverance can never be obtained. Hardly bow before the being, by remembering whom none may refuse thee, who confer salvation by which great loads of sin drop off, and thy transmigration is at an end. Remember him through whom thou enjoyest thyself, and an ever-burning lamp shall be placed within thee, the lamp which rendereth the world immortal, and expelleth the poison of lust and wrath. Twine and wear on thy neck the rosary of him, by remembering whom thy salvation shall be obtained, wear that rosary, doff it not, and by the favor of the Guru thou shalt be saved. Remember the beloved day and night, and thou shalt have no regard for men. Thou shalt sleep at home in silken bedclothes, and thy heart shall be gladdened by a pleasant couch. Ever remember God in thy heart and sing his praises, by remembering him thy trouble shall depart, and maya affect thee not. From the true Guru learn how to remember God, remember him every day and night, standing or sitting at every expiration and inspiration, waking or sleeping, enjoy the sweets of remembering him. By remembering God thou shalt be united with him, make the remembrance of God's name thy support, by remembering him no weight of sin shall oppress thee, neither wrought nor spoken in cantations can prevail with him. Sayeth Kabir who hath no limit. The condition of him who has put his passions under subjection, 10, he who hath captivated the captivators shall obtain deliverance, and the Guru shall put out the fire of his passions. When I thoroughly examined my heart, I made my ablutions within it. To dwell in God the Lord of life is the best thing. There is then no death or birth or decay, turning away from mammon. I restrained my mind, and I entered the region of God. I have pierced the serpent's way and assuredly met God. Wordly love and mammon no more affect me. The sun hath restrained the moon. When I completely stopped my breath, the loot played spontaneously. The preacher hath communicated this instruction. The hearer hath heard and treasured it in his heart. He who acteth according to it shall be saved. Sayeth Kabir, barely. God is a luminous diamond whose light fills creation. 11, the moon and sun are both forms of light. God the unequaled pervaded their light. O wise men, meditate on God in whose light creation is contained. Beholding God the diamond, I prostrate myself before him. Sayeth Kabir, he is bright and yet invisible. Some Hindus ask Kabir to give them instruction upon which he composed the following. 12, O world, be alert and wakeful. Even while awake you are being robbed, my brethren. Even while the vets who are alert sentinels look on, death will take you away. The fool, the blockhead, and the pagan think that the nim is a mango, and the mango a nim, that a ripe plantain tree is but a prickly bush, and that the fruit of the coconut is like the ripe fruit of the simil. God is the sugar which hath been spilled in the dust. It cannot be picked up by the elephant. Sayeth Kabir, renounce family, cast, and lineage, become an ant, and thou canst pick up and eat the sugar. Are a monstrance to a brahmin for offering animal sacrifice to an idol? Maru, one, opond it. What folly meditateest thou? Thou shalt be ruined with all thy family for not having repeated God's name, O luckless man. What availeth thee to read the vets and the parans? It is like loading a donkey with sandal whose perfume he valueeth not. Thou knowest not how to repeat God's name, how shalt thou be saved. Thou take his life and deemest it religious. Tell me, my brother, what thou callest irreligious. Thou makest thyself out an excellent moony, whom callest thou a butcher? Mentally blind, thou knowest not thyself. What shalt thou cause others to know? Thou sellest knowledge for money, thy life passive in deem. Narad and bias declare, and thou mayest go and ask, shoot death also. Sayeth Kabir, too, by uttering the name of God, ye shall be delivered. Otherwise ye shall perish, my brethren. It is the condition of the heart, not man's garb or place of residence, which produces happiness, too. Unless ye remove evil from your hearts, how shall ye find God, by dwelling in the forest? They who deem their own homes equal to the forest are perfect among men. You shall obtain true happiness if you lovingly repeat the name of the life of the world. What avail wearing matted hair, smearing yourselves with ashes and dwelling in caves? He who hath conquered his own heart hath conquered the world, because he is free from the deadly sins. All people use eyewash, but there is a difference in their blandishments. The eyes to which the surma of divine knowledge is applied are acceptable to God. Sayeth Kabir, I now know God. The Guru hath explained divine knowledge to me. I have met God who dwelleth in the heart. My mind shall now know more of wonder. The following was addressed to a yogi whom Kabir found begging and boasting that he had obtained all spiritual wealth and perfection. Three, what hath he who hath obtained spiritual wealth and supernatural power to do with anyone? What shall I say regarding thy language? I am much ashamed to speak to thee. He who hath obtained God, wandereth not from door to door. This false world greatly burneth for wealth in the hope of using it for a few days. Whosoever drinketh God's water shall not be thirsty again. He who knoweth God by the favor of the Guru, abandoneth all worldly desires. When the heart is withdrawn from the world, the true one appeareth everywhere. The name of God saveeth him who hath tasted its savor. Sayeth Kabir, I have become gold. My doubts have fled, and I have crossed the ocean. It was made a reproach to Kabir that he, being a weaver, dared preach to men of high caste. Upon this he preached equality of all men. For, as the bubbles of the river are accounted water and blend with the water of the ocean, so the man who looketh on all with an equal eye shall become pure and blend with the infinite. Why should I return to this world? Transmigration taketh place by God's order. He who obeyeth it shall blend with him. When this fabric of five elements perisheth, my wandering shall be at an end. Force-wearing sex I look on all as equal and meditate on the one name. I devote myself to and perform the duties which God assigned me. If God bestow mercy on me, I shall be absorbed in him under the instruction of my guru. He who in life is in death, and who from death returneth to life shall not be born again. Sayeth Kabir he who is permeated with the name fixeth his love on God. Kabir in a vision beheld God and rushed to embrace him, but was repulsed. The following was composed on the occasion. Five. If thou repulse me, then show me the way of deliverance. One God in many forms, thou art contained in everything. Why dost thou now elude me? O God wither, dost thou take me for salvation? I ask thee where thou wilt give me salvation, and of what degree, seeing that by thy favor I have already obtained it. I call thee my future savior until I knew the reality. I've now become pure in heart, sayeth Kabir, and my mind is happy. Kabir is said to have uttered the following to a man whom he found committing an act of immorality. Six. Rowan had to leave the golden fortress and strongholds which he had made. O man, why actest thou as it pleases thyself when death cometh and catches thee by the hair? Only God's name will save thee. Death and life are the work of God. This deceitful world is only an entanglement. Sayeth Kabir, they who have the elixir of God in their hearts shall ultimately be saved. The body likened to a village, the soul to its headman, and the senses to its agriculturalists. Seven. The body is a village. The soul placed therein is its headman. Five husbandmen dwell in it. The senses, eyes, nose, ear, tongue, and touch, which obey not my orders. O Father, I shall no longer dwell in this village. The accountants, call, jitter, and gooped, ask for an account of every moment of mine. So when Dharm Raj calleth for my account, there will be a heavy balance against me. The five husbandmen will then have all fled, and the bailiffs will arrest the soul. Save Kabir here, O holy men, settle your accounts on the field. Pardon for this once thy slave, so that he may not have to return to this terrible ocean. A Bairagi who had come from Dhar-Raka told Kabir he had seen God there, and he asked him to go there too, and he would also see God. Upon this the following colloquy occurred. Eight. O Bairagi, no one has seen the fearless one. Can the fearless one be obtained without fearing him? Certainly not. O Bairagi, if man were to see the Lord present, he would feel fear. He who obeyeth God's order is without fear. Certainly. O Bairagi, though all people are imbued with hypocrisy, practice it not thou before God? Certainly not. O Bairagi, men set not covetousness aside. Egoism hath destroyed the body. Certainly. O Bairagi, the fire of care hath burnt the body, but thou shalt escape from it, if thou deaden thy feelings. Certainly. Without a true guru there can be no contempt of the world, O Bairagi, even though everybody desire it. Certainly. O Bairagi, if it be God's will, thou shalt meet the true guru, and shalt easily obtain God. Certainly. Save Kabir, O Bairagi, address one prayer to God to take thee over the terrible ocean. Certainly. Krishan was one day going to visit Duryod Han, but he heard that Duryod Han was then holding court. Krishan, in order to avoid the regal ceremonial and entertainments connected therewith, remained the night with Badir. Next day when Krishan and Duryod Han met, the latter upgraded him in a friendly manner for not having gone straight to him. The following is Krishan's reply. Nine. O King, who would go to thee? I have seen such affection on Badir's part that the poor man pleaseth me, beholding thine elephants, thou hast been lost in error, and hast not recognized God. I consider Badir's water as nectar in comparison with thy milk. I got vegetables without condiment, but to me they were equal to cur, and the night passed in Badir's singing God's praises. Kabir's God is joyous and happy and payeth no attention to anybody's cast. Slacks. The following two slacks in the Raghmaru are attributed to Kabir. The battle referred to is perhaps intended to represent man's struggle with his evil passions. These are the only lines in the Grand Sahib relating to war. When the drums sound aloud, the conspicuous warriors fall wounded. The brave have entered the battlefield, now is the time for combat. Recognize him as a hero who fighteth for the love of his religion. He may die cut in pieces, but will never desert the battlefield. The following was a sharp remonstrance addressed to some men of high rank. Ten. You have forgotten your religion, O madmen. You have forgotten your religion. You fill your bellies. You sleep like beasts. You have lost your human birds. You have never associated with saints, but have adopted false occupations. You wander like dogs, pigs, and ravens. You deem yourselves great and others small. I have seen you going to hell in thought word indeed. The lustful, the wrathful, the deceitful, the assemblers, and the idlers pass their time in doing evil and never remember God. Save Kabir. Fools. Black heads and pagans. Reflect not. They know not God's name. How shall they be saved? Men should remember God and not be led astray by worldly pleasures. Eleven. Remember God, or thou shalt repent it. O sinful soul, thou practicest avarice, but thou shalt depart today or tomorrow. Through thine attachment to avarice and being led astray by mammon, thou hast wasted thy life. Be not proud of thy wealth and youth. They dissolve like paper. When death cometh and sees of thee by the hair and knocketh thee down on that day, shalt thou be powerless. Thou hast not remembered God or worshipped him, or shown mercy to his creatures. Therefore, shalt thou be smitten on the mouth. When Darm Raja asketh for thine account, what face shalt thou show him? Save Kabir. Hear ye, good men. Ye shall be saved in the company of the Holy, the condition of him who has obtained salvation during life. Kadar. One. They who abandon praise as well as blame, who reject honor as well as dishonor, who consider iron and gold the same, are the image of God. Few, O Lord, are thy servants. They who abandon lust, wrath, covetousness, and worldly love, behold God's feet. What are called the qualities of impulse, ignorance, and goodness are all contained in thy maya. Only they who understand the fourth degree have obtained the supreme position. They never entertained love for pilgrimages, fasting, or for the religious ceremonies, purifications, and austerities of the superstitious. By meditating on God, avarice, worldly love, and doubt depart, the darkness of the mansion in which the lamp of divine knowledge, berneth, is dispelled. Its owner abideth completely fearless, and his doubts have fled. Sayeth Kabir, I am his slave. The saint deals in holiness and is thus emancipated during life. Two. Some deal in bronze and copper. Others enclose and butel nut. The saints deal in God's name. That is my merchandise. O dealers in the name of God. The priceless diamond hath come to hand, and worldly thoughts hath fled. They whom the true one attached to truth remain attached to it. Truth is their occupation. They dispatched a load of the true thing, and it reached God, the storekeeper. God is himself the gem, the jewel, and the precious stone. He is himself the jeweler. He is in every direction immovable. He seteth everything in motion. He is a permanent dealer. O man, make thy heart the ox. Meditation the road. Fill thy sack with divine knowledge, and load it on the ox. Sayeth Kabir, here, O saints, my goods have arrived at their destination. The following was addressed to a yogi who fortified himself for his austerities by potations of wine. Three. O ignorant and stupid brawler, reverse thy breath and direct it to thy brain. Then turn thy brain into a furnace. Draw the nectareus stream, and thou shalt become divinely intoxicated. O brother, call upon God for assistance. O saints, ever drink this wine so difficult to obtain, and your thirst shall easily be quenched. In the fear of God is love. He who knoweth this shall obtain God's elixir, my brother. Ambrosia is in every heart. God giveth it to whomsoever he pleases. There is one city. It hath nine gates. Restrain thy wandering mind from issuing by them. After the exercise of the IRA, Pingla and Sukhmana, the tenth gate openeth, and the mind becomeeth intoxicated. When the soul obtaineth the fully fearless dignity, suffering is at an end, sayeth Kabir deliberately. Turning from the way of the world, I have obtained this wine, a cup of which causes divine intoxication. Religious instruction addressed to a dissolute thought. 4. Thou who art saturated with lust, wrath, and covetousness, knowest not the way of the one God. Thine eyes are burst, thou seeest nothing, thou art drowned even without water. Why walkest thou so foprishly? Thou art a compound of bones, skin and filth, and saturated with evil odor. Thou repeatest not God's name, in what doubts hast thou gone astray. Death is not far from thee. Whatever efforts thou makest to preserve thy body, shall it last when thy term of life is complete. Nothing resulted from thine efforts, what can any mortal do? If it be God's will, man shall meet a true guru, and repeat the one name. Thou livest in a house of sand, and puffest out thy body, O simpleton. Sayeth Kabir, they, however clever, who remember not God, are lost. The following was addressed to the same person. Five, quicked thy turban, quicked thy gate, thou beginest to eat but tell, thou hast not to do with the love and service of God. Thou sayest, I have business in court. Thou hast forgotten God in thy pride. Ever gazing on thy gold and thy very beautiful women, thou dimest them permanent. Thy life passeth away in covetousness, falsehood, sin, and great arrogance. Sayeth Kabir, death will attack thee at last, O fool. Kabir reminds a worldly person of his death. Six, having beaten thy drum for four days, thou shalt depart. With all thine earnings, thy ready money, and thy buried treasures, thou shalt take nothing with thee. Thy dear wife will sit and weep in the portico, thy mother will go as far as the gate with thee, all thy friends and relations will accompany thee to the burning ground, but thy soul shall depart alone. Thou shalt not again behold thy sons, thy wealth, thy towns, and thy cities. Sayeth Kabir, why remember not God, thy life is passing in vain. God's name is Kabir's sole property, Byro 1. The name of God is my wealth. I cannot tie it in a knot or sell it for my livelihood. The name is my field. The name is my garden. I, thy slave, O God, perform thy service and seek thy protection. Thy name is my wealth. Thy name my capital. I know none but thee. Thy name is my kindred. Thy name my brethren. Thy name my associates, who will assist me at the last moment. Sayeth Kabir, I am a slave to him, whom God keepeth in the world, but who is indifferent to it. The following was addressed to a rich man who had offered Kabir money. 2. Naked thou camest, and naked shalt thou depart. None shall remain, not even kings or rulers. I have the sovereign God as my nine treasures. Thou hast the love of property, women, and wealth. But they did not come with thee, nor shall they go with thee. What availeth thee to have elephants tied at thy gate? The fortress of Ceylon was made of gold, but what did the fool Ruan take with him? Sayeth Kabir, meditate some good acts. The gambler shall depart with empty hands. God alone is pure. 3. Impure is Brahma, impure is Indar, impure is the sun, and impure the moon. This world is defiled with impurity. Pure is God alone, who hath neither end nor limit. Impure are the gods of the worlds. Impure are nights, days, and months, devoted to idolatry. Impure are pearls. Impure are diamonds. Impure are wind, fire, and water. Impure are sheath, shankar, and mahej. Impure are sids, sadhiks, and those who wear religious garbs. Impure are yogis and yangams with their matted hair. Impure is the body with the soul. Sayeth Kabir, only those who know God are pure and acceptable. The following was addressed to a hypocritical Mohammedan priest who had advised Kabir to make a pilgrimage to Makkah. 4. Make thy mind thy Kaaba, thy body its enclosing temple, conscience its prime teacher. Then a priest called men to pray to that mosque, which have ten gates. Sacrifice, wrath, doubt, and malice. Make patience thine utterance of the five prayers, the Hindus and the muscle men's have the same Lord. What can the mullah, what can the shaykh do for man? Sayeth Kabir, I have become mad. Stealing my mind away from the world, I have become blended with God. Someone represented to Kabir that he was completely spoiled by his religious exercises. The following was his reply. 5. When a stream is lost in the Ganges, it becomeeth as the Ganges itself. Kabir is similarly lost in God by invoking him. I have become as the true one and need not go elsewhere. The perfume of the sandal is communicated to other trees. They then become as the sandal itself. When the philosopher's stone is applied to copper, it becomeeth gold. So Kabir, having met the saints, hath become as God. The following was addressed to some Brahmins who had attributed Kabir's condition to Kabir. 6. You wear talax on your foreheads, carry rosaries in your hands, and put on sectarial dresses. People think that God is a plaything. If I am mad, O God, I am still vine. How can people know my secret? I gather no leaves, and I worship no idol. Without devotion to God, other worship is fruitless. I worship the true Guru, and ever and ever propitiate him. For such service I shall obtain happiness in his court. People say Kabir is mad, but only God knoweth Kabir's secret. Kabir renounces both the Hindu and the Mohammedan priests. Turning away from the world, I have forgotten both caste and lineage. My weaving is now in the infinite silence. I have now no quarrel with anyone. I have given up both the pandits and the mulas. I weave clothes and I wear them myself, where I see no pride. There I see God's praises. What the pandits and the mulas prescribe for me, I have received no advantage from, and have abandoned. My heart being pure, I have seen the Lord. Kabir, having searched and searched himself, hath found God within him. Kabir, when reproached with his poverty, replied, ate, nobody respected the poor man. He may make hundreds of thousands of efforts, but no one will heed him. If a poor man go to a rich man, the latter, though opposite him, will turn his back. If a rich man go to a poor man, the latter, respected, yea, invited him. Yet the poor man and the rich man are brothers. God's design cannot be set aside. Sayeth Kabir, it is he who is poor, in whose heart the name abideth not. Worship God betimes. Nine, when man serveth the Guru and worshipeth God, it is only then he really hath a human body. Even the demigods long for this body. Therefore, having obtained it, worship God, forget him not. That is the advantage of human birth. Before the disease of old age hath come upon thee, before death hath seized thy body, before thy voice hath grown weak, O man, worship God. If thou worshiped him not now, when wilt thou, my brother? When the incoming thou canst not do so. Whatever thou doest, it is best to do now. Otherwise thou shalt not be saved, and shalt afterwards repent. He is a worshipper whom God applied to his worship. It is he who shall obtain the pure God. The doors of his understanding shall open to him by meeting the Guru. And he shall not return again by the way of the womb. This is thine opportunity, this thy time. Look into thy heart and reflect on this, saith Kabir, O man, whether thou win or lose, I have many times called out to thee. In the following, Kabir appears to mean that God resides in the brain. Ten, the best knowledge abideth in the city of Shea, having obtained it there, meditated upon God, and thou shalt know this world and the next. Why should I kill myself performing works of pride? My attention is fixed on the special place, the brain. The name of the sovereign God is my divine knowledge. He who hath closed his sphincter, Ani, hath placed the moon above the sun. At the western gate the sun is hot. The breath then rises to the brain from the spine. The western gate is closed by a rock. There is a window over that rock. Over the window is the tenth gate. Sayeth Kabir, he who dwelleth there, hath neither end nor limit. Kabir gives his ideas of what a mula, a kazi, and a superior of yogis ought to be. He is a mula who struggled with his art, who by the instruction of the Guru contended with death and crushed death's pride, salutation ever to that mula. God is present. Why describe him as distant? If thou restrain thy pugnacity, thou shalt obtain the beautiful one. He is a kazi who pondroth on his body, who benefit with divine fire, and alloweth not his seed to drop even in his dreams. For such a kazi there is no old age or death. He is an emperor who knoweth how to draw up his two breaths. Who recalleth his mind when it goeth abroad, who collected the army of breaths in his brain? Such a one is an emperor and hath an umbrella over his head. The yogis cry out, garak garak. The Hindus repeat Ram, Ram. The Muslims have kuda. But Kabir's God is the all-pervading. The following hymn, which is a homily against idolatry, is said to have been composed by the fifth Guru from a theme of Kabir, 12. Vain is his devotion, who saith, A stone is God. Idol shall be his labor who falleth at the feet of a stone. My God always speaketh. He bestoweth gifts on all living things. He who is blind knoweth not God, who is within him. He is led away by superstition, and entangleeth others. A stone speaketh not, nor bestoweth gifts. Vain are the ceremonies of idolaters, and fruitless their service. Say what advantage can be gained by anointing a corpse with sandal. If any one roll a corpse in the dirt, what harm can it do the corpse? Sayeth Kabir, I proclaim with a loud voice. Understand me, ye infidels and pagans. The love of other gods hath destroyed many homes. The saints of God are ever happy. The universal influence of Maya and the means of counteracting it, 13. The fishes in the water are led by Maya. The mawls round the lamp are influenced by Maya. Through Maya the elephant feeleth lust. Creeping things and bumblebees perish through Maya. My brethren, Maya, is so bewitching that she eluded all living beings. Birds and beasts are imbued with Maya. She causeth great hardship to the honeybees, horses, and camels are saturated with Maya. The eighty-four sids are the sport of Maya. The six yatis are the slaves of Maya. So are the nine noves, the sun and the moon, penitenced, and the supreme rickies are lulled by Maya. In the power of Maya are death, and his five messengers. Dogs and jackals are imbued with Maya. So are monkeys, leopards, lions, cats, sheep, and foxes. Trees and tubers are subject to Maya. The demigods are saturated with Maya. So are the ocean, the firmament, and the earth. Sayeth Kabir, he who hath a belly is subject to Maya. The man shall be freed from her influence when he hath found a saint. Let man fix his attention on God and not on worldly things, 14. As long as man speaketh of things as his own, so long not one of his affairs shall prosper. When he ceaseth to speak of things as his own, then God shall come and adjust his affairs. To that end, O man, ponder on divine knowledge, why rememberest thou not God the destroyer of misery, as long as lions inhabit the forest, so long shall the forest not flourish. When the jackal eateth the lion, the whole forest bursteth out in bloom. They who think themselves victorious are lost, and they who think themselves defeated are saved. By the favor of the guru they cross over. The slave Kabir admonisheth all men to fix their attention on God alone. A brief description of God's court to which Kabir craves admittance, 15. Who will introduce poor me to him who have seven thousand commanders, a lock and a quarter of prophets, 88 corrors of men called shikes, and 56 corrors of servants to amuse him. His court is afar off who can reach his private chamber. He had 33 corrors of playhouses, 84 locks of beings wander in them. He showed some favor to Father Adam and put him into paradise for a long time. The faces of those whose hearts are not right are pale, and their utterances confounded. They forsake their books and work evil. They who attribute blame to God and are angry with him shall obtain the fruit of their acts. Thou art the giver, O Lord, I ever beg of thee. If thou refuse me, I am ruined. The slave Kabir is in thy sanctuary. Keep me, O merciful one, near thee. Kabir desires not heaven but absorption in God. 16. Everybody sayeth he is going thither. I know not where heaven is. They who know not the secrets of their own hearts glibly talk of heaven. As long as man desireeth heaven, he shall not dwell at God's feet. I know not where heaven's gate is, nor its moat, nor its plastered fortress. Save Kabir, what more can I now say than that the society of saints is heaven? 17. Kabir tells how he subdued his evil passions. 17. How shall I subdue this beautiful fortress, my brother, which hath double walls and triple moats, whose entrenchments are the five subtle elements, the twenty-five categories, worldly love, pride, jealousy, and very powerful maya? I who am poor cannot obtain strength to take that fortress. What shall I do, O God? Lust is its folding doors, woe and wheel, its gatekeepers, demerits and merits, its gates, anger, which is very quarrelsome, its commander, and the heart, its rebel king. The defenders had dainties for their coats of mail, egoism for their helmets, and evil understanding for the bows they drew. Covetousness, which dwelleth in that quiver of the heart, became their arrows. Thus the fortress was impregnable. But I made divine love the fuse, meditation the howitzer, and divine knowledge the shells. I gently lit the fuse with the fire of God's name, and captured the fortress with one shot. I began to fight, assisted by truth and contentment, and battered both its doors. By the favor of the congregation of the saints, and of the guru, I made his king a prisoner. By dint of remembering God I, a coward, have cut the noose of death. The slave Kabir has scaled the fortress, and secured an imperishable empire. The following refers to another persecution of Kabir, 18. The Ganges is a deity deep and profound. I, Kabir, was made to stand in it, with chains on my feet. My spirits fell not. Why should my body fear? My mind was absorbed in God's lotus feet. My chains were broken by the ripples of the Ganges, and I found myself seated on a deer skin. Say of Kabir, I had no friend or companion, but God the Protector, both by water and land. God and his residence, Ash-Tapati I. God constructed an inaccessible fortress for his residence, which he illumined with his light. The lightning, playeth, and pleasure reigneth, where the youthful Lord God reposes. If the soul, love God's name, man shall be released from old age and death, and his doubt shall flee away. He whose mind loveth to consider whether a man's caste is high or low, chanteth the hymn of egoism. The sound of the unbeat music is heard where the Lord God reposes it. He who fashion continents and different countries, the three worlds, the three gods, and the three qualities, those styled inaccessible and invisible, dwelleth within the heart. None can find the limit or the secret of the sustainer of the earth. He shineth in the plantain blossom, and in the sunshine, and hath taken his dwelling in the pollen of the lotus. God's spell is within the twelve petals of the heart, where the holy Lord of Lakshmi reposes. The great God reaches from the lower to the upper regions of the firmament. He illumineth the silent realm, where there is neither sun nor moon. He was in the beginning. He is without stain and happy. Know that he pervaded the body as well as the universe. He batheth in Mansa Roir. His password is Soham. I am he. He is not subject to merits or demerits, nor concerned with caste, with sunshine, or with shade. He is only found in the Guru's asylum. He who fixeth his attention on him, removeeth it not the cometh released from transmigration, and absorbed in the infinite. He who knoweth God in his heart, and repeated his name, becomeeth as he. Sayeth Kabir, that mortal shall be saved who fixeth in his heart God's light and spell. God, God's servants, and God's court, too. Millions of sons shine for him. He hath millions of sheaves and chalices, millions of durgas, shampoo his limbs. Millions of dramas recite the beds for him. If I beg, let me beg only of God. I have not to do with any other God. Millions of moons form his lamps. Thirty-three demigods cook his food. The nine planets, multiplied millions of times, stand on duty in his court. Millions of dom, roges, are his porters. Millions of winds from the four cardinal points band him. Millions of shasnegs lay his bed. Millions of oceans are his water carriers. The 18 million loads of vegetables are his hair. Millions of storekeepers fill his storehouses. Millions of lochmies decorate him. He removeeth many millions of demerits and merits. Millions of endars wait on him. The 56 millions of clouds are his messengers. He is celebrated and unrivaled in every land. With his dresses loose and with terrible aspect, he moveeth. God playeth in millions of ways. There are millions of feasts at his court. Millions of celestial singers hail him. Millions of sciences all describe his attributes. But even then, they cannot find his end. In his hair are millions of bawhans and roms. Throughout General Rauhan's army, Anquishans, who humbled the pride of Duryodhan, greatly extolled by a thousand million parans. Millions of cupids cannot complete with him in beauty. He steals away the inmost heart. Save Kabir, hear me, O God. Grant me the fearless dignity, the gift I crave. The following was written under the grateful influence of early spring in the north of India. Basant won the earth bloomed. The firmament rejoiced that every heart is gladdened by God's light. The Lord God rejoiced in endless ways. Whether so ever I look, there is he contained. The four beds rejoice in worldliness. So do the Samarites with the books of the Muslimans. Sheave practicing yoga, rejoices. Kabir's Lord loometh equally in all things. Kabir accepts as saints. Shukdev, Akvur, Hanuman and Sheave, famous for their continence, and rejects the hypocritical brahmanas, yogis, sannyasis, and penitents of his time. Two, the pandas grow proud, reciting the params, the yogis and practicing yoga, the sannyasis and saying there is no one like themselves. The penitents, even in their different penances, are all intoxicated with pride. None of them is awake. The thieves who rob houses are already with them. Shukdev and Akvur are awake. Hanuman with a tail is awake. Sheave is awake and worshipeth God's feet. In this call age, Namdev and Jaidev are awake. There are several forms of waking and sleeping. He who is awake under the Guru's instruction is the best. The most important duty of this body, saith Kabir, is to repeat God's name. To obtain salvation without a Guru would be impossible. Three, have the wife ever given birth to her husband. Have the boy ever dandled his father. Have the woman without breasts ever suckled. See, O people, the peculiarity of this call age. Have the son ever taken his mother in marriage. Can a man without feet ever leap? Can a man without a mouth burst into laughter? Without sleep? Can man repose? Can one churn milk without a churn? Can a cow without an utter give milk? Can one accomplish a long journey without a road? So the way cannot be found without a true Guru, Kabir saith, and amonisheth all men. God saves his saints as he did Prahlada for. Prahlada was sent to school for instruction. He took several boys with him as his class fellows. He said to his teacher, why teach me worldly entanglements, rather write on my tablet the name of God. I will not, sir, abandon the name of God. I have no concern with any other instruction. His students, son Sanda and Marka, went and reported the matter to Prahlada's father. He sent for Prahlada telling Ben to run quickly to him, then he addressed him, abandon the habit of repeating God's name. I will let thee go at once if thou obey my words. Prahlada replied, why dost thou continually annoy me? I should be a sinner, where I to abandon the one God, who made the water, the dry land, the hills, and the mountains. Throw me into the fire or kill me if it please thee. His father became angry and drawing his sword said, show me that preserver of thine. Upon this God expanding came forth from a pillar and killed Harnakas by tearing him with his nails. He was the supreme being, the God of Gods, who appeared. For the sake of his saint he became incarnate as the man lion. Sayeth Kabir, he whose limit cannot be seen, save Prahlada several times. Kabir prays to be protected from lust. Five within this body and mind is the thief Cupid, who hath stolen my jewel of divine knowledge. I have no patron, O God, to whom I may make my complaint. Whom hath Cupid not ruined? Who am I that I should escape? O God, this terrible pain cannot be endured. What power hath my fickle mind against Cupid? Sannak, Sannandan, the sons of Brahma, Shiva, Shukdeb, Vishnu, Brahma, and others know his power. The poets, the yogis, the weirs of matted hair, pass their lives guarding themselves against him. Thou, O God, art unfathomable. I cannot find thy depth. O God, Lord of the poor, to whom else may I tell my woes? That the pain of birth and death subside and grant me continents. Kabir singeth the praises of the ocean of happiness. The body under the allegory of a merchant, six. There is one head of the firm and five traders who take with them spurious wares on twenty-five oxen. There are ten bags and nine poles to lift them. The body is bound by seventy-two ropes. I have nothing to do with that commerce by which my capital is lessened and my interest ever increased. I have trafficked by joining the seven threads. I have joined with them good acts and God's love. The three tax-gatherers wrangle for their share, but I, a trader, put them aside and departed. The capital of the five traders is lost, their trade is ruined, and the oxen disperse in every direction. Sayeth Kabir, O man, thy business shall prosper, and thy doubts depart when thou art absorbed in God. A Brahmin had sentry Kabir for not having paid due attention to cast rules and eating. The following was his reply, seven. Thy mother was impure, thy father was also impure, and impure is the fruit they have borne. The unlucky people came impure. They departed and died impure. Tell me, O pundit, what place is pure where I may sit and take my food? My tongue is impure. What it saith is impure. The ears and eyes are all impure. The impurity of the senses departeth not. O thou who art burning with a monocle wrath. Fire is also impure. Water is impure, and impure the place where thou sittest and cookest it. With an impure ladle it is served up, and impure are those who sit and eat it. Impure thy cow dung, impure thy cooking square, and impure the lines which mark it out. Sayeth Kabir, that man is pure who hath obtained true knowledge. Kabir's wife had ground corn and gone out without collecting the flour. Kabir being left alone in the house paid more attention to his devotion than to his housekeeping. A dog came and began to lick the flour on the handmill. The following was addressed to the intruding animal. Eight. Thy stride is like that of a cow. The hair over thy tail is shiny. Search for and eat anything in this house. Go not to another's house. Lick the handmill. Eat the flour. Wither takeest thou the towel of the handmill. Thou gazes very intently on this safe. Take care that the stick vault not on my back. Sayeth Kabir, thou hast fared well. Take care that no one throw a brick or a clot at thee. Kabir endeavors to recall man to a sense of his insignificance. So wrong one. Why, O man, art thou proud of a small matter? With a store of only ten mons of corn and four double païs in thy pocket, thou swaggerest along. Even if thou obtain greatness, ye, a hundred villages, and have an income of two locks of rupees, thy authority shall only last for four days like the green leaves of the forest. No one hath brought wealth with him, and no one shall take it away, greater sovereigns than even Ruan departed in a moment. Gods, saints who worship him and repeat his name, abide forever. Day to whom God is merciful, meet the society of the saints, neither mother, father, wife, son, or wealth shall go with thee at the last moment. Sayeth Kabir, worship God, O fool, or thy life shall pass away in vain. God's omnipotence, too. O God, I know not the measure of thy regal authority. I am the handmaiden of thy saints. They who go laughing return weeping, and they who go weeping return laughing. What is inhabited become a disease. Become a deserted, and what is deserted become a inhabited. God turneth water into dry land, dry land. He turneth into wells, and wells into mountains. He can raise man from earth to heaven, and when he hath ascended to heaven, dash him down. He can turn a beggar into a king, and a king into a beggar. He can turn an idiot into a pondit, and a pondit into an idiot. He can turn a woman into a man, and a man into a woman. Sayeth Kabir, God is beloved of the saints. Man shall rely on God and practice humility, three. Without God, what sucker hath man? The love of parents, brothers, sons, and wife is all fleeting. Construct a wrath for the other world. What reliance can be placed on wealth? What confidence can be reposed in this vessel, if it be chinked in the slightest? Thou shalt obtain the fruit of all religion and good works if thou desire to become the dust of everybody's feet. Sayeth Kabir here, O saints, the mind is like the flying bird of the forest. Kabir is bliss in feeling that he is saved. Prabhati, one, my dread of transmigration is at an end, since God displayed his love for me. The light hath dawned, the darkness is dispelled. I have obtained the jewel, God, by meditation on him. When he confereth happiness sorrow fleeeth away. The jewel of my heart is absorbed in God's love. Whatever occureth is according to thy will, O God, he who understandeth this shall be easily absorbed in thee. Sayeth Kabir, all my sins have been blotted out, and my soul is absorbed in the life of the world. God is not confined as regards placed to the mosque or the temple, whereas regards time to any month or day. Two, if God dwell only in the mosque, to whom belongeth the rest of the country. They who are called Hindus say that God dwelleth in an idol. I see not the truth in either sect. O God, whether Allah or Ram, I live by thy name. O Lord, show kindness unto me. Hari, dwelleth in the south, Allah hath his place in the west. Search in thy heart, search in thy heart of hearts. There is his place and abode. The Brahmans yearly perform 24 fastings on the 11th day of the dark and light halves of the lunar month, the Muslims fast in the month of Ramzan. The latter put aside 11 months of the year and say that the treasure is in one alone. What are they like the Hindus to bathe at Ya Ganath in your Rasa or Rasa? What are the Muslims to bow their heads in a mosque? With deception in their hearts they repeat prayers. What are they like them to go on a pilgrimage to Makkah? The men and women thou hast created, O God, are all in thy form. Kabir is a child of Ram and Allah, and excepteth all Gurus and peers. Sayeth Kabir, here, O men and women, seek the sanctuary of the one God. O mortals, only repeat God's name, and then shall you be assuredly saved. In Kabir's presence a Brahmin and a Mohammedan priest were reviling each other's sacred books. The Mohammedan expatiated on the merits of sacrifice. For say not that the Hindu and Muslim books are false. False is he who reflective not on them. If you say that the one God is in everything, then why kill fowls? O priest, say is this God's justice. Thy mental doubts forsake thee not. Thou ceasest and bringest living things and takeest their lives, but thou merely killest their bodies of clay. Their souls return to the indestructible. Say what hast thou killed? What avail thy purifications, thy rinsings of the mouth, and thy protestations in the mosque? If thou pray with deception in thy heart, what avail art thee thy pilgrimage to Makkah? Thou art impure. Thou knowest not the pure one. Thou knowest not his secrets. Sayeth Kabir, thou hast missed heaven and art satisfied with hell. Kabir offered to God the following oblation instead of incense, light, and the other accessories of Hindu worship. Five, hear me, God of God, Supreme Lord, Primal, and Omnipresent. I offer my vespers unto thee. The sids, even in deep meditation, have not discovered thy limits, for they continue to cling to thine asylum. Accept this oblation, O bright spirit. Worship the true guru, my brethren. Brahma standeth and readeth the vets, but the unseen is seen not by him. With divine knowledge as mine oil, and thy name my wick, I have made a lamp to illumine my body. I have lit the lamp with the light of the Lord of the world. He who knoweth how to do this, knoweth the omniscient. The unbeaten sounds of God who dwelleth with man are my five musical instruments, both out formless and undisturbed. Thy slave Kabir hath made this oblation. End of section 17.