Mystic Songs

Raajaasaram mit nahee jaanee teree.
Tere santan kee hau cheree. 1. Rahaau.
Hasato jaa-ai su rovat aavai rovat jaa-ai sau hasai.
Basato hoi hoi suo uoojar uoojar hoi su basai. 1.
Jal te thal kar thal te kooan koop te mer karaavai.
Dhartee te aakaash chaddaavai chaddae akaas giraavai. 2.
Bhekhaaree te raaj karaavai raajaa te bhekhaaree.
Khal moorakh te pandit karibo pandit te mugadhaaree. 3.
Naaree te jo purakh karaavai purakhan te jo naaree.
Kahu kabeer saadhoo ko preetam tis moorat balihaaree. 4.2. – (SGGS, Pg. No. 1252)

Translation

I do not know the limits of Your Royal play.
I am the humble slave of Your Saints. ||1||Pause||
The one who goes laughing returns crying,
and the one who goes crying returns laughing.
What is inhabited becomes deserted,
and what is deserted becomes inhabited. ||1||
He turns water (body) into a desert, (or) turns the desert into a well,
and the (deep) well is turned into a mountain.
From the ground the mortal is exalted to the (lofty) sky;
and from the high sky, he falls down again. ||2||
The beggar is transformed into a king, and the king into a beggar.
The unlettered fool is transformed into a scholar Pandit,
and the (accomplished) Pandit into a fool. ||3||
The woman gives birth to a man, and a man’s (sperm) gives birth to woman.
Says Kabir, I am in awe to Power of God, who is the Beloved of the Holy Saints. ||4||2||

Explanation:

O the King of the entire creation, how can I assess the vide expanse of your play. I am a mere disciple of Your saints as their talks have made me a little aware of the vastness of kingdom (creation).1. Pause.

One who departs from this world merry making, having a good time here while forgetting God, returns back wailing, as he has been put in the cycles of births and death. He has been deprived entry in God’s abode. In contrast, one who departs by living a spiritually disciplined, austere life, laughs after death as he merges in God, and is blissful forever.1.

God’s play creates land from an ocean, or a well from land. From a well he creates a mountain. God can elevate one from ground to sky or drop him from sky to ground. God’s plays are hard to comprehend.2.

God’s play can cause a beggar to rule, and even makes a beggar out of a king. It can make an accomplished scholar out of a moron, and a moron out of the scholar.3.

God’s play can make a man from a woman (as she gives birth to a male child), or woman from (the sperms of) a man. God is beloved of the saints and Kabir is in awe of Him seeing His abilities.4.2. 

What we are seeing here is that Kabir Ji is trying to share the instantaneous transformative power that God has. He has the power to transform our condition from one extreme to the opposite extreme in an instant.

Let us look at it with a geographical reality of how the Himalayan Mountain range was formed. This immense mountain range began to form between 40 and 50 million years ago, when two large landmasses, India, and Eurasia, driven by plate movement, collided. As both these continental landmasses have about the same rock density, one plate could not be subducted under the other. This caused the continental crust to thicken due to folding and faulting by compressional forces pushing up the Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau. Therefore, we should always bow in reverence, to remind ourselves of our own insignificance in comparison.

The realization will be a humbling experience for the self.

We humans have an egoistic tendency to overestimate and overrate our own strength and capabilities. However, when we find ourselves inadequate to a challenge then we look for support from family, friends, and those well positioned. Kabir Ji is also gently trying to remind us to put our trust in Almighty. He is thus gently advising us to become humble in life, and just be thankful if we are enjoying an authority or a respectable position. Even such endowments are subject to change in a moment. If we become haughty then when those props are pulled down, the downfall will really hurt. So, we should always be awe to the power and capabilities of God.

December 23, 2023

Image: From This Dynamic Earth, by Kious and Tilling. Courtesy of the US Geological Survey
Image of man in prayer (c) istock.com