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Song
37
Where is the night, when the sun
is shining? If it is night,
then the sun withdraws its light.
Where knowledge is, can ignorance endure?
If there be ignorance, then knowledge must die.
If there be lust, how can love be there?
Where there is love, there is no lust.
Lay hold on your sword, and join in the fight.
Fight,
O my brother, as long as life lasts.
Strike off your enemy's head, and there make an end
of him
quickly: then come, and bow your head at your King's
Durbar.
He who is brave, never forsakes the battle: he who
flies from it is no true fighter.
In the field of this body a great war goes forward,
against
passion, anger, pride, and greed:
It is in the kingdom of truth, contentment and
purity, that this
battle is raging; and the sword that rings forth
most loudly is
the sword of His Name.
Kabīr says: "When a brave knight takes the field, a
host of
cowards is put to flight.
It is a hard fight and a weary one, this fight of
the
truth-seeker: for the vow of the truth-seeker is
more hard than
that of the warrior, or of the widowed wife who
would follow her husband.
For the warrior fights for a few hours,
and the widow's struggle with death is soon ended:
But the truth-seeker's battle goes on day and night,
as long as life lasts it never ceases."
Song 38
The lock of error shuts the gate,
open it with the key of love:
Thus, by opening the door, thou shalt wake the
Beloved.
Kabīr says: "O brother! do not pass by such good
fortune as this."
Song 39
O friend! this body is His lyre;
He tightens its strings, and
draws from it the melody of Brahma.
If the strings snap and the keys slacken,
then to dust must this instrument of dust return:
Kabīr says: "None but Brahma can evoke its
melodies."
Song 40
He is dear to me indeed who can
call back the wanderer to his
home. In the home is the true union, in the home is
enjoyment
of life: why should I forsake my home and wander in
the forest?
If Brahma helps me to realize truth, verily I will
find both
bondage and deliverance in home.
He is dear to me indeed who has power to dive deep
into Brahma;
whose mind loses itself with ease in His
contemplation.
He is dear to me who knows Brahma, and can dwell on
His supreme
truth in meditation; and who can play the melody of
the
Infinite by uniting love and renunciation in life.
Kabīr says: "The home is the abiding place; in the
home is
reality; the home helps to attain Him Who is real.
So stay
where you are, and all things shall come to you in
time."
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