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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 Kabīr 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.
Kabīr says: "There adoration never ceases; there the
Lord of the
Universe sitteth 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.
Behold what wonderful rest is in the Supreme Spirit!
and he
enjoys it, who makes himself meet for it.
Held by the cords of love, the swing of the Ocean of
Joy sways to
and fro; and a mighty sound breaks forth in song.
See what a lotus blooms there without water!
and Kabīr says "My heart's bee drinks its nectar."
What a wonderful lotus it is, that blooms at the
heart of the
spinning wheel of the universe!
Only a few pure souls know of its true delight.
Music is all around it, and there the heart partakes
of the joy
of the Infinite Sea.
Kabīr says: "Dive thou into that Ocean of sweetness:
thus let all
errors of life and of death flee away."
Behold how the thirst of the five senses is quenched
there! and
the three forms of misery are no more!
Kabīr says: "It is the sport of the Unattainable
One: look
within, and behold how the moon-beams of that Hidden
One shine in you."
There falls the rhythmic beat of life and death:
Rapture wells forth, and all space is radiant with
light.
There the Unstruck Music is sounded; it is the music
of the love
of the three worlds.
There millions of lamps of sun and of moon are
burning;
There the drum beats, and the lover swings in play.
There love-songs resound, and light rains in
showers; and the
worshipper is entranced in the taste of the heavenly
nectar.
Look upon life and death; there is no separation
between them,
The right hand and the left hand are one and the
same.
Kabīr says: "There the wise man is speechless; for
this truth may
never be found in Vadas or in books."
I have had my Seat on the Self-poised One,
I have drunk of the Cup of the Ineffable,
I have found the Key of the Mystery,
I have reached the Root of Union.
Travelling by no track, I have come to the
Sorrowless Land: very
easily has the mercy of the great Lord come upon me.
They have sung of Him as infinite and unattainable:
but I in my
meditations have seen Him without sight.
That is indeed the sorrowless land, and none know
the path that leads there:
Only he who is on that path has surely transcended
all sorrow.
Wonderful is that land of rest, to which no merit
can win;
It is the wise who has seen it, it is the wise who
has sung of it.
This is the Ultimate Word: but can any express its
marvellous savour?
He who has savoured it once, he knows what joy it
can give.
Kabīr says: "Knowing it, the ignorant man becomes
wise, and the
wise man becomes speechless and silent,
The worshipper is utterly inebriated,
His wisdom and his detachment are made perfect;
He drinks from the cup of the inbreathings and the
outbreathings of love."
There the whole sky is filled with sound, and there
that music is
made without fingers and without strings;
There the game of pleasure and pain does not cease.
Kabīr says: "If you merge your life in the Ocean of
Life, you
will find your life in the Supreme Land of Bliss."
What a frenzy of ecstasy there is in every hour! and
the
worshipper is pressing out and drinking the essence
of the
hours: he lives in the life of Brahma.
I speak truth, for I have accepted truth in life; I
am now
attached to truth, I have swept all tinsel away.
Kabīr says: "Thus is the worshipper set free from
fear; thus have
all errors of life and of death left him."
There the sky is filled with music:
There it rains nectar:
There the harp-strings jingle, and there the drums
beat.
What a secret splendour is there, in the mansion of
the sky!
There no mention is made of the rising and the
setting of the sun;
In the ocean of manifestation, which is the light of
love, day
and night are felt to be one.
Joy for ever, no sorrow,--no struggle!
There have I seen joy filled to the brim, perfection
of joy;
No place for error is there.
Kabīr says: "There have I witnessed the sport of One
Bliss!"
I have known in my body the sport of the universe: I
have escaped
from the error of this world..
The inward and the outward are become as one sky,
the Infinite
and the finite are united: I am drunken with the
sight of this All!
This Light of Thine fulfils the universe: the lamp
of love that
burns on the salver of knowledge.
Kabīr says: "There error cannot enter, and the
conflict of life
and death is felt no more."
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