Most religions, holy books and paths promise salvation after death, after the soul leaves this world of matter. But the Saints neither attach importance to such promises nor give similar assurances to their disciples, for they say that a worldly person will not turn into a holy man after death, nor an illiterate person become a great scholar. They tell their disciples to rely only on what they achieve while living, and while living reach the region of liberation — the region from where they will not be required to return to this world of birth and death. The spiritual heights a man attains while living will be his even after death.

In these two poems Kabir says that the inner regions of bliss that the Saints speak of are to be reached through spiritual practice during one's lifetime. The shackles of karma, which keep man tied to the circle of transmigration, must be broken while living. A person who is born within the bonds of karma, who lives in them, strengthens them through his good and bad actions and also dies in them, will not suddenly become free from them through the agency of death. Kabir says that if a man breaks the bonds during his lifetime, he wil while living become free to go to the inner spiritual regions at wil and reach the state of liberation. But in order to attain this high state a devotee must give up his delusions, try to realize what is true, seek the association of a perfect Master and undertake the practice of Naam under his directions.

O friend, rely only on that
Which you get while living.

Learn while you are living,
While living realize Him
While living attain
The state of liberation.

O friend, rely only on that
Which you get while living.

While living you did not shatter
The shackles of karmas,
Yet you expect to gain
Salvation after death!

O friend, rely only on that
Which you get while living.

Those who say, 'After death
Your soul will merge in God',
Only give you false assurances;
Whatever you gain now
Will be with you hereafter,
Or you'll become a citizen
Of Yama's domain.

O friend, rely only on that
Which you get while living.

The deluded wander seeking God
In remote and distant places,
But it does not end the agony
Of their visits to the womb;
Only if they adore the Saints
Will the noose of their karmas be cut.

O friend, rely only on that
Which you get while living.

Know the truth, hold onto it,
Realize the true Master
And build faith in the true Name.
The Saints, O Kabir,
Are my benefactors —
And I, their slave.

K.S., I:38
Sādho bhāi jeevat hi karo āsā

He alone is liberated
Who gains liberation while living.

Until one attains
Salvation in his lifetime,
He will continue to suffer
Both pleasure and pain.
If while living in the body
Liberation is not attained,
How can one after death
Obtain salvation?

He alone is liberated
Who gains liberation while living.

By spending one's entire life in holy places
Liberation cannot be had,
Nor by making bare earth one's bed.
While living, if a man fails to cut
The deadly noose of delusion
But looks forward to liberation after death.
He is like the thirsty man
Who thirsty remains
Even after visions
Of water in his dreams.

He alone is liberated
Who gains liberation while living.

He who becomes detached,
Who gains freedom from his bonds,
He can, while living, go where he likes.
He who is not detached,
Who is chained to his bonds,
Cannot go beyond his ties.

He alone is liberated
Who gains liberation while living.

Through the practice
Of the Everlasting One's Name
He has severed the chain
Of coming and going —
Such is my Master;
He has delivered Kabir
From delusion's deadly noose.

He alone is liberated
Who gains liberation while living.

K.S., II:10
Jeewat mukta soi muktā ho