Two Poems of Kabir

 The 15th century poet Kabir writes:

I laugh when I hear that the fish in

the water is thirsty :

You do not see that the Real is in

your home, and you wander from

forest to forest listlessly !

Here is the truth ! Go where you

will, to Benares or to Mathura ;

if you do not find your soul, the

world is unreal to you.

 

And another poem:

 

The Yogi dyes his garments, instead

of dyeing his mind in the colors of love :

He sits within the temple of the Lord,

leaving Brahma to worship a stone.

He pierces holes in his ears, he has a

great beard and matted locks, he

looks like a goat :

He goes forth into the wilderness,

killing all his desires, and turns

himself into an eunuch :

He shaves his head and dyes his

garments ; he reads the Gita and

becomes a mighty talker.

Kabir says : " You are going to the doors

of death, bound hand and foot ! "

 

-- Translated by Rabindrath Tagore (1915)