There are many who adopt the life of a recluse and believe that they have become detached from the world, but Kabir points out that true detachment comes only through attachment to the Lord. The devotee who remains ab orbed in the Lord's love naturally becomes detached from the world and its pleasures. Referring to a myth, Kabir says that even Brahma, the creator of the world, wandered about in search of the Lord but failed to find Him because he had no knowledge of the path leading to Him. Similarly, man keeps wandering in the outside world of delusion without trying to go within and taste the ambrosial fruit of the tree of bliss. Kabir urges man to take instructions from a Master and by following them become absorbed in the Shabd within, which will be his companion in this world as well as after death.

Rare is the detached one
Who adores you, O Lord;
Who remains lost in your love
And averse to mundane pleasures.

Brahma, who created the world,
Who has earned the name, 'the great potter' —
And many a motley pot he has fashioned —
Even he toiled yet failed to know the Lord.

There is a tree that bears luscious fruits;
A tree that has neither roots,
Nor trunk, nor branches.
Lured into the sea of delusion,
O man, you have kept drifting endlessly;
Never did you try to taste
The fruit of that sublime tree.

Says Kabir: Cherish the Master's directions;
Remember, the entire world is false and perishable.
Your body of dust must one day return to dust.
Only the Word given by the Master
Will go with you as your everlasting companion.

K.G., p. 134:268
Rāmrāi ko aisā bairāgi