Kabir's Homeland
The inner spiritual region of supreme bliss is the home of Saints, but Kabir says that the material limits of human vocabulary make it impossible to describe that land. It cannot be understood through erudition, analysis or intellectual speculation. The conditions of this world of phenomena do not exist there: Although there is dazzling light, there is no source that produces it, it exists by itself; the melody of Shabd, called 'the divine voice' by Kabir, is not dependent on an instrument or singer; and although Saints have tried to describe the Shabd experienced by a devotee on different levels of consciousness as the melodies of kingri, sitar and been, it is without rhythm, cadence or tone.
In order to comprehend the beauty and brilliance of that region, a seeker has to go within and see it for himself. But only a devoted disciple who has surrendered his entire self to the Master and lives in his will; who has vanquished his mind, turned his face away from the world and looks only towards his Master; who loves and adores his Master and none else, looking upon him as God in human form — only such a gurumukh will reach the land of the Saints. Kabir says that through one-pointed love the devotee reaches that land and shares supreme bliss with the Saints; only he will know about the land where Kabir lives.
Who shares my secret
Alone knows, O friend,
The mystery of my homeland.
Vedas and holy books
Have no clue to my home;
Neither speech, nor speculation,
Nor reason, nor intellect
Can ever fathom it.
Who shares my secret
Alone knows, O friend,
The mystery of my homeland.
Where there is neither caste,
Nor colour, nor lineage,
Where neither ceremonies,
Nor ritual prayers,
Nor canonic laws hold sway;
Such is my homeland, O friend.
Where rain pours down
Drops with a divine taste —
Neither salty nor sweet;
Where in the mansion of Sunn
Endlessly reverberate
The sonorous melodies
Of kingri, sitar and been.
Who shares my secret
Alone knows, O friend,
The mystery of my homeland.
Where lightning flashes without clouds,
Where dazzling light shines without a sun,
Where pearls of radiant sheen form
Without mother-of-pearl,
Where the sweet music
Of the divine voice resounds
Without a speaker, without rhythm or tone;
Such is my homeland, O friend.
Where all the lights of the world
Put together, fade with shame
Before the light of the region of Brahm.
Beyond that; beyond, in the realm
Of the Inaccessible, the Boundless,
Is the land where lives Kabir —
But only a gurumukh will,
Through love, reach my home;
Only he who shares my secret
Will know and attain
That homeland of mine, O friend.
K.S., I:59
Mahram hoi so jānai sādho
The following poem also gives hints of the inner spiritual regions. The gateway to the inner world is the eye center, described here as an inverted well with a narrow opening. But, says Kabir, only a 'married soul' can draw water from that well; that is, only a soul initiated by a Master can go within and taste the water of divine bliss. Kabir tells the devotee to leave the courtyard of his body's house, go within and be saturated with the nectar of inner realization.
Come, swan, let us go to that land
Where dwells your Beloved.
That land has an inverted well
With an opening, narrow as a thread,
Through which the married soul draws water,
Without a pitcher, without a rope.
Come, swan, let us go to that land
Where dwells your Beloved.
Clouds never gather in that land,
Yet it rains without a stop.
Do not keep sitting in the courtyard,
Go in, and without a body be drenched.
Come, swan, let us go to that land
Where dwells your Beloved.
That land is always suffused with moonlight,
And never a trace of darkness comes.
That land is ever flooded with the light
Of not one, but a million suns.
Come, swan, let us go to that land
Where dwells your Beloved.
Says Kabir: Listen, O friend,
That land is the land of true freedom;
He who learns of that land
Will reach his original home.
K.S., II:60
Chalu hansā vā des
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