Neither Human nor Angelic

Transliteration:
Naa ih maanas naa ih deo. Naa eh jatee kahaavai seau.
Naa ih jogee naa avadhootaa. Naa is mai na kaahoo pootaa. 1.
Eiaa mandhar meh kauan basaiee. Taa kaa aant na kouoo payee. 1. Rahaau.
Naa ih girahee naa odhaasee. Naa ih raaj na bheekh mangaasee.
Naa is pindd na rakatoo raatee. Naa ih brahaman naa ih khaatee. 2.
Naa ih tapaa kahaavai seikh. Naa ih jeevai na marataa dhekh.
Eis marate kau je kouoo rovai. Jo rovai soiee pat khovai. 3.
Gur prasaadh mai ddagaro paiaa. Jeevan maran dhouoo miTavaiaa.
Kahu Kabir ih raam kee ans. Jas kaagadh par miTai na mans. 4. 2. 5.
– (SGGS, Pg. No. 871)

Translation:
It is not human, and it is not an angel.
It is not called celibate, or a worshipper of (god) Shiva.
It is not a Yogi, and it is not a hermit.
It has neither a mother, nor it is anyone's son. ||1||
Then what is it, which dwells in this temple of the body?
No one can find its limits. ||1||Pause||
It is not a householder, and it is not a renouncer of the world.
It is not a king, and it is not a beggar.
It has no body, no drop of blood.
It is not a Brahmin (priest caste), and it is not a Khattri (warrior caste). ||2||
It is not called a man of austere self-discipline, or a Sheikh.
It is not born (to live), and it is not seen to die.
If someone cries over its death, that person loses his credibility. ||3||
By Guru's Grace, I have found the Path.
Birth and death have both been erased.
(Now I) Kabir says, it is formed of the same essence as the Lord.
It is like the ink on the paper which cannot be erased. ||4||2||5||

Let us explore an amazing and eye-opening thought process of Kabir Ji through his own composition. Here Kabir Ji has declared that he has found his True-Self. It can be termed as Self-Realization, Atam-Gyan, Brahm-Gyan, Mukti, Moksha, etc. Kabir Ji has actually shared something very unique, the qualities of soul with us. There is not much written about the attributes of soul because not many have its authentic experience. That rarity of that experience makes the verbalization by Kabir Ji is from his own actual experience in life very captivating.

Kabir Ji is first posing the question that he wants to address in the Rahaao lines. He queries who resides in this temple of human body, whose ends or limits are not known to anyone? In the first three stanzas he shares what soul is not, and finally in the fourth stanza he declares that he found the path, which resulted in his erasing the cycles of rebirths and deaths. He further realized that his being is a portion of God, thus divine, which cannot be effaced exactly like its source God.

Let us walk through the imagery used by Kabir after his revelation:

• Kabir Ji realized that I am, or my true self is neither human nor angelic.
   
• Neither it is a celibate, nor a worshipper of Shiva.
   
• Neither it is a yogi, nor a hermit.
   
• Neither it has a mother, nor it is anyone’s son/child.

Here Kabir Ji is wonderstruck, is it this which is inside the body? Kabir Ji has encountered something which is a mystery and will ever remain a mystery. He has expressed that mystery as “No one can find its limits.” It is this experience of mystery that fills one with unimaginable joy, ecstasy, peace, calmness, and thrill. After this experience, the yearning to unfold the mystery evaporates completely, instead the thrill of experience keeps compounding as:

• Neither it is householder, nor a renouncer.
   
• Neither it is a king, nor a beggar.
   
• Neither this self has a body, nor a drop of blood.
   
• Neither it is a Brahmin, nor a Khattri (Chettri).
   
• Neither it can be called austere, nor a sheikh.

Kabir Ji’s endless dive into this bottomless ocean of experiences yields:

• Neither this lives, nor has anyone seen it dying.
   
• If someone weeps thinking that it has died, will lose one’s own credibility.

Finally, Kabir Ji reveals how he arrived at such high state of evolution and gained this perspective of his own authentic reality:

• By complying fully with the guidance and earning the Grace I found the path. The result was the cessation of cycles of rebirths and deaths.
   
• Finally, Kabir Ji makes an extremely profound statement with an absolute authenticity. He says that True-Self is part of Divine and cannot be separated from it. Just as ink on paper is inseparable from it, similar is the relationship of individual with Divine – Inseparable and forever.

The life’s journey got completed. The source from which the mortal emanated to begin this human journey, immersed back in the source. The essence of his message is to realize that that real thing within us, which is neither a body or nor its any constituents, but soul. The essence or soul is above caste structure of the society, creeds, ethnic labels, and worldly occupations. That essence is part of Divine and once it merges back in it, the soul is liberated. The inner knower has journeyed through the three states – waking, dreaming, and sleeping to reach state of liberation. A liberated soul is free from cycles of rebirths and deaths.

December 4, 2021