Ang 970

As is Magahar, so is Benares; I see them as one and the same. I am poor, but I have obtained this wealth of the Lord; the proud are bursting with pride, and die. ||3|| One who takes pride in himself is stuck with thorns; no one can pull them out. Here, he cries bitterly, and hereafter, he burns in the most hideous hell. ||4|| What is hell, and what is heaven? The Saints reject them both. I have no obligation to either of them, by the Grace of my Guru. ||5|| Now, I have mounted to the throne of the Lord; I have met the Lord, the Sustainer of the World. The Lord and Kabeer have become one. No one can tell them apart. ||6||3|| I honor and obey the Saints, and punish the wicked; this is my duty as God’s police officer. Day and night, I wash Your feet, Lord; I wave my hair as the chauree, to brush away the flies. ||1|| I am a dog at Your Court, Lord. I open my snout and bark before it. ||1|| Pause|| In my past life, I was Your servant; now, I cannot leave You. The celestial sound current resounds at Your Door. Your insignia is stamped upon my forehead. ||2|| Those who are branded with Your brand fight bravely in battle; those without Your brand run away. One who becomes a Holy person, appreciates the value of devotional worship to the Lord. The Lord places him in His treasury. ||3|| In the fortress is the chamber; by contemplative meditation it becomes the supreme chamber. The Guru has blessed Kabeer with the commodity, saying, “Take this commodity; cherish it and keep it secure.”||4|| Kabeer gives it to the world, but he alone receives it, upon whose forehead such destiny is recorded. Permanent is the marriage, of one who receives this ambrosial essence. ||5||4|| O Brahmin, how can you forget the One, from whose mouth the Vedas and the Gayitri prayer issured forth? The whole world falls at His feet; why don’t you chant the Name of that Lord, O Pandit? ||1|| Why, O my Brahmin, do you not chant the Lord’s Name? If you don’t chant the Lord’s Name, O Pandit, you will only suffer in hell. ||1|| Pause|| You think that you are high, but you take food from the houses of the lowly; you fill up your belly by forcibly practicing your rituals. On the fourteenth day, and the night of the new moon, you go out begging; even though you hold the lamp in your hands, still, you fall into the pit. ||2||

You are a Brahmin, and I am only a weaver from Benares. How can I compare to you? Chanting the Lord’s Name, I have been saved; relying on the Vedas, O Brahmin, you shall drown and die. ||3||5|| There is a single tree, with countless branches and twigs; its flowers and leaves are filled with its juice. This world is a garden of Ambrosial Nectar. The Perfect Lord created it. ||1|| I have come to know the story of my Sovereign Lord. How rare is that Gurmukh who knows, and whose inner being is illumined by the Lord’s Light. ||1|| Pause|| The bumble bee, addicted to the nectar of the twelve-petalled flowers, enshrines it in the heart. He holds his breath suspended in the sixteen-petalled sky of the Akaashic Ethers, and beats his wings in esctasy. ||2|| In the profound void of intuitive Samaadhi, the one tree rises up; it soaks up the water of desire from the ground. Says Kabeer, I am the servant of those who have seen this celestial tree. ||3||6|| Make silence your ear-rings, and compassion your wallet; let meditation be your begging bowl. Sew this body as your patched coat, and take the Lord’s Name as your support. ||1|| Practice such Yoga, O Yogi. As Gurmukh, enjoy meditation, austerities and self- discipline. ||1|| Pause|| Apply the ashes of wisdom to your body; let your horn be your focused consciousness. Become detached, and wander through the city of your body; play the harp of your mind. ||2|| Enshrine the five tatvas — the five elements, within your heart; let your deep meditative trance be undisturbed. Says Kabeer, listen, O Saints: make righteousness and compassion your garden. ||3||7|| For what purpose were you created and brought into the world? What rewards have you received in this life? God is the boat to carry you across the terrifying world-ocean; He is the Fulfiller of the mind’s desires. You have not centered your mind on Him, even for an instant. ||1|| O Lord of the Universe, I am such a sinner! God gave me body and soul, but I have not practiced loving devotional worship to Him. ||1|| Pause|| Others’ wealth, others’ bodies, others’ wives, others’ slander and others’ fights — I have not given them up. For the sake of these, coming and going in reincarnation happens over and over again, and this story never ends. ||2||