Saints have described a worldly person's mind as an unbroken horse, a wayward camel without reins, or a wild elephant without the mahout's goad. The devotee, however, has to ride his mind on the spiritual journey; in other words he has to control the mind and win its cooperation in order to travel on the inner path. In this poem Kabir addresses mind as his horse and indirectly tells the devotee to put mind under the bit and bridle of meditation, detach it from all else and race it towards the higher regions within. The devotee should control mind's desires with the power of discernment or realization and urge it onwards by the inspiring power of divine love.

I'll put the bit and bridle
On you, O steed of ray mind;
Discarding all else
I'll gallop you towards Gagan.

Self-realization is my saddle;
In the stirrup of Sahaj
I place my foot and ride,
Astride the steed of my mind.

Come, my steed, I'll take you
On a trip to heaven;
If you balk
I'll urge you on
With the whip of divine love.

Says Kabir: The adept riders
Remain aloof from both
The Vedas and the Koran.

A.G., Gauri, p. 329
Dei muhār lagām pahrāo