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Today, we continue with the book “Songs of Kabir”, translated by Rabindranath Tagore. In poems 10 to 17, Kabir reminds us the Divine is within, found in stillness and the surrender of ego to love. Song 11 “I played day and night with my comrades, and now I am greatly afraid. So high is my Lord’s palace, my heart trembles to mount its stairs: yet I must not be shy, if I would enjoy His love. My heart must cleave to my Lover; I must withdraw my veil, and meet Him with all my body: Mine eyes must perform the ceremony of the lamps of love. Kabîr says: ‘Listen to me, friend: He understands who loves. If you feel not love’s longing for your Beloved One, it is vain to adorn your body, vain to put unguent on your eyelids.’” Song 13 “O Lord Increate, who will serve Thee? Every votary offers his worship to the God of his own creation: each day he receives service – None seek Him, the Perfect: Brahma, the Indivisible Lord. They believe in ten Avatars; but no Avatar can be the Infinite Spirit, for he suffers the results of his deeds: The Supreme One must be other than this. The Yogi, the Sanyasi, the Ascetics, are disputing one with another: Kabîr says, ‘O brother! he who has seen that radiance of love, he is saved.’” Song 17 “The light of the sun, the moon, and the stars shines bright: The melody of love swells forth, and the rhythm of love’s detachment beats the time. Day and night, the chorus of music fills the heavens; and Kabîr says “My Beloved One gleams like the lightning flash in the sky.” Do you know how the moments perform their adoration? Waving its row of lamps, the universe sings in worship day and night, There are the hidden banner and the secret canopy: There the sound of the unseen bells is heard. Kabîr says: ‘There adoration never ceases; there the Lord of the Universe sit on His throne.’ The whole world does its works and commits its errors: but few are the lovers who know the Beloved. The devout seeker is he who mingles in his heart the double currents of love and detachment, like the mingling of the streams of Ganges and Jumna; In his heart the sacred water flows day and night; and thus the round of births and deaths is brought to an end.”
