Ang-401 — Chapter 81
This she-serpent is created by Him.
What power or weakness does she have by herself? ||4||
If she abides with the mortal, then his soul abides in his body.
By Guru's Grace, Kabeer has easily crossed over. ||5||6||19||
Aasaa:
Why bother to read the Simritees to a dog?
Why bother to sing the Lord's Praises to the faithless cynic? ||1||
Remain absorbed in the Lord's Name, Raam, Raam, Raam.
Do not bother to speak of it to the faithless cynic, even by mistake. ||1||Pause||
Why offer camphor to a crow?
Why give the snake milk to drink? ||2||
Joining the Sat Sangat, the True Congregation, discriminating understanding is attained.
That iron which touches the Philosopher's Stone becomes gold. ||3||
The dog, the faithless cynic, does everything as the Lord causes him to do.
He does the deeds pre-ordained from the very beginning. ||4||
If you take Ambrosial Nectar and irrigate the neem tree with it,
still, says Kabeer, its natural qualities are not changed. ||5||7||20||
Aasaa:
A fortress like that of Sri Lanka, with the ocean as a moat around it
- there is no news about that house of Raavan. ||1||
What shall I ask for? Nothing is permanent.
I see with my eyes that the world is passing away. ||1||Pause||
Thousands of sons and thousands of grandsons
- but in that house of Raavan, the lamps and wicks have gone out. ||2||
The moon and the sun cooked his food.
The fire washed his clothes. ||3||
Under Guru's Instructions, one whose mind is filled with the Lord's Name,
becomes permanent, and does not go anywhere. ||4||
Says Kabeer, listen, people:
without the Lord's Name, no one is liberated. ||5||8||21||
Aasaa:
First, the son was born, and then, his mother.
The guru falls at the feet of the disciple. ||1||
Listen to this wonderful thing, O Siblings of Destiny!
I saw the lion herding the cows. ||1||Pause||
The fish of the water gives birth upon a tree.
I saw a cat carrying away a dog. ||2||
The branches are below, and the roots are above.
The trunk of that tree bears fruits and flowers. ||3||
Riding a horse, the buffalo takes him out to graze.
The bull is away, while his load has come home. ||4||
Says Kabeer, one who understands this hymn,
and chants the Lord's Name, comes to understand everything. ||5||9||22||
22 Chau-Padhay And Panch-Padhay
Aasaa Of Kabeer Jee, 8 Thri-Padhay, 7 Dho-Thukay, 1 Ik-Tuka:
One Universal Creator God. By The Grace Of The True Guru:
The Lord created the body from sperm, and protected it in the fire pit.
For ten months He preserved you in your mother's womb, and then, after you were born, you became attached to Maya. ||1||
O mortal, why have you attached yourself to greed, and lost the jewel of life?
You did not plant the seeds of good actions in the earth of your past lives. ||1||Pause||
From an infant, you have grown old. That which was to happen, has happened.
When the Messenger of Death comes and grabs you by your hair, why do you cry out then? ||2||
✦ Connected Across Traditions
Impermanence & Letting Go
Dhammapada 20:277
“All conditioned things are impermanent. When one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering.”
Tao Te Ching 76
“A man is born gentle and weak. At his death he is hard and stiff. The soft and yielding is the disciple of life.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.”
Bhagavad Gita 2:22
“As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.”
The Path to Wisdom
Proverbs 4:7
“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.”
Dhammapada 20:282
“Wisdom springs from meditation; without meditation wisdom wanes.”
Analects 2:11
“If you study the past and use it to understand the present, you are worthy of being a teacher.”
Tao Te Ching 33
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.”
Good vs Evil / Light vs Darkness
Yasna 30:3
“Now the two primal Spirits, who reveal themselves as Twins, are the Better and the Bad, in thought and word and action.”
John 1:5
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Dhammapada 1:1-2
“Mind is the forerunner of all actions. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows like a shadow.”
Genesis 1:3
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”