Religion
Song LXXVIII: Kabîr says: "O Sadhu! hear my deathless words
Translated by Rabindranath Tagore, with Evelyn Underhill (1915) · From Songs of Kabir (1915)
Kabîr says: "O Sadhu! hear my deathless words. If you want your own good, examine and consider them well.
You have estranged yourself from the Creator, of whom you have sprung: you have lost your reason, you have bought death.
All doctrines and all teachings are sprung from Him, from Him they grow: know this for certain, and have no fear.
Hear from me the tidings of this great truth!
Whose name do you sing, and on whom do you meditate? O, come forth from this entanglement!
He dwells at the heart of all things, so why take refuge in empty desolation?
If you place the Guru at a distance from you, then it is but the distance that you honour:
If indeed the Master be far away, then who is it else that is creating this world?
When you think that He is not here, then you wander further and further away, and seek Him in vain with tears.
Where He is far off, there He is unattainable: where He is near, He is very bliss.
Kabîr says: "Lest His servant should suffer pain He pervades him through and through."
Know yourself then, O Kabîr; for He is in you from head to foot.
Sing with gladness, and keep your seat unmoved within your heart.
Cite this poem
MLA
Kabir. “Song LXXVIII: Kabîr says: "O Sadhu! hear my deathless words.” Translated by Rabindranath Tagore, with Evelyn Underhill. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/kabir/77/.
Chicago
Kabir. “Song LXXVIII: Kabîr says: "O Sadhu! hear my deathless words.” Translated by Rabindranath Tagore, with Evelyn Underhill. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/kabir/77/.
Read this poem with the Codex →
More by Kabir
- Song II: It is needless to ask of a saint the caste to which he belongs;
- Song XXII: O brother, my heart yearns for that true Guru
- Song XLI: O sadhu! the simple union is the best
- Song LX: The savour of wandering in the ocean of deathless life has rid me of…
- Song LXXXIII: The harp gives forth murmurous music