|
People
put saffron marks on their forehead,
Carry rosaries in their hands And don religious garb;
If I am mad, O Lord, I am still Thine.
What do other know of my inner state?
I’ll not pluck leaves, I’ll not worship idols,
for other than devotion to God all worship is futile.
What do people know of my inner state?
I only worship my true Master;
Ever, ever I try to please Him
And through such service, I’ll attain bliss in the Lord’s court.
If I am mad, still I am thine, O Lord;
How can others know my inner state?
People say Kabir has gone mad,
but only the Lord knows kabir’s inner state of bliss.
|
Ways
of Worship
Enumerating
some of the different ways people adopt to gain salvation. Kabir
points out that these practices do not lead to the contact with
Nam, essential for attaining freedom from the cycle of birth
and death. Rejecting all external observances and ritualistic
practices, Kabir stresses the importance of the Master, through
whose grace the seeker can acquire Nam- the essence of all knowledge
and merge in the Lord.
Seeing
the ways of the world, O Lord,
My mind is puzzled.
Hence I keep myself absorbed
Day and night in the thought of thee.
Some read and ponder holy books,
Some wander about indifferent to everything;
Some stay naked even in rain and storm,
Some make themselves feeble and thin
Through intricate yogic practices;
Such people will never merge into the Lord’s Name.
Seeing their ways, O Lord, My mind is puzzled.
Some give up all some become mendicants,
Some dole out alms to earn merit;
Some become kalapis and take drugs,
Some take to Mantra, some to medicines;
Some control the breath and gain miraculous powers,
Some visit all the pilgrimage places;
Some undertake fasts and austerities
And gain control over their body;
Such people will never develop
True Love for the Lord’s name.
Seeing their ways, O Lord, My mind is puzzled.
|
|
